Mom Criticized For Giving Twin Girls The Same Name

By Dave Basner

August 7, 2024

Photo: Getty Images

When it comes to picking a name for a baby, new parents open themselves up to ridicule by choosing a more unique moniker. However, for parents of twins, the chances of mockery skyrocket since they are often judged not just by the names themselves, but also by any connection between the siblings' names. They might be criticized if the names rhyme or if one is cute and the other isn't, and they definitely will be mocked if they do what one twin mom did. That's because she gave both of her twin daughters the same name.

The twins grew up both being called Alana, though the names were pronounced differently. A friend of the pair explained it all in a post on Reddit, writing, "I went to high school with twins whose parents named them Alana and Alana. But pronounced Uh-Lah-Nuh and Uh-Lay-Nuh. Teachers and other kids had a hard time remembering."

As if that weren't bad enough, she went on to say, "The worst part is one of the twins had a disability that caused her to have underdeveloped arms and she wrote using a pen in her mouth. So when you were referring to one of them and someone asked 'which twin?' There was an obvious difference most people pointed out."

Commenters were floored that this could happen, with one person writing, "Surely if the parents were to do that they would change a letter for example Alayna and Alana so it's more obvious." Another questioned, "How was this even legally allowed? Their mail and background/credit card checks must be an absolute disaster. Those poor girls. Elena and Alana were right there too! Still too similar for comfort because if you don’t enunciate, the 'el' will come out as 'ul' but at least it's not the exact same name and the middle syllable would be more distinguishable."

The issue could be a lot more serious too. One commenter pointed out, "I have to speak up about medical errors when twins have names that are only one letter apart, because getting an emergency, Kayleigh looks a lot like Kyaleigh. This will not end well if they both get taken to the ER at the same time."

Clearly, since they've gotten through school, the twins have made it work. Most shocking though - she isn't the only mom to have done this.

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