new sibling names?

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

 My husband and I have one daughter, Ezra Grace, born May 14 2009,  and we're expecting another baby around December 23rd of this year.  We likely won't find out the gender this time (we did with Ezra), but we both have a vague feeling it might be a boy.  Our last name is Irish, three syllables, and ends in "y" ("ee" sound).  We tend to like slightly unusual names, Hebrew/Yiddish/Aramaic names, maybe some Irish names, and some old-fashioned names.  We're also serious Christians and appreciate names with Christian meaning (i.e., Clementine means "mercy") and are really trying to avoid anything pretty pagan sounding (I'm hesitant about January for that reason).  We're also French speakers, so names with a little French twist are nice, but nothing too out-there (we don't want something that'll be constantly mispronounced here in the States).  Here are the names on my list so far -- lots of overlap on our lists, but not as much as I'd like!

Girls

Margaret  
Susan
Clementine (still working on convincing my husband of this one!)
Dove/Dova (as a middle name -- second would be "Doh-vuh"; love bird names, and my grandpa's name is David/Dovid)
Willow (not sure about it...)
Armistice (as a mn -- my only real hang-up is that it means a *temporary* cessation of fighting)
Evangeline (not super crazy about it, but husband really likes it)
Eden
Rebecca (again, I think it's a bit on the common side, and I hate the nn Becky)
January (husband isn't convinced, but I'm keeping it on the list in case we have a January girl...)
Beatrice
Hazel (husband loves it)
Eve (mn, especially if baby comes Christmas eve)
Sadie
Twila/Twyla


Boys

Peregrine (husband's mn... I'm coming around to it)
Josiah (I think I love the OT king a bit more than the name itself)
Fisher (husband isn't crazy about it, I like the connotation of "I will make you fishers of men," and it makes me think of G.M. Hopkins' poem, "As kingfishers catch fire")
Justice (mn -- one of husband's favorites, I like it with Fisher because of the same poem -- "The just man justices...")
Abel
Ephraim
Soren (might be the surest boy's name for us so far -- nn Wren/Ren)
North (mn only)
Malachi (nn Cai)
Atticus (nn Attie)

Husband really likes Soren Templar (Soren = "separate", Templar "for the temple"), but I'm not so down with Templar.  I do like Soren Peter, though.  When I was pregnant with Ezra, we had decided on Malachi Reuven (Ray-OO-ven, not the 2-syllable version) for a boy, but now we don't feel so sure about that anymore.  Reuven was my dad's Hebrew name (he died June of 2008), and his birthday was Dec. 27, but I don't think it can work with Soren because of the two -en endings. 

Suggestions?

Comments

[chillinbabejodi.livejournal.com]

sorry, no suggestions but I LOVE your daughters name. Also,I LIKE:
Evangeline
Eden
Eve
Malachi (nn Cai)

[my-little-voice.livejournal.com]

Clementine Dove
Evangeline
Eden
Hazel
Eve
Ephraim
Soren - I'm absolutely in love with this name these days. I'm not sure what would sound good with it though.

[beepandetch.livejournal.com]

What about Temple? Temple is a top contender if my next baby is a girl.

I'm also in love with Junia. Junia is the only female Apostle in the bible.

Verity is another favorite but my husband veteod it. Verity means truth.

Your taste in names reminds me of mine!

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Temple puts me in the mind of Temple Grandin -- which is okay, but everyone would probably assume that's why we chose the name.

Junia is definitely interesting...

I might like Verity (and other -ity names -- we have a friend who recently named her daughter Purity) better if we were British -- I don't like how American accents turn it from "Verity" to "Veridee."

[beepandetch.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize Temple Grandin was even that well known? I know she had an HBO movie about her but she's still pretty obscure. I don't think most people even know who she is.

I got the name Temple from Faulkner's "Sanctuary" and Dorothy Allison's "Bastard Out of Carolina". Two books I love.

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

"Sanctuary" is my second Temple association, and not one I think I'd make, either. I haven't read the book, but I've heard that it -- or at least parts of it -- are pretty horrifying. But you don't expect fairy tales from Faulkner!

