Ultimate Sibling Names (with middles)
I was inspired to post a link here to a thread from 2008 in which Laura asked us to make a group of siblings (18 kids) with our favorite names. Many of us had a blast listing them often with middle names included. Then someone mentioned listing 18 names of a single letter that we might use on our hypothetical children (a la Duggar style). The thread then became a 9 page encyclopedia of great name lists. For those of you looking for the perfect name or combo, it just might be here:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2008/6/the-ultimate-sibling-naming-challenge
By zoerhenne
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 11:59pm
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 11:59pm
Replies
What a fun read! I can't sit down and read all 9 pages at once, but I'll bookmark it and read a few lists when I'm in need of inspiration. Off to make my own list!
Wow, there's a lot of good stuff in those comments. I wonder, though, how/if some of those lists would change if the same people played today: would the Adeles and Olivias change to some other future top riser/top name? I'm sure the side discussion about Edward being a lot of name for a little boy would not happen the same way, now that we have Twilight.
I don't have time to play right now, in any version (9b/9g or coin toss; any letters, alphabetical, or single initial), but I can tell it'd be hard, for multiple reasons. One, we knew our daughter's name long before she was even conceived, but I still don't know what her name would've been if she'd been a boy. Two, I'm forty; seventeen more is a biological impossibility, unless I go adopt an entire orphanage, in which case I probably wouldn't be choosing all the names. Three, our last name and heritage put some particular restraints on our choices -- I want names that exist in both cultures, but that are easy for English speakers (our primary environment), to make up for the surname.
I like the "rule" about writing the list the way you name children: one at a time, no going back to change a previous name, and choosing each name with the thought that it could be your last. (I'd tweak that last one a bit: it should really only apply after about the 3rd or 4th child.)
Ok--I was up late as my hubby is out of town & I always sleep poorly when he's gone.
Alphabetical:
Alexander/Amelia
Benjamin/Bronwyn
Christopher/Charlotte
Donovan/Daphne
Edward/Eleanor
Ferguson/Felicia
Grant/Gabrielle
Henry/Helena
Ian/Ivy
Josiah/Josephine
Kieran/Katherine
Lachlan/Linnea
Matthew/Margaret
Nathaniel/Natalia
Owen/Olivia
Patrick/Phoebe
Quentin/Quinn
Ryan/Rhiannon
Stephen/Seraphina
Timothy/Tabitha
Uriah/Una
Vernon/Violet
William/Willow
Xavier/Xenia
Yorath/Ysabella
Zachariah/Zoe
18 with coin toss (ended up with 9 of each, so it satisfies that too--started with the kiddos I have named, then went in order of the toss--eliminating all worries about my husband's preferences and duplicating extended family members names, but excluding names we wouldn't use with our last name excepting the first who was a miscarriage so we used a name we loved but wouldn't name a living child. I presumed all further children were living for this exercise. * indicates a family name +indicates miscarriage -- i.e. I used Zachariah as Jeremiah in not a living child):
Sean Michael+
Alexander* James*
Sophia* Grace+
Jeremiah William*+
Amelia Faith+
Evangeline Kathryn*
Patrick* Stephen*
Nathaniel Owen
Margaret* Ruth*
Josephine* Arley*
Eleanor* Violet
Matthew Ryan
Laura Gabrielle
Benjamin Edward*
Theodore* Grant*
Zachariah Richard*
Madeleine Louise*
Anneliese* Jean* (mash up of family names)
If I could have I would have included Charlotte in there, but I can't do it with our last name. I love Elisabeth too, but felt weird using it when I wanted to use Anneliese.
I believe I could do the letter "E" or "A" for all girls, but there are so few "E" names for boys that I like. I'm not sure I could do just one letter for boys as I'm all over the place with that one. Maybe "A" or "J" for tolerable names, but not necessarily ones I love. So for kicks and giggles I did the following. I also might be able to pull it off with "M" names.
All "A" names using the Duggars b/g ratios including twins (pretending that each may be my last, hubby doesn't get a say, & extended family doesn't count. *hey--my kid fits!):
Alexander James* (Xander)
Twins: Amelia Faith* and Arthur Grant (Amy & Art)
Anneliese Louise (4 syllable Anneliese)
Abigail Jean (Abby)
Arley Elisabeth
Andrew Stephen (Drew)
Anthony Patrick
Adeline Claire (Addie)
Twins: Alpheus Richard (Alphie) and Augustus Matthew (Gus)
Asa William
Alan Nathaniel
Avram Edward
Aaron Samuel
Audrey Katherine
Annika Margaret (Anna - Ah-na)
Alyssa Claire
Avangeline Eleanor (Ava - Ay-va)
For boys, I really am not super fond of anything past Andrew. For girls, the last one was a stretch for me.
