Baby name consultant: Baby #4 to add more joie de vivre

sanctanomina Baby name consultant, , , , ,

Thank you all for your patience and kind words and prayers last week! The wake, funeral, and burial for my mother-in-law all worked out so well and beautifully, may she rest in peace.

Though I’d said that I’d be able to finish up the consultations for those waiting for them, I didn’t end up being able to spend much time on the computer, so I’m a couple of days backed up. I should be able to catch up this week though, so if you’re waiting for a consultation or an email reply of any kind, don’t despair!

Now on to our regularly scheduled Monday consultation post!

Lisa, of the blog Joie de Vivre (hence my totally corny post title), and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, gender unknown! This wee babe will join older sisters:

Evangeline Grace (Evie)
Audrey Noelle
Heidi Josefina

And names they’ve talked about for girls include:

Isabel (“maybe more for a middle name?“)
Margaret (“husband really likes…I’m not quite there“)
Juliana (“has been a top choice every pregnancy…I’m ready to take it off the list, though, since the boss of my boss is named Heidi and my boss is named Julianne!“)
Mariette (“husband not on board“)
Faith or Hope
Jane
Teresita (“my confirmation saint is Ven. Teresita but my husband feels it’s too much of a nick name, womp, womp“)

For boys, Lisa says,

“My husband Tim and I have each had a strong devotion to St. Jude since before we met each other and considered that as our ‘front-runner’ for a boy’s name with the 1st pregnancy, however good friends of ours, who had a baby around the same time, also had Jude as their boy-name first choice and did have a boy *and* have the same last name we do, so we’ve sort nixed it but may consider it now that both families have more kids/ their Jude is older?“

Other names they’ve discussed/considered for boys include:

First names
Nicholas
Jude
Christopher
Nathaniel
Kolbe (“I LOVE- Tim says it evokes thoughts of Colby Jack cheese“)
Ethan

Middle names
Scott
Bonaventure
Frederick
Casimir

(“I know the last three are really wild cards but I kinda like that they’re unexpected, and the last two are the middle names of my grandpa’s that I would totally use as a middle name for a boy.”)

And names that can’t be used for various reasons include:

Ava
Anna
Charlotte
Clara
Rose
Sophia
Zelie
Kathryn
Therese
Michael
Charles
Seamus
Samuel
Daniel
Christian
Isaac
Andrew
Eleanor
Olivia
Leo

I really enjoyed working on this because I found that Lisa and Tim’s style wasn’t easy to pin down — I love a good name challenge!

Their girls’ names are each so lovely … and so different! I love each one. I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names that the parents like and have already used for their other children in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and then I look for names that show up in more than one of those lists. It was so interesting to see what names would be found to be similar to more than one of Lisa and Tim’s girls’ names or the names on their list! I’ll explain more in my suggestions below.

I love Jude, and I love that both Lisa and her hubs have a devotion to St. Jude—how weird that they have friends with the exact same last name who also have a Jude! I agree that as there are more children and the ages are more spread out that it doesn’t matter as much as it might have once. It’s a great name.

As for the names she and/or her hubs like(s), Isabel, Faith, Hope, and Jane are all beautiful … I think they’re probably right to take Juliana off the list because of the Heidi/Julianne boss issue, but maybe not forever … Margaret and Mariette are so similar in appearance and beginning and ending sounds, it’s funny that Lisa loves one and Tim loves the other! And Teresita is beautiful — I wonder if they would consider Teresa with Teresita as a possible nickname? Especially since Tim already thinks Teresita sounds more nicknamey? Or maybe Tessa would be more their speed? I like them both with the other girls’ names, and I like trying to find a connection to Ven. Teresita for Lisa in a way that maybe her husband would be okay with.

Their boys’ names are very consistent stylistically! Nicholas, Christopher, and Nathaniel especially have a lot of the same names listed as style matches. I’ll discuss more in my suggestions below.

