Are Jack and Joel too similar for brothers?

Question

On my question from yesterday, I received a lot of wonderful feedback, and this was brought to my attention. My husband and I adore the name Joel, but we realized it may be too close to Jack. Technically, our son's name is Jonathan William, and we just call him Jack. As he gets older, he may choose to be called Jon, Jonny, etc., and that's okay. He's fully aware his name is actually Jonathan, anyway.

Are Jack and Joel too close? I know they're both short names and start with the same letter, but we really do love this name to pieces. How about Jonathan and Joel? We want to use this name, but we won't if it poses too much of an identity problem.

-- Andrew, Jenna, Jack, and BBB #2

Answer 1

I would say yes, which is a shame since Joel is such a nice name. What about Joseph or Josiah, the other Jo names?

Answer 2

I don't think Jack and Joel are too close.

I love Jonathan William's name. but I don't think Joel is really the same style as Jonathan William.

Jonathan William & Michael Alexander,

Jonathan William & Thomas Joseph,

Jonathan William & Theodore Samuel

are more of the style

Answer 3

Jack and Joel are great names and I don't think they are too similar.

Answer 4

I think Jack and Joel r a wonderful sibset and since Jack is just a NN it's totally ok to use them together :)

For example, the twins from rugrats r Phil and Lil but their full names Lillian and Phillip r not matchy at all :)

Answer 5

I like them together, I think they might be a little too similar but it would work if they were twins. I know a pair of twins with names Mitchel and Matthew

Answer 6

jack and joel went up the hill to get a keg of swill

Answer 7

Yes way too close. I names my two boys names that were way too close to each other. and it was and still is a problem now that they are adults.

If you love the name, use it as a middle name.

Answer 8

Not to me. They both begin with "J" but they don't really have a similar sound.

Answer 9

I don't think they sound too similar at all, so go ahead and use it.

Answer 10

No. My sons are named Ryo and Ryu. Ryo is pronounced Re-oh and Ryu is pronounced Ree-you.

Answer 11

A bit

Answer 12

I don't think so! They sound nice together in my opinion :)

Answer 13

What about Jack and ***.