The Baby Name Wizard

How Bad? Well it would be ok. If she really! likes it. BUT tell her to holler any 3 of those names up the stairs and see how much she wishes they were not all the same-ish. As cute tiny babies, not a big deal. When you start calling for them, they become one big "luglomasoRIA" tryin to get the right -ia to answer.

Eimi, I really, really dislike all the names ending in the same later. Much more than all the names starting with the same letter, even! (Though I don't love that either...Duggars). I'd dislike a sibset of Owen, Logan, Simon, and Martin, just as much. Something about it just grates terribly for me.

So I'm profoundly pleased to hear she's (potentially) abandoning the multiple end-in-a scheme.

Lucia, Clara, Adrienne and Adele/Elodie/Camille are all lovely.

Sigh. Ending with the same letter, not later (even if it does come later).

As a card-carrying Disneyphile I feel the need to point out that the character in The Lion King is called Mufasa, not Mustafa.

None of the major Disney cartoons had notable characters named Mustafah, although apparently there was a minor character (voiced by John Ratzenberger) in Ratatouille.

Okay, I've finally read through all the comments.

I'm pretty torn on sibling names for Barack. But for Kingston and Sylvie, I came up with a few. (I tried to include only the ones that hadn't already been mentioned)

Kingston:
B: Sullivan, Beckett, Hudson, Truman, Harris, Monroe, Brooks, Jagger
G: Harper, Tierney, Tatum

Sylvie:
B: ??? Louis?
G: Ffion, Margot, Eugenie, Emeline, Leona, Aurelie, Esme

Karyn--d'oh! You're right! And now I remember that the other kids teased little Mustafa by calling him the Lion King (that movie was in theaters at the time), and I think sometimes they also called him Mufasa. I like Mustafa a lot better, somehow.

Additional suggestions:

Kingston's bro: York, Marshall, Donner, Everest, Memphis

Kingston's sis: Alexandria, Lisbon

Barack's sis: Salome, Naomi, Aisha
Barack's bro: (I like many of the suggestions made but wanted to add) Ismael

Whoops! Karyn, thanks for the correction on The Lion King... sorry for the misinformation! It's been quite a while since I've seen that movie...

A random Barack point--I'm one person who considered using Barack as a middle name back in early 2004. I had just returned from 2 years in Tanzania, knew several Barakas and loved the meaning. What little was really known about Obama at that time just led me to think that it wouldn't be so unusual that it would freak people (relatives) out. So Gabriel Barak/a was a name I considered seriously.

And then I had a girl. :shrug:

Now its too attached to Obama for me to use. I want my homage names to be for dead people (as in DH's favorite Edison). well... or really old ones since I'm still pushing for Edward Mandela.

Eimi-- I have to agree with the others-- four names ending in "--a", to me have a monotony to them. One or two-- fine. She is considering some lovely, not-overly-matching BUT congruent names. Please report the finalists when they occur!

another amy-- Waiting until name inspirations are dead seems like a very sound idea. As someone said a while back-- perhaps it was you-- living people can disappoint, and can even end up "sullying" or spoiling a name for you forever.
But a historical individual has his or her life laid out from beginning to end for examination. My guess is you'd be very safe with both Edison and Mandela...Unless there's some revisionist biographer waiting in the wings with terrible news about them!

The person needn't be a ne'er-do-well to spoil the name. As you say, a name can become too attached to one person to be used with comfort. Before Gwyneth Paltrow became famous, I had settled on "Gwyneth" as my all-time favorite Welsh name, one I would definitely use for a girl. Still would, if only there were enough other prominent Gwyneths to "neutralize" the impact of one VERY famous one.

The problem is my tier of second favorites-- Phoebe, Sibyl, Eliza, Cerys, Olwen, Eden, Pheasant, Charity, etc. don't QUITE rise to the level of my first fine rapture over "Gwyneth"!

I looked at the first few responses only, so there are a couple from there I agree with. Here are my picks.

Barack
brothers: Isaiah
sisters: Nahla, Ayla, Naima

Sylvie
brothers: Julien, Oliver, Lucien,
sisters: Elodie, Beatrice, Cecily, Celestine

Kingston
brothers: Maxim, Maddox, Rafferty
sisters: Skye, Liberty, Phoenix

After percolating through my slow brain for the last few days...

