The Baby Name Wizard

Sylvie: Celeste Delphine Louise Matilda (or some spelling) Camille
Alban Blaise Julian Edmund August Frederic George Theodore

Kingston: Delaney Arielle Marley Harlow
Kai, Maddox, Magnus, Orion, Rex (I think Elisabeth nailed it well)

Barack: I have a hard time with this one. momtochuck's boy's suggestions feel the most on-center to me. Not too "black", not too political, not too African/Swahili... More about going back to deeper roots... ?? yet relevant to todays naming trends. I think that the people going for the black/political/Swahili style wont really be looking here for their names. I could be wrong. But that is my gut feeling.
Zahara is the only girls name that really struck me.
Levi
Gabriel
Eliezer
Jonah
Noam

It cracks me up that Sylvie has so many more suggestions that the others. It is also much more in sync with most of the people on this borads naming style. (by my observation)

What ARE the twins names??? How dare you hold us in such suspense? (all in good fun)

I wouldn't call myself good at this, but it was fun.

Barack (went more Arabic than African)
sisters: Alia, Hadia, Laila, Mariam, Zakia
brothers: Haidar, Jabril, Mahir, Rahim, Samad

Kingston
sisters: Addison, Hadley, Paige, Sydney, Zoe
brothers: Baxter, Cade, Emery, Monroe, Reed

Sylvie
sisters: Carine, Isabel, Nicolette, Rachelle, Vivien
brothers: Bastian, Ethan, Gerard, Leo, Tristan

Barack's Brothers:

Abidemi
Kofi
Imamu
Kwame
Obi
Mosi
Desmond
Malcolm
Josiah
Malik
Chinua

Barack's Sisters:

Nnenna
Amara
Oni
Iman
Marjani
Zuri
Aliyya
Jamila
Laila
Maryam

Barack's Brothers or Sisters:

Ekene
Chidi

Kingston's Brothers:

Trevor
Peter
Ziggy
Toots
Alexander
Busta
Steadman
Tupac
Jimmy
Johnny

Kingston's Sisters:

Roxanne
Aiesha
Desiree
Monette
Charlize
Eve
Dusty
Tanya
Nico
Ella

Sylvie's Brothers:

Marc
Patrick
Stephan
Joel
Noel
Hugh
Hugo
Guy
Pascal
Serge

Sylvie's Sisters:

Martine
Cybele
Adele
Marielle
Catherine
Isabelle
Fanny
Nina
Anouk
Yseult

Kingston brothers: Bronwell, Fordice, Ivanhoe, Kirkwood and Howell

Kingston sisters: Rosedale, Beulah, Greenly, Hoover and Clementine

Barack brothers: Ali, Thurgood, Jamal, Reuben, and Samad

Barack sisters: Zora, Hagar, Ali, I'm stumped

Sylvie brothers: Jules, Gus, Blaise, Alastair, and Royce

Sylvie sisters: Delphine, Adele, Poesy, Marie, and Simone

Barack: Rosa

Kingston: Nevis (long "E", like the island)

Sylvie: Marc

Barack is also a Jewish/Hebrew name, so maybe you should look in that direction. I went to school with a Barack and I think it means Lightening in Hebrew and his brother's name was Thunder in Hebrew.
Perhaps Barack's sister is Miriam. Oh wait, maybe it's spelled Barak, not Barack.

I'm standing by Hagar for Barack's sister!

Oh, and I really want to know the twins' names!

Kingston brother: Reardon? Beaumont?

Barak:
I agree with Zara or Suri or Shiloh, but I thought maybe Rosa (as in Rosa Parks), and obviously Hillary or Oprah (tongue in cheek).
Brothers: Mohummad, Ali, Denzel

Sylvie:
Sisters: Sophie, Claudine, Heloise
Brothers: Henry, Frederick, Jules, Hugo

Kingston:
Brothers: Kai, Keanu, Brooklyn
Sisters: Sunday (or any other day of the week), April

The first thing that came to mind is sister India for Kingston. Place name, kind of trendy, kind of edgy.