All "M"s:
Maxwell Benjamin (Max)
Twins: Margaret Ruth (Maisie) and Matthias James
Madeleine Claire (Maddie)
Molly Josephine
Maeve Gabrielle
Micah Alexander
Milton (Milo) Richard
Mariah Jean
Twins: Malcolm Sean and Michael Grant
Malachi Richard
Maddox Stephen
Merrick Theodore
Markus Edward
Myrtle Eleanor
Moira Elspeth
Maude Sophia
Melita Louise (Mel)
I'm digging Milton (Milo) now. Milton is a family name, which I sorta find atrocious, but love Milo for a nn. Boyw were pretty much done after Malcolm. I still had a couple of girl names I let go of (can't do Megan and Margaret)
"J" Boys and "E" Girls:
Jeremiah William* (Miah)
Twins: Evangeline Kathryn* (Evie) and Jonathan Patrick (Jon)
Eleanor Margaret (Nora)
Emaline Louise (Ema)
Elisabeth Claire (Bess)
Josiah Edward (Siah)
Jameson Stephen
Emelia Ruth (Lia)
Twins: Judah Richard and Jonas Ryan
Jackson Grant (Jack)
Joel Alexander
Jesse Theodore
Justus Matthew
Eloise Violet (Ellie)
Elaina Josephine (Laina)
Erin Anneliese
Esther Jean
I could actually be okay with all of these, but I was starting to dig bottom of the barrel toward the end. Many of the middle names I would have liked to have chosen to use earlier, but they didn't flow as well with the first name. And Emaline and Emelia are close, but nn's distinguish them apart.
Whew! Ok--I need to actually get things done today now. ;-)
Darn! I typed all that out after handwriting it last night and didn't put who I am!
-sharalyns (not logged in)
There are some great names in there Sharalyn.
Thank you! Playing it kept me from jumping at every little noise that night. And DH is home this evening! Thank goodness--I need some sleep!
Okay, this is just a list of 18 with no special rules and a 9/9 split:
BOYS
Soren Zev
Nicholas Phoenix
Jared Brave
Apollo Shepherd
Rubeus Drake
Owen Cypress
Sebastian Cor
Jude Revere
Wyatt Sage
GIRLS
Ivy Lark
Jacinta Prudence
Daphne Wren
Athena Lux
Cara Bridget
Imogen Azura
Cordelia Willow
Hazel Collette
Saskia Cleo
I really had to dig deep there at the end! I'm pretty happy with how it ended up but I'm not sure if all of them work together.
Here's my 9/9 split, F-T for girls, T-F for boys, these two letters chosen at random.
girls:
Faith Tigerlily
Felicity Tovah
Flora Tamsin
Fiona Turquoise
Fern Tzipporah
Frances Theodosia
Freya Temperence
Fuchsia Teagan
Foxglove Titania
boys:
Tecumseh Flynn
Thomas Finbar
Theseus Foster
Thurston Field
Trevor Ford
Townes Frederick
Theodore Felix
Talmadge Finch
Tristan Frost
These were really hard! I do love the fanciful qualties of these names, and I'd love to be brave enough to use some of the really outlandish ones, like Foxglove Titania or Theseus Foster. I feel like they'd fit right in in a fantasy middle grade book, though.
I'm going to do another because this is a fun challenge! This time I'll use the same setup, but the letters will be S-R girls and R-S boys, again, letters chosen at random.
girls-
boys-
Again, I'm kind of in love with these. Samantha Rosamond and Rye Solomon are my favorites.
Aaaand because I'm incredibly self-indulgent, one last go, this time C-M girls, M-C boys
girls-
boys-
Don't worry one bit about posting so many different combinations. I can only speak for myself, but I found all of your lists to be quite interesting and entertaining :)
ilikemints-I also love your lists. I will have to come back in a minute and try my hand. I particularly like the S-R and M-C/C-M combos.
I'm home sick, so to take my mind off I'm going to do yet another!
9/9 split, A-P girls, P-A boys
girls
boys
Okay, here I go 9/9 split of S/R names:
Much of this list is very much what I associate with your naming style. However, I was wondering about your choice of the name Richelle and why you chose that spelling rather than a more common variation. Just curious :)
:) Karyn, I knew a girl in HS with that spelling and it has always appealed to me. Rachelle looks to much like Rachel/Rachael, Rochelle is just weird for me as I'm not much into O's. It's just like Michelle only with an R. It's a very soft and creamy name to me.
Makes perfect sense! For me, it *is* just a French form of Rach(a)el, so Rachelle seems logical. Rochelle feels perfectly correct, but just doesn't do it for me visually. (And thinking about it, three of my four current favourite names for girls feature the long (sorry!) "O", so clearly I don't have a problem with the sound...)
