Newest Babyberry Births: Olga, Olive and Kit
By Linda Rosenkrantz
This month, some unusual first names, middles and sibling picks. Among the firsts, a girl name Ekko and boys called Kit and Nikao. Interesting middles include Boheme, Marrenna, Maristela and Bartholomew. And this June’s babyberries had big brothers and sisters named Zaza Leonie, Tilda Piaf, Zeke Cahuilla, and Lilith Sage.
Here’s the full list, with the always illuminating comments by their parents.
GIRLS
Anita Boheme, sister of Zaza Leonie and Tilda Piaf
“As you may notice, the French language and culture are a huge inspiration.”
“We chose Anna to honour all the women in our family because great grandmothers, grandmothers, and aunts all have a form of Anne in their name. Violet has always been a favorite of mine but when we found out that a beloved great great grandmother’s name meant Violet flower it felt even more perfect.”
Camilla Margot, sister of Penelope Tilda, Olivia Sadie and Lucy Elena
“After a long time unable to find a name that both my partner and I liked, Camilla came out of nowhere and we knew it was the one. Margot was suggested as a first by the Name Sage, but in the end it is her perfect middle name.”
Ekko Marrenna, sister of Zeke Cahuilla
“Marrenna is a family name going back every generation to my great grandmother. Ekko is a name we just liked.“
Miriam Estella, sister of Henry Maddox and Susanna Cate
“Estella is another family name from my husband’s side that is an old lady name making a comeback.”
Olga Maristela, sister of Matilda Ines and Irene Mercedes
“Maristela is a name we fell in love with while searching for a name with an M initial to match her older sisters. Olga is a family name that I really loved and it made the honored person very happy.”
Olive Marjorie, sister of Isaac Harrison, Selah May and Jude Shepherd
“Our kids all have Biblical names. Like our daughter Selah, Olive is a Biblical word reference instead of the name of a person in the Bible….in Genesis, during the great flood, Noah sent out a dove from the ark who brings back a fresh olive leaf, so he knows the waters are receding and the flood has ended.”
Penelope Rose
Sylvia June Beatrice, sister of Lewis, Clara and Sebastian
“Sylvia was always a favorite of my husband and I, inspired by Sylvia Plath. Also loved for the meaning ‘of the forest’ as we are a nature loving family. Beatrice is her great-grandmother’s name.”
We chose Tabitha after some thought because we quite simply loved it and she really suits it. Maxine is for her daddy and his family who have 3 generations of Max somewhere in their names. Iris is because she is our rainbow baby after 3 miscarriages.”
Vivien Rain, sister of Honora (Nora) Dove and Lilith (Lily) Sage
“We decided ultimately to go with the –en ending because it felt more feminine than –an, but not quite over the top as –ienne. Because our two eldest are adopted, it was so incredibly important to me that all the names sounded like siblings as we would never want any of them to feel left out or less a part of the family. I worked very hard with the berries to come up with the perfect name, and I almost feel as though she was named by all of you!”
BOYS
Arthur Thomas, brother of Lenora Rose
“I consulted Nameberry constantly throughout this pregnancy in search of a classic, vintage elegant name that could stand up to our daughter’s name that we adore…We wanted a name with meaning and family history, and a name we don’t see used at all among our social circle. Also, it needed to sound perfect with our beautiful daughter’s name: Lenora Rose…As it turned out, our classic, elegant, vintage British name was right in front of us: Arthur Thomas was named for his two incredible grandfathers on Father’s Day…Both names also have place meaning for us, as they are names from within the first historic family of settlers in Seattle, or beloved city and hometown.”
Douglas Samuel Bernard, brother of Daphne Alice Rose
Kit Valentine, brother of Juno Matilda
“..Kit is a nod to my husband’s great-grandmother, who, at a time when very few women even went to university, was a leading scholar on the Elizabethan playwright Kit Marlowe. Valentine is in honour of my beloved grandmother, Valerie Irene, who sadly passed away in January. I love that we’ve been able to honour two strong, much-missed women with our little boy’s name.”
“The name Marshall came from a character on my favorite TV show, How I Met Your Mother. And Evan is my stepdad’s middle name.”
Miles Anderson, brother of Sawyer Kathryn
Nikao Micah Wallace, brother of Isaiah Derek Wallace and Ari Wallace
“Nikao is a biblical name with Greek origin. It means to carry off the victory or come off victoriously. It can be pronounced a few different ways but we went with the Ni sound like Nick and then pronounced Ni-kayo, Micah is a nod to my father Michael and Wallace is my step-father’s last name which our other two children share as well.”
Peter Bartholomew, brother of Margaret Ruth and Anne Marcella
“I’ve sought advice from the people on this forum in naming all of my children and wanted to thank everyone who has provided feedback to or shared their naming tastes/suggestions with me over the years.”
Scott Nelson, brother of Holly Lorraine
“Scott is my father’s middle name and Nelson is my husband’s middle name, which is the middle name of his father and was originally the maiden name of my father-in-law’s biological mother. Lorraine is a family name passed down on my mother’s side and is also my middle name so it was important to us to do the same for our son.”
“We were tossing up between Theodore “gift”, Maximilian “greatest” and Felix “happy/lucky” for a first name….After trying to call him Maxi and Felix/Lexi for about 24 hours, we just knew that he was absolutely a Theodore and nothing else.”