New member requesting advice!

Girl Names
1

Hello from a new member! I’m expecting my fifth child at the end of the year. I named my other kids without consulting Nameberry, but when I was looking around online recently, I liked this site best, so I thought I’d join and ask for advice :slight_smile:

My husband took my last name when we got married, and I decided to give all of our kids his “maiden” name as a middle name. So middle names aren’t an issue for us.

The first names of our four born children are:

[name]Theodore[/name]
[name]Bernadette[/name]
[name]Adelaide[/name]
[name]Teresa[/name]

We don’t know the gender of the new baby. Our kids’ names so far all have 3 syllables, but that isn’t necessary, we simply have a strong preference for names with multiple nickname options. Our other criteria include: we would love to have the name as our own; it isn’t too common; and it has a saint who we admire as a namesake (I know [name]Adelaide[/name] doesn’t seem to many people to be a saint’s name, but [name]Saint[/name] [name]Adelaide[/name] of [name]Italy[/name] was pretty amazing, and she is also a patron saint of large families).

I realize from looking around on this site and others that [name]Bernadette[/name] is considered by some to be harsh and clunky, [name]Adelaide[/name] is considered trendy, and [name]Teresa[/name] is considered dated, but I obviously love them all, so I’m not really sure how to define my taste!

[name]Theodore[/name] is our absolute favorite boys name, we’ve had a hard time during each pregnancy finding another that we like as much, and we’ve only been able to agree on one: [name]Leonard[/name].

So, girls’ names are where we need advice! We like so many. These are our favorites for this baby:

[name]Louise[/name]
[name]Agatha[/name]
[name]Rosemary[/name]
[name]Rosemarie[/name]
[name]Elisabeth[/name]
[name]Elaine[/name]

The name “[name]Irene[/name]” was on our short list until the recent hurricane, which did a lot of damage in our area.

“[name]Elaine[/name]” is our favorite of the [name]Helen[/name] variants, and my mom’s name is [name]Helene[/name], we both have an Aunt [name]Helen[/name], and my sister’s name is [name]Elena[/name], so it could conceivably honor all of them.

We much prefer “[name]Elisabeth[/name]” to “[name]Elizabeth[/name]” because it looks nicer with our last name and we love the saints and the nickname potential, but we have reservations because it is just so common.

I am writing too much, so let me just ask, any thoughts? We welcome all advice and suggestions!

2

I love [name]Rosemary[/name]! Sounds great with all your names as well. Good luck!

3

[name]Rosemary[/name] and [name]Rosemarie[/name] are gorgeous and I think either would be perfect with your other children’s names

4

For a boy I really do like [name]Leonard[/name] but one of my favourite boy names is [name]Leopold[/name], so maybe you’d like that too. I think it goes really well with you other kids names. Other suggestions are [name]Barnaby[/name], [name]Percival[/name], [name]Lysander[/name], [name]Oliver[/name], [name]Walter[/name], [name]Phineas[/name], [name]Othello[/name], [name]Atticus[/name].

[name]Louise[/name] - I like it, although I prefer [name]Eloise[/name]
[name]Agatha[/name] - I think it goes well with your other kids name, but it’s not really my style
[name]Rosemary[/name] - The only [name]Rosemary[/name]'s I know are over 70, so I just can’t picture it on a child
[name]Rosemarie[/name] - Same as [name]Rosemary[/name]
[name]Elisabeth[/name] - I also prefer this spelling, but it’s such a common name
[name]Elaine[/name] - I don’t really like this

What about [name]Ophelia[/name], [name]Araminta[/name], [name]Beatrice[/name]/[name]Beatrix[/name], [name]Primrose[/name], [name]Cordelia[/name], [name]Viola[/name], [name]Persephone[/name], [name]Florence[/name], [name]Penelope[/name], [name]Wilhelmina[/name], [name]Clementine[/name], [name]Lucille[/name], [name]Eleanor[/name], [name]Margaux[/name], [name]Genevieve[/name], [name]Matilda[/name], [name]Emmeline[/name], [name]Josephine[/name], [name]Philomena[/name], [name]Greta[/name].

[name]Hope[/name] this helps :slight_smile:

5

I think your children have stunningly beautiful names. I think [name]Bernadette[/name] is beautiful, not clunky. [name]Theodore[/name] is my absolute favourite boy’s name as well. [name]Adelaide[/name] and [name]Teresa[/name] are both lovely and I think [name]Teresa[/name] is timeless, not dated at all! I love that they are all [name]Saint[/name]'s names.

As for this baby, I’m always a fan of honouring, so I like the [name]Elaine[/name] idea. And for boy’s names I HAVE to suggest [name]Nathaniel[/name], since [name]Theodore[/name] and [name]Nathaniel[/name] both mean “God’s Gift” and I always thought they would be wonderful names for siblings.

