You might have noticed that I started a new tab at the top of the page called “Sibling Project,” in which I explained what the project is and added Kateri as the first entry (I thank you all so much for your feedback on Kateri! I loved reading all your comments!). I can easily add new info, so if you haven’t yet shared the sibs’ names of the Kateris you know, just let me know!
Next up: John Paul, which doesn’t have its own entry in the Baby Name Wizard. One of the things that came out of the Kateri post that I loved was the difference between names you all thought were most like it in style, and names of real-life siblings of real-like Kateris. I LOVE seeing that Kateri fits in just as well with Anthony as with Ambrose, and with Tara as with Therese.
Here too, I’d love to know what names you think are most like John Paul in style, and what the siblings’ names are of John Pauls you know in real life. Also, how do the John Pauls you know spell their names? John Paul, John-Paul, JohnPaul, Johnpaul, or … ? And any nicknames they go by as well. Just to clarify, this only pertains to boys with the first name John Paul, not to boys with the first name John and the middle name Paul (though if their given name is John Paul and no other middle, and they go by the double John Paul, that counts). Thank you!!
Unfortunately the one John Paul I know is an only child. He also has it spelled Jon Paul, which leads me to an interesting, but slight off topic, comment that I have. I feel like the spelling that parents choose for John Paul really says something about the parents. Like John Paul, John-Paul, Johnpaul and Jon Paul all have very different types of parents for me.
In terms of siblings, I feel like non-Catholics would think of John Paul as kind of middle aged more more likely to go with something like (Robert, which it totally does, but not the point). But I think John Paul can definitely go with things that are more hip and now like Cecilia, Eleanor, Kateri, Leo, Miles. John Paul seems super versatile in terms of siblings to me. It’s classic while still screaming Catholic. Seems like a good “bridge” name if parents went with something more common like Michael first and wanted to use something more “out there” like Blaise. Michael, John Paul and Blaise. It just kinda works for some reason.
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I totally 1000% agree with you about John Paul being a great bridge name!! It takes two really “normal,” traditional names and blings them out, so it fits with other “normal” names as well as with more sparkly names.
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I’m glad you see that too with John Paul being a bridge!
It’s also interesting to me that it’s two one syllable names but doesn’t feel choppy at all.
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Yes!
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We have a John Paul as our oldest, then Cecilia Therese, twins named Elizabeth Anna and Mary Claire (who goes by Mary Claire, so people think we’re into double names but it’s really just 2/5 kids…), and Peter Damian. Baby of unknown gender on the way, and we have absolutely ZERO names on the possibility list…
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Seems like my Cecilia idea with John Paul was spot on 🙂
I love the twin names Elizabeth Anna and Mary Claire by the way! All of your children have amazing names!
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Thank you! It’s taken us a LONG time to agree on all the names after John Paul (a family name that had already been chosen for our firstborn son before my husband was even Catholic), but they’re all so *right* for all our kids 🙂
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I love your first+middle combos! Beautiful names and powerful patrons.
I know this is not a consultation, but I’d suggest Felicity for a girl and Thomas for a boy.
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Thank you! I love Felicity and Peter was almost named Thomas, so that are definite possibilities!
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Ok, so our little one-year-old John Paul doesn’t technically count since he *does* have two middle names (Paul and Fulton), but we call him John Paul and intend for that to be the name he goes by for his whole life (specifically to distinguish him from his dad, who is also John) . . . so I’m chiming in. Hope that’s ok. 😉
His one and only nickname right now is John Paulie (*cuteness overload*), although relatives like to call him JP. I think the nickname JP is alright, but I like that he’s learning his full name right now and not a two-letter abbreviation. If he wants to go by JP in the future, though, we’d be all for it. I really liked the idea of the nickname Jack, but my husband knew an annoying Jack in elementary school and he couldn’t get past that whenever I suggested it. Ah well! John Paulie it is. 🙂
As for sibs, we’ve got a little one on the way, so we’re talking names again. Gahhh, I just LOVE talking names. Our favorite boy names are Blaise Benedict, Jude, Luke, and Francis. I also like Raphael (nickname Raffa), but I don’t think I’ll get my husband on board with that one. 😛 Our favorite girl names are Francesca (nickname Frannie), Genevieve (nickname Ginny), Louisa (nickname Lulu), Eleanor, Miriam, Claire, and Phillipa (nickname Pippa).
I love that you’re writing these Sibling Project posts! Can’t wait to hear what others say. 🙂
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Phillipa! I’d love to see it used more often!