As for the middle name ideas, they’re all very handsome, and I was particularly struck by the combo Jude Frederick — I think it has such a great flow! BUT – I’m love love loving the idea of Frederick as a first name for them!!! I love that it’s long and sophisticated like Evangeline; it’s got a German feel like Heidi; and it’s really classic like Audrey and all three of them really. It’s got the great traditional nickname options of Fred, Freddie (so cute!), and Fritz, and I know a little Frederick who goes by Erick. I love it! Frederick Jude would be very handsome.

I love Kolbe too, great name and great saint! Colby Jack cheese is hilarious and such a bummer!

Okay, so I have a bunch of suggestions for Lisa and Tim:

Girl
(1) Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn or Madeleine
This was influenced at first by Margaret on their list, as I sometimes find that people who struggle with Margaret but love the nickname Maggie are open to considering Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn with the nickname Maggie. I love it! But as I was doing my research, I discovered that Madeleine is a style match for Evangeline and Isabel, and Madeleine is the French version of Magdalen(e), so I thought it definitely deserved a mention.

(2) Clairvaux
I know Clara’s on the list of unusable names, but Claire is a style match for Audrey and at first I dismissed it … but then when I was thinking about it some more — especially the style of Kolbe (saintly last name) — I wondered what they’d think of Clairvaux? Lindsay at My Child I Love You has a little Clairvaux, after St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and I believe they call her Clair sometimes.

(3) Victoria
Victoria is a style match for Juliana, Nicholas, and Nathaniel, and I love that it’s got that longer length like Evangeline. I love that it could be considered Marian (Our Lady of Victory), or a Jesus name (Victory!), and I love that it has a bunch of nickname options: Vicky, Vicka, Tori, Vee, Cora, Ria.

(4) Samantha
Samantha’s a style match for Nicholas, Christopher, and Nathaniel! I know Samuel isn’t usable, but maybe Samantha’s different enough?

(5) Camille or Camilla
Camilla is a style match for Juliana and Jude, and Camille for Hope. I really like it with their other girls, and I love the nickname Cammie.

Boy
(1) Luke or Lucas
Luke was all over the place for this family! Luke is a style match for Audrey, Jude, Ethan, and Faith, and Lucas matches up with Isabel. Wow! I’ve heard Jude described as the “Luke less traveled,” so I wasn’t surprised to see that it’s similar to a bunch of other names they like.

(2) Owen
Owen was also a big hit for them, being similar to Audrey, Isabel, Juliana, Ethan, and Faith. It’s a great name, and its patron is the amazing St. Nicholas Owen, a martyr who built hiding places for priests.

(3) Conrad
It’s funny, when I was first reading your email and saw Heidi, I immediately scribbled down Conrad, and then later discovered it’s a style match for Frederick! My husband and I considered Conrad for our youngest—I’ve always liked it.

(4) Bennett
Being that Kolbe is a saintly last name, I was trying to think of others from that category that Lisa and Tim might like (like my suggestion of Clairvaux above), and when I saw Bennett listed as a style match for Hope, I knew that was the one. Bennett is a medieval form of Benedict! So it’s got great saint cred, but it feels more like a last name (and of course is one, as in the Bennet sisters of Pride and Prejudice).

(5) Thaddeus or Theodore
Finally, I wondered if their love of St. Jude could transfer from the name Jude to the name Thaddeus? It’s long, like Evangeline, Christopher, and Nathaniel, and can take the nickname Thad, Tad/Taddy, and Ted/Teddy. Ted/Teddy made me think of Theodore too, which I suspect might be more their speed, and indeed it’s a style match for Frederick; they could also use the great nickname Theo.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for a brother or sister to Evangeline/Evie, Audrey, and Heidi?

32 thoughts on “Baby name consultant: Baby #4 to add more joie de vivre”

  1. I’m totally for Jude if they have a boy: it’s such a meaningful name for them! But I like Nicholas, too.

    For a girl, I have to suggest Juliet. They like Juliana, which is similar, and Juliet a very feminine name, which I think is what their girls’ names have all in common. And she could go by Julie, which would be a perfect match because it ends just like Evie, Audrey and Heidi sound wise.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  2. First off, love their girls’ names! So cute and I love how eclectic they are!

