Double names

Real-life “Chilton” names

sanctanomina Namespotting , , ,

Ahhh I started the week telling you that this week was going to be similar to last week, with three consultation posts planned — but the second and third turned out not to want a public post after all! Which is totally 100% absolutely fine — there is absolutely no requirement or expectation that you have your consultation made public. I just wanted to let you know why I haven’t posted again until now!

I have two things for you today: first, a mama who recently took advantage of my buy-my-book-get-a-consultation deal told me that she’s planning to donate the book to her OB-GYN’s office (which happens to be NFP-only and named after a Catholic Saint, what?? Lucky lady!!), which I thought was a fantastic idea! So I wanted to share that with all of you too, in case that’s something you’d like to do as well, especially if you bought the book before I was offering this deal and would have liked to take advantage of it.

Secondly, my older boys run Cross Country, and all of the schools in our league are public schools except ours, which is a co-ed Catholic school, and one other, which is a private all-girls’ boarding school that also has day students. The last two meets were held at this private school, and if you’ve seen Gilmore Girls then you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s *just like Chilton*. It’s an enormous campus with gorgeous old buildings (“They actually have turrets!” one of my boys exclaimed) that I’m sure have literal ivy on them, and their athletic facility has multiple volleyball courts and an indoor swimming pool — it’s truly more like college than high school. (There were four schools involved in the meet, so our boys ran against the boys’ teams from the other two co-ed schools, while our girls had this private school’s team to compete against as well as the other two schools’ girls’ teams, just in case this is confusing.)

Anyway! I was walking past the field hockey field with my two little boys on our way to the bathroom (multiple trips to the bathroom, and yes they had a men’s room — my older boys were very worried about that, haha!) and I heard the coach call out to two of the girls: “Agatha! Cece!”

Don’t Agatha and Cece seem exactly right for the environment I described?? Also, I’ve seen Agatha floated by a couple families recently who weren’t sure it was ready to come back, but this Agatha’s parents decided it was okay fifteen years ago!

Then I was able to see the roster of their runners, and thought these were particularly amazing (alt characters for privacy):

  • B3ck3tt
  • Lou!se
  • Ivy@nn
  • P0rtia

P0rtia and Lou!se made me think of the characters of Rory’s Chilton schoolmates Paris and Louise, and the surname name B3ck3tt and double first name Ivy@nn also seemed really perfect. I counted eight girls on their team, so it’s pretty amazing that a full half of them had names that jumped out at me.

I hope you all have a great weekend! TGIF!!

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 (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life! (And check out my buy-the-book-get-a-consultation deal!)

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Baby name consultation: Double first name for baby girl a priority to honor Grandma — lots of options!

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , , ,

Jenny and her husband are expecting their sixth baby, their third girl (on earth)! This little lady joins big siblings:

Lilyana Marie (“Marie is my middle name and I just liked the name Lilyana”)

Anthony Jay (“After my husband”)

Dominic Lucas John (“I went to our Parish’s “Traveling relics” and right after I picked up St Dominic’s relic I knew I was pregnant and I knew he was going to be a boy. Sure enough I tested the next week and I was pregnant and he was a a boy. I also have always loved the name Lucas and St Luke. John is after my Father-in-law.”)

Isabella Teresa Grace (“… so the whole time we were pregnant I was told she was going to be a boy. So the whole pregnancy her name was Benedict Emmanuel. Once we found out she was a girl we had to scramble to come up with a girls name. Her original name was Isabella Grace but after being born on Mother Teresa’s feast day we just had to add that in. I also love longer names. 🙂 And looove Mother Teresa!”)

Jameson Jude Ramiro (“Jameson was a little different for us. I wanted to go with Jude but my husband wasn’t so keen on it at first. We chose Jameson because it’s a variant of St James but a longer version. So we decided on Jameson Jude as first name but we ended up putting Jude on his BC as part of his middle name. We chose Ramiro because that is my Dad’s name”)

+Mary Irene (with Jesus; “Mary after Hubby’s Grandma who was very special to him. And Irene because my Mom used to say “Good night Irene” to me at night before bed when I was growing up”)

+Jesse Francis De Sales (with Jesus; “we picked a name that could be gender neutral because baby was 10 weeks and we didn’t know the gender yet but I felt like he was a boy”)

I love Jenny’s older living kiddos’ names! Lilyana, Anthony, Dominic, Isabella, and Jameson are such a fun bunch of names — beautiful and handsome and with great faith connections. I love all the middle names, too, and the reasons for them. And Mary Irene and Jesse Francis De Sales are so perfect for her babies in heaven, as well — such a great job!