BTW, the reason I did not included Hebrew sibsets for Barack was because she framed her initial question in terms of Barack's Muslim, and Arabic-Swahili elements.

Jessica, I can't speak for all non-European posters on this board, but I may well end up naming my child something "ethnic" with socio-political resonance and I still greatly enjoy Laura's blog and book. I also know a Ghanaian-American, Arab-American, and Indian-American who have copies of the original book. Just because we may have different naming trends in our ancestral backgruond does not mean we do not take part in the majority culture...in fact, most minorities are heavily tuned in to the majority zeitgeist and take part in many elements of it. ;)

I also disagree that one culture's set of names is a better "fit" for a multi-cultural name like Barack. My hope is that Laura will list two different sibsets for names that have dual meanings in two large cultural milieus (in this case, I think she should have a "Hebrew" sibset, and an Arabic-Swahili or Muslim-Swahili sibset listed). Imagine if you wanted the Arabo-African connection for your Barack, and when you went to the book, you found "Levi" as a suggestion for the brother.

For another example, I believe Mari is a Japanese name that means something entirely different from the Western/Biblical derivation of Mari. I believe such names deserve two distinct sets of sibling suggestions.

Barack's brothers
Kwame
Elias
Asa
Orion
Solomon
Isaiah
Jamal

sisters
Nia
Martine
Aiyanna
Kenya
Malia
Zoe
Sabra
Serafina

Kingston's brothers
Grayson
Emory
Merit
Kellen
Roman
Miles
Emmett

sisters
Cadence
Spring
Kylie
Lindsey
Gwynne
Zia

Sylvie's brothers
Lucian
Jameson
Rafael
Blaine
Julian
Bevan

sisters
Audrey
Genivieve
Rose
Lucia
Adrienne
Simone

Barak is also Hebrew, so a lot of Hebrew based names match

[Barack: Malindi, Tana, Nyeri, Waris]

I'm not familiar with Waris but having been to Malindi, Tana and Nyeri (all places) they don't seem right to me as siblings for Barack. So many East Africans have Old Testament names that the Jewish suggestions also sound very good to me.

and while EasternBetty (?) is right, for Islamic names religion generally trumps ethnicity, I know several non-Muslim Baracks (or Baraka sometimes) in EA.

So to me, there is a definite Swahili sound group of sibs, an Old Testament group of sibs (which also sounds somehow African to me) and then a group of Af/am homage sibs. I really like Sojourner in this category, btw.

Everyone's suggestions for Sylvie seem spot on to me. And totally in the style of this board!

Love Solomon for Barack. Just love that name, I guess!

My 2.5 year old daughter is named Sylvie Winifred. No siblings yet, but hey that doesn't keep the baby name obsession at bay!

Sisters: Beatrice, Olive, and Esther are my top contenders at this point.

Brothers: Gus is my favorite for the time being, but I'm also stumped on this one.

Barack's sister Pilgrim, just for spice?

Or Kingston's sister Sayward?

Btw Kacey, I love your daughter's name. I'm a newly wed, no kids in sight, but I fantasize about names. Sylvie has always been a great favorite of mine!

Sarah S - Maybe just me, but I think of India Wilkes, so it's a nogo with Barack.

Just a note on Barack vs. Barak:

Barack/Baraka is from an Arabic root meaning "blessing." There are, in fact, closely related Hebrew names: Beracha/Baruch (blessing/blessed). The Hebrew Barak is unrelated and means "lightning." Despite the resemblance between the two names, I'm not planning to consider the Hebrew Barak in my matching because stylistically, in America in 2008, that's just not what the name Barack is about.

BTW, I *love* all the ideas you've been offering! Some of the suggestions were already on my short lists, others I hadn't considered at all. I'll be sure to post the ultimate selections here for your approval!

Leonie for Sylvie (I also like Delphine)
we considered it for our little leo.

