The Baby Name Wizard

Jessica, no harm done and no offense taken!

The problem with offering sibsets in general is that inevitably, there will be someone who named their first kid something for a different reason than the sibsets offered. People gave the example of Kingston: a parent might have named their first kid Kingston because it had never occurred to them before Stefani, and now that she used it, it seems new and exciting (call this the "celebtrendy" namer, if you will).

But Laura may be offering sibsets based on names that are city-place names with connections to a global South culture (i.e. Cairo or Jakarta). The parent might go, "huh!" and scratch their heads, because they had been considering Pax, Jayden, and Honor as siblings.

But this is probably an unsolveable problem--I mean, we DO want sibsets in the Wizard, but the book can't grow to be encyclopedia-sized. So choices--like Laura's to emphasize Barack's non-Hebrew derivation--will have to be made, I suppose.

Even though these have already been suggested, I wanted to second the following:

Naima as a sister to Barack
Conrad as a brother to Kingston
Lucie as a sister to Sylvie

Okay, I posted without reading any other suggestions. Amazing how many of us thing alike.

Catherine, I can't believe we independently came up with Calypso for Kingston. Or maybe I can believe it.

Nina, I laughed out loud when I came to Toots on your list! (I hope that's not anyone's child's name).

And obviously others had the same Rosa Parks and Hillary ideas I did. Sigh, that's the problem with posting the next day.

I have a second cousin named Sylvie (she must be a teenager by now) from Belgium with a brother named Pierre. I would be interested to know what the relationship is between naming trends in francophone Europe and Quebec. Sylvie is very French sounding to me, so I would agree with those who have suggested French names that are relatively easy to say in English - Sebastien, Marc, Gabriel, Luc, Felix, Xavier.

My immediate associations with Kingston are very different from the ones featured prominently here - I spend a significant part of my childhood in the Hudson Valley, so the most natural pairing I can think of would be "Poughkeepsie." Not exactly what Ms. Stefani was thinking, I imagine. ;)

And a big thank you to everyone who posted "Calypso". It was the name of a student I have been racking my brain to remember.

This is a fun question!

For Barack-
Since Barak is a name in the old testament perhaps some other names from the same would work.
For boys-
Abel,
Ezekiel,
Ephraim,
Elon,
Ezra.
For girls-
Adina,
Tirzah,
Keturah,
Helah, pronounced Hel-AYE, like the ER character),
Maryam or Miriam,
Sela.

For Kingston I would try to match the feeling I get from the place name so,
For Boys-
Cyan,
Rio,
Ari.
For Girls-
Oceane (French, O-say-ann),
Joy,
Nerissa (sea spirit),
Iona,
Odessa,
Azure or Azura.

For Sylvie, the first name that came to mind was Vincent (as in Van Gogh and sunflowers and French Impressionism.)
For boys-
Vincent,
Sandro,
Lucas,
Claude,
Alan,
Julian,
Noel,
Victor.

For girls-
Annette,
Thalia,
Adele,
Helen,
Juliet,
Violet.

Now i have to go back and read everyone else's ideas!

For me, Barack doesn't really fit with many of the African names suggested. I know that there are some parents who will use the name for the afro-connection or Muslim connection, but for me the name is 95% political. I thought the suggestions for Coretta were very astute. Coretta evokes images of strength, resolve, purpose, determination and perseverance. Those characteristics match really well with Barack. Oprah is too identified with a single person (ala Madonna or Cher). Which is kind of ironic since who else can we imagine when we hear Barack? Or Coretta? What makes some 'owned' names okay to use and others not okay?

Condoleeza does not have the depth of Coretta to match. Madeleine might though (ala Madeleine Albright). To me, the name Hillary (and Condoleeza for that matter) is too polarizing, while Barack and Coretta are about ooming *together*. I think Mandela is a complimentary choice as is Nelson. Girl names are hard though. What other feminine names speak of unity and triumph, strength and perseverance? Martha (Washington)? Rosa is probably pretty good though not as singular of an association. What about Theresa (as in Mother Theresa)?

I don't know what the origin of Nia was, but I liked it as a fit. Perhaps its appeal is exactly that I *don't* know what the origin is? Until I read it here I had no idea what the origin of Barack was. Straight froward sound, easy to spell, kinda exotic...

Can't wait to see the final lists...

LOL - 'ooming' should have been 'coming' in my previous post.

New baby born yesterday to my husband's co-worker: Emmanuel Celestino last name.

