Baby Boy-Girl Twins, Siblings to William

Patty writes:

I’m pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, and have no idea what to name them! Our 16-month old son is William Ryan, or Will, and we’re having a hard time with the twins’ names. I don’t want anything too cutesy or matching. For the boy, my favorite name is Henry, but my husband doesn’t like it. We tend to like traditional or old-fashioned names (Sam, Ethan, and Owen are a few I like). The top contender right now is Thomas, which means Twin and was my dad’s name, but I’d rather use it as a middle name. For the girl, our top pick right now is Hannah, but if we do end up with Henry, I’m not sure we want to do two H names. Other girl names we like: Lauren, Emma, Emily, Caitlin. I love Grace, but already have a Will, so don’t want to use that! Our last name starts with a B and is 3 syllables. Any suggestions?

My twins were my hardest babies to name! I wanted a LITTLE TIDGE of matchiness, but not TOO MUCH. And none of the boy names we liked seemed to go with the girl names we liked—or else they went too much. What we finally did was separate the two decisions: we thought to ourselves, “If we were having a girl now, what would we name her? And then if we scooted forward in time to the next pregnancy and found we were having a boy, what would we name him?” And then we went with those names.

Unfortunately this turned out to mean zero matchiness, but we hadn’t been able to find any that had the right tidge anyway. Elizabeth and Edward (the pseudonyms I use for my twins on my blogs) would have been the perfect tidge with their matching initials and matching whiffs of royalty but utterly distinct sounds.

Oh, hey—would those be good possibilities for your twins? Elizabeth and Edward? Elizabeth Grace and Edward Thomas, perhaps—that would be a good way to use the name Grace without the Will & Grace problem. Gosh, I LOVE that: William Ryan, Elizabeth Grace, and Edward Thomas. Or if you don’t like Edward, maybe Edmund?

From your lists, here are some pairings I like:

Emma and Sam
Sam and Hannah
Ethan and Hannah
Lauren and Owen
Ethan and Emily

Just for fun, and because you and I have Lauren, Emily, and Ethan in common, here are some sets we considered for our twins:

Eric and Lauren
Eric and Genevieve
Eric and Anna
Eric and Jane
John and Emily
John and Eliza
John and Lauren
John and Genevieve
Eric and Claire
Eric and Emily
Charles (Charlie) and Genevieve
Charles (Charlie) and Elizabeth
Charles (Charlie) and Jane
Alec and Genevieve
Ethan and Genevieve
Ethan and Jane
Malcolm and Genevieve
Jonathan and Genevieve

Your husband doesn’t like the name Henry but you both like Hannah, so here are a few more boy names to try with Hannah:

Hannah and Caleb
Hannah and Daniel
Hannah and Elliot
Hannah and Emmett
Hannah and Evan
Hannah and Gavin
Hannah and Isaac
Hannah and John
Hannah and Nathaniel
Hannah and Oliver

Go nuts, everybody: choose sets of twins from the parents’ list of possibilities, choose boy names to go with Hannah, or choose whole new sets from thin air.

Name update 10-05-2009! Patty writes:

Well, the babies arrived last week, and as we waited for me to be wheeled into the OR, my husband and I finally came to an agreement on names: Samuel Thomas and Lucy Elizabeth were born on 9/29/09 and are doing great!

Thanks for your help!

17 thoughts on “Baby Boy-Girl Twins, Siblings to William

  1. Erin

    I think swistle hit it on the head with Elizabeth Grace and Edward Thomas. But, if Hannah is more your style, I like Malcolm with that – and with William. I also really like Emma with William and Thomas or Samuel/Sam.

    Reply
  2. MAmanda

    My daughter is Kate. The last couple years, my top contenders if I have another little girl are Eleanor (Ellie) or Alexandra (Allie). Recently, I realized that would make my daughters Kate & Ellie or Kate & Allie. Apparently I’m a much bigger Jane Curtin fan than I’d realized. But nobody else who I mention this to seems to remember that show, so I’m running with it. Provided God sees fit to give me another girl and my hubby doesn’t veto.