Jenny writes,

“_______ Ann Is what we are really wanting. Not a must but we strongly want to use it. We’re open minded. My husband lost his Mom almost 2 years ago to cancer. Her name was Doris Ann. We really wanted to use her name with this next baby without copying Doris Ann. My husband doesn’t want to just use her whole name.
He likes the idea or using Dorothy Ann for a first name because Dorothy was the name of his Grandma, who was his Mom’s Mom and they were all very close.

So we are considering Dorothy Ann as a first name.

Other name we like that we are considering are:

Lucia Ann or using Lucia in there somewhere. But don’t really think it goes well with Dorothy Ann … Lucy was Hubby’s Grandma from his dad’s side.

We also have considered using Lorelei. I’m not really fond of the basic meaning but I don’t know too much about the history of the name. We just have a cute background story of that name. It is my nickname that my in-laws gave me early on. They said I looked more like a Lorelei and the name just stuck. So Hubby’s Uncles and Aunts still call me Lorelei as a nickname and my mother-in-law used to call me that as an endearing name. So it has a good feel.

We also really want a pretty Saint name. I like longer names but this would be a first time using Ann with a first name so I’m flexible. We like names that aren’t very common but aren’t too rare. We don’t like off the wall names like River or Sun or Apple. 🙂 something classic and beautiful.

We are really stuck on this name. We have tried to go with names like Francesca or Philomena but it hasn’t really stuck … I’m really into have a special meaning to the name so I would love to get your recommendations!“

I really love that Jenny and her hubs originally intended Jameson Jude to be a double first name — how cool is that?! I love bold ideas like that! I’m totally on board with their wish to have a ___ Ann double first name for their baby girl in honor of Jenny’s mother-in-law, so I wanted to spend a few minutes exploring this idea. First, I love the idea of Dorothy Ann — I love that Dorothy honors both Jenny’s mother-in-law (I’m guessing maybe she was named Doris as a way of naming after her mom, without using the same name?) and her mother, and Dorothy Ann as a combo strengthens that connection by using Jenny’s mil’s middle name as well. I might normally think that Dorothy Ann isn’t a great fit with Jenny’s older kiddos’ names (not that that matters at all, I think family honor trumps style considerations every time in my opinion), but I’m so charmed by Dorothy on the daughter of the Bucket List Family that it’s taken on a more modern, chic feel for me. Its meaning of “gift of God” (same as Theodore — in fact, Dorothy is the same name as Theodore, just with the elements reversed) is so great, too.

Working Jenny’s hubby’s other grandmother into the name as well via some form of Lucy is pretty great — the more the merrier! I agree with Jenny that Dorothy Ann Lucia doesn’t have the best flow, nor does Dorothy Ann Lucy, but I think Dorothy Ann Lucille sounds quite nice — I wonder if that would be a possible solution? Another possible solution would be to change the way they’re planning to honoring Jenny’s hubby’s mom and grandmother. I spent some time trying to come up with different options that might honor them just as well in a way they might like, and came up with:

  • Dora Susann Lucia: I like how saying “Dora Susann” (or Suzann, if they prefer that spelling; I dropped the “e” to highlight the “Ann” connection) together makes “Dora S-” sound like Doris. I thought Dora could easily nod to both Doris and Dorothy, and Susann/Suzann (or Susanne/Suzanne, if they wanted to spell it the more conventional way) brings in the Ann in a new way. And Dora Susann allows their preferred Lucia to fit in nicely, I think.
  • Doriann/DoriAnn/Dori Ann Lucia: I was interested to discover that Doris is from the Greek for “Dorian woman” (the Dorians were a Greek tribe), which made me think that Doriann might be an interesting way to mash up Doris (and Dorothy, through the shared Dor-) and Ann, and Doriann Lucia also sounds quite nice I think. They could also do DoriAnn or Dori Ann to make the “Ann” part more obvious.
  • Lucia Ann Dorothea: I thought Lucia Ann Dorothea flowed better than Lucia Ann Dorothy or Lucia Ann Doris (Dorothea and Dorothy are variants of each other). One hesitation I have about Lucia Ann as a double first name, though, is that Lilyana is Lily + Ana (a variant of Ann) — Lilyana and Lucia Ann seem really similar. (Again, though, not a dealbreaker if they love it!)
  • Lucia Doriann/DoriAnn: This option takes away the issue of Lilyana and Lucia Ann being possibly too similar, as it moves Ann to the middle spot, on the other side of Dori.
  • Lucia Dorothy Ann: This option uses all the names Jenny and her hubs wanted in an order that has a nice flow and rhythm to my ear. They lose the double-first-name option (unless they wanted to do Lucia Dorothy, which is unexpected and pretty [though long for everyday use]), but they have all the special ladies in one name.

(I also like Lucy in place of Lucia for these options.)

As for Lorelei, I absolutely love that Jenny’s in-laws have called her Lorelei from the beginning! What a sweet story! It would make an awesome honor name for her (and her in-laws, by extension) in her daughter’s name (either as a first name or a middle name). It does have a history that gives some people pause — in legend it’s the name of a siren that lured sailors to their death — but I think Gilmore Girls and other associations have diluted that association (and some people don’t even know about it). I never thought it had any saintly connection, but when I was doing a little research on it for this family, I discovered that Lorelei’s Wikipedia entry gives August 17 as its Czech name day. Name days almost always coincide with saint feast days, so I was really interested to see what saint was connected with Lorelei. Pretty clever: Petra is listed on the Czech calendar for that day, which is the feminine form of Peter, which means “rock,” and the “lei” part of Lorelei is thought to come from a Celtic word for “rock” — the siren is actually named for the rock headland on the Rhine River called Loreley. I loved discovering that any of the holy Peters or Petras can be patron for a Lorelei!

Because I like playing around with names and was already in that mindset with the Dorothy Ann/Dora Susann/Doriann ideas, I wondered if that might be a fun thing to do for Lorelei: come up with some name combos that could nickname to Lorelei for everyday usage but provide a more obvious saint connection. I came up with:

  • Laurel Isla
  • Laurel Eileen
  • Laura Lyla
  • Loretta Lyla

Both secularly and in the faith, laurel wreaths have been used as “crowns of glory”; another cool saintly connection is that the stories of Sts. Tiburtius and Susanna include two laurel trees. Isla is an entry in the book of Marian names I wrote, for Our Lady of the Isles. Eileen is generally considered an Irish form of Helen (St. Helen(a) is awesome). There are a few saints and blesseds named Laura. I couldn’t find any holy connection for Lyla though, so maybe the Laurel ideas are better from a saintly perspective. But also, if there’s a saint’s name in the middle spot (or in the first spot, if they use Lorelei as a middle name), then they’re covered saint-wise! Maybe Lorelei Ann (could also be a double first name, as Jenny was hoping for), Lorelei Dorothy Ann (double middle, like Jude Ramiro), Lorelei Doriann, etc. Or maybe something like Laurel Ann would sound enough like Lorelei to feel like a nod to that name, while providing a double first name with Ann that isn’t overly long (like Lorelei Ann might be). Laurel Ann Dorothea maybe?

Okay! Those are all my ideas/comments on the ideas Jenny and her husband already have — now onto to my new suggestions/ideas!

You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering 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 did so for this family, keeping in mind that they’d really like to have their chosen name pair up with Ann in a double first name, and also that Jenny said she’d like “a pretty Saint name” and “something classic and beautiful” (which I think she did really well with her older daughters). I also thought of Lilyana and Isabella as a pair and tried to think of names that went well naturally with them, without taking into account the brothers’ names or Jenny’s little ones in heaven. And finally, I thought of names that I thought would go well with Ann as the first element of the double name, instead of the second. I used the NameFinder and NameMatchmaker tools on babynamewizard.com to find additional ideas, and I also looked at the “Lacy and Lissome,” “Italian,” and “Short and Sweet” lists in the back of the Baby Name Wizard book. And I went through my own mental files for faithy names that I thought would go well.