Here are some other beautiful names for girls that are also the name’s of Saints:
[name]Augusta[/name]
[name]Bernice[/name]/[name]Berenice[/name]
[name]Beatrix[/name]/[name]Beatrice[/name]
[name]Cecilia[/name]
[name]Claudia[/name]
[name]Eulalia[/name]
[name]Joan[/name]
[name]Lucretia[/name]
[name]Matilda[/name]
Roseline
[name]Winifred[/name]

6

Congrats on your pregnancy! I love [name]Rosemary[/name] the best with [name]Theodore[/name], [name]Bernadette[/name], [name]Adelaide[/name] and [name]Teresa[/name] (a stunning group of sibling names). Next would be [name]Elisabeth[/name] and then [name]Agatha[/name] (if you don’t mind another name beginning with “A”). Sorry but I’m not too crazy about [name]Leonard[/name]. I love pp’s suggestion of [name]Nathaniel[/name]. Here are some other options.
Boys
[name]Sebastian[/name]
[name]Dominic[/name]
[name]Bartholomew[/name] (if you don’t mind another “B” initial)
[name]Ambrose[/name]
[name]Boniface[/name]
[name]Oliver[/name]
[name]Quentin[/name]
[name]Xavier[/name]
[name]Julian[/name]
[name]Vincent[/name]
[name]Laurence[/name]
[name]Edmund[/name]
[name]Benedict[/name]

Girls
[name]Antonia[/name]
[name]Augusta[/name]
[name]Aurelia[/name]
[name]Eugenia[/name]
[name]Genevieve[/name]
[name]Josephine[/name]
[name]Marguerite[/name]
[name]Veronica[/name]
[name]Matilda[/name]
[name]Justina[/name]
[name]Cecilia[/name] / [name]Cecily[/name]
[name]Louisa[/name]
[name]Catherine[/name]

7

You did a great job on your names without Nameberry! I like [name]Rosemary[/name] the best from your list. [name]Do[/name] you like [name]Luisa[/name] or [name]Helena[/name]?

8

Thanks to each of you for your great advice and suggestions! I like many of the names you suggested, it’s just a matter of getting my husband to agree :slight_smile: I love [name]Nathaniel[/name], [name]Oliver[/name], [name]Edmund[/name], [name]Sebastian[/name], and [name]Benedict[/name] (and I like many of the others), but my husband doesn’t really like any of them. I really like [name]Laurence[/name] too but it doesn’t go very well with our last name. I’m going to work on it though, because I’d like to at least have some other option in case the baby just doesn’t seem like a [name]Leonard[/name]. I actually prefer [name]Leonardo[/name] but [name]Leonard[/name] is a name we both like. His taste is more [name]Matthew[/name], [name]Thomas[/name], [name]David[/name] when it comes to boy names, and they are all fine names, but I feel that they are just too common, there’s nothing especially interesting about them to me… After I go through the whole nine months of the pregnancy, I like to give the baby a name that really excites me!

I like [name]Eleanor[/name], [name]Genevieve[/name] & [name]Matilda[/name] quite a bit, I am just concerned that their popularity may be rising a little too quickly. I took that gamble with [name]Adelaide[/name] and the name is continuing to climb. I do like [name]Helena[/name] quite a bit but my mom always said that she didn’t like the “Hel” part of her name and told us not to name a kid after her… That’s why I thought [name]Elaine[/name] might get around that problem :slight_smile: But I do like [name]Helena[/name] better! I love [name]Cecelia[/name] but it doesn’t really work with our last name.

[name]Veronica[/name] is a definite possibility, we have considered it before because I love it but my husband has reservations because of some [name]Adam[/name] Sandler song (where he rhymes it with Hanukkah, harmonica, etc)… I really like [name]Augusta[/name], [name]Winifred[/name] and [name]Eugenia[/name] ([name]LOVE[/name] [name]Eugenia[/name]), but… When I had [name]Bernadette[/name], some people reacted like it was almost mean to give a little girl a name like that (which she loves, by the way! I call her my “Beautiful [name]Bernadette[/name]” and the words just sound like they belong together :))… [name]Do[/name] you think [name]Eugenia[/name] would seem mean? I also like the name [name]Edith[/name] but have gotten such negative reactions to it in the past that it is just out for me. But [name]Eugenia[/name] is so pretty… I don’t know, I love so many of these names!

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. This is very very helpful. I am also happy to have an incentive to reconsider [name]Leonard[/name]… I’ll just have to develop some strategic arguments before I open up the field with my husband again :slight_smile: