I’m a second grade teacher. The first week of school is week is all about names. I read the Book Chrysanthemum by [name]Kevin[/name] Henkes to my new students each year and then ask them to go home and find out why their parents think their name is absolutely perfect. I type up their responses and each child gets to share them with the rest of their classmates. I love learning about children’s names. I love getting to hear children tell about their names. It has always been one of my favorite ways to start a school year.
This year has been especially meaningful. After 2 and a half years of ttc my husband and I are finally expecting twins. Now you’d think that after years of trying and my nameberry addiction that I’d be all set with names. But I’m not, and I need the help of fellow berries to name my babies.
We already have one boy name and one girl name set. The trouble is that because we live in [name]India[/name], where it’s illegal to reveal the sex of an unborn child, we will need to come up with one more of each. I’m looking for sib sets that are not too matchy but have the same style. I’d also like their names to have meaning and not be in the top 1000. We live overseas in a very diverse population so we’re open to names from other cultures. Here’s what we have so far.
And please if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.
Our G/B twin set
[name]Agnes[/name] [name]Jeanne[/name] ([name]Agnes[/name] is my grandmother’s name and [name]Jeanne[/name] is my [name]MIL[/name]'s name)
[name]Arlo[/name] [name]John[/name] ([name]Arlo[/name] is an A name after my Uncle [name]Alvin[/name] and [name]John[/name] is both my father’s name and the name of my husband’s deceased friend. I know that [name]Arlo[/name] is now #918 but I just love it too much so I’ll break my top 1000 rule)
Other girl names I like but husband’s not sure of
[name]Aoife[/name] (love irish names)
[name]Oona[/name]
[name]Irene[/name] (MN only, it was my other grandmother’s name)
Other boy names
[name]Ellis[/name] (i’m from NY)
Josa (I have a Josa in my class this year and it could honor another special uncle [name]Joe[/name])
Any suggestions you could make for GG and BB twin sets using [name]Agnes[/name] and [name]Arlo[/name] would be appreciated.
Good [name]Luck[/name]!! It would be lovely if you could maybe post some of what the parents of your class said about their names! You wouldn’t have to put in any info of them, yo could just write it!
I really like all of the names you’ve listed! I think that [name]Agnes[/name] and [name]Oona[/name] would be an awesome combination for a GG twinset. They’re two of my favorites, and they’re both so underappreciated.
Girls
[name]Juna[/name] / [name]Djuna[/name]
Sita
[name]Eloisa[/name]
[name]Rena[/name]
[name]Ilse[/name] / [name]Ilsa[/name]
[name]Vashti[/name]
[name]Lula[/name]
[name]Marigold[/name]
Sose (so-see)
Sive (An Anglicization of the Irish Sadb or [name]Sadhbh[/name]. My understanding was that it rhymed with [name]Eve[/name], but Nameberry has the pronunciation listed as rhyming with five. )
Boys
[name]Ivo[/name]
[name]Joah[/name]
[name]Asa[/name] (This one is likely too popular for your tastes.)
[name]Josias[/name]
Anand (I don’t think it’s in the database here, but it is here - Meaning, origin and history of the name Anand - Behind the Name. I think that this is probably my favorite [name]Indian[/name] name.)
[name]Aldo[/name]
[name]Harlan[/name]
[name]Dara[/name]
[name]Adlai[/name]
I would swoon to meet little twins [name]Agnes[/name] and [name]Oona[/name]! If you love Irish names, like [name]Aoife[/name] (also lovely - but I don’t know about it with [name]Agnes[/name]), [name]Oona[/name] has some history of use in [name]Ireland[/name]. And I believe both can be related etymologically to lambs. [name]Oona[/name] [name]Irene[/name] is nice, to me.
[name]Love[/name] the book Chrysanthemum. [name]Crisanta[/name] is a Spanish name that relates to it, if you like that stretch : D.
[name]Arlo[/name] and [name]Ellis[/name] would be pretty solid for boy boy.
Yes, I love that both [name]Agnes[/name] and [name]Oona[/name] are related etymologically to lambs. I have a feeling We’ve narrowed the name for girls down.
It’s the boys names that I’m having the most trouble with. I like [name]Ellis[/name] but I think it’s on the rise and it’s too close to all the other [name]EL[/name] names.
What fun names! I hope you have boy/girl twins so you can use both of them =) For G/G twins, I really love the idea of [name]Agnes[/name] and [name]Irene[/name]. The fact that they are both grandmother’s names makes it just so perfect for twins.
I love the book Chrysanthemum. It was my oldest daughter, [name]Clare[/name]'s, absolute favorite when she was in 1st and 2nd grade so I’ve read it many, many times.
To go with [name]Agnes[/name], I really love [name]Clara[/name]. [name]Clara[/name] [name]Irene[/name] would be great except that [name]Jeanne[/name] and [name]Irene[/name] rhyme. (My twin sister’s name is [name]Irene[/name]. We were named after our grandmothers.)
But when I saw your title, I thought, “Oooh, is someone really thinking about using the name, Chrysanthemum? [name]Kinda[/name] cool!”
So many people are interested in botanical names, so I thought this was what you were aiming for–something botanical and unusual/uncommon.
I remember when I was younger, when I found out that Chrysanthemum’s are [name]November[/name]'s flower; I swore I would name my daughter, Chrysanthemum [name]Topaz[/name] or Chrysanthemum Citrine, [name]Chrissy[/name] or Topi for short. I just adored the name and smiled at just the thought of it. I still secretly like the name (well, it was a secret), but I know better now and my naming styles have changed just a bit, not much, but thoughtful for the person who will wear the name.
