Baby name consultation: Brother name for Jude and Isaac

sanctanomina Baby name consultant, , ,

Stephanie and her husband are expecting their third baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown)! šŸŒ± This little one joins big brothers:

Jude Patrick
Isaac Edward

Awesome names, awesome style, love them!

Stephanie writes,

“We really like the name Hope for a girl … My husband really wants a Mark Edward III for a boy. I really don’t want to do a “the third.” I could possibly do Mark with a different middle name, and call him by the middle name, but I don’t like the confusion of the exact same name. My boy name preferences fall along the lines of Micah [though unusable because their last name sounds really similar to it], Blaise, Fisher (after St. John Fisher), and Ephraim. My husband isn’t as adventurous with his names, but he did mention Maccabee at one point! My husband is [also] open to Benedict.”

Okay, so first off, I kept in the bit about Stephanie and her husband liking Hope for a girl, for inspiration, but they really only need help with boy names.

Regarding the idea of Mark Edward III, I love Jude and Isaac together, and while Mark does fit in with them in because they’re all biblical and saintly, I feel like Jude and Isaac give off a particular vibe that Mark doesnā€™t. I’m not quite sure how to describe it … “scholarly” and “sophisticated” come to mind re: Jude and Isaac, but I don’t think Mark is unscholarly or unsophisticated, so that’s not quite right … Do you all know what I mean? Do you agree?

Also, theyā€™ve already used Edward for Isaacā€™s middle name, and while ā€œmatching vibesā€ and different middle names isnā€™t a requirement at all if Stephanie and her husband like a particular name, these thoughts might be helpful for Stephanie in trying to convince her husband away from using Mark Edward III.

I was trying to think of various ways that Stephanie’s husband could have the *feel* of a III without actually doing a literal III, and I came up with:

  • Using the same first name, but a different middle name (and he could even go by Trey/Trip/Tripper if they wanted him to, for Mark III, even though he wouldnā€™t be III on paper [and would therefore avoid some of the paperwork nightmares Iā€™ve heard about])
  • Using a variant of Mark — thereā€™s Marco, Marcus, and Marek. I also discovered the surname Markson, which does actually mean Markā€™s son (I saw it spelled somewhere as Marxon too, but then I couldnā€™t find that again ā€¦ I think they could definitely do it though if they wanted to!)
  • Using Stephanie’s husbandā€™s initials — an M first name and an E middle name. I think this is my favorite idea for them, and I have M.E. thoughts below
  • How about any nicknames Stephanie’s husband goes by? Any nicknames given to him by college/sports buddies, or some funny thing his family called him when he was little that could perhaps be fashioned into a first name?

Beyond that, I used Jude, Isaac, Hope, Micah (though I know this is off the table because of their last name!), Blaise, Fisher, Ephraim, Maccabee (!) and Benedict as inspiration in my research, which, as you all know, almost always starts by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I also combed through my own mental files and came up with the following ideas:

(1) Matthias
Matthias is my favorite idea for them in the ā€œuse your husbandā€™s initialsā€ idea (and just in general too, I love it!). Itā€™s got more of an Old Testament rhythm and sound I think, which fits in nicely with Isaac, but itā€™s actually a New Testament name, which is nice for Jude. And Jude and Isaac are two particularly Catholic biblical names, in my opinion, since St. Jude is so revered and St. Isaac Jogues is so amazing, and Iā€™ve often thought Matthias is a really Catholic biblical name because he was chosen by the others to replace Judasā€”sort of like the first Church Council! šŸ˜ Something like Matthias Ephraim for M.E. initials, or a less heavy middle like Matthias Evan (kind of fits with the Judeā€™s Patrick) or Matthias Eli, or, if they didnā€™t mind heavy, Matthias Emmanuel.

(2) Miles
Miles is my second favorite idea for this family in the M.E. idea. Iā€™ve pushed it on a lot of people! One of its characteristics is that itā€™s used as an Anglicization of the old Irish name Maelmhuire, which literally means ā€œservant of the Virgin Mary.ā€ So great, right? A legit Marian name for a boy! I didnā€™t think of it though until I saw that itā€™s a style match for Isaac, Hope, and Julian, which I know isnā€™t Jude, but some use Jude as a nickname for Julian, so Iā€™m really feeling it for this family! Because itā€™s so short I love it with Emmanuel; Ephraim and Eli both go quite nicely with it as well!

