Middle name of one child, first name of another?

My aunt remarried a man that had a daughter "chaya" while she had a daughter named "chaya rivka" but both went by "chaya". Since they both lost their spouses the children were living together in the same house and even though they were step sisters and a few years old at the time they still started calling "Chaya rivka" rivka so as not to have 2 children with the same name. Obviously it's not Halacha I think it was more their personal choice. Anon because it's a pretty famous story Embarassed

Diamond Member Joined: Nov 30 2009 Posts: 4942

I have a few friends that go by their middle name. or a nickname of the middle name.
My nephew goes by a nickname of his middle name. (sil wanted 2 names and it sounded better with the name she liked second)

so you can either insist on both names. or you can call her by her second name.
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I asked my Rav and he said it is OK to call another child with the middle name of the first but it would be unusual to do so.

He said we should not officially drop the middle name but we could call her by the middle name if we chose to.

I still feel that I would like to use the middle name for another child but will see how I feel about it if and when I am pregnant again. Maybe we will have found a name we like as much by then. It may depend on whether people eventually start calling DD by both her names or whether the name Rochel continues to be dropped.