    My point: I love Grace. Go for it. In another ten years, few people will make the connection, especially if the Will is not her twin. Certainly, her contemporaries won’t get it. Second choice is Elizabeth.

    For the boy I like Charles Thomas.

    Reply
  3. Katie

    From your girl choices I like Hannah, Emma and Grace (I don’t think Grace would be a problem with Will at all).

    From your boy choices I like Thomas, Sam and Ethan.

    From Swistle’s suggestions, I think Elizabeth and Edward is completely adorable.
    I also like Hannah and Daniel and Emma and Sam.

    Good luck!!!

    Reply
  4. tracynicole22

    I agree with Swistle that Edward Thomas & Elizabeth Grace are a great choice. Here are some others I like, just for fun as siblings for William:
    Nicholas & Olivia
    Benjamin & Emily
    Andrew & Lauren
    Owen & Audrey
    Zachary & Abigail (Will, Zach & Abby would be so cute!)
    Oliver & Hannah
    Matthew & Charlotte
    Nathan & Megan
    I always liked the name Tamsin for a girl, but felt I couldn’t use it unless I has twins (fem. form of Thomas meaning twin), but “sigh” only singletons for me! GOOD LUCK!!

    Reply
  5. Patricia

    So many really nice names to consider. Since there’s no poll to vote in, I’ll ‘vote’ here:

    Hannah Grace and Ethan Thomas

    Each name is a favorite of yours, and Hannah and Ethan make a subtle twin set: both names are biblical; each name has 2 syllables and no usual nickname. I love Grace for your daughter’s middle name, and Thomas — your dad’s name and meaning “twin” seems — seems too perfect to pass up.

    Best wishes!

    Reply
  6. Steph the WonderWorrier

    Love Hannah Grace and Ethan Thomas as well. Hannah and Ethan both have a softness about them that make them match somehow… must be the H’s, A’s and N’s in both. I love them together. And William and Ethan are nice strong male names that also go well together.

    I’d definitely go with Hannah, I think it’s a very beautiful name and sounds lovely with Grace as a middle name.

    Other “Hannah” pairs:

    Hannah and Connor (the double N is sort of neat, and same number of letters in each name)

    Hannah and Adam (the “Ah” sound, end of Hannah, beginning of Adam)

    Hannah and Nathan (similar effect as Hannah and Ethan together; Nathan can be nicknamed to Nate, which I think is great with Will).

    Reply
  7. Patricia

    Caitlin and Owen would be a good combination for twins too — 2 Gaelic names that sound lovely together: Caitlin Grace and Owen Thomas.

    Reply
  8. Christina Fonseca

    Congratulations on your twins. My favorite combinations are:

    Elizabeth Grace and Edward Thomas
    Ethan Thomas and Hannah Grace
    Samuel Thomas and Hannah Grace

    Reply
  9. Karen

    The twins inquiries always make my head spin but the others have made great suggestions.

    My favourites are Samuel Thomas and Hannah Grace and they match William very well.

    Aside. I thought it was a little crazy but friends of mine rejected Hannah (a name they love) because their first daughter was Grace, which apparently has the same meaning as Hannah.

    Reply
  10. Bethtastic

    Perhaps Grace and Griffin with the nn Fin. It would be twin names that share an initial, but the nn would eliminate much of the “matchiness” if you want.

    William, Grace and Griffin. Will, Grace and Fin.

    Just brainstorming…what fun to name twins!! Congratulations!

    Reply
  11. Anonymous

    Love either Hannah and Samuel (Sam) or Hannah and Ethan. I think I like the way Hannah and Ethan sound together the best – although i can’t figure out what it is that gives the two names a little bit of subtle twininess.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous

    Your sooooooooo lucky to be having boy and girl twins. That’s what i really want. Any suggestions on how to get twins? Thanks.P.s i love the names Hannah and Oliver they go together really well :)

    Reply
  13. lucille

    i am now 32 monrhs pregnant wif 2 girls and a boy. I am thinking of a name for my two girls to go wif the name Alston both me and my husband like it for our son. I have a older son now 2 yrs old named Albert. Can anyone help me wif the name. We had thought of Clare and Carlyn for our twins but it does not go wif the name Alston. From: lucille

    Reply

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