Sarah, I loved your take on the name Piper. For the first time, I actually kind of like it!

Re: Barack. Here are several suggestions I believe have not yet been mentioned, although I may very have missed a few posts:

Sethe (from Beloved)
Cory (for Cory Booker)
Booker (for Cory Booker and Booker T. Washington)
Celie (from The Color Purple)
Edwidge (for Edwidge Danticat)
Achebe (for Chinua Achebe)

I also second -- or fifth or tenth, it seems like -- the "Zora," "Maya," and "Coretta" suggestions.

(Oh, and for the record, my cousin's newborn twins are named Helen and Francis.)

Here are my sibling set suggestions. Some have been mentioned already.

Kingston:
Sisters: Marley, Phoenix, Kiley, Presley, Maia
Brothers: Maximus, Sterling, Prince, Maverick, Jagger

Sylvie:
Sisters: Beatrix, Claire, Tessie, Helene, Margot, Merit
Brothers: Adrian, Julian, Luc, Felix, Oliver

Barack:
Sisters: Dalila, Jamila, Mandisa, Zuri, Kamilah
Brothers: Nasor, Omari, Maalik, Hakim, Umar

Sigh. One of the (many) reasons I turn to name blogs is to get away from the collective political swoon over Sen. Obama by the elite media. Oh well, here's the perspective of a non-Obama fan:

Sibs: Jamal, Ahmed, Hakeem, Abdul, Leila, Zenobia, Ayasha, Jamila

However, as one who rejects "identity" politics, I see Mr. Obama primarily as a standard, if well-packaged, leftist politician, in the bland Euro-socialist tradition, far more than I do his ethnic or religious heritage. Therefore, I would say his siblings SHOULD be like-minded heroes of the left and near left:

Sibs: Che, Walter (Mondale), Fidel, Michael (Dukakis or Moore), Breyer (for Stephen Breyer), Bader (for Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Emma (for Goldman), Red Ken, (for Livingston), etc.

Couldn't help having a little fun with that... But my point remains completely serious that for me it is his (somewhat disguised) ideology which is the salient factor determining compatible siblings.

Kingston could bring to mind Canada as well as Jamaica. Kingston, Ontario is an historic old town with a famous prison. Sibs: Cornwall, Bimini, Roscoe, Folsom...

Sibs for Sylvie: Lucienne, or Lucien, Solange, Gilbert, Jules, Philibert.

Eo - I thought Thurgood would cover both bases. How about Barack and Teddy?

What I find interesting about Kingston is that it is ranked 45 for last year in Hawaii.

In the US it is ranked at 355!

I don't know where it ranks in other states. I would not have guessed that it was a popular name in Hawaii.

Oh, and what about the one name that goes perfectly with Barack? Obama!

CB, thanks for the compliments about my daughter's name.

I love the suggestions of Otto and Hugo for brothers of Sylvie. I am really anxious for the official sibling list!

Also, I just thought of a possible sister name for Barack: Haania (pronounced Hahn-yuh). I loooove this name, I think it's an Arabic name. I also kinda think it has a Scandinavian feel to it with the double vowel?

I was at my daughter's camp open house today and saw two names I thought might work as sisters for a Barack: Zanovia and Zaira. The first was the name of a teenage sister of a 2nd-grade camper. The second was a mom's name.

Love this post! Just wanted to add Hal as a brother for Sylvie, if it's not already been mentioned.

Oh, and if we're going with canada's Kingston, not only home to an (in)famous prison, but Queen's University, a historic military base and nearly the capital of Canada, I'll add Halifax, Dalhousie, McGill and York as brothers. Or sisters.

At first, I couldn't think of anything for Barack, but after seeing momtochuck's reply, I thought Boaz might make a good sibling name. I also agree that Coretta might be nice for a sister's name.

As for Kingston and Sylvie, some of these are repeats or taken from other people's suggestions, but here's what I think are good matches (not necessarily for each other, but for Kingston or Sylvie, at least).

Kingston:
-Brothers: Thatcher, Royal, Croix, Maddox, Raleigh, Riley
-Sisters: Adelaide, Daisy, Chelsea, Amelie, Charlotte

Sylivie:
-Brothers: Remy, Marc, Felix, Milo, Philip
-Sisters: Claire, Amelie, Sophie, Lettie, Valerie

oh, and whomever suggested Condoleesa as a sib for Barack... I think that would only work if one parent was a staunch Democrat and the other was a rabid Republican. I can't imagine a person who would admire both of them to the point of wanting to name a child after each!

