Katie writes:
I was hoping that you could help me and my husband name our third baby. We are due December 27th. Our last name is Cervantes and we have two daughters, Claire Lucia and Megan Lydia. We don’t know the gender of this baby, but have decided that if it’s a boy we will name him Matthew Richard. We like girls’ names that are timeless without being too standard like Elizabeth or Katherine. We have decided that the middle name will be Liberty, so whatever we pick will have to go with that.
We have had a hard time compiling much of a list, but some names we have considered are Hope, Caroline, Elise, and Gemma.
You are almost totally in line with The Baby Name Wizard: sister names for Claire are Elise, Caroline, Isabel, Leah, and Hope. Sister names for Megan are Lauren, Caitlin, Jenna, Morgan, and Allison.
As I start to work on this, I notice that Liberty is a difficult middle name. Hope Liberty. Caroline Liberty. Elise Liberty. Gemma Liberty. It doesn’t FLOW. I think Liberty is more of a first-name name and doesn’t want to take second place. But it’s set, so let’s see if we can beat it into middle-name submission.
From your list, I think Caroline is smoothest with Liberty: Caroline Liberty Cervantes. I think Hope is ruled out. Elise Liberty would be okay.
From The Baby Name Wizard’s lists, I think Isabel Liberty and Allison Liberty would be okay.
Some others that might work:
Abigail Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Abigail
Brooke Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Brooke
Claudia Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Claudia
Eliza Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Eliza
Holly Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Holly
Jillian Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Jillian
Joanna Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Joanna
Jocelyn Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Jocelyn
Julia Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Julia
Meredith Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Meredith
Miriam Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Miriam
Rebecca Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Rebecca
Sabrina Liberty; Claire, Megan, and Sabrina
My top favorite is Eliza. Eliza Liberty Cervantes; Claire, Megan, and Eliza.
What do the rest of you think? Can you find names that would work with siblings Claire and Megan, and middle name Liberty?
Name update 12-29-2009! Katie writes:
Thanks so much for posting my letter, and for your suggestions (and those of your readers). In the end, we did not need a name to go with Liberty, because we had a beautiful baby boy!
Our son was born on Christmas Eve. After seeing him, Matthew Richard did not seem quite right, so we named him our second choice: Karl Richard (Karl is my maiden name).
Thanks again for your help!
Love Rebecca Liberty. So graceful. I think any 3-syllable name would work with Liberty.
From Swistle’s (and your) list I like Caroline, Allison, and Elise.
Other ideas:
Cecilia (or just Celia)
Theresa
Mara
Alexandra (or Alexa)
Carissa
i like elise liberty cervantes too. (elisa, eliza)
other timeless, but not standard names, that flow with liberty:
helena liberty
erin liberty
juliet liberty
(lauren? but then you have double Ls)
(abigail? but names ending in L are tricky with liberty)
I like Caroline and Holly. I think Holly is fun since she will be born close to the holidays…
I like Gemma (or Emma) from your list.
I also think Erin, Grace or Paige would go well with Liberty as her middle name.
Gemma Liberty Cervantes sounds fabulous. Claire, Megan, and Gemma. Perfect. :)
I also like Jillian Liberty and Julia Liberty from Swistle’s list.
My suggestions are Olivia Liberty, Taylor Liberty, and Andrea Liberty.
There is very few times when you are going to be saying the FULL name. Graduation, marriage, introducing the new baby, when you are mad (haha). I agree that Liberty seems like a first name and it doesn’t flow, but if you pause a little bit between first and middle and make each stand out, then lots of these names sound great.
Out of your list of names I really like Elise.
Good Luck! Oh, I really like Matthew for a boy.
My favorite is Elise, I also like Eliza and Julia.
Good Luck!
Libby
I am totally in love with the name Gemma, and if anyone wants to use it, I just HAVE to vote for it! So, my vote from your original list is for Gemma, with Caroline being my second favourite.
Swistle’s suggestions are great. My favourites with Claire and Megan (great names too!) are Rebecca, Abigail and Jocelyn.
I just have to say that I LOVE the name Gemma.
I NEVER comment, but I thought I should just this once. I am Megan Elizabeth, my sisters are Claire Elise and Katherine Marie (Katie/Kate). So, obvs I’m on board for this particular naming game. What about Elsa? Elsa Liberty Cervantes. Sounds nice, and it’s similar enough to Elise to be a contender, no?
I like any of the three syllable names with middle name Liberty. My favorite is Caroline.
Good luck!
I like Caroline Liberty, or Claudia, Eliza, or Julia. I think the first name should definitely have an “l” sound in it because first and middle names with lots of l’s are just beautiful, in my opinion.
Good luck!
I really like another commenter’s suggestion of Paige! I also like Swistle’s suggestion of Abigail. Just my two cents!
I’m with Swistle, Eliza Liberty is my hands down favorite. Also like the above mentioned Paige. Good Luck!
Or Sarah sounds like a good sister to Claire and Megan.
Sarah Liberty Cervantes
Sarah Cervantes
My favorite from the original list is Caroline. From Swistle’s list I Iike Rebecca best.
A few more:
Anna
Ellen
Gabrielle
Jane
Margaret
Meredith
Rose
Zoe
I thought of another name I think would work you: Susannah.
From Swistle’s list, my favourite stand-alone name is
Sabrina Liberty Cervantes. Sabrina Cervantes. Nice.
I think the best sibset is Claire, Megan, and Rebecca.
I also like the name Meredith but MerediTH Cervantes doesn’t roll off the tongue.
Oh, baby Karl is so awesome.
I’m so! happy! someone used the name KARL!!