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Our little sibling-to-John-Paul has arrived! And we named him Jude Francis. 🙂 I wrote his birth story here: https://blessedtobeblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/judes-birth-story-part-1.html, and plan to write up a name story in the near future. Just figured I’d throw this out there so you could add Jude to your “real life siblings” list. 🙂
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This is such great news!!!!! Congratulations Stephanie!!!!!! Would you mind if I posted this in a post of its own? I love the name Jude Francis, wonderful job!!!!
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We have John Paul as our first, then Charles (Charlie) and Eleanor (Ellie). John Paul also goes by JP and occasionally just John (he is John Paul first and middle name, no other middle name), but most of the time the full John Paul
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I know of a John Paul with siblings Steven Joseph, Mary Elizabeth, Daniel Jude, Mary Therese, and Kolbe Thomas. Most of them go by double names.
Another I know has sibs Angelo, Madeleine (Maddie), Maria Francesca (Mia), and Vincent.
And the other has sibs Ben, Mary Margaret, and Isabella.
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My youngest is John Paul Nicholas. I have 10 other children: Ray Tucker (18), Josie Layne (almost 16), Brady Ann (12), Sean Patrick (10), Evan Matthew (almost 9), Bennett Francis (7), Mary Catherine (6), Finnian Fritz (4), Charlotte Jones (3), and Sloane Stewart (21 months).
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I know one John Paul who is about 6 or 7. Older sibs are Parker (a boy), Taylor (a girl), and Sam (a boy). Not a super Catholicky set but the family is–they live in and run a Catholic retreat center.
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We know a John Paul with older siblings Michael and Gianna.
I know a John Paul who is about 20 years old now with a brother William Thomas (he goes by his double name also).
It seems like every family we know with at least 5 children that includes 2 or more boys has a John Paul 🙂
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We have a little John Paul in our family (named after his father, so he is sort of a JPII haha, but really technically a Jr). He goes by Little John and John Paul. His siblings are: Benedict “Ben”, Maximilian “Max” (yes, after Kolbe), Evelyn, and TBA :). Other names that have been thrown around for this family are Cecelia and Adele. I love their naming style! I feel like its strong, papal (Max’s middle name is Peter), and the girl names are jut lovely too. JP Sr’s siblings interestingly enough, are more common to the 90’s and don’t have that same Catholic/biblical feel.(I won’t list those as I am not sure if I can haha).
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I know a baby John Paul with older sisters Carmella, Gianna, and Maria
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I’m pretty partial to the sibling set I know best 🙂 Alexandra Marian (nicknamed Allie), Joshua David, John Paul Vincent, Joseph Karol with Maria Therese on the way. I think they are pretty great 😉
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John Paul and his brother Benjamin, their sisters Mary and Catherine. I do not know the middle names of John Paul’s siblings.
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I know a family with an Eddie (family name), John Paul, Andrew (family name) and Faustina.
We are expecting #8 and are planning on John Paul. I’d like John Paul Anthony but hubby says “too many names.” I tried to explain that without St Anthony, we’d never have car keys, the kids would never have matching shoes & no one would ever have socks…but he still says no. 😜
Our other kids are
Daniel Thomas
James Michael
Joseph William
Benjamin Jon
Samuel Luke
Twins:
Robert Jacob (nn Bobby)
Mary Lucille
I think Kendra at Catholic all year has a John Paul…
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Ooh I love your kiddos’ names!! And your Mary Lucille is one lucky sister!! Yes, you’re right about Kendra — I’ll be sure to add her info!
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My college boyfriend (ah, memories) was John-Paul. He has a sister (Anne-Marie) and brother (William Jr.) his mom was from Ireland, but he was born and raised in the States.
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I know a John Paul with brothers: Steven, Peter and Anthony.
Don’t know their middle names. They are an awesome Catholic family and they love strong names. The dad wanted to use Constantine for Anthony!
Our family is good friends with their family and so we have been debating if we should use Peter for our number three or not ;). Maybe you should do a post about name overlap? In a close parish like ours I think people try really hard not to pick names others have already used, but the more babies we all have the harder it is getting!
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Ooh that’s a great post topic! I’ll add it to my list!
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I think Kathryn over at Team Whitaker has a John Paul, as well as some other beautifully named kiddos 🙂 Unfortunately/surprisingly, I don’t know any John Pauls in real life.
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Thanks! I’ll add in her info!
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I know two little John Pauls.
One is 7, and he is JohnPaul James. No space. “JohnPaul” is his first name. He has a brother named Nathan.
The other is 1, and he is also John Paul James. With a space. “John Paul” is his first name, but they do call him JP. He has a sister named Regina.
