Newest Baby Names: October Berrybabies
by Linda Rosenkrantz
Looking at the newest baby names entered on the Birth Announcement Forum in October, one theme stood out: the challenge of finding the perfect name and the thrill when it was finally arrived at.
Two unusual boy names last month: Joeby and Oswin, and a girl named Orinthia.
One set of nicely matched but not matchy boy-girl twins: Kalinda Joy and Sullivan Luke.
And here’s the complete list of newest baby names on Nameberry.
Newest Baby Names for Girls
Anouk Clementine, sister of Gwen Theodora and Jude Raphael
“Anouk has been a favourite of mine since I read Chocolat. It’s quite popular on this site which reassured me I was making the right choice. We could not agree on her middle name before she was born—she was going to be Anouk Ramona after Ramona Quimby, but it just did not feel right. We ended up naming her Anouk Clementine for another fictitious character, Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine. My husband loves the fact that there is a Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I was glad to honour his French heritage with our daughter’s middle name.”
Berengaria Halo
“Choosing her name was not easy, and I spent half of my pregnancy browsing these boards, so we would like to thank you all for endless inspiration. Berengaria has always been a favourite of mine because I read Medieval History at university. It suits her well, and we are calling her Bee for short. Her middle name Halo is very important and meaningful for us as it reflects our faith.”
Eleanor Rose, sister of Desmond James
“Eleanor is my grandmother’s middle name and we loved all the nickname possibilities—Elle and Ella are our preferred.”
“I found the naming process very daunting, my husband and I couldn’t agree on a name before she was born so decided to wait until we met her. Even then it took us time to decide. The names we chose for her weren’t what each of us would have claimed were our favourites before she was born but now we have spent some time with her Evie Violet it is.”
Kalinda Joy, twin of Sullivan Luke and sister of Charleston Michael
“Big brother is Charleston Michael (“Charlie”), a name we had no difficulty choosing: we like long, uncommon (but familiar sounding) first names with short, recognizable nicknames, and we stuck with those parameters for these twins. Kalinda is a name I discovered since I was a little girl, poring through the baby name book my parents had used when naming me. Thankfully my husband liked the name as well. We have been calling her by her nickname, “Kali” (pronounced Kay-lee). I was overjoyed to learn that we were having twins, one of whom was our first girl—hence, her middle name Joy.”
Lucy Danielle, sister of Alice Caroline and Clara Linda
“I decided on Margaret after my mother’s grandmother name since I wanted a family name. Kate is also a family name on the same side.”
Olivia Margaux Emmeline (Olive)
Orinthia Lune, sister of Elowyn Magnolia and Arthur Jack Ruger.
Verity Willow, sister of Asher Joseph, Acacia Lily, Micah Paul, Eliora Grace, Matthias William, Olivet Autumn and Juniper Leigh
“This was by far the most difficult name decision we’ve made yet, but we kept coming back to the lovely simplicity of the name Verity, from the Latin word for “truth.” We couldn’t totally get away from botanical roots, however. We chose the middle name Willow, because it brought to mind the tree planted by the water in Psalm 1, when paired with her first name.”
Newest Baby Names for Boys
Barnabas Húni, brother of Hjörtur Emmanuel
“Naming this little miracle was a struggle, but a few weeks ago we finally decided on Barnabas Húni. Barnabas ticks almost all of our boxes: it’s biblical, strong with a good meaning (either son of the prophet or son of encouragement), not overused but also not unfamiliar, and it works in most languages (our Barnabas has Scandinavian, Polish, Jewish, German and Assyrian heritage). Húni is an Icelandic name, honoring my heritage. It means bear cub, which ties it to Hjörtur which means deer.”
Joeby Warren, brother of Talula Helen
“Joeby is a name we have loved for many years and I like to think of it as a kind of twist on Joseph which is a long-standing family name on my side. Warren is also a family name and means a lot to us.”
Oswin Maxwell, brother of Alphonse Eliott “Alfie”
“My husband (who chose Alpohonse for our first) had originally wanted to use Owen but I thought Oswin was much more distinguished next to Alphonse and I loved the meaning. Besides, it is rarely in use nowadays and it’s a nod to the baby boy’s ancestry….I noticed that we both have an affinity for boy names with a strong “z” sound in them and names that start with vowels. Who knows, maybe our third boy will be an Esmond, Ignatius or Inigo?”
Sullivan Luke, twin of Kalinda Joy and brother of Charleston Michael
“We had a harder time deciding on a name for our second son, but eventually settled on Sullivan, which fits our pattern of a unique three-syllable first name with a cute nickname (“Sully”). His middle name, Luke, is my husband’s first name. (Big brother Charleston’s middle name, Michael, is also a family name honoring three grandfathers and two uncles.) I love that the twins’ names flow together—same number of syllables, both rather uncommon—but aren’t overly matchy.”
Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond Satran of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. In addition to contributing stories on trends and celebrity naming, she guides the editorial content and manages the Nameberry Twitter and Facebook accounts. You can follow her personally at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.