Desmond could work w Kingston, after musician Desmond Dekker, or for Barack, after Desmond Tutu

Eaternbetty: I am sorry. I did not meanthat they would not be chewcking teh book at all. I did a poor job of explaining what I meant. Hopefully I did not offend anyone bc I have no! evil intentions.
I think you have a brilliant idea about some names having several sets of sibling names. Barack is the perfect example. I have little exposure to the religious value of the name. I have even less to the Swahili roots. Hence the names that sound on track to my "blonde/blue roots" (please understand me!!) is gpoing to be very different than someone with another connection to the name.
That make sense? I hope so. I am not singling out any group over another!

To me, Sylvie is not an unusual up-and-comer, but rather an ordinary, middle-aged name. Upon doing a little research I found that Sylvie was apparently the most popular girls name in Quebec from 1955-1964. So while it may be largely unknown in the States, to me it is like someone telling me that Donna, Mary, Debra, Linda, Susan, Barbara, or Patricia is an unknown potential up-and-comer. It really makes me realize how distinct the culture I grew up in really is, despite being only an hour away from the American border.

So who are Sylvie's siblings? Jean (zhEHN... however you would write that without phonetic characters... it's like Wyclef Jean's last name), Yves (EE-v), Sylvain, Pierre, Michel, Luc, Anne, Louise, Diane (DEE-an), or Yvonne.

Actually, Diane should have said dee-AHN.

I may have to amend my Sylvie brother list. I like Hugh/Hugo too.

Sylvie's siblings
- Hildie
- Beatrice
- Mireille
- Leni (not French, but very sporty and cute)

- Simon
- Theo
- Olivier
- Felix
- Lionel
- Lucien
- Sacha

Disregarding the French connection, I also like Cedric, Cosmo, Linus, Calvin, and Milo with Sylvie.

Oh, and how about Violet with Sylvie? Or Violette if you wish.

I can't believe no one has suggested Condoleezza as a sister to Barack yet. It is true that Rice and Obama are on opposite political sides, but they are both AA political figures whose names are new on the American naming scene.

I agree with pps that Barack could have siblings pairs with African-American and African leaders.
Brothers: Nelson, Desmond, Martin, Luther, Malcolm
Sisters: Coretta, Condoleezza, Sojourner, Rosa, Zora

Also traditional African names, which you undoubtedly know more about than I do. I looked up Barack Obama Sr.'s bio on Wikipedia and his wives' names might make good sister pairs to Barack: Kezia and Hebiba.

Pairs for Kingston would include other celebrity baby names (Maddox, Zahara) and place names (Brooklyn, Catalina) that are modern-sounding and a little pretentious. I see Kingston as very similar to Maddox, so you could just take what you have for Maddox's sisters and copy them onto Kingston. (Is that cheating?)

I see a few people have suggested Marley as a sister to Kingston - I second that, and would also like to add Marlo. Sound-wise, it seems a better fit because of that jaunty, unusual -o ending.

I'm very probably about to show my ignorance of at least one culture, but the first thing that came into my head for Barack's sister was Ashanti. I know it's the name of an African people (so, not exactly a traditional first name), but I get the feeling it's used among African-Americans, partly due to the singer's influence, but also to connote a connection to Africa? Having just Wikipedia'd the Ashanti, I also feel the name might fit a family with progressive politics as they are a matrilineal society where the female line determines inheritance! The singer Ashanti's Wikipedia page states that her mother named her after the Ashanti because she wanted her daughter to follow that model of powerful, strong women. Plus, Barack and Ashanti sound good together!

For Sylvie's brother, I second the suggestions of Maxim, Felix, Oliver and Sebastian, as well as my original suggestion of Alban.

I'm probably coming at this form a different perspective, I'm not American and I've only heard of the name Barack in the last year. In fact the first time I heard it I thought it was a really tasteless name for an American president- hearing it as Barrack the places where you keep lots of soldiers.To me something like Gunn goes perfectly with Barack.