Based on all that, these are my additional ideas (buckle up — there are lots of them! I actually did two consultations for Jenny, which I’ve condensed into this one post):

(1) Natalie or Natalia
Natalie is a style match for Anthony and Lucas (I included Lucas in my research since Jenny said she’s always liked it) and Natalia for Lilyana and Dominic, so it seemed like a great suggestion to start with! I think Natalie Ann flows better than Natalia Ann, but if they like Natalia they could consider doing Natalia Ann as her given name and a nickname + Ann for everyday usage, like Talia Ann or Tally Ann. I know a Natalie who goes by Natty, so that’s an option too — Natty Ann. There are some Sts. and Blds. Natalia (Natalie is the French form, so St. Natalia would be patron for a Natalie or Natalia), and Natalia also literally refers to Christmas Day — it comes from the Latin natale domini, which means “the birth of the Lord.”

(2) Camille or Camila/Camilla
Camila/Camilla is a match for Lilyana, Jude, and Lucia, but like with Natalie and Natalia, I thought Camille Ann had a better flow than Camilla Ann. But again, they could do Camilla Ann as the given name and Cammie Ann or Callie Ann as an everyday nickname. There are some holy Camillas, which work for Camille as well.

(3) Sophia/Sofia or Sophie (or as a nickname?)
Sophia is a match for Dominic, and Sofia for Lucas and Lucia. Sophia/Sofia Ann is lovely, but again I feel like Sophie Ann has a better flow. While I love both Sophia/Sofia and Sophie, I’ve seen them (especially Sophie) used as nicknames for Seraphina/Serafina and Josephine/Josefina, which remind me of the Francesca and Philomena that Jenny said they’ve tried but haven’t felt quite right. So maybe one of those? Josephine Ann nicknamed Sophie Ann? Serafina Ann nicknamed Sofie Ann? On its own, Sophia means “wisdom” and is an entry in my book of Marian names because one of Our Lady’s titles is Seat of Wisdom.

(4) Olivia
Olivia’s a match for Lucas and Isabella, and Olivia Ann strikes me as similar to Sophia Ann — quite pretty, but maybe Olivia Ann with Livvy Ann as the everyday nickname would be easier? Olivia’s also in my book of Marian names, after Our Lady of Olives.

(5) Audrey or Aubrey
I was surprised by these names, as they’re a bit different than the ends-in-a names Jenny and her hubs gave Lilyana and Isabella, and are considering with Lucia, but Audrey’s a match for Dominic and Aubrey for Jameson, and since they’re so similar to each other I thought their shared sound and rhythm might be one that appeals to them. There’s a St. Audrey (her entry on CatholicSaints.info is for St. Etheldreda, which she’s also known by), and I quite like Audrey Ann — it has a bit of a Hollywood starlet feel to me, probably because of Audrey Hepburn. Its shorter length makes it easier with Ann as an everyday double name, too. Behind the Name (my go-to for name meanings) says Aubrey is a form of Alberich, and there are a few saints by that name — all male. I believe Aubrey was predominantly a male name until recently. If they love it, it’s certainly no problem for a girl to have a male saint as patron! Like with Audrey Ann, Aubrey Ann is quite easy enough for everyday use.

(6) Rosemary
My thought process behind Rosemary is a little funny. It’s a style match for Dorothy, which normally wouldn’t sway me because I don’t get the sense that Dorothy is really this family’s style, but rather their favorite option of the ways to honor Jenny’s hubby’s mom (and grandmother), but one of the nicknames I’ve seen used for Rosemary is Rory, which always makes me think of Lorelei because of Gilmore Girls. And then thinking about it more, I thought Rosemary Ann nicknamed Rory Ann might be a really cute idea, with that connection to Lorelei too if Jenny wants it to. Rosemary also has a little bit of that Hollywood feel I get from Audrey (e.g., Rosemary Clooney). I think Rosemary is classic and beautiful; it honors Our Lady; and not only is Rory a great possibility for a nickname, but so are Rosie and Romy — Rosie Ann and Romy Ann are both darling. (Just a note of caution that Rosie Ann, being “a flower + Ann,” is similar to Lilyana, being “a flower + Ana.”)