Sylvie's brothers: Louis, Bernard, Edgar, Frederick and Hal. Theo and Hugo are great fits, but they've got cheerleaders aplenty. Louis, Bernard and Edgar are names which, like Sylvie, work equally well in french and english, and all still feel a little musty in English and a little middle-aged in French. Except Louis, which is 90s Brit, but I'll just ignore that. Frederick (like Theo and Hugo) is already quite fashionable in the UK, and sits well with Sylvie's mix of tradition and style. Hal was the first one that came to mind, because it's just a shade different from Gus, which fits wonderfully with Sylvie but has the full name problem (Gustav and Angus don't really work, the former too fussy and the latter too Aussie/Scots/beefy. Though Sylvie and Angus "Gus" grows on me), while Hal's options of Henry/Harry/Harold are thoroughly in keeping with Sylvie. Wilfrid also comes to mind, but doubt it would work in the US and it's rhymey with Sylvie. Still, Sylvie and Wilf "go" together in an upper-crusty way (OT: did anyone come up with a definition for that line seperating stylish from gimmicky?). Wilfrid's an English name, but Wilfrid Laurier was Canada's first Francophone PM, so it has that quebecois flavour to my anglo ear.

Kingston and Barack- still haven't a clue, though I do see the logic in siblings like Mandela, Martin, Luther, Rosa and Hope for Barack. I just don't know anyone who has actually named a child for a living political figure, nor do I have an immediate sense of how politics works in the US. Besides which, there's not been a political phenomenon like Obama in US politics in a generation or more, so predicting the effect on naming patterns is going to be difficult.

Blythe, I love Sylvie and Frederick. Good call.

On the quads, I completely agree with staying away from rhyming names. My bro and I have rhyming names and we were always J-Kim and K-Jim. Bleh!

I love some of the suggestions so far. Those, plus my own--Lucia, Cora/Coralie, Delphine, Amelie, Claire/Clara, Adele, Beatrice.

I agree with the others regarding names for the quads. I'd steer clear of having all names end in the same letter/sound. With four there's such a wealth of options, your friend shouldn't have trouble finding names to suit her. Please do post the final choices!

Regarding the Quads-

Lucia is very pretty. So are Gloria, Maria, Sofia, and Nadia. But having four people of the exact same age who will live in the same house for about two decades will be interesting by itself. Each kid having a three syllable name that ends in "ia" just seems like a complication. Unless these are the only names in the whole world that the parents can agree on, some variation would be good.

Since it sounds like Lucia is a keeper for the mom, here are some other ideas.

Gloria OR Maria for one of the others would be nice if they like it.

Glorianna, Marie, Mary, Molly, Sophie, Sonya, and Nadine are variations of the cutesy pattern names.

Some that might round out Lucia and maybe Gloria are-

Anne
Claire/Clara
Sol
Elinor
Beatriz/Beatrice
Alice
Josephine/a
Genevieve
Veronica
Charlotte

Mixing up the number of syllables in the girls names might make them seem less like a set.

Clara, Lucia, Veronica, and Glorianna all end in "a" but are pronounced differently enough that they do seem like they could belong to individuals.

For what it's worth, I think the best combo is Lucia, Claire, Elinor, and Beatrice. But I really hope I would never have to choose four baby names ate once.

Make that "at once", please.
Overdependence on spell check is Bad!

Yes, Eo, there are a community of Welsh-speaking people in Patagonia (Chubut province). Fabulous!

Baby names at birthday party:

Felix, Ronan, Merritt and Sutton.

We're only producing boys this year around here. Griffin sure seems to fit into the neighborhood more than Ned! Grouch that I am, it makes me want to pick Ned.

