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MelissaClaire
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How did you decide on your children's names? Baby #5 is coming and I've been thinking a lot about names lately and love hearing how others have come to name their children.
We've got 2 boys and 2 girls so far and the girls have Old Testament first names and saint middle names (their first names both also start with the same letter and I like another OT name that starts with the same letter, but my husband has vetoed it!) The boys have Apostle first names and saint middle names. (wasn't planned--just happened that way.)
For this baby if it's a girl we're thinking of either Maria Bernadette or Maria Faustina (but the first name breaks the OT trend.) For a boy I'm leaning toward James Patrick but still considering Luke Patrick.
So--is there a method to how you pick your names--they follow a pattern, named after the saint their birthday falls closest to, named after family members, .... ?
Edited to add: and do you choose more traditional or unusual names? All of ours are very traditional and no nicknames--so Thomas is Thomas--always--not Tommy.
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Melissa
Mom to a dd ('02), ds ('03), ds ('05), dd ('07) and baby due 9/01/09
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Erin
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Well our names are saints names, and as we are drawn to unusual names they have to fit that criteria too.
Suggestion for an OT name that covers Maria is Mariah. That's my dd7 name. Anyhow you can have a new trend, second two girls trend 
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Erin
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Milehimama
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We chose traditional, yet not so common first names. Most middle names are after family members. For example, my son is Patrick MacMillan. MacMillan was my MIL's maiden name.
Our girls tend to be more unusual than the boys. Emilia was named after St. Jerome Emiliani. Alianna was named after St. Helen (it's a Spanish version). Valeria is a preCongregation saint. We used Clara instead of Clare.
Also, I've made an effort to have different first initials.
One of our poor baby's initials are XQ - definitely unusual!
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Milehimama in Houston
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Milehimama
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Also - I know one family who named their fifth baby Quinette. And I was dying to name Alianna "Octavia" since she's the 8th baby - but husband hated that name, LOL!
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Milehimama in Houston
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JodieLyn
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We don't have a naming trend like you've mentioned.. but rather use all those sources.. Saint names, Bibilical names, Traditional names..
We have a list of names we both like and then pick the one we just LIKE
Now, after looking at the name combinations I like I've found that I like boy names that are a total of 4 syllables for first and middle names.. and girl names that are a total of 5 syllables.. It's less a "rule" and more a tool.. so if I like Mariana (4 syllables) I'll look for a 1 syllable middle name (Lee, Rose, June etc) Because the odds are that it will sound more right to me than a shorter or longer combo.
Now since my sister and I, my mom and her mom all have middle names that start with L.. so do my girls.
And the girls also have first names that use the german variation for spelling..
And all their first names have a spanish variation possible.
Though those aren't rules that we refuse to break if we want to 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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LisaD
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Our children are named family names, but the boys just happen to have NT names and the girl an OT name, and all their middle names are saint names.
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~Lisa
Mama to dd(99), ds(01), ds(03) and ds(06)
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LisaD
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MelissaClaire wrote:
We've got 2 boys and 2 girls so far and the girls have Old Testament first names and saint middle names (their first names both also start with the same letter and I like another OT name that starts with the same letter, but my husband has vetoed it!) The boys have Apostle first names and saint middle names. (wasn't planned--just happened that way.) |
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This is how ours are, too! I can guess your dd's name, since I think my dd is one of the OT names you've chosen for your dd's
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~Lisa
Mama to dd(99), ds(01), ds(03) and ds(06)
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Cay Gibson
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Each one has received a family member's name (or variation of name).
The first two my husband and I named together.
The third one my husband named completely...even when his name got changed towards the end after his little cousin died.
My oldest son named #4.
My oldest daughter named #5.
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Cay Gibson
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LeeAnn
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We have chosen less common traditional names and, since we became Catholic, at least one saint name. Also all our children's first names are Celtic/British heritage: Fiona, Helena, Elspeth, Ewan. We also have a little French trend with the middle names--which is fine since part of my husband's background is French.
We've narrowed down so tightly the kind of name we like that our list of potential names for another child is very small. :)
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RamFam
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Every child (so far) has a different first initial. The names are (mostly) not popular. All the boys have the middle name of Thomas, my husband's first name and his entire family's males. (Not my favorite trend. I've compared it to the Duggar J thing which he thinks is 'cultish' in worship of dad Duggar, since mom Duggar starts with M... He says they don't compare? And what can we do now?)
And we usually decide by making a list, asking around and then when they want us to fill out the birth certificate so we can leave the hospital with 'Baby' we start scratching off the ones we rather don't like and whichever one survives...
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Leah
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Tom ^i^, Kyle (my Marine), Adeline '00, Wyatt '05, Isaac '07 Philip '08,Michael '10, and John Xavier Feb '13
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anitamarie
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We have a knockdown, dragout, ninth-month fight. JK.
We always come up with a list for each sex, from saints names, Bible names,family names, etc. We typically pick a saint or Bible name and then add in a family name either before or after. Then when baby is born we see what he/she looks like. For example, last baby we had the girl list of Monica Marie, Isabella Anne, or Hannah Marie. When she was born, she looked like a Hannah, so Hannah she is. Ironically, both my girls have some variant of one or both of my names. (Unintenionally.) I guess it's all about me  .
We still joke about baby #3. His list was Gabriel, Michael, Nathaniel. He screamed non-stop for hours after he was born. We figured he had something to say so Gabriel he is. With Michael for a middle name. Somehow we knew we needed all the help we could get for this one. We were right. 
Hope you land on something you, and they, like. If not, they can always change it later. 
