From 9 down to 5

Girl Names
1

Well, I think we’ve narrowed the list down a bit. We eliminated Cana because it sounded too much like [name_m]Canaan[/name_m], Canine, and [name_m]Cain[/name_m], and most people wouldn’t see it for the place name that it is supposed to be. [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] is out as a first name–my husband was never in love with it, and it’s actually starting to sound too trendy to me. It’s still hovering around as a maybe middle name possibility, though. [name_f]Talia[/name_f] and [name_f]Thea[/name_f] are out because they weren’t registering for most people as [name_m]Christian[/name_m] names, and that’s a top priority for us. Which leaves:

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f]
[name_f]Iona[/name_f]
[name_f]Geneva[/name_f]
[name_f]Serena[/name_f]

Family names that we will likely be choosing from for the middle–[name_f]Elaine[/name_f], [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f], [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u].

Anything stand out as a stellar choice? Again, for background, this will be baby #6. Our 3 sons all have fresher-sounding Bible names–familiar enough, but barely in the top 100. Our girls both have names with deep spiritual meanings and history, but not in the top 1000.

Thanks in Advance!

2

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] is my favorite from your list, but I don’t think it goes well with your middle name choices. [name_f]Iona[/name_f] is fresh, I haven’t heard it and it looks nice spelled. [name_f]Serena[/name_f] just makes me think of [name_f]Serena[/name_f] [name_m]Williams[/name_m] and tiger.

3

My favorites are [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f], [name_f]Verity[/name_f], and [name_f]Serena[/name_f].

Possible combos:

[name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f]
[name_f]Serena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Serena[/name_f] [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f]

4

My favourites are [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] (such a cool name!), [name_f]Verity[/name_f] and [name_f]Iona[/name_f]. :slight_smile:

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f]
[name_f]Iona[/name_f] [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]

5

Thanks for the ideas!

My favorite combos so far:

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f] (really my hands down favorite at this moment)
[name_f]Iona[/name_f] [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Geneva[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f]

[name_f]Serena[/name_f] could go with just about any of those middle names, but none of them stand out to me. It’s also the most “compromise” name for me…I’m hoping my hubby can fall in love with one of the others first. :slight_smile:

6

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] is gorgeous!

7

My favourite is [name_f]Serena[/name_f], although I like [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f].

[name_f]Serena[/name_f] [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] and [name_f]Serena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] are both lovely, and I really like [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f].

8

My order would be:

  1. [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] - [name_u]Love[/name_u] the nicknames and I think it’s a really beautiful sounding name.
  2. [name_f]Iona[/name_f] - [name_u]Love[/name_u] it, underused
  3. [name_f]Verity[/name_f] - It sounds nice but I don’t know about the meaning. Being named ‘[name_u]Truth[/name_u]’ - I don’t know I can’t get on board with virtue names. As they go, this is one of the best ones.
  4. [name_f]Serena[/name_f] - Pretty, but this doesn’t feel like a [name_m]Christian[/name_m] name to me. I prefer the Italian pronounciation “Seh-rehn-ah” over “Seh-reen-ah”. I also think of [name_f]Serena[/name_f] [name_m]Williams[/name_m].
  5. [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] - I don’t get a [name_m]Christian[/name_m] vibe from this. I find the name a bit tacky but I always feel that way about place names.
9

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] is by far my favorite, and from what you’ve described it seems to go best with your style/other kid’s names. It’s lovely!
My favorite is [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f], though I’d like to point out that I find [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] [name_f]Verity[/name_f] to be stunning. Good luck!

10

My favorites are [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] and [name_f]Verity[/name_f] and I think [name_f]Jane[/name_f] sounds fabulous with both.

11

Without knowing the names of your other children, it’s hard to know which name from your list could be the best fit. But, my favorite was and still is Magdalena…by far!!! Both Magdalena Jane and Magdalena Elaine are lovely.

You said your sons have fresher-sounding, less common Bible names. By this, I assume you mean less traditional (i.e. Michael, David, Thomas) Bible names. Magdalena would fit in with this, I think. But, you also said your daughters have names with deep spiritual meaning and history – are they not from the Bible? If so, Verity, Iona and Geneva might be better fits!

Personally, I’m not overly fond of virtue names, but Verity is one of the exceptions! But I prefer Iona and Geneva. People are - possibly - more likely to know of the correlation between Geneva and Church history than Iona.

To be honest, I don’t like Serena for you. Independent of the tennis player, it doesn’t strike me as being a Christian name, which you say is a priority to you. Then, there is the tennis player with whom the name is more closely tied than religion, IMO.

Another thought… You mentioned that none of your children have trending names. If this is important to you, in conservative circles, Verity, Iona and Geneva are becoming more common.

12

I really like [name_f]Iona[/name_f] and [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f]—I’d say [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] is the most obviously [name_m]Christian[/name_m] name on your list, if that’s a factor.

