Please Help: Twins' Baby-Name Book.

Dear Parents of Twins:

My name's Eric Groves, author of, "Divine Baby Names," a baby-name book with names of Greek and Roman deities that parents can use to name their little godlings. I'm currently writing a book titled, "The Twins' Baby-Name Book," for parents who are expecting twins. Nearly 300,000 twins are born in the U.S. annually, a 65% increase over 1980, yet not one baby-name book exists exclusively for twins' parents. I've discovered, through research, that most twins' parents prefer pairs of names that are closely-related--just check the Social Security Adminstration's 2007 list of the 100 Most Popular Twins' Names, for example. But I'm stumped, at this point. Here are my big questions: (1) Do you prefer twins' names that are related in meaning? For example, Mary-Kate and Ashley. (2) Or, do you prefer twins' names that are related in spelling and pronunciation? For example, Mary and Mariah. (3) What would you really like to see in, "The Twins' Baby-Name Book?" Thanks in advance for your help.

 

(1) Do you prefer twins' names that are related in meaning? I think that would be nice...but I think also most twin Moms want their kids to have a separate identity.
(2) Or, do you prefer twins' names that are related in spelling and pronunciation? Sometimes that gets confusing, but I think it is very common to do. Nopreference here.
(3) What would you really like to see in, "The Twins' Baby-Name Book?" - there are so many different types of twins that I am more in favor of keeping names separate....but lets see what others have to say...

 

We decided to link ours with similar middle name. Rose and Royce. We will do that again if we have multiples with our next pregnancy.

The name Thomas means "the twin" but we chose the name because we liked it. I never did figure out who the other "twin" was to go with Thomas.

I am not really a fan of names that are so close you can get tongue tied saying them all.

I have cousins named
Melinda, Miranda, Melissa, Marissa and Belinda. It is way confusing.

I did want to connect them though so we used middle names. Maybe you can suggest that in your book!

 

I named my sons after Isaac and Jacob who are father and son prophets in the Bible (Jacob was also a twin to Esau). The names seemed to go together (same number of letters, beginning letters next to each other in the alphabet, famous related people with those names) without being too "twinny". I wouldn't have named my sons Timmy and Tommy, or anything rhyming, but I do know people who have done that.

 

My twins are Jacoby and Gabriel. Gabriel, an angelic name but biblical, and Jacoby, derived from Jacob, also a biblical name and wrestled with an angel and is a twin (right?!?!). Recently, I discovered another mom on these boards that has a five year old set of boys named Jacob and Gabriel. I also considered Gabriel and Michael or Gabriel and Raphael (all archangels).

And both boys have a family middle name Jacoby Michael (Michael is my Great Grandpa and an uncle) and Gabriel Franklin (My MIL is Frankie and her father was Frank).

And I DID NOT want singsongy names or names that are one letter different. For boy/girl twins, we considered starting with the same letter.

Hope that helps.

angel

 

I named my girls with the same first letter and a middle name from mine and DH's mothers. I think it is nice to have the names linked somehow. I think if a person is looking at a twin name book, they are looking for a link, otherwise they could just use a regular book KWIM?

 

I don't like "cutesy" name combos and sound-alike names for twins. It's not my style. My girls are named after my maternal and paternal grandmothers, with middle names that we liked and sounded good with the first names. So I don't think I'd have gone specifically for a Twin Baby Name book. They are individuals and I'd rather not give them a name that implies that they are "a set" to the outside world, if you know what I mean. Yes, mine do have related names, but they are only related within my family, not within the larger world.

I do think mine is a more minority view, so your book will probably be a success!

 

QUOTE(Eric Groves @ Jan 4 2008, 12:00 AM) [snapback]556925[/snapback]
Dear Parents of Twins:

(1) Do you prefer twins' names that are related in meaning? For example, Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Do the names Mary-Kate and Ashley mean the same thing or just the reference to the famous twins? Either way, I wouldn't want to name my twins two names with the same definition or give them names of famous twins.


(2) Or, do you prefer twins' names that are related in spelling and pronunciation? For example, Mary and Mariah.
I like names that start with the same letter! But DH does not.