Peace

A postscipt to my musings above on mentions of certain political names:

The name Barack Hussein Obama has become almost a mantra in the liberal media, and for liberals in general. To be repeated adoringly, almost every 20 seconds, it seems, especially on MSNBC! Of course, it's much harder for my heroes to get other than bored, dutiful mentions in this environment. So, I'll rectify that now!

Sib sets for John Sidney McCain:

Peter, William, James, Henry
Mary, Elizabeth, Anne, Jane

There's a lovely simplicity to these timeless, well-loved names. But, just as I would choose compatible Obama sibling names based on his primary characteristic, leftism, I would choose McCain sibling names that evoke this former prisoner of war's courage and self-sacrifice.

True sibs for McCain:

Winston (as in Churchill), Joan or Jeanne (as in d'Arc), Reagan (as in "Ronaldus Magnus"), David (as in he who faced Goliath), Abraham (as in Lincoln), Theodore or Teddy (as in Roosevelt, CB, NOT Kennedy!), Audie (as in Murphy), Martin (as in Luther King), Esther (as in the Biblical heroine who charmed her sovereign), Patrick (as in Henry).

Sisters for Kingston

Lola/Lulu/Lolo
Sailor
Sapphire or Emerald
Avalon
Sienna

My take on folks picking this name is that they want something that seems a little "rock star," without being too risky-names that maybe aren't run of the mill but have sounds reminiscient of more usual names.
Were it not for the notoriety attached to it, I would have suggested Paris.
I also wouldn't be at all surprised to meet a Kingston with a sister named something like Bailey or Riley. Others I thought of were Seneca and Larkin.
I also agree with the pp that Kingston reminds me of Maddox.
The Maddox I know irl has a brother named Lachlan, and his mom considered Lennox.
I could easily imagine Lachlan or Lennox as brothers to a Kingston.

Amani is a Swahili girl name from Kenya. That would work as a sister to Barack.

Coll, my placement of Toots of my list is a reference to the legendary reggae/ska band, Toots and the Maytals. I believe Toots' real name is Frederick, but I was just trying to echo a vibe with some of my names rather than being completely proper. Hence the Jimmy (homage to Jimmy Cliff),Ziggy and, on a later post, Eddy (remember Eddy Grant?). And there are so many cool Johnnys I decided to throw him in as well. Other nicknames such as Teddy and Billy would be in the same vein.

I agree with Joni that the name Barack is largely political rather than African. But when I began looking at African name lists I was so moved I got a bit carried away. Just seeing that Abidemi means "born during father's absence" in Yoruba gave me more than pause.

Peace, I love the suggestion of Serafina as Barack's sister. And Mara, do you think Sylvie's sisters Cleo and Eulalie could perhaps join Kingston's household as well?

Does anyone besides me see the elephant in the room? I wish I could do spoiler tags so no one had to look unless they so chose. But I can't, so here it is: Hussein.

How about Gloria as a sister to Barack? There are subtle political connections (Steinem) and it's a name that seems to me to be used by both blacks and whites.

For Sylvie, I like Amelie as a sister. For a brother, Arthur?

Wow, Eo, you seem to be the one injecting politics into an innocent, nonpartisan discussion of names. Obama's primary characteristic is leftism? Sure, about as much as McCain's is conservatism. Be fair now.

Please keep from turning this into something political. Barack is a much more unusual name that John (McCain). It is far more difficult to find something that matches. That's why Laura asked, I believe.

For every post about the "elite media" there will then be one about the only 3 companies that own media organizations that are just out to make a buck and are in the GOP's pocket.

For every Obama's brother could be Fidel comparison, we can then read that a good John sibling name would be Tomas, as in Torquemada the torturer. Or James, Earl or Ray since McCain was opposed to making Martin Luther King Day a holiday in 1983.

If anyone wants that can't they go to one of the several billion political blogs?
Otherwise, just concentrate on the subject at hand instead of mudslinging.

When I first posted (yesterday) I resisted my first impulse to name as Sylvie's brothers those French double names that were so popular in the 60s: Jean-Claude, Jean-Paul, Jean-Luc, Jean-Pierre, Jean-Joel...

...they eventually won the tug of war, so voila!

Eo - while I feel your pain, I have to say the Barack sibling set offers a very difficult problem. Is the parent choosing it doing so because they like the style of that name and find the cultural reference pleasant, but not all important? In that case we go with other names from that language. Or are they directly honoring Barack Obama, in which case they need other highly distinctive names that honor people.
So while I am a little bored by Barack Obama, I find this challenge very interesting!

I third the requests to keep this conversation about names and not politics, left, right, or center.

Kingston & Admiral
Kingston & Havana (?)

how about the other elephant in the room: Barack & Osama. As far as I'm aware, Osama is still a regular name for regular people. Is there an Arabic language name voyager?

I will respectfully point out that only AFTER political names have been injected into this blog, have I responded. Senator Obama has been introduced several times; back when Senator Clinton was the presumptive liberal standard-bearer, she wss introduced as well. I have noticed that scoldings rarely occur at the introduction of such figures. Partisanship is in the eye of the beholder, in my view.

Personally, I can only reiterate that, for news and politics, I do look elsewhere. This blog is reserved for fun! But I well understand that certain political personalities hold great fascination for some. And that's fine! But given our diversity, some people will have opposite reactions to the individuals and/or their names mentioned. I cheerfully exercise the prerogative of expressing mine...

What's interesting to me is this: once topics like Senators Obama or Clinton are introduced, one can't really orchestrate how others will see them, or where it will lead. That's part of the fascination of an on-going blog, I suppose.

Just did a little brushing up on the history of Ska music and I'd like to offer the following suggestions for Kingston:

Brothers: Buster, Duke, Dodd, Reid, Coxsone
Sisters: Ivy, and I love the suggestion of Glory!

Also, though not ska, what about Hendrix?

Nina - I, too, had the impulse to include hyphenated French names as siblings to Sylvie. While I have no idea if they are out of fashion in France, I know that in Quebec they are alive and well... well, they were in the early to mid 1980s when my contemporaries were born.

And tying in with the previous post about cross-gender names, I have always found it strange to encounter (generally middle-aged) men named things like Pierre-Marie. (Although come to think of it, I never think twice about a girl named Marie-Pierre, illustrating again how much more acceptable or usual or whatever it is for a girl to have a boy's name than it is for a boy to have a female name.)

For me, being non-American and almost totally non-political, the name match I immediately thought of was Kofi. I actually know one little Kofi, and have heard of another (both in Western countries).
For Kingston, I think Marley and Calypso match quite well - they have that Jamaican feel without being totally obvious.

Sisters for Kingston...well, any of the Pepperidge Farm cookie names would do. They're mostly famous cities. I like to joke that I will name my kids after PF cookies!

Seriously, here are some ideas inspired by world capitals:
Vienna
PAZ
Athena
Victoria
London
Brazza
Valleta

Liz and Louka (and all the previous posters who said the same)-

I can completely see the sibset: Kingston, Marley and Calypso. And this is coming from the gal who couldn't think of even one girl option for Kingston. I hope at least one of these makes Laura's "List". I can't wait to see the final tally.

Eo, I agree with your point that suggesting names perceived as complementary that happen to have belonged to people WIDELY viewed as "greats"--Susan, Theresa, Desmond, Rosa, Martin, Sojourner--is an implicit statement of parents. The statement it makes is "Barack Obama is, in my mind, amongst the ranks of these widely-lauded and even revered individuals."

I personally am not "a fan" (or supporter) of either Obama or McCain. Further, I am so far the opposite of naming a child after somebody famous--no matter how influential--that I find the idea of naming a kid Barack, Condoleeza, or even Madonna (a comparitively more widespread name in the West) untenable.

But, even given all this, I offered suggestions because I know there ARE people who name like this, and who view Barack in this fashion. When it comes to offering name recommendations, I aim to please, irrespective of my own feelings on the subject!

(Your suggestions for John were, as expected, very good. A bit easier task than Barack or Kingston, though, eh? I don't understand why Sylvie is perceived as being tough to match, but go figure.)

I really like the idea of Marley, but I just don't "feel," the sound of it with Kingston. Also, did anyone else read that book about the World's Worst Dog?
It was super popular for a while, and I think I'm stuck on that association.

Laura and bloggers: A certain proportion of us has expressed a dislike of "matchy" sibling sets. The book did a good job for the most part of not being too matchy, IMO (personally, I have idiosyncratic tolerances for matchy-- all New Testament or Hindu or Old English names would be a nice type of matchy for me, whereas the names of the first six U.S. presidents or The Temptations or three Academy-Award winning-actresses or three different types of flower would feel gimmicky).

