A Sibling for Ada Elizabeth

leah-bo-beah · August 31, 2016, 9:57pm

I’ve been a nameberry peruser for a long time, and so impressed with the thoughtful and creative replies on here. I can’t wait to see your helpful suggestions!

[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] B (one syllable last name) is 13 months old and expecting a little brother or sister in [name_u]March[/name_u]. We are hoping to have a large family, so we’re trying to come up with a shortlist of good names that hang together.

If this baby is a girl, I need to decide whether to go the ‘end them all with a’ route (like my mother did - [name_f]Leah[/name_f], [name_f]Hannah[/name_f], and [name_u]Risa[/name_u] - I think our names fit together beautifully), or the ‘end them all differently’ route (like [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f]).

My preferences are traditional/Biblical, and off the top-100 list if possible (or at least top 40). We live in [name_f]Canada[/name_f], so our top names are a bit different than the U.S. You’ll notice a few popular names on my list - I’m hoping you’ll be able to suggest alternatives I’ll love! Lists are ordered alphabetically, not by preference. I seem to like 2-3-1 or 2-2-1 as a syllable progression, I guess because I feel like it balances the short last name.

Girls ending with A:
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f] (nn [name_f]Milly[/name_f])
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f]
[name_f]Mara[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f]
[name_u]Risa[/name_u] [name_f]Christine[/name_f] ([name_u]Risa[/name_u] is a family name)
[name_f]Vera[/name_f] [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f]

Girls with other endings:
[name_f]Alice[/name_f] [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Eleanora[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Cassandra[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Louise[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Christine[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f]
[name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Katrina[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Maureen[/name_f]

Boys
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] [name_m]Daniel[/name_m]
[name_m]Caedmon[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], [name_m]Caedmon[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] (pronounced [name_m]CADman[/name_m]- super old name. Super uncommon. Hubby’s first choice.)
[name_m]Gilbert[/name_m] [name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m]
[name_m]Jasper[/name_m] [name_m]Adam[/name_m] (my first choice)
[name_u]Laurence[/name_u] [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m]
[name_m]Simon[/name_m] [name_m]Isaiah[/name_m] (my other first choice)
[name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_m]William[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m]

Here are names that aren’t as high on the list but that have crossed my mind:
[name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Hermione[/name_f]
[name_f]Dinah[/name_f] [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f], [name_f]Dinah[/name_f] [name_f]Viola[/name_f]
[name_f]Glory[/name_f] _________
[name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_f]Maureen[/name_f], [name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_f]Rosalind[/name_f]
[name_u]Marian[/name_u] __________
[name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_f]Isabel[/name_f], [name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], [name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_u]Eloise[/name_u], [name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f]
[name_f]Pheobe[/name_f] [name_f]Naomi[/name_f]
[name_f]Thora[/name_f] [name_f]Christine[/name_f]
[name_f]Viola[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f] ___________

[name_m]Graeme[/name_m] [name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m], [name_m]Graeme[/name_m] [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], [name_m]Graeme[/name_m] [name_m]Caleb[/name_m]
[name_m]John[/name_m] [name_m]Arlington[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonathan[/name_m] [name_m]Alistair[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonas[/name_m] [name_m]Augustine[/name_m]
[name_m]Julian[/name_m] _________
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] (great with [name_f]Ada[/name_f] - too popular in [name_f]Canada[/name_f])
[name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m]
[name_m]Richard[/name_m] [name_m]Gideon[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Elijah[/name_m], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m]
[name_m]Tobias[/name_m] [name_u]Elliot[/name_u] (nn [name_u]Toby[/name_u])
[name_m]Walter[/name_m] [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m]
[name_m]William[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] (love, but much too popular)
[name_m]Victor[/name_m] _______

I welcome your insights as well as combinations and suggestions I haven’t thought of! I’d also love to see your sibling set ideas. Suppose I have six children - how would you name them?

sere_veng · September 3, 2016, 11:05am

[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is a gorgeous pairing! So classic! If it came down to whether you wanted to keep the same ending or a different ending, I would use whatever name you liked right now and then find something that fit the pattern for your future children. Some suggestions for a girl are:

Suggestions that have the same ending:
[name_f]Celia[/name_f]
[name_f]Cora[/name_f]
[name_f]Emilia[/name_f] (reminds me of a less popular version of [name_f]Emma[/name_f] and [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] that you may want to consider)
[name_f]Julia[/name_f]
[name_f]Lydia[/name_f]
[name_f]Lyla[/name_f]
[name_f]Matilda[/name_f]
[name_f]Thea[/name_f]
[name_f]Victoria[/name_f]
[name_f]Willa[/name_f]

My favorite combos that you have in this list is probably either [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] or [name_f]Vera[/name_f] [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f].

Different ending:
[name_f]Claire[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]
[name_f]Hazel[/name_f]
[name_f]Helen[/name_f]
[name_f]Judith[/name_f]
[name_f]Katherine[/name_f]
[name_f]Lucy[/name_f]
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
[name_f]Miriam[/name_f]
[name_f]Vivienne[/name_f]

For this list in your combos, I really like [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Victoria[/name_f].

Boy:
[name_m]Edward[/name_m]
[name_m]John[/name_m]
[name_m]Levi[/name_m]
[name_m]Malachi[/name_m]
[name_m]Milo[/name_m]
[name_m]Phineas[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m]
[name_u]Seth[/name_u]
[name_m]Silas[/name_m]
[name_m]Simon[/name_m]

For the boy combos, I love [name_m]Simon[/name_m] [name_m]Isaiah[/name_m] and [name_m]Jasper[/name_m] [name_m]Adam[/name_m].

For the names that have crossed your mind, I’m in love with your [name_f]Clara[/name_f] combos! [name_f]Viola[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f] is a close second. And for boys, I love them all, and I would definitely consider using [name_m]Julian[/name_m]. Maybe a [name_m]Julian[/name_m] middle could be [name_m]Samuel[/name_m], [name_u]Seth[/name_u], etc.

I also feel like a lot of these could make for future sibling names

[name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps! Good [name_m]Luck[/name_m]!

flowermae · September 4, 2016, 6:17pm

Congrats on baby number two coming! [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f] is beautifully named, I’m sure you’ll do a great job going forward as well!

I would suggest that you not worry about making a decision to end all the names with an ‘a’ or not at this point and just pick a name you like. If you get 3 or so children in and have started a pattern you can choose to continue it at that point if you’d like. For example, I think [name_f]Leah[/name_f], [name_f]Hannah[/name_f], [name_u]Risa[/name_u], and [name_f]Alice[/name_f] works just as well as [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f], and [name_f]Hannah[/name_f]. I just hate to see people box themselves in with arbitrary rules!

Some thoughts for you…

Girls ending with A:
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f] (nn [name_f]Milly[/name_f]) – very pretty! Have you considered [name_f]Camille[/name_f]? It is a non-end-in-a name and can get you to [name_f]Milly[/name_f].

[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] – love this too!

[name_f]Mara[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f] – I like this. Some people are put off by [name_f]Mara[/name_f]’s meaning. I’m not (so I probably shouldn’t have brought it up – sorry!). I really like [name_f]Myra[/name_f] but for some reason no one else seems to.

[name_u]Risa[/name_u] [name_f]Christine[/name_f] ([name_u]Risa[/name_u] is a family name) – I like [name_u]Risa[/name_u], does it rhyme with [name_u]Lisa[/name_u]? Can’t say I’ve heard it before but I love the idea of family names.

[name_f]Vera[/name_f] [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] – These are two really pretty names!! The end of [name_f]Vera[/name_f] and first part of [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] do run together a bit but I think it is ok.

Girls with other endings:
[name_f]Alice[/name_f] [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Eleanora[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Cassandra[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Louise[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Christine[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Kathleen[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f]
[name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Katrina[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Maureen[/name_f]

These are all great! I love [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]! I do think [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] sounds a little too similar to [name_f]Ada[/name_f] when I say them together out loud. If I were yelling one name upstairs would the girls be able to tell which one I was calling? Maybe it’s just me…the long a sound kind of takes over

Boys
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] – this one sounds a little common and expected to me

[name_m]Caedmon[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], [name_m]Caedmon[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] (pronounced [name_m]CADman[/name_m]- super old name. Super uncommon. Hubby’s first choice.) – I would assume this is pronounced [name_u]CADE[/name_u]-mon. I wouldn’t want to deal with correcting pronunciation all the time.

