Similar names

[SilverSabre25]

Finally landed a new daycare kid after months of searching! This is much, much needed.

Unfortunately, her name is extremely similar to the name of another girl, and they're both two, to make it more complicated. They are both getting terribly confused and my tongue is tripping all over the place! We've Delilah (and call her Lilah) and Layla.

What do you do in these situations?

[SilverSabre25]

And though 5 years ago I had a group that was: Ella, Ellie, Elliot, Eliza, Olivia (mine), and one day my niece Eliana came over. ...I don't remember the names being an issue then. Or if it was, I don't remember how I handled it. 5 years is a long time, apparently...

[LindseyA]

Lol! I currently have a Kal, Kali, and Callen! I trip up all the time! I will be checking back to see others advice as i'm in the same boat! Callen's parents always call him Callie Boy at home. Well now that we have Kali here, he gets really offended when people call him Callie Boy because he is NOT a girl! (like Kali is).

[Laurel]

Finally landed a new daycare kid after months of searching! This is much, much needed.

Unfortunately, her name is extremely similar to the name of another girl, and they're both two, to make it more complicated. They are both getting terribly confused and my tongue is tripping all over the place! We've Delilah (and call her Lilah) and Layla.

What do you do in these situations?

I had two Katelyn's once but one mom said it was okay to call her Katie. Could you call them their first and middle name together like Lilah Jane or Layla Sue?

Laurel

[Controlled Chaos]

I LOVE the name Delilah! (not helpful, just knew you would want to know )

I sometimes call the kids Mr. Sam or Ms. Sam, not sure if that would help? I have a lot of Js right now and get tripped up too. It doesn't help that they all are super white, blue eyes, get each others hand me downs - so then I get really confused :: i need diversity in my daycare bad

[daycarediva]

I had three kids all with the same name. They ended up being nicknamed.

Right now I have two kids with very similar names. They are boy/girl, so I just go with Mr. __ and Ms. ___. That helps.

It's the twins I have enrolled that are throwing me. Mom dresses them alike. I've been doing their hair in the morning so I can tell them apart. The one with her hair UP is always one twin, and braids or down is the other. I tried painting their nails different colors but I can't see those across the yard. LOL!

[Josiegirl]

I had three kids all with the same name. They ended up being nicknamed.

Right now I have two kids with very similar names. They are boy/girl, so I just go with Mr. __ and Ms. ___. That helps.

It's the twins I have enrolled that are throwing me. Mom dresses them alike. I've been doing their hair in the morning so I can tell them apart. The one with her hair UP is always one twin, and braids or down is the other. I tried painting their nails different colors but I can't see those across the yard. LOL!

I had 3 Andrews at the same time. IIRC, I called them Andrew(then the first initial of their last name). It was terribly confusing.
And DCDiva, I'm currently trying to tell my 15 month old twins apart. So far, if not for 1 wearing an amber necklace, I'd have no clue. They've been coming about a month, sweet sweet tots.

[laundrymom]

I had 3 Andrews at the same time. IIRC, I called them Andrew(then the first initial of their last name). It was terribly confusing.
And DCDiva, I'm currently trying to tell my 15 month old twins apart. So far, if not for 1 wearing an amber necklace, I'd have no clue. They've been coming about a month, sweet sweet tots.

I would use full names.

I have had Rylee shae and riley joe. Both two. Both "instigators"

[Hunni Bee]

I had two Ryan's last year. They were just Ryan B and Ryan M from jump. The kids all called them that, they wrote it on their papers, etc. Never was a issue.

[midaycare]

I have two with the same names but different spellings. I don't want to give out their names, so I will give an ex:
Jessica is "Jessica with a 'c'"
Jessika is Jessica with a 'k'.

The kids understand quickly. "Ms. Midaycare, Jessica with a 'c' pushed me!"

Works for us

[Sunshine74]

I have two with the same names but different spellings. I don't want to give out their names, so I will give an ex:
Jessica is "Jessica with a 'c'"
Jessika is Jessica with a 'k'.

The kids understand quickly. "Ms. Midaycare, Jessica with a 'c' pushed me!"

Works for us

We have a similar situation. We have (not their names, but the same situation) a Gwen and a Gwendolyn- who goes by Gwen and doesn't usually respond to Gwendolyn. Plus as soon as they hear the beginning of the name, both girls respond. It doesn't help that they are both 2. And one has a hyphenated last name, so I am not even sure which letter to go with if we were to go with a "Gwen A" "Gwen B" solution. I might try to go with the middle name, we did that when we had two Gianna's with the same last initial.

[midaycare]

We have a similar situation. We have (not their names, but the same situation) a Gwen and a Gwendolyn- who goes by Gwen and doesn't usually respond to Gwendolyn. Plus as soon as they hear the beginning of the name, both girls respond. It doesn't help that they are both 2. And one has a hyphenated last name, so I am not even sure which letter to go with if we were to go with a "Gwen A" "Gwen B" solution. I might try to go with the middle name, we did that when we had two Gianna's with the same last initial.

I would definitely try middle names. My dck with same names are young 2's, so whatever you do, they will catch on! Kids are smart.

[Rockgirl]

Every time I've had two kids with the same name (which I'm thinking is 3 times), the kids are the same age! Weird.

[permanentvacation]

I've had the same situation a few times. I do one of two things. I start out simply over-pronouncing their names, stressing on the difference in sounds. I would say, "LAla and LIah" making sure to obviously stress the different vowel sounds in each name. If that didn't work, then I would start calling each of them by their first and last names. Or you could use their first name and first initial of their last name.

[SilverSabre25]

So I asked for both girls middle names last night and one set of parents seemed perplexed about it. Fortunately the middle names are both short, and different, . They glow really nicely and I'm getting used to saying the names with the middle name. But I like this approach. I'd do last initial but neither are letters that flow smoothly off the tongue with their names. I hope the middle names help! One if the girls keeps pointing at the other every time I say either name, and the other ostensibly has some hearing impairment (though I see no sign of this, so she must be doing okay)