Birth Announcements: Babyberries born in January
By Linda Rosenkrantz
The first month of 2016 brought the usual bountiful bunch of beautifully named babies to the Nameberry community, including creative first and middle combos and sibsets and, this month, some particularly interesting backstories.
January brought one pair of boy-girl twins–the classic Nora Elizabeth and Everett William.
There were two twice-picked choices: Zelda and Jasper.
Most innovative names: Tessamine and Edelweiss
And here’s the full list of Berry January baby names:
GIRLS
Briar Elodie, sister of Kael Charles and Rhys Theodore
Edelweiss Kate
“…It is very unusual outside the naming community so we have to tell people how to pronounce and spell it sometimes a couple times…I like that she has a unique name with a more common nickname.”
Hazel James, sister of Claire Alivia and Ivy Pearl
“…Her middle name is also my husband’s middle name. Since she is our 3__rd girl and we know we are officially done having kids, we decided to give this little one the middle name of James.”
“We wanted her named for strong women. Juliet honors Juliette Gordon Lowe, founder of the Girl Scouts and several Catholic saints. Ruth is a family name but also honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Old Testament Ruth.”
Marion Clyn, sister of Morgan (Junior)
“…we enlisted the help of Abby the Name Sage. With her help we settled on Marlowe and I realized it could honor my grandmother Mary. Three days before my scheduled C-section, I got cold feet. I didn’t love the look of Marlowe and thought it was too trendy. Wanting to still honor my grandmother, my husband suggested Marion and insisted on the –on spelling. Once I saw it written out, I was in. I loved that it’s uncommon, not made up, a twist on the classic Mary, and feel it fits in nicely with all the new Evelyns and Eleanors. Clyn is pronounced “Klein” and is Marion’s paternal grandfather’s first name.”
“Matilda was just perfect for her sweet, delicate and cheeky face. Her middle name is Seren, my best friend’s name. We loved the balance of Matilda Seren, with the light bubbliness of Matilda complimenting the grace of Seren (which is the Welsh word for star). Plus her name overall meant ‘strong star’ which we thought was lovely.”
Nora Elizabeth, twin of Everett William and sister of Theodore Jack.
Phoebe Eleanor, sister of August Rose
“After the first ultrasound…we could tell we had a strong-willed, stubborn baby in there and Rosalie felt like it suited a strong-willed child!…Her middle name, Lyra, is from His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman—a series we bonded over while dating. We think the combination strikes the perfect balance between recognizable and not too common, practical and whimsical.”
Tessamine Winnie, sister of Tristan and Nathaniel
“…..we thought Tessamine went well with our boys and found it a beautiful name that held a lot of his French ancestry. We were going to go with Willamina as for years all the girls on my side off the family have had either that or a variant. Eventually we decided to put her middle name as Winnie and thought the ‘mine’ on the end should be enough to sate the grandparents.”
Vega Dove, sister of Aome Valentine
“Vega is after the fifth brightest star in the sky. A dove is the bird that represents happiness and peace that she is bringing to us…”
Zelda Astrid, sister of Archer Nelson
“In the end, our love for the name Zelda (in addition to being a portmanteau of her Great-grandmothers’ names Hazel and Daphne) and the perfection of Astrid (an acronym of her parents and grandparents first initials) overruled the clunkiness of the flow.”
Zelda Raven Juliette. Sister of Dominic Gabriel Lucas
“Zelda was my husband’s choice to honor his German grandpa who passed while I was pregnant. Raven was my first choice due to my obsession with Xmen comics and Juliette just brought everything together.”
BOYS
Azarias Michael, brother of Jacinta Francine
“We chose Bodhi for its sound, which fits his proudly Southern father VERY well, as well as for its FANTASTIC meaning, which I love, being a bit more bohemian……we loved Jameson from the beginning. To be completely honest, we loved how classy it sounds and how well it grounds Bodhi, but the Irish whiskey does have special meaning for us as well.”
Dashiell Warden, brother of Dougray “Gray” Dawson
“…we turned to the Name Sage…Abby suggested Dashiell Warden, and we fell in love!…My husband and I are both runners, so Dashiell “Dash” has a special meaning to us. Warden is a variation of Edward, my grandfather’s name.”
Everett William, twin of Nora Elizabeth and brother of Theodore Jack
Hugo Maxwell Walter, brother of Alexis Nola
“Maxwell and Walter are both family names, it seems like a lot of name, but we couldn’t decide which to use so gave up and went with both.”
Jasper Calloway, brother to Alice Marie and Lucille Elliana
“After finding Calloway, which reflects some of my family’s heritage, we weren’t sure whether he was going to be called Jasper, or if he would go by Cal/Calloway (as my husband and his father go by their middle names). We decided in the end that he looked more like a Jasper than a Calloway…If he was a girl, he would’ve been either a Lydia, Martha or Vivienne.”
Jasper John Elliot, brother of Cecily Frances March
“Elliot is to honor Reds Elliot, Scottish ancestor on my side who gave up his surnames upon immigrating to the States following the Jacobite revolution in order to avoid retribution for his rebellion. He had something like ten kids but they all took the surname of his wife Hannah Prior, so I thought including Elliot in our son’s name was a cool way of bringing it back into the fold.
Julius Finley, nn Jules, brother of Marcus ‘Mars” River
“I asked Abby, the wise Name Sage, for some much needed advice, and after her wonderful suggestions, the many helpful comments that followed (seriously, you guys ROCK) and a series of long deliberation sessions mixed with desperation to have a name for the poor kid when he arrived, we decided on Julius Finley, nn Jules.”
Nico Caspar Eugene, brother of Luca Cy Raphael and Remy Aurelius Clement
…”I had the name Nico in mind for a long while and it would quite likely have been the name we gave our baby had we had a girl….Caspar is a name I’ve loved for a long while as well, though I had a hard time deciding which of the ‘Cas’ names I liked the best. I also love Cassius, Caspian and Casimir…Eugene is a family name…and the only name that’s been passed down the generations in our family….My Dad was thrilled that we’d included Eugene in the name, and although it’s a name that I know a lot of people don’t like, I actually love the look and sound of it.”
Oscar Truman, brother of Ivy Coraline and Martin Jake
“Rory has always been on our short list for boys’ names, but we ultimately did a “Sweet 16” bracket (like the March Madness college basketball tournament) to narrow it down to our top two. It was mostly for fun, but it did narrow down a “style” of name that we liked best for boys—Celtic names with an American cowboy edge….It means “fiery” and boy, is he!”