It's funny how knowing a single person with an unusual spelling can change how we view names. For example, even though Orly is way more common than Orley, (the name is not terribly rare in my circles,) the first girl I knew with that name spelled it with the "e", and so now that looks "right" to me. Similarly, it took a long while for Rachel to look like a complete name to me because my childhood friend was named Rachael. I wonder if my name has had an effect on anyone :)
Karyn-I love your name spelled with a Y even though my accent makes it pronounce differently as we've discussed before. Since my name is with an E (St@cey) I still find it very funny to accept it spelled without. It's also interesting that you mention Orly. It was a friend in HS's mn. She was Jewish and her first name was K0ren with an umlaut over the 0. She always told me she was named after the airport.
Aww, thanks :) The "a" pronunciation issues are completely separate, in my opinion, from the spelling. While I'm not usually one for alternate spellings, there is something about the Y in my name that I love. It makes it softer, somehow, and looks much prettier. And as far as I'm concerned, Stacey should be spelled with an E because that's how I first encountered it in the Babysitters Club! :D
And that Orly story is really funny. I wonder if she knew that it was also a beautiful Hebrew name meaning "My Light". Another airport with a good name is Mirabel, the disastrous Montreal airport that was in the Guinness Book for airport furthest from the population it serves. That totally fits with today's naming trends.
I love Mirabel! It's one of the names that I haven't had the guts to bring up to my husband yet, because I'm afraid he'll say no and dash my hopes yet again. He loves Montreal, so part of me hopes that would be a plus, but on the other hand, he doesn't like names that "don't sound like names," so if he thinks of it as the airport it might be a no. But then again, his family only ever drove to Montreal on trips from New York, so maybe he won't make the connection... argh.
About Orly-- when my mom was doing the entry for the name Orly in her book, all she got when she typed "Orly" into google was the O rly? owl :)
Well, I'll give it a try! I'm coin flipping for b/g
Autumn Charlotte
Susanna Rain
Peter Gideon
Tatum Camille
Ruby Violet
Angelina Lorelei
Scarlet Gloria
Sawyer James
Genesis May
Malachi David
Nicolette "Nikki" Carson
Evanna Brooke
Matilda "Mattie" Elise
Anissa Claire
Beckham Channing
Lawson Quaid
Cedric Ross
Marisol Piper
That's eighteen!
Oh I love Sawyer James! But I want the first nameto be James but is James Sawyer the same?
While I don't have time right now to do this game, I have loved reading these! And I find it immensely comforting to know that there are others out there who love to think about names all the time--like me!
I've not played any of the "Name Games" before, but I couldn't resist this one!
Girls:
1. Emanuella Marie
2. Louisa Patricia
3. Bernadette Clare
4. Camilla Lane
5. Therese Anastasia
6. Evangeline Katherine
7. Leonora Elise
8. Ada Jeannine
9. Marta Josephine
Boys:
1. Konrad Wolfgang
2. Leif Frederick
3. Cormac Richard
4. Xavier Anthony
5. Callahan James
6. Titus John
7. Declan Andrew
8. Reginald Jerome
9. Arlo Francis
Woohoo, how fun! I'm glad I'm not planning on having 18 kids, my naming style feels too "all-ove-the-place" to stick to one style for all 18 of them!
Ok--we have similar taste in girls' names! My DD is Ev@ngeline K@thryn. :-)
Louisa, Bernadette, Claire, Leanora, Elise, and Josephine are all on my wish list!
No way! Great minds think alike ;) How funny!
Well here we go! 18 for each for me.
1. Adrean Xavier
2. Nathaniel James
3. Basil Daimian
4. Quillon Fraiser
5. Sylvester Lee
6. Percy Samuel
7. Aries Cole
8. Simon Jeremiah
9. Aaron Reed
10. Bryton Presley
11. Sheldon Noah
12. Noland Anthony
13. Gideon Arbor
14. Colin Dominic
15. Quentin Elias
16. Emmett Oliver
17. Tobias Graham
18. Thaddeus Jay
1. Aliza Elizabeth
2. Alice Frederica
3. Adelaide LeeAnn
4. Cornelia Fay
5. Penelope Ruth
6. Phoebe Helena
7. Beatrice Imogen
8. Henrietta May
9. Josephine Ivory
10. Anastasia Rose
11. Andromeda Jade
12. Symphony Aurora
13. Andrea Clover
14. Clementine L
15. Luna Sapphire
16. Tabitha Ellen
17. Quinnence Eve
18. Sydney Gwen
Well girls were easier even though I'd rather have boys.