Anita
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DominaCaeli
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All of our children's first and middle names are after saints to whom we have a devotion. My husband is very particular about names, and he feels strongly that we shouldn't choose the name for the name itself, but for the patron saint. We favor somewhat unusual, distinctly Catholic names, and I like them to be able to be pronounced in Italian, since that is what my extended family speaks. We also make sure the name has a nickname that we like (or is short enough not to lend itself to shortening). All three of our kids have names that we both agreed upon, and we have a few ideas brewing for when (God willing) the next one comes along.
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Celeste
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my6angels
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Our names our mainly saint names with some family names thrown in:
Cecilia Marie (saint/Blessed Mother)
Savanna Rose (we just like the name Savanna but her middle name is after St. Rose of Lima)
Leo Francis (saints and named after his great uncle)
Neve Sheri (we just like the name Neve and Sheri is for her aunt who died of leukemia)
Fintan Patrick (both saints)
Aurelia Therese (both saints. Her birthday is October 1. We were going to name her after St. Therese anyway but lucked out with her birthday
Good luck with finding your name - I love the ideas you have already!!!
God Bless!!
Gina
Wife to Mark (12 years)
Mama to Cecilia 10, Savanna 7.5, Leo 6, Neve 4, Fintan 22 months and Aurelia 10 months
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violingirl
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Our oldest is Steven III after his grandfather and daddy. He goes by Ender- long story behind the nickname, but it's from a book. DS2 is Ezra Thomas, Thomas for my father. We specifically wanted the boys to have biblical names but also a connection to the family. If we have a girl someday her middle name will be after DH's sister who passed away a few years ago. We haven't gotten any further into discussing first names. :)
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Sharyn
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I come up with the names,dh approves them. This can be a long process
Dh is from Indonesia, so we have to choose a name that doesn't translate badly. Dh prefers a name that is not a family members, and as we both have big families this starts to make things difficult.
We give a first and second name after a saint and a third name from dh's clan's language. Since the family members have taken up a good deal of our favourite saint's names I have sometimes had to choose the names of saints I wasn't previously familiar with, but I like choosing names of more 'forgotten' saint's.
I like to choose early Church saints, benedictine saints (I'm a novice oblate), Irish saints (my dad's side of the family was from Ireland originally), french,english, greek, latin or hebrew names.
I did like to choose one or two syllable names to help prevent the children been known by nicknames but come baby number 5 it was impossible to agree on one that followed this and so it seems the 1/2 syllable 'rule' has gone out the window
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LucyP
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Our children come ready named! We did alter DS's name from a nickname to a formal name - luckily it was already a saint's name. Then we gave him the boy's middle name from DH's family and my father's first name, both of which are also the names of saints. DD also has three names which are saints names - the first name was given to her by her birth mother, her middle name is also the name of my grandmother and great-grandmother (and she has chosen a short version of this as her name of preference) and her second middle name of Rose is because she is a rose let fall from heaven!
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doris
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Miriam is the OT version of Mary, I believe.
For us, too -- saints all the way! With a sprinkling of family names, too.
(A funny aside. Dh was keen that the latest baby be a boy. I had a deal with St Jude -- if baby did turn out a boy, he'd get Jude as a middle name. Need I say what we had...?)
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Mimip
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We have the same type of combination but our boys names have been so hard to iron down.
Our oldest is Luisa Pilar- Luisa after my grandmother and a very holy woman and Pilar is after Our Lady of the Pilar, the patroness from where I was born and my middle name as well.
Anamaria Claire is next- We named her after my Dh's grandmother who was Anne Marie but we wanted a more latin name. So we went with her name all together> We figured that was the only way she would be called Anamaria and not Ana. She was born on the feast of St. Clare and we are really devout to St. Francis and Clare (see next name)
Francisco Diego was a mission to decide on. We had such discussions when we were pregnant with the girls about boys names that my DH refused to discuss names until the day before my induction. Then we sat down at Dunkin donuts and made a list of 4 names. When he was born the next day my doctor said he would not send in the girls without a name so we better find one soon (he is an old family friend )
So hubby looked at me and said "It all started at Franciscan, so I guess we owe him one, how about Francisco Diego?" Since it was the feast of St. Juan Diego, it was perfect. (BTW we went to Franciscan University )
We now know, that both my paternal great grandfather's were named Francisco BONUS!
Maximilian James- We knew we needed a Max, since we don't normally do nicknames this was a hard one but he is such a Max. My DH did his senior review on St. Maximilian Kolbe and is very devout to him so we bit the bullet. James is after my DH's hubby and a fallen officer who passed away right before Max was born.
Wow that was really detailed but I love how we have named out children.
Good Luck with # 5
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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stacykay
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We go with saint names for both first and middle names. I would say they are more common (Matthew James, Michael Anthony, Peter Francis, Mark Andrew, Paul Joseph, and John Patrick.)
We never had any girls, but the names we picked out were Catherine Alexis and Margaret Louise.
We had two go to heaven, and I prayed on those names, which were David Patrick and Irene Rose.
More often than not, the boys' have their names shortened by their friends. I call them all the names (ie. Michael, Mike, and sometimes just Anthony.)
What a joyful time for you! Happy naming!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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JenPre
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We're only beginning and not even sure what this baby is yet but we've got names picked out for five babies
If this baby is a boy (of which my husband SWEARS it is so much so that we've been calling it "him" and by "his" name...the poor thing will have an identity crisis if it's a girl! )
Anyways we've chosen names from saints.
If this is a boy he'll be Nicholas Francis. If a girl Marie-Therese Rose.
Other names we've "chosen" for future children are Raphael Joseph; Rita Catherine; Veronica Isabella. If we have all boys we'll have to pray for guidance on other saints names! But we've both agreed that any children will be named after saints.
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Jen
Mommy to Marie-Therese born 12/4/09
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Naming your children?
