After months of deliberation and argument over names for my son and then for my daughter, we found out a couple of months ago that we’re expecting a surprise baby number three. After the shock of this unexpected delight the next thought was, ‘oh no, how on earth do we name this one!’ We like close to normal, but not quite common names. Our son is [name]Zebedee[/name] [name]Tom[/name] and our daughter is [name]Elsbeth[/name] [name]Beatrix[/name]. This also works for us as we have gone over all the variations of nicknames we can think of for these names and we like them all. We also like how Zebbie [name]Tom[/name] and [name]Elsie[/name] [name]Bea[/name] can be easily spun into little made up lullabies for them. But what on earth do we name the third?? I quite like [name]Tabitha[/name] for a girl and [name]Barnabas[/name] for a boy as these continue the ‘b’ sound that features in the previous two first names but can’t think of catchy middle names that flow. Meanings of names are quite important to us as well. Oh I don’t know! Any ideas??
[name]Zebedee[/name] and [name]Elsbeth[/name] - what a fun set of siblings! I think [name]Tabitha[/name] or [name]Barnabas[/name] would work excellently with your other children’s names. For middle names for [name]Tabitha[/name]…[name]Tabitha[/name] [name]Leora[/name] ([name]Tabby[/name] [name]Lee[/name]) or [name]Tabitha[/name] [name]Jane[/name] ([name]Tabby[/name] [name]Jane[/name]) came to mind for me. I’m not sure on middle names for [name]Barnabas[/name], and still I’m trying to figure out how you’d shorten it to a cute lullaby name ([name]Barnie[/name]?), but - going out on a limb, here - have you thought about the name [name]Tobias[/name]? [name]Toby[/name] is a cute nickname and the meaning of the name is “God is good”, which is quite nice. 
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[name]Ah[/name], thank you. I love [name]Barnaby[/name] but it’s already been snaffled by someone else in the family. Only as a middle name mind you, but it wouldn’t be appreciated if we copied exactly. [name]Barnabas[/name] would become [name]Barney[/name] - also because we often call our other two [name]Zed[/name] and [name]Bea[/name] - [name]Zed[/name], [name]Bea[/name] and [name]Barney[/name] feels like it has a ring to it, however my husband’s doubt is about having a name with an ‘s’ at the end as our surname also ends in ‘s’. We’d already lined up [name]Tobias[/name] for [name]Zebedee[/name] but we ruled it out for that reason. I’ve just been a bit stubborn with [name]Barnabas[/name] (son of encouragement). [name]Tabitha[/name] is lovely isn’t it, even though it means gazelle! [name]Tabitha[/name] [name]Eve[/name] is a lovely combination. [name]Tom[/name] is a family name so we used that for Zeds, other family names are [name]Charlie[/name], [name]Emmie[/name] and [name]Florence[/name], so did contemplate [name]Tabitha[/name] [name]Florrie[/name] but [name]Tabbie[/name] [name]Flo[/name] sounds like some kind of toilet appliance! [name]Florence[/name] is a lovely first name but if anybody remembers the 1970s programme ‘The [name]Magic[/name] Roundabout’ (uk so maybe not) there were two characters called [name]Zebedee[/name] and [name]Florence[/name] and we already get comments about it for Zeds. My other thought for a boy was [name]Josiah[/name], possibly teamed with [name]Obadiah[/name], he’d be our [name]Joby[/name]. Hmmm. Hard isn’t it!
Edited for privacy.
I think [name]Tabitha[/name] and [name]Barnabas[/name] go great with your sibset. Here are some other possibilities:
[name]Abel[/name] ([name]Abie[/name])
[name]Abner[/name]
[name]Abraham[/name] ([name]Abie[/name], [name]Bram[/name])
[name]Albert[/name] ([name]Albie[/name], [name]Bertie[/name])
[name]Aubrey[/name]
[name]Bartholomew[/name] ([name]Bart[/name], Barth, Barty, [name]Barto[/name])
[name]Bernard[/name] ([name]Bernie[/name])
[name]Benjamin[/name] ([name]Benji[/name])
[name]Brecon[/name]
[name]Caleb[/name] ([name]Cab[/name])
[name]Eben[/name] or [name]Ebenezer[/name] (maybe a little to close with [name]Zebedee[/name])
[name]Gabriel[/name] ([name]Gabe[/name])
[name]Gilbert[/name] ([name]Gilby[/name]?)
[name]Obadiah[/name]
[name]Oberon[/name] ([name]Obie[/name]?)
[name]Robert[/name]
[name]Robin[/name] (you could use this for a girl too-- or [name]Robina[/name])
[name]Rueben[/name]
[name]Sebastian[/name] (Seby?)
[name]Tobin[/name] (instead of [name]Tobias[/name] to get to [name]Toby[/name]?)
