Naming children is a minefield: go for something alternative and risk them hating it when they grow up, go for a popular name and watch them line up at nursery with three other kids sporting the same name.

While all parents have the dilemma of finding a name they agree on, that goes with the surname and that works with older siblings, for parents of twins there are a few added complications.

Their names are more likely to be called out at the same time so making sure the combined effect of their names isn’t odd or even a name in its own right (Sally and Jane can quickly sound like Sally-Anne Jane) is important.

Also because the twins will be going through school together, they will be reaching milestones like writing their name at the same time. If one child has a very complicated name and the other a simple one, it could create tension between the twins as one masters writing their short name much quicker than the one with the complex name.

The expert view

Dr Carol Cooper, a GP with three children including twin boys, Tamba’s honorary consultant in family medicine and author of Twins and Multiple Births the Essential Parenting Guide says: “Choosing different initials for the names is quite a good idea so when they get letters or private correspondence as they get older it is differentiated by the initials. Think about how the names sound when they’re abbreviated and what they sound like together, especially with same sex names, as they can be more problematical. I personally decided to give my twins names in alphabetical order in reverse to their birth order. Some parents decide to give the twins different surnames.”

A mum’s view

Louise Roche mother to twin girls Anna and Emily says: “It’s sometimes hard for the second-born twin as they are always second so a good tip I was given was to name them in reverse alphabetical order. So if there’s an alphabetical list Anna gets to go first which is such a good thing as who was born first is talked about their whole lives. I thought about their names working together. I might have had longer names if they hadn’t been twins but I thought something short was better.”