(7) Magdalena
Magdalena Ann is certainly long and difficult for everyday, but I love Maggie Ann! And St. Mary Magdalene is an awesome patron.

(8) Emilia
Emilia is an Italian name, and it’s also the name of St. John Paul II’s mom, whose cause for canonization has been opened! Emilia Ann isn’t terrible, and Emmy Ann is darling.

(9) Carys or Charis
Carys is Welsh for “love,” and Charis — which is said the same as Carys — is Greek for “grace, kindness” and is contained within the word “eucharist.” Carys Ann and Charis Ann are awesome!

(10) Vesper or Verity
Vesper is from the Latin for “evening” and in a Catholic context is used to refer to Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours (“Vespers”). Vesper Ann is lovely! Verity means “truth” and even thought it’s three syllables, I think Verity Ann is easy enough, and wonderful.

(11) Sunday
I posted a birth announcement for a little Sunday Josephine on the blog a while ago, and I love it for this family — it’s got that faith connection for the Lord’s day, and I love Sunday Ann as a combo!

(12) Elodie
This is a French name that I think sounds smashing with Ann! Elodie Ann!

(13) Caeli
Caeli is Latin for “of heaven” (like the Marian title Regina Caeli: Queen of Heaven) and would be really sweet and very Catholic with Ann: Caeli Ann. It’s said CHAY-lee in Church Latin, but you could say it KAY-lee if you wanted.

(14) Mercy
Mercy is a great and unexpected virtue name — I saw quite a bit of it as a baby name during the Jubilee Year of Mercy (2016). Maybe Mercy Ann?

(15) Ann Catherine, Ann Madeline (or similar); something like Ann Seton?
My last ideas have to do with putting Ann first in the double-first-name idea. Catherine is a match for Anthony and Madeline is a match for Dominic, and both of those made me think of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich and Ven. Anne-Madeleine Remuzat — I think both of those combos are so lovely, and thought maybe Jenny would like to consider something like that? I particularly like that Ann Catherine could go by Annie Cate. I know a little AnnClare, which might also appeal to them. From their ideas, I like Ann Lucia quite a bit. If Jenny knows who her mother-in-law’s favorite saint was, that might be an option here too. Then I was noticing that the girl style matches for Jameson were mostly surname-type names, like Kendall, Larkin, and Harper, and wondered if they might like Ann with a saintly surname? Seton was the first that came to mind, because of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton — Ann Seton would be a cool, unexpected first name that would immediately call to mind that particular saint without having to use Elizabeth. Some other surnames that might work in this way include Ann Kolbe, Ann Vianney, Ann Goretti (is it crazy that I just thought Annie Grey could be a doable nickname for Ann Goretti??), Ann Majella (St. Gerard Majella is a patron of expectant mamas!). Or maybe Ann + Jenny’s maiden name? Or Ann Lorelei? So many options!

(16) Ann Elise or Ann Elisa (Annelisa?)
I was staying away from Elizabeth names because of big sister Isabella, which is a form of Elizabeth, but then I realized that Lily and Lillian have a history of usage as nicknames for Elizabeth, so then I thought it might be cool if Jenny’s living daughters have that connection — just kind of lean into it, you know? But without using the full Elizabeth. So if you switch the elements, I think Ann Elise and Ann Elisa are quite pretty! Anneliese is a German mashup of Anne and Elizabeth, so I thought they could do the same with Annelisa if they wanted to combine them. But I quite like them separate too, and doing so highlights the Ann moreso.

(17) Ann Colette, Ann Juliette, Ann Corinne
I definitely found that I think French names go really well with Ann as a combo, especially if they’re in the second spot (like Ann Elise above). I love Colette, Juliette, and Corinne — so feminine!