Don't know the Dorothy Allison book.

Yeah, I don't think you would get it a lot, but that's what immediately springs to mind for me.

[cerceau.livejournal.com]

No suggestions. I like maybe half of those names.

Just a small nitpick. I'm pretty sure Soren is related to Severus which means stern not separate, unless this is a different name not related to the Scandinavian Sören/Søren

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

I've seen Soren defined as alternately stern and separate, but I like the second meaning better :)

[cerceau.livejournal.com]

I was curious after posting so did some googling.

It could be because of confusion between severe (stern) from latin severus and sever (separate) from latin separare. Soren is ultimately a scandinavian form of Severus, so I doubt separate is a correct meaning.

PS. I hope I don't come off as rude for contradicting you. I'm very fascinated by names and their roots, and it bothers me when people name their children based on misconception of a names meaning/origin :)

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I don't think you're rude :) I figured the first meaning was the more correct, anyway. But the meaning isn't incredibly important to us in this instance, because to us the meaning has less to do with the etymology of the name than it does Soren Kierkegaard, the Christian existentialist philosopher :)

[thellamaqueen.livejournal.com]

Soren just makes me think of "soaring", so Soren Peter makes me think "soaring Pete" and then I think of some guy named Peter who is flying or something.
It's a nice name and all, but I can't get past that association. It's kind of like the way I love the name Violet but can't use it as a first name because it sounds like an adjective modifying the middle name. :P

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

I figured for most people it would have the association of Soren Kierkegaard.

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

I like: Willow, Hazel, Eve, Sadie; Ephram, Soren.

Sorry but I think Armistice, Peregrine and Justice are really awful.

[skittles22088.livejournal.com]

I like:
Willow
Eden
January
Beatrice
Hazel
Sadie
Twyla

Josiah
Justice
Soren
North
Malachi
Atticus

Suggestions:
Willow Dove
Willow Eve
Hazel Dove
Hazel Eve
Beatrice Eve
Twyla Dove
Atticus North
Soren Justice
Malachi North
Malachi Justice

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

Like:
Margaret - we're going to use this for our first daughter
Susan
Clementine
January
Beatrice
Sadie - as a nn
Peregrine
Abel
Soren
Atticus

Dislike:
Willow
Armistice
Eden
Justice
Malachi - what about the Irish form, Malachy? I love that, it sounds and looks so much nicer.

[chadwah.livejournal.com]

I like Malachy too (though not as much as Malachi), but it's out because of the "ee" ending -- our last name has the same cadence, number of syllables, and the "ee" ending as Malachy. :/

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

I get that. I said it outloud with an Irish surname I could think of that would fit the parameters you gave for yours, and it doesn't sound terrible, but is a tad funny. I guess if you loved it enough it wouldn't be that bad to use, but otherwise I totally understand why you'd count it out. Too bad!

[apathykisses.livejournal.com]

Eve Willow is a name I have on my list. I like Sadie, Clementine, Hazel, Margaret, Susan, Soren Peter, and Abel.

Suggestions:
Maeve (Gaelic)
Année (this one was recommended to me a few posts back and I fell in love with it, I'm not sure of the meaning though)
Vincent (means to prevail or to conquer)
Giles (this one has a few different meanings that I thought were interesting, I also like the way it sounds)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_(given_name)

[frost.livejournal.com]

I kind of like Evangeline and Eve. For the boys, I like Soren, Malachi, and Atticus.
No suggestions, sorry!

[chocklit-frog.livejournal.com]

If you like Clementine but your husband finds it too cutesy or something, how about Clemence? Nice and French :)

[ringsandcoffee.livejournal.com]

I'm a Rebecca who's been called Becky probably since my second day of life. I should ask my mom about how that came about. Anyway, I've known many Rebeccas/Rebekahs who managed to NOT get nicknamed Becky.

I like many of your names, but I'm not personally keen on January if she was born in January. I know a Josiah born a few weeks ago.