Theodora Taylor was born at sunrise this week, a little sister for Martha and Morris!
Just as for my two older children, we only tuned in to the name that felt right in the last two weeks of pregnancy. We had cycled through June, Susannah, Esther, Cordelia, and a couple other frontrunners beforehand. As is typical for us, lists and pre-planning are useless—all three of our kids’ names just came to us at the last minute and insisted on being used! There is some definite irony in the fact that I’m a huge name nerd and yet a last-minute, intuitive baby namer.
We love all the nicknames for Theodora, though Thea is the one we’re using most for now. Her middle name is my first name, and I love the contrast of a vintage first with a surname middle. Martha and Morris are both family names (a version of my mom’s name and my maiden name) so it felt right to give her a family middle. I love that my kids’ names have so much matriarchal significance.
It gave me a brief pause to use the feminization of such a popular boys’ name, but I had a similar experience growing up sharing my name with boys, too, and she’ll have the benefit of lots of nickname options to choose from.
I feel so elated with her name. It’s a great mix of family significance and sounds we love. Even my 9-year-old daughter loves it, and she is a tough customer. 
Ultimately, it just feels like it belongs to her. 
huge congratulations
) You were such an encouraging and enthusiastic voice on the forums as I pondered. I loved your thoughts on [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] in my sibset and i’m so glad that I felt freed up to go for another Victorian valentine type of name! 