[name]Abilene[/name]
[name]Alba[/name]
[name]Amabel[/name]
[name]Isabel[/name]
[name]Mabel[/name]
[name]Sabina[/name]
[name]Sybil[/name]
Thank you so much for the advice. the great thing about such transatlantic wisdom is that we all get to think outside the box. For instance [name]Benedict[/name] is quite big here at the moment (actor called [name]Benedict[/name] Cumberbatch- BBC and Shakesperean actor has seen to that) and I’d never heard of [name]Ozias[/name], but I love it! Could be a bit ‘out there’ perhaps with the other two names but maybe not… [name]Josiah[/name] [name]Benjamin[/name] would still mean I get my [name]Joby[/name], and you’re right, having barnabas as a middle name could definitely be an option. We already have an [name]Albert[/name] known as bertie in the family, my brother-in-law, and a [name]Reuben[/name] and an [name]Abraham[/name] but thank you for the suggestions. Definitely thinking along the same lines. I like oriel for a girl as well but not sure how this would be shortened. I get the teasing about [name]Barney[/name], my other brother-in-law is called [name]Digby[/name] and used to get a lot of angst about having the same name as ‘The biggest dog in the world’ a 1973 film, and my sister-in-law has got dibs on [name]Boaz[/name] so I begrudgingly have to pass that one by. I’ve got a lot of work to do, my husband has decided that this one is called [name]Mowgli[/name] and I can’t work out if he’s joking or not!
You have great taste! I have a brother named [name]Barnabas[/name] and another named [name]Josiah[/name]! [name]Barnabas[/name]'s middle name is [name]Andrew[/name]. He doesn’t really get nicknamed, except as the occasional joke, because my folks didn’t like the nn [name]Barney[/name]. If you like it, go for it! I think [name]Barnabas[/name] [name]Andrew[/name] “[name]Barney[/name] [name]Drew[/name]” could be cute. If you don’t like the ‘s’ ending in [name]Tobias[/name] (one of my favorite names!), [name]Tobin[/name] (as a pp suggested) or [name]Tobiah[/name] would still fit nicely with your style and get you the nickname [name]Toby[/name].
[name]Tabitha[/name] is sweet. [name]Susanna[/name] comes to mind as a name with a similar feel and cute nicknames ([name]Susie[/name], [name]Anna[/name], [name]Annie[/name]…), but I don’t know whether it’s popular there. [name]Susanna[/name] [name]Jean[/name]? [name]Tabitha[/name] [name]Jean[/name]?
Congratulations and best wishes!
Picking up on the [name]Joby[/name] theme, how about Jobin nn [name]Joby[/name]? [name]Both[/name] [name]Joby[/name] and Jobin are old medieval diminutives of [name]Job[/name] that now survive as surnames. And Jobin is very similar to [name]Tobin[/name], a variant of [name]Tobias[/name].
Another similar name is [name]Jory[/name] - the Cornish form of [name]George[/name].
Other [name]Joby[/name] longer-form possibilities:
[name]Jacoby[/name]
[name]Josiah[/name] [name]Job[/name]
[name]Jago[/name] [name]Barnabas[/name]
[name]Joah[/name] Baranbas
Jovian Beau / Ben / Boyd
Also, on a side note, when I first saw the names [name]Zebedee[/name] and [name]Elspeth[/name] my first thought for a girl was [name]Tabitha[/name] or [name]Jemima[/name] and [name]Gideon[/name] or [name]Gulliver[/name] for a boy 
A fourth child - crikey! Woah there! Not so sure about [name]Moira[/name] but like [name]Maisie[/name] which feels similar. It’s a diminutive of margaret which was my mother’s name but again already owned by a sister-in-law (these in-laws cause no end of trouble!) I quite like [name]Jethro[/name] as well which has the great meaning of ‘excellent’, and [name]Jet[/name] is a pretty cool nickname, but between [name]Elsbeth[/name] and [name]Jethro[/name] I need to pray none of my children have speech impediments or those names could be rather mean. [name]Jago[/name] I like. It’s the name of a lovely illustrator who has done beautiful pictures in a children’s Bible we have. Is is Cornish? However it’s also a brand of juice over here. My problem is that I just love my son’s name [name]Zebedee[/name] [name]Tom[/name] and I can’t seem to think of anything else that makes me as excited as I was about naming him this. It’s the catchy simplicity of the ‘[name]Tom[/name]’ after the three syllable first name. I do wonder if going with [name]Barnabas[/name] will be settling as I can’t have what I really want, which is [name]Barnaby[/name]. (Quite like [name]Barnaby[/name] [name]Amos[/name], maybe one of you can name your child this instead…) I really am appreciating all of your ideas. Thank you so much for taking the time to help!
Yes, [name]Jago[/name] is the Cornish form of [name]James[/name] / [name]Jacob[/name]. I’ve never heard of the drink before (I’m British).
[name]Obadiah[/name] nn [name]Obi[/name]
[name]Abraham[/name] nn [name]Abey[/name]
[name]Alfred[/name] nn [name]Alfie[/name]
[name]Arthur[/name] nn [name]Artie[/name]
[name]Tabitha[/name] nn [name]Tabby[/name]
[name]Opal[/name] nn Opie
[name]Do[/name] you like any of those?