(3) Malachi or Malachy
Maccabee made me think of Malachi, as I think they can both take Mac as a nickname, which is so great. The spelling Malachy is Irish, and though Stephanie didnā€™t mention anything about being Irish and their last name is so German, I latched onto Judeā€™s middle name (Patrick) when looking for further information.

(4) Pierce
Pierce is listed as a style match for Jude and Blaise in the BNW and one of you readers left a comment about someone they know who named their son Pierce for how Our Ladyā€™s heart was pierced by a sword. Amazing! I like that itā€™s biblical like Jude and Isaac (as itā€™s a form of Peter), but also fits that sort of distinguished, scholarly feel I get from Jude and Isaac as well.

(5) Fulton
Fisher on Stephanie’s list made me think of Fulton, and I thought Iā€™d suggest itā€”maybe her husband would like it better than Fisher? It has more of a first-name feel than Fisher, since most people are familiar with Ven. Fulton Sheen; this post on nickname ideas for FultonĀ might also be helpful. I also see families who use or consider the name Fulton also use or consider Jude and Isaac, so I think it fits well. I really love how Fulton Mark sounds, if they were open to putting Mark in the middle!

(6) Bennett
Finally, I wondered about Bennett for this family. Itā€™s inspired by Benedict, since itā€™s a form of Benedict, but itā€™s lighter and some find it a little easier to work with than Benedict. Itā€™s also a style match for Hope, as well as Luke, and Iā€™ve often thought of Jude and Luke as two sides of the same coin (people who like one tend to like the other, though the more adventurous usually land with Jude, while the others tend to go with Luke), so I thought it was a great fit with Stephanie’s boys. I think Bennett Mark sounds quite nice as well!

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What would you suggest for the little brother of Jude and Isaac?

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53 thoughts on “Baby name consultation: Brother name for Jude and Isaac”

  2. I think of Jude as New Testament and Isaac as Old Testament. (Although that’s not strictly true in either case).

    What about using Simon as a sort of bridge? Sts. Simon and Jude share the same feast and often are used as joint patrons. But Simon sounds kind of OT and the long I sound goes well with Isaac. Simeon could work as well.

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  3. I actually think Matthias Ephraim is the best! I hope they really consider that pairing! It has such a ring to it. Also i always think of Matthias as a pretty Germanic-sounding name which would be nice if their last name is, as you said, very German.

    As for Benedict vs Bennett, I think Benedict goes better with Jude & Isaac.

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  4. I love Marcus for this family. Stephanie mentions “I donā€™t like the confusion of the exact same name”, so she probably doesn’t mind naming her son after his father, she is just worried about it not being practical. So Marcus is a great option. Jude, Isaac and Marcus: such a strong sibset.
    Other ideas are Seth, Ethan, Emmett and Stephen (after Stephanie!).

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  6. Great idea about using the M.E. initials! Very clever. I also think Samuel or Nathaniel might go nicely. For a middle name for Mark, perhaps Ambrose.

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  7. If Miles is eder an option, I always vote for it! All the heart eyes! I can’t use it because it sounds terrible with our last name, but it’s so great. I’d vote for the same initial idea over the III.

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  8. We have a Jude, and just for additional inspiration, here are some other boy names in our mix of kids or in our name queue: Benedict, Ambrose, Finbar, Edmund/Eamon, Anthony, Basil, James, Crispin, Declan.

    Kate- loved your point about Jude and Luke; we know a brother set of those two!

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  9. I would probably be inclined to let Daddy have Mark Edward Iii and then nickname the baby Trey or Tripp or Ned or Teddy or Ward or the like. I tend to be a traditionalist and there’s nothing at all wrong with either name.

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    • The only issue with that is that this is the third son, and I know a couple eldest sons who got passed over for sharing their father’s name and feel/felt terrible when it was used for a younger brother.