I'm not overly familliar with African names but Barack seems to have a much harder sound and also sound very Western- no one is going to be looking at it trying to figure out how to pronounce it. How about sibling names to Barack which are African but don't on hearing don't necessarily sound like an African name? The only one I can think of is possibly Zain.

For Kingston Leslie popped straight into my head.

There have been loads of great Slyvie suggestions so I don't have anything to add here.

Regarding Kingston, when it comes to Gwen and Gavin's next child, I would not be surprised if they took a name from the women in rock or punk history books and revived a name like Faye or Gloria/Glory.

As for the name Kingston and his potential siblings, I echo the choices of some other posters and suggest some new ones:

KINGSTON
Sisters: Cairo, Tempest, Dahlia, Nico, Romy, Callisto
Brothers: Rex, West, Rio

It's seems like only a matter of time before hip parents get wind of Cairo. Rex seems a very suitable brother for Kingston and I could easily see this name becoming a hit after seeing a Rex on the UK's current Big Brother.

As for Sylvie, it's one of my absolute favorite names and I had no trouble finding her siblings. I also echoed some other poster's choices and gave some new ones:

SYLVIE
Sisters: Cleo, Tess, Amelie, Suzette, Eulalie
Brothers: Leo, Remy, Noel, Felix, Max, Milo, Zane, Zeke

Barack is giving me some trouble, though. Will get back to you on that one.

Sister for Barack: Zaria

(I had an African American student by this name, loved her and loved the name. It is simple, dignified, easy to spell... I want to encourage the world to use it!)

Barack:
Boys: Dante, Adrian, Griffen, Isaac, Orlando
Girls: Luca, Matea, Carmen, Leona, Nadia

Kingston:
Boys: Conrad, Dorian, Philip, Henry, Wesley
Girls: Delilah, Carrignton, Samanatha, Lorelei, Dagny

Sylvie:
Boys: Raphael, Ryan, Marcus, James, Cristof
Girls: Emily, Macy, Fiona, Shelby, Gemma

That's Carrington and Samantha (stupid typos)

These names came to me practically in my sleep so I decided to post them. I see that several have already been posted, so in that case I second them:

Brothers for Barack: Nelson, Elijah, Gabriel

Sister for Barack: Maya

Brothers for Kingston: Eddy, Nelson, Charles

Brother for Sylvie: Luc

Sister for Sylvie: Simone

Kingston's sister Honor?
The tricky thing with Kingston is that it is not up the charts yet. I think the parent using it now isn't a "place name" parent. Gwen did what so many parents want to do. She picked a name that is distinctive, but not "weird", not just, well, a word (hey, I can think of words that aren't used as names, too!), that seems right as a name. It has the "why didn't I think of that?" factor. I am decidely unhip, so I actually found Kingston really tough. But I still like Bronwell from my list.

The first thing that came into my mind for Kingston's sister is Savannah.

Langston could be a good brother for Barack or Kingston. And I love Claudine as a sister for Sylvie.

I know a little Sylvie with brothers Bennett and Elliott. They always seemed to go together well for me. Sylvie doesn't sound as French to me as a Luc does and so I think goes fine with some other ethnicities.

I like the idea of Imani as a sister to Barack.

Wow. That was another fun one. Barack was really hard, but I came up with Sisters: Nima, Aliyah, Indira, Kiara, Amira, Brothers: Omar, Gabriel, Noah, Malik, Kareem (my favs, Nima & Kareem)
Kingston was a little easier, although the boys stumped me. Sisters: Lucea, Mandeville, Marley, Cedella, Harlowe Brothers: Montego, Royal, Maximillian, August, Montgomery (my favs, Harlowe & Montgomery-nn Monte)
Sylvie was the easiest, probably because the names are closer to my style. Sisters: Opal, Minnie, Tessa, Louisa, Amelia, Brothers: Leo, Max, Julian, Luc, Theo (my favs, Opal & Leo)

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought Hillary as a sister to Barack. Because, honestly, my first thought with brothers to Barack was "Clinton". But I'm not Baby Name Wizard, so I'm pretty sure my gut instincts are severely lacking on the 'matching' front.

Surprisingly I don't have any feelings good or bad for the name Barack. This could have something to do with my being Canadian, and not taking a huge interest in American politics.
For Barack-
Sisters: Aaliyah, Za(h)ra, Karima, Leila, Naima
Brothers: Mohammed, Abdul(lah), Farid, Gamal/Jamal, Hassan

I have decided that Kingston is a lost cause, I can't think of much at all. My associations are with Sean Kingston and Kingston, Jamaica
For Kingston-
Sisters: Not a clue
Brothers: Kent, Hudson... ?

For me Sylvie is a middle-age Québecois name, as Karyn stated. And I work with several who are in their late 40s-late 50s, so I have to admit it sounds dated to me, but I'll attempt to pretend that it's a fresh, new, anglophone name and make suggestions based on that, though I tried to be sure that all the sibling names sound good in French as well as English.
For Sylvie-
Sisters: Linnéa, Natalie, Camille, Coralie, Juliette, Caroline
Brothers: Lucas, William/(Guillaume), Simon, Charles, Oliver/(Olivier)

Can I just say I love Desmond for Kingston's brother--or even Dekker! But maybe I just love Desmond Dekker. I should be listening to some Desmond Dekker right now...

And Karyn's comment about Quebec's Sylvies being middle-aged also caught my eye. The one Sylvie I know is a 40-something mom... from Vietnam, so elsewhere in the Francophone world.

The lesson, I guess, is if you're ever tempted to marvel about an immigrant named Shirley or some other unhip name (sorry for the Shirley fans, just an example from my own family)--remember that a young American named Sylvie might come off as similarly odd in French-speaking places, no?

I want to serve as an example to everyone as to the reason we should all proof-read our posts before we press submit. I am very sorry for such a ridiculous run-on sentence, above.

As a side-note, Sister Melinda, that is a very astute comment about the unhip-Western-name-on-an-immigrant phenomena! I hadn't thought of it like that.

Everyone has such enlightened suggestions! I drew a blank on Barack, but:

Kingston -- Jagger, Talan, Barron
Sheridan, Leighton, London

Sylvie -- Juliet, Celia, Therese, Elodie
Pierrot, Tristan, Noel

love the suggestion of Violet for Sylvie and India for Kingston -- Perfect!

On another note, I'd like some input on a naming question. I'm expecting my first child. If it's a girl, the name is set -- Margaret(nn Meg). If it's a boy, I'm leaning toward Owen. But our ln starts with "N." Does the double "n" break a cardinal naming rule? TIA

Mine are partly pilfered from other people, partly not. Mainly gut reaction rather than any logic as such (least logic, as you will see, went into deciding Barack's siblings):

Kingston
sisters: Guinevere, Charlotte, Eleanor, Josephine, Sapphire
brothers: Orfeus, Max, Conrad, Caleb, Seamus

Barack
sisters: Zamira, Malindi, Maren, Simone, Selma
brothers: Marlon, Kofi, Ramon, Mars, Luther

Sylvie
sisters: Sofia/e, Lucille, Mat(h)ilda/e, Marinella, Sabine
brothers: Mathieu, Sebastian, Leon, Caspian, Florian

Barack:
Sisters- Rosa, Layla, Hope, Malika, Hillary :)
Brothers- Lincoln, Kenya, Mandela, Chinua (also means blessing), Khalfani (leader)

Kingston
Sisters- London, Poppy, Bex, Isla, Calypso
Brothers- Truman, Cheyenne, Asher, Roman, Cal

Sylvie:
Sisters- Josephine, Eloise, Amelie, Gigi, Claire
Brothers- Blaise, Hugo, Christophe, Adrian, Luc

For Barack I was all over the place: namesakes, Swahili names, virtue names. He was definitely the hardest.
For Kingston, mostly place names or names with that "I'm a cool mom" feel and short, catchy nicknames.
For Sylvie, non-aggressively French names or the French spellings of popular English names (and Hugo for Victor Hugo)