Urgh! 3rd child name nightmare

[littlesoph]

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 Zebedee Tom and our daughter is Elsbeth Beatrix. 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 Tom and Elsie Bea can be easily spun into little made up lullabies for them. But what on earth do we name the third?? I quite like Tabitha for a girl and Barnabas 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??

[trustedwriter]

Zebedee and Elsbeth - what a fun set of siblings! I think Tabitha or Barnabas would work excellently with your other children's names. For middle names for Tabitha...Tabitha Leora (Tabby Lee) or Tabitha Jane (Tabby Jane) came to mind for me. I'm not sure on middle names for Barnabas, and still I'm trying to figure out how you'd shorten it to a cute lullaby name (Barnie?), but - going out on a limb, here - have you thought about the name Tobias? Toby is a cute nickname and the meaning of the name is "God is good", which is quite nice.

[saracita00]

You have a great style going. I understand it can get tricky to continue though! I actually prefer Barnaby to Barnabas, although I guess that might be a little too matchy with Zebedee. Tabitha is adorable too.

For middle names, do you have a grandparent you'd like to honor, or other family name to give you ideas?

Some ideas off the top of my head --

Tabitha Belle
Tabitha Bellamy
Tabitha Gwyneth
Tabitha Eve
Tabitha Suzanne
Tabitha Noelle
Tabitha Catherine
Tabitha Ruth
Tabitha Verity



Barnabas Jonathan
Barnabas Jack
Barnabas Truth
Barnabas Ivo

Some Barnaby ideas too since when I thought of them, they didn't seem to flow with Barnabas.
Barnaby Zephaniah/Barnaby Zephan
Barnaby Zane
Barnaby Theo

[littlesoph]

Ah, thank you. I love Barnaby 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. Barnabas would become Barney - also because we often call our other two Zed and Bea - Zed, Bea and Barney 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 Tobias for Zebedee but we ruled it out for that reason. I've just been a bit stubborn with Barnabas (son of encouragement). Tabitha is lovely isn't it, even though it means gazelle! Tabitha Eve is a lovely combination. Tom is a family name so we used that for Zeds, other family names are Charlie, Emmie and Florence, so did contemplate Tabitha Florrie but Tabbie Flo sounds like some kind of toilet appliance! Florence is a lovely first name but if anybody remembers the 1970s programme 'The Magic Roundabout' (uk so maybe not) there were two characters called Zebedee and Florence and we already get comments about it for Zeds. My other thought for a boy was Josiah, possibly teamed with Obadiah, he'd be our Joby. Hmmm. Hard isn't it!

[saracita00]

LOL -- Tabbie Flo is pretty bad. I'm in the U.S. and I've never heard of the show, but I'd generally avoid cast members as siblings so Florence is probably best left alone.

Ooh I love Josiah, but Josiah Obadiah is a little much. If you're looking for nn Joby, maybe...

Joab Ethan (LOVE this for you, gets the B in first name)
Joseph Obadiah (prn it Jozeph gives you a Z sound, subtle but nice match to Zeb)

I also feel like you might love Ozias, again with the -s ending but great meaning, so unusual and it just sounds amazing. Great meaning on Barnabas too so I understand that. I've seriously considered it myself but here in the States I'm just not sure if the masses are ready for Barn- anything after the purple dinosaur on children's programming. Maybe you could use Barnabas in the middle? Josiah Barnabas?

Some others you might like...
Boaz (though I've heard fear that it could get @ss teasing)
Benedict (no-no in the States but you could do it!)
Amadeus (one of my all-time favorite names, my husband says no every time. You could use Amadeo to eliminate the S ending)

I'll check in if I think of any more. Hope you like something here!

[davisellu]

I think Tabitha and Barnabas go great with your sibset. Here are some other possibilities:

Abel (Abie)
Abner
Abraham (Abie, Bram)
Albert (Albie, Bertie)
Aubrey
Bartholomew (Bart, Barth, Barty, Barto)
Bernard (Bernie)
Benjamin (Benji)
Brecon
Caleb (Cab)
Eben or Ebenezer (maybe a little to close with Zebedee)
Gabriel (Gabe)
Gilbert (Gilby?)
Obadiah
Oberon (Obie?)
Robert
Robin (you could use this for a girl too-- or Robina)
Rueben
Sebastian (Seby?)
Tobin (instead of Tobias to get to Toby?)

Abilene
Alba
Amabel
Isabel
Mabel
Sabina
Sybil

[littlesoph]

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 Benedict is quite big here at the moment (actor called Benedict Cumberbatch- BBC and Shakesperean actor has seen to that) and I'd never heard of Ozias, but I love it! Could be a bit 'out there' perhaps with the other two names but maybe not.. Josiah Benjamin would still mean I get my Joby, and you're right, having barnabas as a middle name could definitely be an option. We already have an Albert known as bertie in the family, my brother-in-law, and a Reuben and an Abraham 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 Barney, my other brother-in-law is called Digby 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 Boaz 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 Mowgli and I can't work out if he's joking or not!

[auroradawn]

You have great taste! I have a brother named Barnabas and another named Josiah! Barnabas's middle name is Andrew. He doesn't really get nicknamed, except as the occasional joke, because my folks didn't like the nn Barney. If you like it, go for it! I think Barnabas Andrew "Barney Drew" could be cute. If you don't like the 's' ending in Tobias (one of my favorite names!), Tobin (as a pp suggested) or Tobiah would still fit nicely with your style and get you the nickname Toby.
Tabitha is sweet. Susanna comes to mind as a name with a similar feel and cute nicknames (Susie, Anna, Annie...), but I don't know whether it's popular there. Susanna Jean? Tabitha Jean?
Congratulations and best wishes!

[elea]

Picking up on the Joby theme, how about Jobin nn Joby? Both Joby and Jobin are old medieval diminutives of Job that now survive as surnames. And Jobin is very similar to Tobin, a variant of Tobias.

Another similar name is Jory - the Cornish form of George.

Other Joby longer-form possibilities:

Jacoby
Josiah Job
Jago Barnabas
Joah Baranbas
Jovian Beau / Ben / Boyd


Also, on a side note, when I first saw the names Zebedee and Elspeth my first thought for a girl was Tabitha or Jemima and Gideon or Gulliver for a boy

[lori johnson]

Barnabas positively couldn't be more perfect for a second son! [I recommend Barnabas Jack, nickname: Barney Jack.]

In addition to Tabitha, you might consider Moira for a second daughter. [I recommend Moira Eloise, nickname: Mimi Lou]


Absolutely loving this offbeat [and adorable!] sibset for you ...

01-02. Barnabas [and] Zebedee [Hebrew versions of Biblical names]
03-04. Elspeth [and] Moira [Celtic versions of Biblical names]

... so much so, in fact, I'm rooting for you to have a fourth child .