I’m expecting a small human, sex determined but unknown, in early [name]December[/name]; I’d love to start namestorming!
Requirements for a bladette (girl):
I don’t care for frilly or lacy names
historical depth and namesakes are very important to me
no more than 1 middle name (brightline rule per husband)
at least one of the two names must be that of a saint recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church. This includes all [name]Christian[/name] saints canonized before the Great Schism in the 11th century, and all Greek/Russian/Arab/Slavic saints canonized since.
baby’s surname is distinctly Arabic and phonetically works like “Nawaal” or “[name]Nasim[/name].” First syllable is Na- so any girls’ name ending in -na is out.
since I’m not Arab, I’m not looking for an Arabic first name, but would consider one for the middle
I love medieval, romantic, strong girls’ names
French names are great; I speak French fluently as does husband’s Lebanese family. However in the States diacritical marks aren’t allowed, so nothing whose pronunciation depends on one
should pair coherently with son [name]Antoine[/name] [name]Raphael[/name]
Thoughts thus far
[name]Aquila[/name]
[name]Averill[/name] / Everild
Anastasia
Aristea
[name]Constance[/name]
[name]Cosima[/name]
Cyrielle (prn. with hard K)
[name]Endellion[/name]
[name]Evanthe[/name]
[name]Lucienne[/name]
[name]Melisande[/name]
[name]Meriel[/name]
[name]Myriam[/name]
[name]Nerissa[/name]
[name]Rosamond[/name]
[name]Sunniva[/name]
[name]Sylvia[/name]
Suggestions and combinations more than welcome. Until we find out the gender, husband has zero interest in discussing this, so feedback will be all mine.
I can’t wait to follow your naming journey! From your list so far, here are my favourites:
[name]Cosima[/name] [name]Noor[/name]
[name]Myriam[/name] [name]Alair[/name] or [name]Myriam[/name] [name]Solenne[/name]
[name]Myriam[/name] (I prefer [name]Miriam[/name], personally), and [name]Noor[/name] are two favourites of mine. I’d love them together, but don’t think the ‘m’ ending and ‘N’ beginning flow off the tongue very easily.
[name]Edit[/name]: Regarding Cyrielle, I thought it was a soft C, not a hard K (I’ve never heard it before), and I suspect that you might spend an awful lot of time correcting people. When I read it with a soft C, it sounded a bit like Cereal! Oops! Pronounced as it should be, it’s very pretty, but I’d worry that the majority won’t know how to say it.
The [name]Myriam[/name] spelling is the French variant. The Arabic form of [name]Mary[/name] (used by Christians & Muslims alike) is [name]Mariam[/name], so I think this preserves it somewhat.
I have an irrational prejudice against the letter K, but think you’re right-- Cyrielle will be pronounced with an S sound up front (as it often is in [name]France[/name]) whereas the Greek original is Kyrielle.
What a lovely list! I would love to see [name]Cantara[/name], [name]Nasima[/name], [name]Samira[/name], [name]Vega[/name], [name]Yara[/name], [name]Zora[/name], [name]Caprice[/name], [name]Elodie[/name], [name]Francine[/name], [name]Magritte[/name] and [name]Zelie[/name] on your list.
All the names you have listed are lovely. I especially like [name]Cosima[/name], [name]Evanthe[/name], [name]Melisande[/name], [name]Sunniva[/name] and [name]Sylvia[/name].
I think you know I adore [name]Apolline[/name]. I also love Chrysanthe, [name]Maris[/name] and [name]Noor[/name].
[name]How[/name] do you feel about:
First
[name]Eulalia[/name] (patron saint of [name]Merida[/name])
Chionia (or Chione- Along with Agape, one of St. [name]Irene[/name]'s sisters. Pretty name- not so pretty story)
[name]Coralia[/name] (Koralia, Koralou- I don’t really know anything about her, except that her feast day is Sept. 1)
[name]Irene[/name]
[name]Odilia[/name] (patron saint of Alsace)
[name]Augusta[/name] (for some reason, this is the first name that came to mind)
[name]Bernadette[/name] (technically post-schism, but I think [name]Antoine[/name] and [name]Bernadette[/name] sound so nice together)
Middle:
Malala? ( I don’t really know any Arabic names, but this is so pretty and Malala Yousefzai is such a strong, smart, courageous namesake.)
