New Babyberry Announcements for May
By Linda Rosenkrantz
Another month in which Berries have outdone themselves in imaginative naming—great first name choices, first and middle combos and sibsets–or do I say that every month? Well, it’s true!
Among the May baby names this month we saw:
A new name to us—Canary has joined the list of avian names, a sister to Primrose and Phoenix.
The rise of three- and four-syllable middles (and farewell to short connectives) which included this month Madeline, Lenora, Bryony, Theodora, Evangeline, Josephine (twice), Juniper, Theresa, Amelia, Ysmael, Theodore, Nathaniel and Luciano.
In addition to many family tributes, several romantic associations—to special months of meeting and places of proposal
GIRLS
“Thanks to all the Berries who gave advice on Alba vs. Lucia! It was a very tough decision but I am very happy with the result. Madeline is my grandmother’s name, I wanted to honour her as she has been an amazing influence in my life.”
Audrey Lenora Fox, sister of Theodore Gray
“We initially planned on giving her the middle name of Fox only (it has significance for us), but we had a hard time choosing between Audrey and Eleanor for her name. So we added Lenora as a middle.”
Aviva Bryony, sister of Quinton Vladimir and Maeve Elisabeth
“I have always loved the name Aviva and now that we actually had a spring baby it was perfect!”
Canary Edith, sister of Primrose Elodie and Phoenix Nova
“We named her Canary mostly because our other daughters were in the nature range and my husband and I were watching TV a month before she was born and I heard “Canary” and I said “That’s it!” and that was it. Edith is after my mother. Canary is out of the P scope, but it was so cute, we gave it to her!”
“Her name is Isla Mae—two words, no hyphen. We loved Isla but I worried that she would not be the only one in her class as it’s growing in popularity. So we added Mae so she should differentiate herself without using her last initial”
“We had agreed that we would name a daughter Ivy long before even trying to conceive. My partner had told me about his Great Aunt Ivy, who sadly died when she was only 10. A photograph of her shows that she was the spitting image of him when he was that age. We both thought it was a lovely name and nice to honour that family connection. Quinn is my partner’s middle name, so she’s definitely daddy’s baby.”
“One syllable names are not my style but the one short name we love is June—the month dh and I met—and the name suits her on its own, no nicknames necessary!”
Junia Eiffel, sister of Dashel Rhodes
“Eiffel was a guilty pleasure of ours at first, we had considered it as a first name but decided it would be a bit too much, but it holds a lot of meaning to us. My husband proposed to me near the Eiffel Tower on a trip to Paris, and we both have French heritage.”
“To me, the name Lark represents light, happiness and a new day. That is exactly what Lark is to our family.”
Mabel Josephine, sister of Ruby Cecilia, Frances Ramona and Theodore Atlas
“Her name really just fell into place when we decided on the combination. As we learned more about the names, they ended up honoring more family members than we would have ever imagined!…We loved that Mabel contained the name “May” in it. May is a special month for my husband and I (it’s the month we met) and we found out that May can also be a form of the name Mary, which is my grandmother’s name…) for more of this story see this forum entry.
“For months we were sure that our daughter’s name would be Harriet, but we had a little hesitation because of “hairy.” When she arrived three weeks early, we were suddenly at a loss for what to name her. Other favorites were Susan, Helen, Daphne and Marigold, but none of those felt right either. Last minute my husband suggested Margaret Susan and we both started crying because it felt perfect. Susan honors my mother and Margaret is a strong name with lots of flexibility for nicknames. So far, Margot is our favorite.”
Maxine Juniper Cate, sister of Campbell and August
“Maxine is a name that never really even crossed my mind until my husband brought it up in the delivery room and when I saw her it just clicked. Juniper and Cate are both to honor people very dear to us, Juniper for my husband’s great great grandma June and Cate for my best friend Catelin who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma.”
Penelope Bridget, sister of Alexander Patrick, Madelyn Esther, Genevieve Susan and Theodore James
“Her name has a lot of meaning as a few day’s before Sienna’s birth my wonderful paternal grandmother passed away. She was called Theresa–Joan and her confirmation name was Catherine of Siena so we chose to honour her confirmation name in a roundabout way (we added the extra n because we didn’t want all the confusion for the rest of her life).”
Wilhelmina Grace, sister of Cecilia Antoinette.
Wren Amelia Poet, sister of Vivian Grace, Kennedy Adelaide, Winslow Marcus, Theodore (Theo), Dominic and Charlotte Kingsley
BOYS
Angus Martin (Gus), brother of Phoebe Alice
“Angus means God of love, youth and poetic inspiration. It was coincidence that we have a son named after a God and a daughter named after a Goddess.”
Eion Tyler, brother of Laikon Timothy and Faedra Elise
Felix Ysmael, brother of Jacinta Gabrielle, Serafina Dolores, Avila Francesca and Cosima Ceilia
“Felix has been on our list since our first pregnancy almost eleven years ago. My husband loves it and it fits the requirements of being a Catholic saint name. I love that it means “happy, lucky.” Ysmael is my husband’s mother’s maiden name. She passed away last year and Felix was due on the one year anniversary of her death.”
Francis Viggo, brother of Lise and Margot
Joseph Rainer, brother of Matthew Cassady
“Rainer is after Rainier Maria Rilke.”
Leopold Hector, brother of Cosima Rose.
“Leopold we just love and Hector is for my husband’s grandfather.”
Lysander Nathaniel, brother of Althea Eleanor
“Lysander is one of my favorite names and is also the combination of my grandmother Lynette and my husband’ grandfather Alexander. Nathaniel is a combination of our favorite names, Nathalie and Daniel.”
Monroe Luciano, brother of Liam Perez
“Monroe was my maternal grandfather’s middle name and Luciano was my husband’s maternal great grandfather’s name. His name reflects both our families’ cultures and fits him perfectly.”
Owen Miles, brother of Anderson Cole, Trenton Jaxon, Jade Adara, and Keira Brielle
“It was a hard choice. Hubby was voting for Uriah Liam. I tried to love it but couldn’t quite. One thing we found hard was no nickname. I love it though and am glad we went with it.”