13

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] is my favorite from your choices. I don’t particularly associate [name_f]Iona[/name_f], [name_f]Geneva[/name_f], or [name_f]Serena[/name_f] with Christianity, but they are lovely choices. [name_f]Verity[/name_f] is also quite pretty. It has a nice sound, and reminds me of the character from Poldark, the new PBS Masterpiece.

[name_f]Elaine[/name_f], [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f], [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] doesn’t flow very well with your middle name choices but if I had to choose, I’d go with [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]. My favorite combo with your listed names is [name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f]. [name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] was a close runner up but I think it would have too many Vs. [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f] would also be pretty.

14

[name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]. Simple and easy but unique and pretty. Winner

15

[name_f]Verity[/name_f], hands down! I think it ticks all the right boxes, and [name_f]Verity[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] is darling.

I love [name_f]Serena[/name_f], but I get the sense you’re leaning towards the others.

[name_f]Geneva[/name_f] is going to strike most people (I think) as a city name first, and any spiritual connection is secondary to the average person.

[name_f]Iona[/name_f] is nice enough but it just doesn’t have the appeal that [name_f]Verity[/name_f] and [name_f]Serena[/name_f] do for me.

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] has charm and gravity, but in this case, the spiritual connection is very up-front and obvious. If that’s what you want, go for it, but that’s definitely the first impression it will make.

16

Yeah, I know listing them all would be helpful, but with a larger family of uncommon names, and this being a public forum, I worry about privacy. :confused:

You said your sons have fresher-sounding, less common Bible names. By this, I assume you mean less traditional (i.e. Michael, David, Thomas) Bible names. Magdalena would fit in with this, I think. But, you also said your daughters have names with deep spiritual meaning and history – are they not from the Bible? If so, Verity, Iona and Geneva might be better fits!

Yes, the boys’ names are less traditional than the [name_u]Michael[/name_u]-[name_m]David[/name_m]-[name_m]Thomas[/name_m] ilk, but not completely “out there”. No Zerubbabels or Melchizedeks, if you know what I mean. :wink: The girls names are biblical in a sense, but not actually the given names of any biblical ladies. As an example, [name_f]Selah[/name_f] is considered a Bible name even though it’s a musical notation in the Psalms, not a name worn by a person. So, it could go either way. [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] isn’t technically a Bible name in the truest sense of the word because [name_f]Magdalene[/name_f] was more of a reference to where [name_f]Mary[/name_f] lived (to distinguish her from the other [name_f]Marys[/name_f] in the [name_m]New[/name_m] Testament). On the other hand, [name_f]Verity[/name_f], [name_f]Iona[/name_f], and [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] wouldn’t sound out of place in the sibset, either.

Personally, I’m not overly fond of virtue names, but Verity is one of the exceptions! But I prefer Iona and Geneva. People are - possibly - more likely to know of the correlation between Geneva and Church history than Iona.

Very true. I kind of like the idea of drawing attention to a lesser known piece of history, though. The [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] connection will be completely obvious to most people in our faith circles.

To be honest, I don’t like Serena for you. Independent of the tennis player, it doesn’t strike me as being a Christian name, which you say is a priority to you. Then, there is the tennis player with whom the name is more closely tied than religion, IMO.

I don’t follow tennis and was hoping that connection had dwindled. I’m not ready to completely scratch it, though.

Another thought… You mentioned that none of your children have trending names. If this is important to you, in conservative circles, Verity, Iona and Geneva are becoming more common.

I’ve heard of other Veritys and Genevas out there, but as far as I can tell, [name_f]Iona[/name_f] is still flying blissfully under the radar. I’ve heard rumors of one or two baby Ionas existing, but I’ve never actually met one.

Thanks for all your thoughts! This was helpful!

17

Absolutely [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] [name_f]Elaine[/name_f].

18

I understand the desire for privacy! I was simply suggesting that my favorite is a stab in the dark when it comes to the sib-set. :wink:

I think I’m following the direction of the names of your sons. To clarify, your daughters have names from the Bible (perhaps places or terms or words or flora etc), but not actual given names from the Bible? For instance, I would call [name_f]Selah[/name_f] a Biblical name–as it is from the Bible! If so, [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] would be along those lines. To me, a name of spiritual depth and history would be rich in meaning but not found in Scripture – names like [name_f]Verity[/name_f], [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] and [name_f]Iona[/name_f]. [name_m]Hence[/name_m], I’m asking for the clarification! Sorry to be a bother.

I probably prefer [name_f]Iona[/name_f] to [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] and drawing attention to a lesser known is a nice thought; I was just not sure how ‘[name_m]Christian[/name_m] sounding’ a name you wanted. Out of the three - [name_f]Iona[/name_f], [name_f]Geneva[/name_f] and [name_f]Verity[/name_f] - [name_f]Iona[/name_f] is possibly the least commonly used still. (And, if it is not common in your circles, and you really like it, you might want to snap it up, LOL!!!)

19

I love [name_f]Geneva[/name_f], [name_f]Verity[/name_f], and [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f].

20

I like

[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f]
[name_f]Iona[/name_f]
[name_f]Verity[/name_f]