(18) Alessandra, Carolina, Caterina or Catalina, Veronica
Finally, these ideas are just names I came across that I thought Jenny would like, since she said she likes longer names. I like them all with Lilyana and Isabella, though I’m not sure Ann goes as well with them. But I thought it would be fun to include them!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Lilyana, Anthony, Dominic, Isabella, and Jamison?

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 — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Baby name consultation: Back again for baby no. 7 — lots of double names!

sanctanomina Baby name consultant ,

I had the great privilege of doing a consultation for Keri and her husband a couple of years ago for their fifth baby, and I’m delighted to post a consultation for their seventh baby today! They’re expecting a little girl who joins big sibs:

Keegan Thomas
Emma Claire (“and we do call her ‘Emma Claire’“)
Evan Jacob
Andrew Paul
John Paul Augustine (“John Paul”)
Mary Grace Elizabeth (“Mary Grace”)

I love all these names, and I have such a soft spot for double names! So fun that they have three kiddos with double names!

Keri writes,

“You did a consult for me with Baby #5 (a boy) and I so enjoyed it! Since then we have added another sweet baby girl to our family and are now expecting #7, another girl! These last two girls (this will be our third daughter) are really blowing our minds as we had come to think of ourselves as a mostly boy family!

Obviously (and as you may remember from our previous consult), our names have become more Catholic in style. Keegan was named to honor my favorite cousin who passed away at the age of 20. His name was ‘Kevin Thomas.’ Back when we named Keegan we were more concerned with our names being ‘unique.’ The more kids we have the less we seem to care about that!

For years we said that if we ever had another girl after Emma Claire she would be ‘Elizabeth’ and we would call her ‘Libby’ or ‘Libby Jane’ (my mom’s middle name) or ‘Libby Kate.’ And then Mary Grace was even born on St Elizabeth Ann Seton’s feast day! But through a series of circumstances it became clear that she was to have a Marian name so we put ‘Elizabeth’ in the second spot, believing that we would never have another girl. We deeply regret that now and have even toyed with the idea of using the name anyway. I think I am starting to come to terms with the idea of something different, however. But … sigh …

Names we are tossing around currently include:
-Caroline
-Catherine (but I think we are getting close to ruling it out)
-Annaliese (nn Annie) or Annaliese Catherine (nn Annie Cate) OR
-Anna Catherine (full double name but prob would call her Anna Cate, at least for a while)
*the only problem with this is that I am not in love with Anna on its own. I do like Annaliese, though)
-Genevieve (nn Vivi? I don’t particularly like Evie and don’t like Ginny, etc)
-Isabel (could we call her “Libby?”)
-Cecilia (though I do have at least one friend with a Cecilia)
-Lucy (though I don’t think it’s long enough on its own. I think Lucia (Lu—SEE-uh) is gorgeous but not sure it fits in our family. Definitely considering it as a middle name as we LOVE St Lucy here!)
-Eloise (nn Lucy?) too little girlish? How will it age?
-Abigail
-Josephine (hubby is lukewarm and also have a friend with a Josie)

Other potential middles-
-Zelie or Azelie or even Azelie-Marie
-Jane (my mom’s middle name, though she didn’t like it. Sadly, she has early onset Alzheimer’s and can’t tell me what she thinks of it now)
-June
-Joy

I also love Evelyn (but too similar to Evan) and Imogen (similar to Emma). I like Eleanor but hubby doesn’t. We considered Cordelia for a few days but it doesn’t seem to quite fit (but it’s a lovely name). Something like Madeline or Adeline has also crossed our minds although I ruled out the former 7 years ago when I was first pregnant with a girl because it seemed so incredibly popular.

-Also worth noting: Emma Claire is OBSESSED with naming the baby Margaret. I think she got it from “Daniel Tiger.” 😂 It has seemed a bit old lady to me in the past but I do see the charm in it now and what amazing patrons! We are still not sure we would use it but it’s not as jarring to us as it was initially. We can’t use “Maggie”, however, which I do think is adorable.

Whew! That’s where we are now! Feminine names with strong patrons and probably either a double or at least 3 syllable first name? Also, if it helps at all had this baby been a boy I was thinking ‘Becket Ignatius.’

I can’t wait to hear your ideas!“

Okay, so I’m totally with Keri on Libby Jane — I can see why she so regrets not having used it when they had the chance; I can see why she’s trying to let it go; and I too might also consider using Elizabeth again if I were in her shoes. It’s a pickle! But I had some ideas that I thought might be helpful regarding this particular dilemma:

  • Isabel nicknamed Libby was the first idea I had when I was reading Keri’s email, so the fact that they already have it on their list of possibles is good!
  • I was also surprised to see the fairly rare Lisbeth in my research for this family in the Baby Name Wizard — it’s a match for Annaliese! So that’s another Elizabeth variant that might interest them (you all know that I rely heavily on the BNW when doing consultations as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity)
  • I also wondered if they’d be interested in creating a nickname from the first+middle combo? Something like Lillian Bernadette could allow for the nickname Libby … even Lillian Bernadette Jane for Libby Jane, or Lillian Bernadette Kate … Or Lauren Abigail … Or Laura Beatrice/Beatrix … with Kate or Jane as a second middle (all those names (firsts and middles) were either on Keri’s list or were results of my research)
  • In the same idea of making Libby out of an L first name and a B/B-heavy middle, I also thought maybe a first with a strong L that’s not necessarily the first letter could also do it? Like Zelie or Azelie as a first with Bernadette/Beatrice/Abigail as a middle. Or Olivia? Or Avila, which has “il” instead of “Li” contained in it, but I think something like Avila Beatrice would make Libby as a nickname very understandable

Some other thoughts about the names they’re considering:

  • Caroline: I love it, beautiful name. And its nickname Callie is so cute!
  • Catherine: Also wonderful, fits right in with their other kids
  • Annaliese [Catherine] nicked Annie or Annie Cate: Love! Great idea!
  • Anna Catherine nicked Anna Cate: Also beautiful!
  • Genevieve nicked Vivi: Totally works!
  • Cecilia: Such a pretty name
  • Lucy: See below
  • Eloise nicked Lucy: Definitely works (as does Louisa) … not sure what Keri means about Eloise not aging well though? I think it’s lovely and sophisticated for a woman!
  • Abigail: Very nice
  • Josephine: Also very nice

I think they have such great ideas! My favorite though is Lucy — Lucy is such a darling name, and it makes a double name so easily! Lucy Catherine can be Lucy Cate; Eloise Jane can be Lucy Jane. I don’t see any problem with Lucia in their family, but maybe Lucille is a better fit for them? I definitely love the Lucy idea!

Zelie/Azelie/Azelie-Marie are all beautiful. Regarding Jane, it seems to be meaningful to Keri, even if it wasn’t her mom’s favorite, and if using it makes Keri think of her mom in a positive way, I could see it being a really nice choice. The fact that her mom didn’t care for it could even be like a funny family story that gets told when they relate how their daughter got her name.

June and Joy are both lovely as well.

So funny that Evelyn and Imogen are both favorites, but so similar to names they’ve chosen already! I’m glad Keri included them in her email though, as it gave me extra data to work with. I’m amazed that they seriously considered Cordelia! It gets a lot of love on name boards, but I’ve rarely seen anyone seriously consider it. Such a fun addition to my list of names to research!

Madeline and Adeline are both beautiful, and interestingly, Madeline’s held steady in the 80s/90s for the past seven years (down from the 50s/60s before that), but Adeline’s jumped up like crazy recently! From 2011–2014 it was in the 200s, then 135 in 2015, then 63 in 2016! Wow!

And that’s too funny about Baby Margaret on Daniel! I’ve heard that from more than one parent! There are other nicknames for Margaret that they might like, since they can’t use Maggie: Maisie and Daisy are both traditional nicknames for it, and Meg/Megan, Greta, Marta, and Rita are all Margaret variants that can work nicely as nicknames.

