My sister and I are only 13 months apart in age. People have told us that we are “Catholic Twins” or “Irish Twins.”
Do these terms refer to a general age difference (like 0-2 years difference) or specifically to 13 months? Also, does this phrase originate for what I think is probably the obvious reason? (That Irish people are typically Catholic and Catholic people have a lot of kids because they don’t believe in birth control…result - kids very close in age.)
Tibs
I’ve always heard it applied to children who are less than a year apart. For a short time each year, you are the same age.
And yes, that is where the phrase comes from.
My older brother and I are a perfect pair of Irish twins. I was born on his first birthday.
We always got joint gifts for our birthday and Christmas, so we had to share like twins. It meant fewer total presents, but they usually were better than we’d have gotten as individuals.
Luckily, we like each other. I’d have hated to have sibling rivalry between us.
And yes, we are of Irish descent and our family was Catholic at the time.
You mean, like, roach clips and stash boxes and things like that? 
Never heard those phrases. Must be a northern or midwestern thing. My sister is a year and four days younger than I.
I’ve never actually heard the phrase “Irish twins” applied to people who are 13 months apart in age…I thought it referred to siblings born approx. 9-12 months apart, because they are the same age for a short time each year, as Annie-Xmas said. There were two girls in my high school class who were born 11 months apart, and that’s where I first heard the phrase (they did get the “Are you twins?” stuff a lot because they were in the same grade.)
If it does apply to people born 13 months apart, then my mother, her sister, and her brother would be “Irish triplets”, one right after another.
My sisters were born exactly one year and 14 days apart. They weren’t called “Catholic twins.” I believe the exact term was “Oh, Catholic, huh?”
What kunilou said on the “Oh, Catholic, huh?”
I’ve got a cousin who had her first child Aug 2, 1998. Second Child Aug 25, 1999 and is due any day now with number three. Very catholic.
And now, time to slander the Irish:
What is a wheelbarrow called?
An Irish Baby buggy.
Thank you very much, you’ve been a great audience.
I have two cousins, brothers, one born June '65, the other May '66. Parents were mixture of Irish and German, family was Catholic. Yes, they’ve always been known as the family’s Irish twins. I too thought that phrase was limited to less than a year apart. And btw, this is upper midwest that we’re talking about geographically…
Something about your username made me think you were of Scottish extraction.
I had a friend that was only 7 months youger than his sister. So not only was he a preemie, but he was conceived right after his sister’s birth.
Needeless to say, he was his mother’s last. :D:D
Well me and my sister are seperated by 1year and 15days. I’ve never heard of the term “Irish Twin” being used in Ireland. This is the first time I’ve heard it.
I also heard it defined as two children being born less than a year apart. Presumably due to the Catholic Church’s anti-birth control stance.