Combos:
[name]Melisande[/name] Chrysanthe (3-3, I know, but they sound so nice together)
[name]Cosima[/name] [name]Maris[/name]
[name]Eulalia[/name] [name]Noor[/name]
[name]Evanthe[/name] [name]Solenne[/name]
And a girl version too, how lovely. Congrats one more time!
The biased part of me wants you to use [name]Melisande[/name], [name]Rosamund[/name], [name]Sunniva[/name] or [name]Endellion[/name]. I love them so, and I think they’d be a perfect little sister to [name]Antoine[/name]. But [name]Lucienne[/name] is stunning too… and [name]Nerissa[/name], [name]Evanthe[/name] and [name]Cosima[/name] and [name]Constance[/name]. They’re all beautiful, but these strikes me as the most lovely for your child. For the middles: [name]Apolline[/name], Chrysanthe, [name]Eirene[/name], [name]Noor[/name], [name]Solenne[/name]… but in all honesty, please please please use Theophane! Pretty please with sugar on it? Gorgeous.
I also want to add that I L-O-V-E that you listed the names alphabetically. So much easier to read. Organized and practical and esthetically pleasing to my eyes. Thank you!
Congrats to you [name]Blade[/name]. From your list, I like [name]Constance[/name] and [name]Melisande[/name] with [name]Antoine[/name]. Judging by your list, would it be ok to list the FEMALE versions of [name]MALE[/name] saints? I have given the French versions for some of them. I don’t know if all of the names below are recognized by the Orthodox Church and some may be too feminine for you but here goes…
[name]Just[/name] want to add my congratulations! [name]How[/name] exciting! I particularly love [name]Anastasia[/name] from your first name list and [name]Cassiane[/name] (I absolutely love this name!) for the middle. [name]Don[/name]'t know if they pair so well together, as that is a lot of name.
Very much like [name]Myriam[/name], [name]Evanthe[/name], and [name]Cosima[/name] as well.
From your middle list I also like [name]Noor[/name], [name]Solenne[/name], and Theophane.
Beautiful list you’ve got going there. You can’t go wrong.
Off to comment on your boys thread, and again, congratulations!
What an excellent list. These are all fantastic. Congratulations! I second labmama’s suggestion of [name]Cosima[/name] [name]Noor[/name].
I’m not sure which ones are Orthodox saints’ names, but had a go at some combos with my favorites from your list because they were too gorgeous to resist.
I’m really loving [name]Anastasia[/name] or [name]Melisande[/name] with [name]Antoine[/name].
My fondness of [name]Antoine[/name] and [name]Anastasia[/name] stems from [name]Anastasia[/name] being a Russian [name]Princess[/name] which fits in with the royal air that [name]Antoine[/name] & Co names hold for me.
[name]Melisande[/name] is a great balance with French like [name]Antoine[/name].
My favourites from your list are [name]Cosima[/name], [name]Melisande[/name], [name]Nerissa[/name] and [name]Rosamond[/name]. For middles I like Floriane and [name]Apolline[/name].
Wow! You have 3 of my favorite girls names [name]Solenne[/name], [name]Sunniva[/name], and [name]Meriel[/name]. I love [name]Sunniva[/name] [name]Maris[/name], [name]Sunniva[/name] Ambrosine (the best! I’m in love with [name]Sunniva[/name] Ambrosine) [name]Meriel[/name] [name]Cassiane[/name], and [name]Meriel[/name] [name]Apolline[/name]. None of the first name options work with [name]Solenne[/name] for me, sadly.
[name]Rosamund[/name] Chrysanthe would be a beautiful name. Very lovely indeed.
You don’t need them, but when I see these names I think of you:
Alemandine
[name]Angelica[/name]
[name]Azenor[/name]
Eanswythe
Merewen
[name]Yvaine[/name]
Thanks to everyone for the terrific suggestions. I want to respond to each individually but not on the iPad. Please keep the thoughts coming!
I should also say we won’t consider the names of deities from various pantheons unless they magically got grandfathered into Christianity (like [name]Apolline[/name] via [name]Apollonia[/name]). And anything associated with a language or ethnicity not part of our family probably won’t pass muster with the husband.
I’m surprised and excited how many people love [name]Rosamond[/name] Chrysanthe!