Okay, so using the names Keri and her husband have already bestowed on their kids, as well as the names they like/are considering, as inspiration in my research, with a preference for double names and/or 3-syllable names, these are my ideas for Keri’s little girl:

(1) Stella, Stellamaris
Stella’s a match for Lucy and Claire, and the “el” sound showed up in a lot of names they like (Elizabeth, Isabel, Eloise, Eleanor, Zelie/Azelie), so I thought Stella was a good suggestion! Stella Jane, Stella Kate/Cate, Stella Joy, Stella June are all really sweet! Or, maybe they’d like to consider the confection Stellamaris?

(2) Adelaide
Adeline made me think of Adelaide, which is such a beautiful name! I looked it up in the BNW to see what names are style matches for it, and loved seeing Anneliese, Genevieve, Josephine, and Louisa (like Eloise on their list) listed! There are a couple Sts. Adelaide. I also think they could maybe make Libby work with the right middle name?

(3) Clementine
Eleanor, Eloise, and Genevieve yielded Clementine, which I thought was sort of similar to Cordelia, Catherine, Caroline, Madeline, and Adeline sound-wise. Although … now that I think about it … Emma Claire and Clementine are sort of like mirrors of each other? Both have prominent “Em” and “Cl” sounds … gah! Well, I’ll leave it on here anyway in case it sparks something. It’s a Marian name, and can also be for the Divine Mercy, since it means “merciful.”

(4) Audrey
Audrey! I hardly ever think of the lovely Audrey! So it was fun to see it matching up with Evan, Claire, Evelyn, and Abigail! I love the ideas of Audrey Jane and Audrey Kate! There is a St. Audrey, though for this one I think I like the idea of her patron saint coming from her middle name instead (St. Jane de Chantal and St. Catherine of Siena or Laboure are all wonderful!).

(5) Charlotte
Charlotte showed up too many times in my research to ignore! It’s a match for Claire, Annaliese, Evelyn, Madeline, Eleanor, Genevieve, and Josephine! It’s a Charles variant like Caroline is, so using Charlotte now would knock out Caroline for the future, but I thought I needed to mention it. Lottie is a sweet nickname that has a similar feel to me as Lucy, and I love Lottie Jane and Lottie Kate/Cate! There are some great patrons.

(6) Julia
Between Julia and Juliet, this name family was quite a hit for this family. Of the two, I thought maybe Julia was more their speed, and while Jane/June/Joy don’t work so well with it, Julia Catherine is gorgeous, and Julia Cate or Julie Cate are great nicknames. There are lots of holy Julias.

(7) Lydia
This was actually inspired by the previous consultation I did for Keri and her hubs! Keri had said that “Alexander has been a runner-up for every boy we have,” so I looked it up and was pleased to see Catherine, Charlotte, and Abigail listed as matches, and Lydia was included as well. So then I looked Lydia up, just to be sure of its style, and Cecilia, Grace, Clara, Eliza, and Julia were all matches, all of which are either exactly their style or swirling around it! Since Liddy is so close in sound to Libby, I wonder what they’d think of Lydia Catherine or Lydia Jane nicknamed Liddy Cate or Liddy Jane? I’ve always loved that Lydia in the bible sold purple cloth — all the little Lydias I know have taken purple as their own color! There’s also another St. Lydia besides the biblical one.

(8) Magdalen(e)
Madeline is actually a variant of Magdalene, and since they like Maggie and are thinking about Margaret, I thought maybe Magdalen/Magdalene might be a great compromise! Maggie’s the most obvious nickname, but since they can’t use it, I think Maddy, Molly, and Lena (they could do the full Magdalena if they prefer, to get to Lena) are all fine as nicknames. And they all could double up with Cate/Jane nicely I think!

(9) Tessa
I know this idea probably won’t work since, as noted in Keri’s previous consultation, they’re considering adding Therese as Emma Claire’s second middle name, but Tessa seemed so perfect to use in a double name that I thought I’d add it here just in case. And they do have Paul twice in their boys’ names (though I know they’re for different men), and they’re considering using Elizabeth again or a variant, so maybe another Teresa name is okay? Teresa would be a perfect given name, since it’s different from Therese, and Teresa Catherine/Teresa Jane to result in Tessa Cate/Tessa Jane are amazing.

And those are my ideas for Keri and her husband! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Keegan, Emma Claire, Evan, Andrew, John Paul, and Mary Grace?