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I know one John Paul, and he’s a year older than me (25 in July! Yay summer babies!). His two older sisters are Rachel and Rebecca, and he has a younger sister called Mary. His confirmation name is bartholomew. He goes by JP, and occasionally by JPK because his family name begins with the letter K.
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PS. Happy Fourth of July!!!!
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We have Joseph (middle name Andre), John Paul (middle name Gabriel), and Emilie (middle name Marie). Other names we’ve considered are Dominic, Luc, and Kateri, so maybe they will be future siblings to our three littles.
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The John Paul I know has siblings named Christopher, Heather, James, Joseph, Catherine, Sarah, Samuel, and Hannah. He sometimes goes by JP. He’s number 4 in the lineup.
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My husband’s name is John Paul, so he is one of the first – named while JPII was still new to the papacy! He has 5 brothers — Matthew, David, Kevin, Joseph and Isaac. All of them have great middle names too, but my husband is the only one who goes by 2 names.
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[…] I’ve updated the Sibling Project tab to include the new John Paul info from this post. I hope you think I’ve represented all your thoughts/input well! If you have any new info to […]
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My son is named John-Paul. His middle name is my maiden name (Steward). We debated about the hyphen but decided for it because we wanted it to be clear that John-Paul is his first name. At least in writing it seems more clear to people how his name is set up.
We call him JP, Johnny-Paulie, and when he is ignoring me some times I try to get his attention with Juan Pablo 😂
We have a little girl on the way, and so far our top contenders are Abigail, Clare, Audrey and Teresa. I also like Magdalene. I would like another double name but my husband hasn’t taken to any girl double names so far. But my favorites are Marie Therese and Mary Margaret.
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I can definitely see that hyphenating the two names makes it clear that they’re both part of his first name! Juan Pablo’s adorable 🙂
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I know a lot of John Pauls, too, but now I can only think of one! The family you did a consultation for not too long ago has J0hn-P@ul, W!ll!@m, Ol!v3r, and Th30d0re.
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Ah, yes!!
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We have a John-Paul, Damien Joseph, and Elise Ruby. Now we’re searching for a name for #4. Eep! They all have Hawaiian middle names, so they go by those.
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I love your kiddos’ names!! Thank you for sharing!!
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We welcomed John-Paul’s third sibling–Celia Rose not long after my first reply.
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Congratulations!! What a beautiful name!!
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Just to add a another blogger with a Jonh Paul: Mary at Better than Eden. See here: http://www.betterthaneden.com/2013/08/the-nine-years-late-john-paul-birth.html
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Thank you! Just added her in!
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Our John Paul is the 9th of 11. His first name is John Paul and middle name is Joseph. Older siblings: Matthew John (for John the Baptist); Rebekah Marie; Joshua Michael; Mary Elizabeth Rose; Victoria Veronica Mirjana; Daniel Richard, Angela Michelle Marie, Katherine RoseMary Therese…younger siblings: Michael Patrick Gerard and Benjamin George Xavier.
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What a beautifully named bunch of kiddos you have MaryL!! I love each one!
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I have a cousin John Paul (first name, middle name) but he has always gone by both. He’s in his 30s, so named during JPII’s papacy. His sibs are Emily Jean, Christina Marie, Elizabeth Ann, and Katherine Rose. He has his own kids now, including John Paul Jr., who is predominantly and affectionately nicknamed JPII. 🙂 His sibs are Isaiah, Samuel (Sammy), and the newest addition (born last night!!) Raquel.
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John Paul Jr=JP2 — I love that!!! And congratulations to your family on the birth of little Raquel!!
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We have a JohnMark Joseph! My husband was set on combining John and Mark to make sure the Mark didn’t get dropped. So far it has worked! We also have Clara Frances Ann (goes by Clara, Frances and Ann are two middles) but I love double names and traditional but a *little* different. We are expecting #3 and are pretty set on Mary Margaret (as first, middle but I would probably call her by both names but not expect others to). But we are so lost on boys! What goes with JohnMark?? Traditional saint name but not boring??
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I love that you did JohnMark, and that your hubby was set on it!! I could never get mine on board with double names! I think your “traditional saint name but not boring” description is perfect for a brother for JohnMark — I’m thinking Augustine, Benedict, Damian, or maybe a last name like Bosco, Campion, or Becket.
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Thank you so much for responding! I found Clara from reading your blog and am such a fan! We have the great problem of being surrounded by so many Catholic families that alllll have young boys so it’s hard for us to separate those names from the family. But we love Bosco!
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Ohh yes, I get it! I’m glad you love Bosco!
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