Barack, seriously:

Political sisters: Indira, Benazir, Viveca, Zinaida, Thabita, Lucinda, Agathe, Noor, Vigdis, Emine, Makea, Chandrika, Safia, Vibeke, Oriana, Milka, Golda (of these I think Indira and Chandrika sound the best matches - maybe the r sound does it, but none of them are bad)

Stylisical sisters: Akila, Amina, Amri, Halima, Johari, Maisha, Malaika, Malika, Subira (swahili names, of these I think Malaika is the best match)

Political brothers: Thabo, Biko, Kader, Kofi, Jozua (none of these make a great match although Biko sounds good with Barack - looking for female figures in politics is an easier name search job)

Stylistical brothers: Hakim, Jalil, Jabar (none of these capture what I think is cool about Barack - it doesn't look or sound like a standard "black name" but has cool meaning and strong sound to it, setting it apart from these)

Eimi, thanks for letting us be a part of this exciting quadruplet naming opportunity! I can't wait to hear what she decides. When are the babies due?

By the way, I heard Angelina had her twin girls today. No names yet - I am dying to find out!

Valerie, thanks, I love thinking of those Welshmen in Patagonia! Presumably now they're fluid Spanish-speakers as well. Funny, about the Welsh. I actually think there was once a (probably-by-now-discredited) theory that they made it to North America, pre-Columbus...

Baby Name Wizard of The Year: What are Angelina's twins? No clue from this humble layman!

Whew... it took me a while to do them all. The ones I think really work the best get a star.

Barack:

Girls:
Leezza* (like condoleezza rice)
Zora*
Zaria
Rosa
Sojourner

Boys:
Tiger***
Hendrix
Langston
Mandela*
Malcolm

Kingston:

Girls:
Margot
Kennedy
Phoebe
Skye*
Stella

Boys:
Axel*
Quentin
Gavin*
Jett
Dexter

Sylvie:

Girls:
Willa
Giselle
Elise*
Claire
Meryl

Boys:
Leopold*
Luc*
Hugo
Henri
Milo

I just checked Us Weekly's site and they say her hospital reports no birth yet for Angelina. I heard her elective C-section was for mid-July so it should be any day now.

Angelina update

I've read that she had her twins and it's a boy and a girl.

Boy - Knox Leon (this would match the ongoing x theme in the boys names).

Girl - Vivienne Marcheline (Marcheline was widely predicted after her mum).

Not sure how true it all is given she was supposed to be having two girls. Vivienne certainly seems a more 'normal' choice for the Jolie-Pitts and is in keeping with the French theme many posters were predicting.

Brother for Kingston: Hamilton (capital of Bermuda, surname feel to the name)

Some may see siblings Kingston and Hamilton as an ode to Ontario...

Suggestions for the quadruplets, to go nicely with Lucia and "travel well":

Beatrice

Helene

Francesca

Astrid

Marina

Vivien

Carine

Serena

Lenore

Catalina

On the topic of sib sets, I wanted to ask for opinions from some of you NEs. I have twin boys, Hayden John and Koen David. I am due with another baby this October. We've decided (I decided, dh reluctantly went along) not to learn the gender ahead of time, so we must come up with boy and girl possibilities. I am having an especially difficult time coming up with boy names.
If anyone has suggestions for boy or girl names that fit well with my sons' names, I'd love to hear them!

Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline are what I've heard, too - on the BBC and Sky. Can't say I like Knox - apart from the unappealing (to me) sound, a family with Maddox, Pax and Knox is too much. I suppose it's nice, though, that there's a unifying theme across sons biological and adopted. I'm surprised at Vivienne; seems a very different style to Zahara and Shiloh.

Which brings me to the discussion on Lucia, Maria, Sofia and Gloria. Actually, the one thing that stuck out to me was the different rhythm of Gloria (or Nadia); the others are accented on the "EE-a" part. If push came to shove, I'd actually rather name all four girls with the same stress pattern, than have the almost tongue-twisting Lucia-Maria-Gloria-Sofia string. I'd also shy away from naming them with four completely different styles - I'm reminded of how little kids invariably fight over just one of the different little presents you've brought them all, down to the colour of a chocolate wrapper. I've learnt to bring all the kids from the same family/group the same presents, and by the same philosophy I won't be naming one girl Parker and the next Arabella...

Barack's real-life sibling is named Maya. I think it's a perfect match.

Well now I get to giggle. "Knox" appears in Dr. Seuss' "Fox in Sox". When reading to my son, I thought it would be a great name for today's namers who like last names and the letter X. Now we know that Brad and Angelina read to their kids!

Late breaking sister for Sylvie - Vivienne!

Actually, if we'd had a girl, Vivian was on our list, as we were a little afraid of Violet and like the letter V.

Megan,

Knox is a family name on Brad's side. I believe it's his grandfather's middle name.

Well, "Knox Leon" and "Vivienne Marcheline". I'm amazed again at the insightful NE's who had predicted another name ending in "x"! You succeeded in getting inside the collective Brangelina mind. (Now don't forget to come out again...)

You're right, Lucie la Morena, "Vivienne" with its more classical style does seem out of place in the clan. Plus, Vivian/Vivien/Vivienne have become increasingly stylish in yuppie precincts-- which I would think the Jolie-Pitts would scorn.
Wonder if it could be a family name?

I prefer the -ian and -ien spellings. Perhaps one of the things that ties all the girls' names together is, for lack of a better word, an ornate-ness? They seem a bit fussy to me, whereas the boys' names are more blunt.

"Knox Leon" is interesting. Of course, the most prominent historical Knox is John Knox, the Scottish Protestant reformer, of "Knox Presbyterian" fame. The Jolie-Pitts have given no indication that they are keepers of HIS flame. And "Leon", for some reason, reminds me of either a prize-fighter, or a struggling WPA playwright to the masses. The juxtaposition with the more austere "Knox" is surprising...

Sorry, Mara, didn't see your info till after I posted!

I think all the Xs are a little much, but I it's a nice way to tie all the boys together. I'd hope if there are more male Jolie-Pitts in the offing, they might move away from the X, though.

I agree Vivienne is a departure from the other girls' names, and seems very girly when paired with Marcheline (although I understand the reason for choosing that as the mn). Maybe they'll call her Vivi or Viv, which might match with Shiloh and Zahara a bit more.

Question: Is Vivienne pronounced differently than Vivian? I'd be inclined to say Vivienne more like vi-vi-EN, rather than vi-vi-en (I'm not even sure where the stress would be on my typical pronunciation of Vivian -- somewhere in the first 2 syllables).

Checking in while waiting for a contractor to call.

Re: rumored Jolie-Pitt twin names.
Knox first made me think of Fort Knox. It does fit with the other X names for the boys. Maybe we are supposed to be reminded how valuable children are?
Leon could be a family name like Marcheline.

Vivienne definitely seems very French. It does seem a little more old fashioned than Zahara or Shiloh, but the (possible) nn Viv fits in pretty well with Z and Shi.

Also, while Vivienne does sound very feminine and frilly, the name Angelina does too.

Vivienne Marcheline is a beautiful name. And if I recall correctly, back when the rumor floated around that she was considering Isla or Amelie, several of our NEs here were a bit concerned, as those were some of their favorites. Rejoice! Your names are saved!

I wonder if they'll call her "V" to go with Zahara's "Z." Probably Viv or Vivi (my choice) as others have predicted.

Knox is...nms. Not really a way to abbreviate that one either, is there? Just like Pax. It's very hard-sounding, somewhat hard to say. Oh well, they had their reasons. The boys' names are much more stylistically consistent than the girls: short, strong, untraditional names that end in x.

Now, going forward, I can see Vivienne receiving quite a boost from this. It's a V name, which is a popular letter, familiar to most people, but somewhat out of favor/out of fashion. And it's not as strongly tied to *one* child as Shiloh or Suri or Kingston or Apple (or even Violet, which I believe is doing better than ever). I can picture a mother flipping through an US Weekly and thinking, "Vivienne. What a pretty name. I'll add it to the list."

Sort of the way Isabella took off. Back in the '90s it seemed like every celebrity was naming their daughter Isabella (the Cruises, Sylvester Stallone, and several others). And now see where that took us.

I also have always pronounced Vivienne as Viv-ee-ENN, as compared to Vivian as VIV-ee-en.

I think Pax was the first kid the couple adopted together (Jolie already had Maddox on her own). If so, and if Knox was a family name for Pitt, why wasn't Pax named Knox to begin with?

I am surprised they went the "x" route again, as it is not only repetitive and unimaginative-seeming, but sets the girls apart in their very variety. It's hard for me to choose a least-favorite from this clan (Vivienne and Zahara are the only two I care for), but I'd have to say Knox and Shiloh are at the bottom of my all-time "Names I Can Tolerate" list.

Then again, Arbutis is one of my own favorites. Nobody said personal taste was consistent.

FWIW, I think French-inspired names for Sylvie's male sibling sound way too cutesy. I could see naming my own daughter Sylvie and my son is George, so I think Elisabeth is right on! I'd see Sylvie with brothers Henry, Max or Charles. Or it could go maybe a bit more trendy but on the side of the "new traditionals" like Ronan and Gabriel. I could see Sylvie having girl siblings Anabel, Julia, Sophie, Claire etc. or again a little more unusual but still traditional like Audrey. The names I personally most like for girls right now are Adele and Camille, so maybe those are good suggestions too!

I'm not as comfortable with Barack and Kingston because they aren't in the style that is popular around me, but I think you've gotten great suggestions! I know a woman named Zulehka -- very pretty. I agree that Malia works nicely too. I don't like the homage names as much for matches. Would people really name their kids like that? Kingston to me would definitely have trendy sibs like Isla and Indigo! AK also seemed right on with names like Reese and Harper.

I don't think this particular challenge is meant to identify names that would sound good in sibling sets - rather, the way that I understand Laura's "sibling names" to work is more along the lines of "if you like X, you might also like Y." So, for instance, while I can totally see a real-life sib-set of Kingston and Isla, I don't think they're the same style. But Kingston and Indigo, yes.

Although many suggestions would sound way too cutesy or matchy if given to siblings (and others, of course, would sound lovely) they would work very well for parents who love a particular name but can't use it for some reason. To my understanding, they're alternates (not necessarily companions) in the same style.

Some possibilities for Kingston?:

Harlowe
London
Presley
Scarlett

Boys:
Langston (I think this works here better than with Barak, but then I tend to emphasize style)
Hudson
Romeo
Royston

As someone who loves the name Sylvie, I want to say that some of you have made very good recommendations! I submitted a list earlier with some of the (to me) most obvious choices (elodie et al) but I want to mention that I think Frederick and
Margot are inspired and spot on!

And I have one to add: Eugenie

I hear Knox is Brad's grandfather's middle name and Leon and Angelina's great-grandfather's name. Vivienne does sound a bit mainstream for her, but another poster somewhere pointer out that Vivienne means "live, alive" and thus the namesake is "Live Marcheline" which I thought was very touching.

Wow pointed, not pointer. Must re-read things before I post them.

I wonder if the name Vivienne has anything to do with seminal British punk designer Vivienne Westwood. That was my first thought when I saw the name.

Also, Rosie has a young daughter named Vivienne too.

Oops.. Rosie O'Donnell specifically.

re: sibs for Hayden John and Koen David

Brothers-
Evan Charles (even tho they all have the /n/, I like the combination or the 3)
Max Alexander
Connor William
Cooper Daniel
Parker Christopher
Micah Robert

Sisters-
Sydney Renee
Zoe Christine
Leila Catherine
Shelby Grace
Daisy Elizabeth
Lilianna Faith

Trish, thanks for the ideas! I will have to dwell on them a bit.

Well, having been off the boards for a long while (my dd had tonsils out on the 9th) I had a lot to catch up on. When I think of Barack I think a few things;1)ultra-trendy 2)African/American or Swahili or something origins 3)if the child was not of this descent I might think political or just plain "different". With those feelings in mind, I would similar names to what others have suggested: Malik, Mahalia, Martin, Aaliyah, etc. I also think Kingston and Barack might be siblings of each other because they are hip/different. Yet, OTOH they don't really go together because Kingston seems to lean more towards the Aidan et al generation than does Barack. Barack's parents to me would have strong sense of self and values (whatever they might be regardless of political slant), yet Kingston's parents seem very carefree easy-going yet trendy/hip. Hope that made sense! So if it were my book:
Barack: see above, Jamal
Kingston: Marley, Geniviere(sp?), Winston, Wesley, Riley, Rhiannon, Carter, Sebastien, Bridget Penelope, Piper, Jamaica, Dexter
Sylvie: seems french, dated yet "why not"
Riley, Hugo, Francois/Frances, Ruth, Amelie, Lucian, Bruno, Caroline, Bridget, Graham, Henry, etc.