I've been reading your blog for a long time now and thought I could come up with some names for our twins myself but we're getting closer to my due date (Nov 15 but probably delivering around Halloween) and haven't agreed on girl names! We don't know the genders so we could be having 2 boys, 2 girls or one of each. Our last name is pronounced Dee-in. I have no idea what our name styles would be described as but hopefully some of the names that we like can help you out.
We've definitely decided on Coulter (a family name) as our main boy name and will call him Cole. Our other boy name is most likely Everett. Husband is okay with this name if we call him Evan. Does that nickname even work for Everett? I'm not convinced....
Other boy names I like:
Christian
Mauer
West
Lyle
Other boy names Husband likes:
Connor
Caleb
Henry
Evan (by itself)
For girls, we're at a loss. I have been IN LOVE with the name Nora since high school and am trying my hardest to get my husband on board with this.
Other girl names I like:
Ruth (Ruthie)
Freya
Keelin
Cordelia/Cora
Ireland (Family Surname)
Leta
Quinn (Husband thinks it's too boyish)
Girl names husband likes:
Annie
Anna
Caroline (I love too but it's my only sister's name!! He thinks that doesn't matter, I highly disagree)
Caitlyn
Melissa
Casey (kass-ee) I guess this is how you would spell it? He thinks this is how it should be spelled. I think she'll be mistaken as a K.C. her whole life...
Any suggestions of girl names that might fit in both of our styles?
Middle name wise, they are already picked out, no matter the gender: Hill and Gregory. They are family names.
Help us please!!!!
Twin names are already harder to choose than a name for a singleton baby, but when the sexes are unknown it makes it an Herculean task: THREE twinsets, one for each possible combination.
In my opinion, Evan is too much of a reach as a nickname for Everett: Evan is its own name already, and not connected to the name Everett in any way except that they share the first two letters. To me it's like using Jessica as a nickname for Jennifer.
I would suggest just using the name Evan, but it doesn't seem to me like a very good fit with Coulter OR with your surname. West Deein seems like it blends too much; Christian Deein seems rhymey. With Coulter, Mauer seems like the best match. Or do you have another family name you could use? Perhaps Coulter and Gregory (Cole and Greg), and find a different middle name? I like Coulter with other surname names, and with your surname I like to avoid N-endings:
Coulter and Bennett
Coulter and Brody
Coulter and Elliot
Coulter and Fletcher
Coulter and Frasier
Coulter and Garrett
Coulter and Gregory
Coulter and Jagger
Coulter and Lennox
Coulter and Maguire
Coulter and Marshall
Coulter and Mercer
Coulter and Miller
Coulter and Ranger
Coulter and Redford
Coulter and Sawyer
Coulter and Thatcher
Coulter and Turner
Coulter and Yeardley
I like Coulter with Archer, but wonder if "Archer Deein" sounds too much like "archdeacon." I also took Baxter off the list because when I said it too many times it started sounding like "bastard." And I wondered about Brody (or Grady, or Brady) Deein---is the repeating "dee" sound too much? And Redford I love, but does the D-ending blend in with Deein too much?
For girl names---are you saying you don't want to name a daughter after your sister? In that case, DEFINITELY Caroline is off the list. But I do think it's a charming idea, if you both love the name and if you like your sister. ...Although, does your husband have any sisters? If so, things could get dicey.
If you want the pronunciation "kass-ee," with a short A, it's spelled Cassie (or possibly Kassie or Cassey). Casey would be like Casey-at-the-bat: KAY-see. I suggest using a longer name such as Cassandra or Cassidy and using Cassie as a nickname. Cassandra and Caroline would be a pretty combination. Cassandra and Cassidy are both nice with Coulter, too.
Other pairings for girl twins:
Caroline and Ruth
Anna and Ruth
Anna and Caroline
Anna and Cora
For boy-girl twins:
Coulter and Cassidy
Coulter and Caroline
Coulter and Cassandra
I like Coulter and Keelin, but Keelin Deein seems too rhymey to me. I'm not sure if Cassidy Deein works or if the repeating Dee sound is too much.
I was looking for some options that don't repeat the initial sound, but it's hard to find: Coulter and Anna are so different in style; Coulter and Caroline might be just as different, but the repeating hard-C sound ties them together.
For boy-girl twins, I'd definitely give the middle name Gregory to the boy twin: Coulter Gregory and Caroline Hill. For boy-boy twins, it doesn't much matter, so I'd probably give Gregory to whichever name seemed less obviously boyish. For girl-girl twins, it's hard to decide who should take Gregory. Anna Gregory and Ruth Hill? Cassidy Hill and Keelin Gregory? I feel like they're both going to agree Hill is the better middle name.
My favorites:
Coulter ____ and Gregory Hill
Coulter Hill and Sawyer Gregory
Coulter Gregory and Lennox Hill
Coulter Gregory and Cassidy Hill
Coulter Gregory and Caroline Hill
Anna Gregory and Ruth Hill
Anna Gregory and Cora Hill
Name update 10-23-2010! A. writes:
Thanks for all your help! Your comments helped put a few things in perspective for us both and gave us some great ideas. Our b/g twins were born 10/20 and we named them Coulter Hill and Annora Ireland. The name Annora never occurred to us! We read it and both instantly fell in love with it. We BOTH love their names which is a miracle! And using Ireland instead of Gregory as a mn was perfect. The tradition in both of our families is to use family surnames for middle names (mine growing up was Johnson! yuck!) so using a more feminine surname was a great idea. I guess we never thought of it because I thought it would be a great first name, but it definitely works perfectly as her middle name. Mom, Dad, Cole and Nora are doing great. Thanks again!
Annora and Coulter
