Meredith from Daily Divine Mercy and Catholic Sticker Club is having her baby TODAY — her fifth baby and fourth boy! She and her husband are still trying to nail down a name and would love to hear your ideas! This little guy joins big sibs:

Jackson Solomon (Jack)
Theodore James (Teddy)
Clara Faye
William Harrison (Will)

Just a stunning bunch of names, right?! Jackson Solomon, Theodore James, and William Harrison are so handsome and sophisticated, and Clara Faye is so lovely. Nice job!

Meredith writes,

“We thought we landed on a name but are second guessing now … Our top name at the moment is Lincoln David … This was almost 100% … But now hubby is second guessing. We disagree on a lot of names.“

The names on Meredith’s list include:

Lawrence
Gabriel
Lincoln (hubby’s on the fence about this one)

Her husband’s list includes:

Abraham (Meredith isn’t a fan)

And they both like:

David
Joseph
John-David
George

Alright, so the first thing I tried to do was nail down what Meredith and her husband’s taste in names is, as evidenced by their other children’s names and those they like/are considering: I get a really strong Presidential vibe with Jackson, Theodore/Teddy, William, Harrison, Lincoln, and Abraham; a strong Old Testament vibe with Solomon, David, and Abraham; and a sort of colonial feel (I’m not sure that’s the right word … English? Pilgrim? There’s certainly some overlap there) from Theodore, Teddy, William, Clara, Faye, David, Joseph, George, and Abraham. I love all those styles, and I’m so impressed how they put them together in such great combinations!

I’m really taken with Lincoln David — I think it goes perfectly with their other boys’ names and their daughter’s as well. If they end up going with it, I’ll be thrilled! But if one or both of them are legitimately cooling on it, then I’m hoping some of my ideas here (and yours!) might be helpful.

Before listing my new ideas for this baby, I thought I’d offer some thoughts on the names currently on Meredith’s and her hubby’s lists, in case they’re helpful:

• Lawrence: I think maybe I’d consider Lawrence to be the outlier here. It doesn’t have an English feel and it’s not biblical or presidential, though it’s certainly handsome. I don’t love the nickname Larry with their other kids, but I’ve seen Lance used, which I think is a better fit with their others (though it still has a mismatched feel to me).
• David: A handsome, classic, biblical name that fits in well with the names they’ve already used. It’s also Marian, via Our Lady’s title Tower of David — and Christmas-y too!
• Joseph: I love Joseph!
• Gabriel: Since hubby doesn’t care for Gabriel, I would recommend crossing it off the first-name list (maybe he’d be okay with it as a middle?).
• Abraham: Similarly, since Meredith doesn’t care for Abraham, I would recommend crossing it off the first-name list (maybe she’d be okay with it as a middle?).
• John-David: In general, I’m a big fan of double names for boys, as I love that they generally take two names that on their own aren’t unusual and give them an unexpected sparkle. However, in this case I’m not sure John-David is a good idea for this family, since Jack (and, by extension, Jackson) is a variant of John.
• George: George is a great name! However, if I’m being nitpicky, I really like how their other boys have long names that trim down to friendly nicknames, which isn’t as easy with George. That said, Georgie is adorable, and I’ve always loved Geordie (said like Jordy) as well — it has traditional usage as a George nickname. I’ve seen Geo too, which is really cool.

Okay, now for my new ideas! You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard, as it offers, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Based on that research and my own namey mind, these are my ideas:

(1) Charles
Meredith didn’t mention whether or not they’re okay with repeating initials, so maybe they’d rather not have Clara and Charles, but otherwise Charles is a match for Clara, William, and George, and Charlie’s a match for Jack — a great fit for this family! Cal is another possibility as a nickname for Charles that I quite like with Jack, Teddy, and Will (though is Cal too similar to Clara?).

(2) Henry
Clara, William, and George are also style matches for Henry! I can see Henry fitting in really well with their boys (and Clara too), and I also like Hank, if they wanted to nickname Henry. One tiny hesitation that I feel I must mention, though, is that Will’s middle name, Harrison, means “Harry’s son,” and Harry is a variant of Henry.

(3) Francis
Francis is a match for Lawrence and Frank for George — I feel like Francis definitely has that gentlemanly feel of the other boys’ names, and Frankie’s an adorable nickname for a little guy! I also love Finn as a nickname for Francis.

(4) Oliver
Despite the fact that Oliver only showed up in my research as a match for Theodore, I’m loving it for this family! Jackson, Theodore, William, and Oliver are amazing together, and Jack, Teddy, Will, and Ollie are great as well.

(5) Bennett (or Benedict?) or Benjamin
I don’t normally include middle names in my research, but I thought Harrison really felt like their style, so I looked it up to see what names the BNW would list as similar and Bennett is one — Bennett is a variant of Benedict, so I like that saintly connection, and Bennett also has usage as a surname, which fits in with their Jackson/Harrison/Lincoln names. But maybe they’d like the full Benedict? I love that as well, and Benedict Cumberbatch has certainly given it a British sheen, which fits in nicely with the other kids’ names. Ben is a great match for Jack, Teddy, and Will as well. If they prefer Benjamin, though, I won’t be disappointed! Benjamin is such a great name, and it’s Old Testament like Solomon, David, Joseph, and Abraham.

(6) Jude
There are a bunch of super-Old Testament names that match the super-Old Testament names Meredith and her hubby have used (Solomon) and that her hubby likes (Abraham) like Ezekiel, Ezra, Judah, and Moses. While those names can fit in with a Pilgrim-type feel and I wouldn’t hate them as first names for their son, I sense that Meredith would rather put names like that in the middle. But Judah made me think that Jude might be a possibility for them for a first name. Like with Benedict Cumberbatch, Jude Law and the Beatles have given Jude a Brit feel, and it’s certainly got a nice saintly connection.

(7) Gideon
Finally, Gideon’s a match for a name Meredith loves that her hubby doesn’t (Gabriel) and a name her hubby likes that she doesn’t (Abraham), which might make it the perfect bridge name between their two styles. It’s biblical, of course, and to me it also has a strong historical/colonial-type feel, as there’s a historic figure local to my area named Gideon Putnam who was born in 1763 and died in 1812. I’ve always loved the name, so I was excited to see it match up with this family’s style!

Those are my ideas for first names for this baby, and there were a couple names that I thought wouldn’t do as first names, but that they might like to consider for the middle spot: Frederick (Fred/Freddy wouldn’t do well as a brother to Teddy) and Emmanuel (perfect for a Christmas baby! And similar to Solomon and Abraham in style). I don’t know how they choose middle names (maybe they reserve that spot for family names?), but if they just choose names they like, then I thought I might offer some first+middle combos, in case they’re helpful. These are just combos that I thought went well together (using both names I suggested and names they’re already considering):

Charles Ezra
Charles Emmanuel
Charles Gabriel
Henry Abraham
Henry Emmanuel
Henry Gabriel
Francis Judah
Francis Jude
Francis Lincoln
Oliver Francis
Oliver Henry
Oliver Lawrence
Benedict Moses
Bennett Moses
Benjamin Oliver
Benjamin Lawrence
Jude Frederick
Jude Emmanuel
Gideon Joseph
Gideon Lawrence

I’ve also done a bunch of posts/articles on Advent and Christmas names that might offer some helpful inspiration — they’re all listed in this post.

And those are all my thoughts/ideas/suggestions for Meredith’s baby boy! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Jackson/Jack, Theodore/Teddy, Clara, and William/Will’s baby brother?

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My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — a perfect🎄Christmas gift🎄 for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!