Although I love the symmetry and sound of Kingston, Cairo, and Jakarta or Kingston, Marley, and Calypso, I'm very surprised no one has expressed a dislike of their matchy-ness. And I'm surprised these are the types of sibsets Laura would encourage parents to use via the book (I only say that because I suspected Laura might have been one of the anti-matchys, but I wouldn't be surprised to be proved wrong on this count).

What is the line between "congruent, effortlessly blending sibset" and "gimmick?"

Here here Easternbetty! That's exactly what I was thinking with Kingston!
And Eo, I think a similar discussion on the other side of the spectrum wouldn't be John's sibset...It'd be Rush's sibset (being a name that evokes one individual in American culture, being highly charged, and in itself an uncommon American name)

Amusing point, CB! I like!

As usual, Easternbetty, I bow before your wisdom. By the way, in my list of Arabic names was "Zenobia". Love it. It is Arabic, is it not? I thought it was one of those romantic, desert names taken up by the English. Much in the way that "Zara" (also Arabic?) was appropriated by Princess Anne for her daughter, Zara. Seems to me there was a Zenobia Phipps, who I'm associating with the Bloomsbury Group, for some reason?

Zenobia was a 3rd century Syrian queen, ruler of Egypt and the Palmyrene Empire, who lived out her last years in an Italian villa (sweet!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia

Says she was Julia Aurelia Zenobia at birth; in Arabic, she was Znwbya Bat Zaddai; in Greek, Xenobia or Septimia Zenobia. She signed documents as "Bat-Zabbai," or daughter of Zabbai.

Easternbetty, you're probably right. While the Jamaica connection isn't too "obvious" in Kingston, Marley and Calypso individually, it does stick out like a sore thumb when the three are together. I still like them though...

Can I just say the more I think about it the more I'm really falling in love with one of my own suggestions? I think Scarlett and Kingston make a fun and snappy sib set. But maybe that's just me. :)

Easternbelly, I am completely with you on matchy sibling names. I'm not a fan. I tried to stay away from all French sibling names for Sylvie. I though Suzette and Eulalie worked, though. However, naming sisters Sylvie and Simone was a little too matchy for my taste.

As for Kingston - I think it's even MORE ridiculous to try to match it up with another place name or another Jamaican-influenced name. Cairo, however, is a name that I thought would have been snatched up by the lovers of Kaya/Kaia, Kaylee/Kaylen, Kyle, Kyla, etc a long time ago. I can easily see it becoming popular and end up with spin-offs like Kyro.

Aside from Rio and possibly West, I thought my other choices for Kingston's siblings were a bit more realistic. I can easily see a Kingston and Callisto, a Kingston and Tempest, a Kingston and Rex, for example.

AK - I, too, thought of Scarlett for Kingston but because of the popularity of Scarlett Johansson, it seems to have jumped from slightly unusual to nice but commonplace for me. It's the same way I feel about Violet - it's beautiful but becoming more and more common.

oh how fun! Have to really admire some of the recommendations (and steal their best, with some of my own additions thrown in)

Brothers for Sylvie:
(delicate, frenchish names)
Adrien, Felix, Bastien, Emile

Brothers for Kingston:
(punchy, off-beat names)
Jericho, Bronx, Paxton, Berlin, Attila, Mars (Montgomery also cool)

Sisters for Kingston:
(strong, unusual, non-frilly names)
Phoenix, Scarlett, Jamaica, Xenia, Ramona, Dolores, Juno, Avril (Marley's also cool)

Thinking about my association with Kingston, I saw that really what stood out to me was the "King" element of it. So, since I personally would never go with theme naming, I tried to think of a way to incorporate the royal element less obviously than naming Kingston's sister Queenie. In the end, some of the names I came up with sound pretty good with Kingston (to my ear at least, whether or not I would ever really use them myself) and others are less good because they are too different in style. I didn't include the truly awful ones.

Queen:
Raina/Raine/Rayna/Rheanna
Juno (for now also has the pop culture reference)
Rhiannon
Regina/Regine (I think the non-French is better here)
There are also Malka, Lareina, and Rani, among others, but I didn't think that they went too well with Kingston.)

Prince/Princess:
Amira
Sarina (and a huge list of other names derived from Sarah)
Orla/Orlagh/Orlaith (probably too distinctly Irish for Kingston)
Brendan (although past its peak)

King:
Reagan/Regan

I'm sure that there are others but that's what I've got right now. Also, there are conflicts between sites about what means, say, Princess or Queen, but I went with the majority. It doesn't really matter anyway because they both go with the theme.