# Husbands and wives with the same first name **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873 "2007-03-06T23:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/21 "2007-03-07T03:56:50Z")
[QUOTE=dahfisheroo] I know of a Jerry and a Gerry(Geraldine.) [/QUOTE] This reminded me - my husband and I know two couples, Lynn and Jerry, and Lin and Geri. Lynn and Geri are female; Lin and Jerry are male. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/22 "2007-03-07T05:01:17Z")
No. But a high school friend of mine married a man with the same (pretty uncommon) last name as hers (and, if I recall, the same first name as her brother or dad, I can’t remember which one. That had to be a little creepy!). They had to do some genealogy to make sure they weren’t inbreeding. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/23 "2007-03-07T05:11:56Z")
My maternal uncle, Gene (Eugene), was married to a woman named Jean. Many in the family, including my mother, referred to them a Gene and Jean. To me they were Aunt Jean and Uncle Gene, I never gave it much thought. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/24 "2007-03-07T05:25:47Z")
I know a Kelly Kelly. Her dad named her that so no matter if she took a husband’s name, she would always carry the family name. ---
**Author:** ![arjee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@arjee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arjee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/25 "2007-03-07T06:43:48Z")
A couple of years ago, I met a couple who were friends of my grandmother. Their names were Pat and Pat Patterson. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/26 "2007-03-07T08:47:46Z")
They weren’t married, but two of my classmates had identical firstnames (multi-word ones, too). Identical lastnames. Which by the way were the same for paternal and maternal (it’s one of the Spanish "Smith"s, though). And were from the same village. Turns out their mothers, sisters, were married to first cousins, delivered within hours of each other in different hospitals, and at the time it was still seen as bad luck to name your baby before it was born… and the fathers didn’t run into each other at the social registry… aaaaaaand yeah, it was kind of cute. Good thing they had different hair colors! In my SCA-style group Miami, there was a gay couple who shared firstname. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/27 "2007-03-07T09:09:13Z")
[QUOTE=GilaB] I know an Eli (him) and an Elie (her), pronounced the same (Eh-lee). I’m not sure what those are short for (there are several options for each in Hebrew). [/QUOTE] You mean “several **thousand** options,” right? 🙂 Oh, and I don’t know any couples like that, which given the current trend for almost all Hebrew names to drift toward uni-sex-ness in Israel (girls named _Yuval_ and boys named _Inbar_ abound; my daughter is called “\ the Girl” in school, and her classmate is “\ the Boy”), is actually quite surprising! (Abraham, Moses, David, and Miriam, to name a few – mostly biblical names – are still exempt… but at least for some of them it’s only a question of time. Michael and Gabriel have already succumbed…) Couple this with the fact that many names double as First and Last… and that there already are some people with the same first and last name… (Parental Awards, anyone? :rolleyes: ), it’s only a question of time until we end up with a couple named “\*Sharon \*and _Sharon Sharon_,” for instance :smack: As it is, it’s already getting to the point that given the names of a couple it’s pretty darn difficult to figure out which one is which, even for hetero couples. ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/28 "2007-03-07T13:40:39Z")
My cousin Dawn married Don. ---
**Author:** ![Fearless\_Leader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Fearless\_Leader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fearless_Leader)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/29 "2007-03-07T13:53:39Z")
My parents are Don and Donna, also with very similar middle names. A few years ago my cousin married a girl named Kelly. A few months ago, his sister married a guy named…Kelly. We call them Boy Kelly and Girl Kelly. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/30 "2007-03-07T13:58:04Z")
My paternal grandparents were Francis and Frances. StG ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/31 "2007-03-07T14:00:18Z")
[QUOTE=NinetyWt] I also know a girl named Robin Street who married a boy by the name of Walker. But that’s a different story. 😉 [/QUOTE] That’s hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/32 "2007-03-07T14:50:48Z")
I know same-sex couples are cop-out in this regard, but I used to date a guy called Matt. The other Esperantists called us _la Matearo_ (“the Matt-set”). ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/33 "2007-03-07T15:15:35Z")
I knew a guy growing up whose name was James nn Jamie. He married a girl named Jamie and now goes by James. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/34 "2007-03-07T15:45:53Z")
I know a married couple who are Terry and Terri as well. I know another married couple named Terri and Kerry ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/35 "2007-03-07T16:08:20Z")
I’m friends with Chris and Kris. We used to distinguish between them by calling him exclusively by his last name, but he eventually told us this bothered him. Now they’re Christopher and Kris Ann. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/36 "2007-03-07T16:24:32Z")
Kim & Kip. Not too bad, but when you consider their actual names are Margaret and Charles… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/37 "2007-03-07T16:24:35Z")
Not the same but when I was growing up there was this very nerdy guy who was somewhat obsessed with his friend Jesse (a guy). Like, he modeled his whole life after this guy. It was no surprise that he grew up to marry a woman named Jessi. What about Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz? I have a feeling they dated just because people said “that’d be funny if Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz hooked up!” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/38 "2007-03-07T16:27:01Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain] My paternal grandparents were Francis and Frances. StG [/QUOTE] I have an Aunt Fran and Uncle Fran (married to each other) ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/39 "2007-03-07T16:46:44Z")
My middle-school social studies teacher, Terry Lastname was also married to a Terry. I guess that’s not that uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873/40 "2007-03-07T16:54:12Z")
Two of my friends from school, Nicholas and Nicola, married each other. (Their joint email address is \*ensquared@… \*) And my parents know a couple called Paul and Pauline. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/husbands-and-wives-with-the-same-first-name/394873.md?page=3)