Do you agree that there can be such a thing as name stealing?

I think it's kinda silly to reserve a name or think someone "stole" it. OTOH, it's happened to me. Twice. And my mom "stole" a variation of my cousin's name (she's Catherine and I'm Kathleen).

I guess I would mention it to her and see what she said. If she was a good friend I would just not to cause hard feelings.

im always afraid if a close relative is having a baby that if i dont tell them my baby name (weve had our girl name picked out for 3 years now, and its after both of our mothers) im afraid if i dont tell them that they might use it by chance and then accuse us of stealing it... so far 3 relatives have had kids in the past 2 years and all three have similarities to our name :/
Marlee(2) Mylee(1) & Katelyn(0) - Our name is Kayelee :( still going to use it when we have a kid no matter what!! but sad that they are all so similar :(

I'm trying to also figure out who stole whose name in our family. My nephew is named David, my dd married a David, I married a David and now my sister is dating a David whose son is David. 5 David's and only 1 born into the family. Christmas is going to be sooo much fun this year.

I think the idea of "name stealing" is ridiculous. How can you steal a name? There's always going to be at least one person out there that likes the same name as you. "How dare someone use the same name as I do!" It's so silly. If you're really concerned, ask her opinion, but don't give up a name you like just because someone accuses you of stealing it.

Maybe the lesson is not to tell anyone until your child is born what name(s) you are thinking about.

^^ That's what we did both times. We didn't tel anyone what our kids' names were ahead of time. I made a sign for my hospital room and that's how they found out, when the visited. There were some people who seemed almost angry that we didn't tell anyone, but I didn't want any input or opinions on the names we picked.

Well "I" think it is silly I have 4 first cousins and an aunt with the same name and my DH's grandma was the same as mine.
But if you think it might be an issue ask her how she feels about it.

Maybe the lesson is not to tell anyone until your child is born what name(s) you are thinking about.

For the sake of your friendship I'd let her know that you really like the name Catherine and want to use it as a middle name. If she gets a little testy you might consider saying it was in her honor to help smooth things over. If she gets seriously upset then you have to choose which is more important. Her friendship or the name of your unborn child.

Catherine is a common name it isn't like she was going to name her child moon baby and you took that or J- lol
If she gets offended that is kind of silly