(3) What would you really like to see in, "The Twins' Baby-Name Book?"
I like names that sound good together but are not similar. I wouldn't have wanted one very modern name and one traditional name. I also didn't want two names that had too many of the same sound, if that makes sense. I want the babies to be able to distinguish who I am talking to when I say their names from an early age. So for example, Lily and Annie wouldn't have worked for me, too many "ee" sounds.

 

QUOTE(teine @ Jan 4 2008, 01:16 AM) [snapback]556930[/snapback]
(1) Do you prefer twins' names that are related in meaning? I think that would be nice...but I think also most twin Moms want their kids to have a separate identity.
(2) Or, do you prefer twins' names that are related in spelling and pronunciation? Sometimes that gets confusing, but I think it is very common to do. Nopreference here.
(3) What would you really like to see in, "The Twins' Baby-Name Book?" - there are so many different types of twins that I am more in favor of keeping names separate....but lets see what others have to say...


Thank you very much for your help, teine. Sincerely, Eric.

 

QUOTE(Tammy Fine @ Jan 4 2008, 02:05 PM) [snapback]557571[/snapback]
We decided to link ours with similar middle name. Rose and Royce. We will do that again if we have multiples with our next pregnancy.

The name Thomas means "the twin" but we chose the name because we liked it. I never did figure out who the other "twin" was to go with Thomas.

I am not really a fan of names that are so close you can get tongue tied saying them all.

I have cousins named
Melinda, Miranda, Melissa, Marissa and Belinda. It is way confusing.

I did want to connect them though so we used middle names. Maybe you can suggest that in your book!


Thanks very much for your help, Tammy Fine. Sincerely, Eric.

QUOTE(Katiebelle @ Jan 4 2008, 03:22 PM) [snapback]557700[/snapback]
I named my sons after Isaac and Jacob who are father and son prophets in the Bible (Jacob was also a twin to Esau). The names seemed to go together (same number of letters, beginning letters next to each other in the alphabet, famous related people with those names) without being too "twinny". I wouldn't have named my sons Timmy and Tommy, or anything rhyming, but I do know people who have done that.


Thanks for your help. Katiebelle. Sincerely, Eric.

 

QUOTE(BoyOh6Boys @ Jan 4 2008, 03:36 PM) [snapback]557732[/snapback]
My twins are Jacoby and Gabriel. Gabriel, an angelic name but biblical, and Jacoby, derived from Jacob, also a biblical name and wrestled with an angel and is a twin (right?!?!). Recently, I discovered another mom on these boards that has a five year old set of boys named Jacob and Gabriel. I also considered Gabriel and Michael or Gabriel and Raphael (all archangels).

And both boys have a family middle name Jacoby Michael (Michael is my Great Grandpa and an uncle) and Gabriel Franklin (My MIL is Frankie and her father was Frank).

And I DID NOT want singsongy names or names that are one letter different. For boy/girl twins, we considered starting with the same letter.

Hope that helps.

angel


Thanks, BoyOh6Boys. Sincerely, Eric.

 

QUOTE(prairiemom3 @ Jan 4 2008, 03:41 PM) [snapback]557742[/snapback]
I named my girls with the same first letter and a middle name from mine and DH's mothers. I think it is nice to have the names linked somehow. I think if a person is looking at a twin name book, they are looking for a link, otherwise they could just use a regular book KWIM?


Thanks, prairiemom3. Sincerely, Eric.

 

QUOTE(betseeee @ Jan 4 2008, 08:46 PM) [snapback]558195[/snapback]
I don't like "cutesy" name combos and sound-alike names for twins. It's not my style. My girls are named after my maternal and paternal grandmothers, with middle names that we liked and sounded good with the first names. So I don't think I'd have gone specifically for a Twin Baby Name book. They are individuals and I'd rather not give them a name that implies that they are "a set" to the outside world, if you know what I mean. Yes, mine do have related names, but they are only related within my family, not within the larger world.

I do think mine is a more minority view, so your book will probably be a success!


Thanks, betseeee. Sincerely, Eric.

 

...My two cents...

If you were to do a twin baby naming book...I would think it would be helpful to have multiple sections detailing the various naming procedures for twins..ie, naming them as two totally separate people with no reference to them being twins, having "twinny" names that rhyme, names with similar meaning, names that sounded similar but didn't rhyme, pairings of Biblical names/Greek god names like you mentioned, famous twins names....etc


When I was pregnant with my twins, I grabbed up any books I could that had "twin" in the title...and now that they are here it's more realistic (at their age) to think of them as just two babies...not "twins"..but that's a whole other topic!!

 

i love rhyming names but im not the norm I want to name our girls Cianna and Ciara-but everyone in my family thinks it too "close" I would love a twin book with different chapters about names that sound similar for twins! boy/girl/, girl/girl/ boy/girl/.
I also love the meanings of each name and the popularity of the names recently for 2000---2007.

 

As you can see from reading this forum, (and reading the twin names in our signatures) there are a lot of varied opinions about twin names. I probably wouldn't have bought a twin name book--but then I didn't and wouldn't buy any baby name book.

I like the idea of having a book with different sections. Names that match in sound, names that match in meaning, names that share a theme, names that are annagrams of each other, etc. Although I didn't do it, I particulaly like middle names that match or have a connection. They are individuals but they do have a special bond. For example I had wanted both of my girls to have the middle name Joy, but one the word for Joy in Mixteco, their heritage langauge. Turns out that is almost unpronouncible for English and Spanish speakers so we went with another Mixteco name instead.

By the way, you'd probably know this, so here's a question. I read once that in Greek Mythology Melissa has a sister (possibly a twin?) but I can't find her name. Melissa feed baby Zeus honey and her sister feed him milk? What was her name? Melissa and that combo would make nice twin names, wouldn't they?

 

QUOTE(Meximeli @ Jan 7 2008, 06:08 PM) [snapback]561815[/snapback]
As you can see from reading this forum, (and reading the twin names in our signatures) there are a lot of varied opinions about twin names. I probably wouldn't have bought a twin name book--but then I didn't and wouldn't buy any baby name book.

I like the idea of having a book with different sections. Names that match in sound, names that match in meaning, names that share a theme, names that are annagrams of each other, etc. Although I didn't do it, I particulaly like middle names that match or have a connection. They are individuals but they do have a special bond. For example I had wanted both of my girls to have the middle name Joy, but one the word for Joy in Mixteco, their heritage langauge. Turns out that is almost unpronouncible for English and Spanish speakers so we went with another Mixteco name instead.

By the way, you'd probably know this, so here's a question. I read once that in Greek Mythology Melissa has a sister (possibly a twin?) but I can't find her name. Melissa feed baby Zeus honey and her sister feed him milk? What was her name? Melissa and that combo would make nice twin names, wouldn't they?


Thanks for your help, Meximeli. Regarding the name Melissa, the information I have is that Queen Melissa was the wife of King Periander of Corinth (6th Century B.C.). Thanks again.

 

OOH OOH!! how exciting!! We searched for twin names and you are right - there are no books that have twin combos!! and SS
was way too common although our names ended up being common!! Addison & Ava

all of us ladies could give you some good combos if you want!!!!

 

Back when I was a girl, the common practice was to have rhyming twin names, i,e, I have cousins Jean and Jane, Ronald and Donald, Linda and Brenda and Andy and Sandy, etc. My grandsons are twins and the one thing we didn't want to do was the rhyming names. We are extremely dedicated to maintaining their own identities and personalities. We didn't look for meanings, rhymes, etc. The boys were named individually as we would have any two siblings. Each boy carries the name sake of a grandfather, father and a deceased uncle. We were more for carrying tradition than searching for matching/coordinating names. It's important to us that the boys be treated as individuals and not as a unit. Their names are not even similar (first or middle) nor do they share similar meanings.

 

I STRONGLY dislike rhyming names like Ted and Fred. I also dislike choosing name that are very similar in pronunciation and spelling, especially for identical twins. People will have a hard enough time telling them apart without the added burden of very similar names. I'm neutral on names that begin with the same letter. We went with a "theme" - biblical names - but would have done that with singletons also.

 

I agree with Melissa. Having different sections to suit those who likes rhyming names, similar or complimentary meanings, etc. would be helpful for those who want to give their twins "twinny" names.