[name_m]Gilbert[/name_m] [name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m] – Hmm…I’m not a fan of [name_m]Gilbert[/name_m], sorry!

[name_m]Jasper[/name_m] [name_m]Adam[/name_m] (my first choice) – I like this!

[name_u]Laurence[/name_u] [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] – Really like this one!

[name_m]Simon[/name_m] [name_m]Isaiah[/name_m] (my other first choice) – Very nice too!

[name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_m]William[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] - Another great one!

Here are names that aren’t as high on the list but that have crossed my mind:
[name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Hermione[/name_f]
[name_f]Dinah[/name_f] [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f], [name_f]Dinah[/name_f] [name_f]Viola[/name_f]
[name_f]Glory[/name_f] _________
[name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_f]Maureen[/name_f], [name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_f]Rosalind[/name_f]
[name_u]Marian[/name_u] __________
[name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_f]Isabel[/name_f], [name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], [name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_u]Eloise[/name_u], [name_f]Norah[/name_f] [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f]
[name_f]Pheobe[/name_f] [name_f]Naomi[/name_f]
[name_f]Thora[/name_f] [name_f]Christine[/name_f]
[name_f]Viola[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f] ___________

I love [name_f]Clara[/name_f], [name_f]Dinah[/name_f], [name_f]Glory[/name_f], and [name_f]Viola[/name_f]! Have you considered [name_f]Laurel[/name_f], [name_f]Joy[/name_f]/[name_u]Joyce[/name_u], [name_f]Martha[/name_f], [name_f]Joanna[/name_f]?

[name_m]Graeme[/name_m] [name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m], [name_m]Graeme[/name_m] [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], [name_m]Graeme[/name_m] [name_m]Caleb[/name_m]
[name_m]John[/name_m] [name_m]Arlington[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonathan[/name_m] [name_m]Alistair[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonas[/name_m] [name_m]Augustine[/name_m]
[name_m]Julian[/name_m] _________
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] (great with [name_f]Ada[/name_f] - too popular in [name_f]Canada[/name_f])
[name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m]
[name_m]Richard[/name_m] [name_m]Gideon[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Elijah[/name_m], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m]
[name_m]Tobias[/name_m] [name_u]Elliot[/name_u] (nn [name_u]Toby[/name_u])
[name_m]Walter[/name_m] [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m]
[name_m]William[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] (love, but much too popular)
[name_m]Victor[/name_m] _______

Have you considered [name_m]Thomas[/name_m], [name_m]Solomon[/name_m], [name_u]Seth[/name_u]?

I might come back with my suggestion of 6 names for you…I’ll have to think a bit on that one!

Good luck to you! You can’t go wrong, you have some wonderful names here!

leah-bo-beah · October 2, 2016, 11:54am

Thank you both for your thoughtful comments. I’m particularly grateful where you’ve pointed out names that are too similar to [name_f]Ada[/name_f] - I agree: [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] might come running instead when [name_f]Ada[/name_f] is called.

There are some really excellent classics here that I hadn’t come across or thought of, so I’ll definitely go back over the lists with those in mind. I love the suggestions of [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] (or [name_f]Eleanora[/name_f]), [name_f]Lucy[/name_f], [name_f]Miriam[/name_f], [name_f]Laurel[/name_f], [name_u]Seth[/name_u], and [name_m]Solomon[/name_m] (could be [name_m]Sol[/name_m] for short - I like!). I’m delighted someone else suggested [name_m]Silas[/name_m] - I came up with that one a long time ago but Husband kiboshed it. [name_m]Said[/name_m] it sounded too much like “silage.”

And you’re totally right. I shouldn’t fret about endings - the lists you came up with that mix endings sound great too. Pregnant people have fuzzy thinking sometimes.

Yes - [name_u]Risa[/name_u] rhymes with [name_u]Lisa[/name_u]. And I know the meaning for [name_f]Mara[/name_f]… and decided it was beautiful anyway. My name is [name_f]Leah[/name_f] - means weary - but that’s ok with me.= )

Thanks for all your help!