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      • I’m not usually for using the father’s name on a son, because there are so many beautiful names I feel it’s a wasted opportunity (and in a big family it’s just confusing). However, if you’re going to do that, it doesn’t have to be on the eldest son.
        My father is the fourth son, and he is the one who got his father’s name. The other 3 were named after their grandfathers and a Saint my grandparents loved. They wanted to honor other people in the family so they only chose to do a junior after they ran out of ideas lol

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      • I think that as long as each son knows his naming was special, it doesn’t matter too much who has Dad’s name, but I also know different personalities take different things more personally than others, so it’s hard to know!

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      • One father wanted a III, but his wife felt it was too confusing, so they used the father’s middle name for the oldest son. The son wished that he shared his father’s first name. By their tenth child, the father still wanted a III, so his wife said that if it was a boy and if it was born on the father’s birthday, he could have his III. I’m pretty sure that she thought she was safe, but as luck would have it, they had a boy on the father’s birthday šŸ™‚ The oldest son still felt a little jealous even though he was now grown up and realized that he didn’t even really like his dad’s name.

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      • Good point to consider!

        I actually have the opposite experience — firstborns get “firstborn” status, and having a Jr./III/etc. for the second- or third-born almost helps balance the specialness … good to know that both mindsets exist so the parents are fully informed!

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      • I have a sibling who is very sensitive and very prone to jealousy. Because I have a sibling with a temperament like thatā€”always fretting over who’s the favorite even well into adulthoodā€”I could see that being a problem.

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      • I was named for my father and would have been Andrew Jr. had I been a boy. As far as I know, my younger brother never felt slighted not to get the family name. The other boys have names that are special and I’m sure they’ll hear those naming stories. My brother was named after a very special friend of my dad’s who didn’t have children of his own.

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  10. I love the suggestions so far. I love the O sound in Hope with this sibset.
    –Oliver. Oliver Mark. Oliver Stephen. Jude, Isaac, and Oliver.
    — Milo Edward. Milo Elliot. Jude, Isaac, and Milo.

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  11. Hmmm, I personally don’t know how I feel about them using Mark Edward III. They already used Edward as Isaac’s middle name, so poor Jude would be the only one not named after Dad, and that makes me a little sad/uncomfortable. Just my personal opinion. They’ve already used Edward, so Dad already has one son named after him.

    I like the idea of Luke in theory but in practice not so much. At least with my accent. the OO sounds of Jude and Luke are prominent making them sound kinda similar. And the the C and K sounds in Isaac and Luke get stuck together for me šŸ˜›

    I like the above suggestion of Simon! Seems like a great name for this family. That also made me think of Silas! Jude, Isaac, and Silas seems nice to me.

    I also thought of Owen for them. I love the name Owen and it seems like it would fit in their style

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  12. I also wonder if the eldest could be sensitive, as I know mine would be in this situation…like he doesn’t get ANY part of Dad’s name, when it’s used for #2 in the middle spot & then #3 gets Dad’s entire name…although I do think that Jude, Issac & Trey sound fantastic together. Does Dad want his WHOLE name used? Does he actually want to honor his father (grandpa?) with a III? Or could there be a Mark Jude/Mark Patrick that lets Dad use his name but includes son #1? I also think that I’d rather naturally call Dad “Mark” and even if son is named Mark, I’d default to calling him “Marcus” until adulthood, not minding if it stuck.

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  13. I actually kind of like Mark for them if it’s paired with a middle name with some ~sparkle~ lol. I think Mark Ezra would be perfect. Jude, Isaac, and Mark; Jude Patrick, Isaac Edward, Mark Ezra. I kinda like Ezra for them with or without Mark, so I’d suggest that anyway. Jude, Isaac, and Ezra. I like Ezra John, Ezra James… but also Ezra Bennett, or with the names they’ve talked about, Ezra Benedict. Ezra Maccabee would be too much for my taste though lol. My favorite would be Mark Ezra called Ezra.

    Of your suggestions I looove Bennett. I also like Pierce.

    I’d probably forego using Mark Edward III because Edward’s already been used and Jude would be the only non-Edward lol.

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  14. Wow, I like your M.E. idea most for them as a good compromise. If they go that route I hope Ephraim would be the E–love it! But I also think Pierce is totally spot on stylistically/flowingly. So you’ve got some great ideas either way.

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