A Bug's Life

I think the initials thing (e.g. two or more siblings with similar initials) is fairly common, even without invoking name tapes - my first initials are ML, my elder sister's are LM, and we never used the same name tags. Names tend to get recycled in families, so that (for example) the M in my sister's name is Marcia, I'm Marcus, both due to the same grandparent rather than anyone trying to be cute etc.