    My first thought for them for a girl would be the name Gwendolyn! Gwendolyn matches the length of Evangeline, Gwen matches the spunkiness of the nickname Evie, it has the old hollywood vibe of Audrey to me, and is slightly dated like Heidi. So it seems to bridge the gap of all of the different styles while still being very cohesive.

    The name Emma also came to mind for some reason, though I sense it might be too common, but I’m not sure. I just simply adore the name Emma even though it is so popular.

    I love Mary-Agnes’ suggestion of Juliet as well. Though, I like the Juliette spelling more for them!

    For boys this one was tough for me. Probably because they don’t have any boys yet.

    William came to mind for them based of some of their other boys names but again same with Emma it could be too popular for them. I couldn’t really get a sense of how they felt about popularity.

    Henry and Gabriel also felt right for them. And Martin. No real reason for any of the boys names beyond seeming like they would fit 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • We try for names that aren’t super popular…I don’t mind more unique names but Tim’s harder to sell on lots of those. 😉
      I’ve always like Juliette and Emma! And that’s so funny you mentioned Martin- I wouldn’t say it’s on my favorite list but just the other day St. Martin de Porres and St. Martin of Tours randomly popped into my head and I was thinking of Martin as a boy option.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      • I literally know a guy named C0lby Jacks0n. (Different characters used so he doesn’t Google himself and find this, haha.) Yes, it’s funny because of Colby Jack, but after I originally met him and made that connection, I never really thought of it. Though I don’t suspect that he was named after St. Maximilian Kolbe, I bet it’s an awesome association for him now that he is a faithful Catholic and a seminarian! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Hehe cheesiness, I see what you did there.
        But honestly, I have always heard of and thought of Colby as a normal, kind of common name. I only realized the connection to cheese briefly once when I was an adult and then never really thought of it like that again. I don’t think it is an overwhelming or negative association. Spelling it Kolbe will probably help with avoiding it and connect it more to the man it is emiulating. I think it is a good name.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Hehe 🙂

        I’m glad though to hear that you never really think of the cheese — I know some people who avoid Kolbe because it sounds like the cheese … And isn’t there a famous soccer player named Colby?

        Like

  4. Frederick is a favorite! I agree Freddie is such a cute little boy nickname. It is on our short list for our next baby, shhh!! Jude would be pretty great too.

    I think Genevieve is such a pretty name and is similar to the other girl names they have. I am racking my brain trying to think of nicknames other than Jen/Jenna/Jenny as Evie is already taken.

    Looking forward to seeing what name you pick, Lisa!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. for a boy Julian seems perfect since they like juliana and jude. they could still use jude as a nick name (or jules). I’ve always loved Julian 🙂 Maybe if it’s on a boy it won’t look like you’re naming him after your boss?
    love casimir for a middle name: julian casimir is dreamyy.

    for a girl i like something longer and with a nickname like evangeline. I think magdalene would be perfect, maybe with jane as a middle? or isabel? I love isabel (although I prefer the scottish spelling isobel). Magdalene nicknamed maggie or leni (loveee leni) fits right in.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Oh, I love this post! Lisa (who I know in real life from FUS days) and her husband seem to have some very similar style names to ones that my husband and I like. Emma and Claire and Audrey and Juliana are all names we’ve considered at different points (we have 4 gals so we have discussed girl names A LOT). I love the ideas of Juliet, Madeleine, Camilla, and Teresa (perhaps to be called Teresita on occasion). Those all sound so lovely with their other beautiful and somewhat unique names. I also think Felicity, Faustina, or Caroline would be cute choices that could be pretty 4th girl possibilities for them. Boys–I liked a lot of their name choices. Jude would be so perfect, but I can totally understand about not wanting to feel like the “copycat” if someone close to you is already using it. Nicholas, Bennett, and Thaddeus are my favorite choices that were listed to go with their girl names. I also think Vianney and Dominic would be cute as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment