Hi Swistle!
My husband and I are expecting identical twins this fall. We have decided to not find out their gender and are completely stuck on names. Our last name is M@njg@fic. The easiest way to pronounce it is Main-ga-fitch. My husband was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so we tend to like names that have a Eastern European/pan-European feel. We have one daughter already who’s name is Cecilia Ajsa (eye-sha).
Before we knew we were having twins, we were pretty set on Vera for a girl and Roman for a boy. However, now that we know there are two of them, we can’t think of two more names to go along with these! I feel so much extra pressure naming a set of twins than I would for a set of siblings. We will constantly being saying their names as a pair for years to come and I would really like them to sound great together! I don’t want them to be matchey or rhymey, but I do want them to sound like an equal pair. Does that make sense?
For girls we like distinctly feminine and romantic names, that aren’t too dainty. Other names we like, but are not sure of include,
Tatiana- Beautiful name and I love that it has ancient Roman roots like Cecilia, but we do not like any of the nicknames like Tia and Tiana. Also, not sure if its too much to be a twin of Vera
Helena/Elena- I love Helena, my husband loves Elena but neither of us want to budge and go with the others name
For boys, we are even worse off. My husband tends to like short nickname names like Leo and Gio. These are not really my style and my husbands name also is short and ends in an o, so it seems way too similar. Roman was the only name we could agree on. I really like Nicolai, but hate the idea of him being called Nick for the rest of his life.
Please help us finish our twin sibsets! I’m sure the perfect names to go along with Vera and Roman are out there and we just haven’t found them yet.
Sincerely,
Taylor
I found when selecting twin names that I had to sort of start all over. That is, with each of my pregnancies, I immediately started making lists of boy names and girl names—but when I found out during one of those pregnancies that I was having twins, I needed new lists. I still had a list of boy names and a list of girl names, but then I started lists of Twinned Names: in my case I didn’t know if the twins were identical or fraternal, so I needed three lists, one for boy/boy twins, one for girl/girl twins, and one for girl/boy twins. In your case we need only boy/boy and girl/girl, unless there is any chance they are not identical and could be boy/girl (though in that case perhaps you would go with Vera and Roman and be done with it).
What I’m trying to say is that it might not work to find a girl name to go with Vera and a boy name to go with Roman. It might very well work—but it MIGHT not: there might not be any girl names you like as a twin for Vera and there might not be any boy names you like as a twin for Roman, and I think it can be helpful to go into it knowing that, so that if you DO run into what feels like a wall, you know not to keep walking into it. There were some names I liked for singleton babies that I just couldn’t make work for twins—not because I was looking for anything matchy, but because sometimes any two favorite names might not go together, and when it’s twins the names do get more attention as a pair.
But for now, you are starting the way I would start: pretend the twins were instead going to be born as singletons, and choose one name for the first baby, and then work on a name for the next baby, pretending the second twin was instead born a couple years later. So you’d have Cecilia, Vera, and now it’s two years later and you are having another girl: what name do you want now? or you’d have Cecilia, Roman, and now a few years later you are having another boy: what boy names do you like for this next baby?
If that doesn’t work, if for example you keep finding names that go well with Cecilia but not with Vera, or names that you love but they sound odd with Roman, then I suggest leaving aside the names Vera and Roman for now and making new lists of all the boy and girl names you like; then experiment with pairing up names from those lists. What I did was take a name from one list, and then fairly rapidly pair it with every single other name: “Edward and Daniel, Edward and Milo, Edward and Henry, Edward and Charles…” and then go to the next name on the list: “Daniel and Milo, Daniel and Henry, Daniel and Charles, Daniel and Alan…,” writing down good combinations as I went along. Some names got crossed off my list because they didn’t go well with anything else on the list.
And when you’re making these master lists of all the names you like, don’t be too selective: that is, include names you like that your husband is tepid about, and names your husband likes that you’re tepid about, and names that don’t meet other preferences—allllll the names. A name one of you isn’t crazy about might seem much more appealing when paired up with another name. Put Elena and Helena on the list: maybe during the naming process one of you will be willing to give up your preferred version in order to get more say on the other name. (Or perhaps since you have already agreed to use your husband’s family name for all the children, and considering you are looking for names that represent your husband’s culture, your husband could take his turn and agree to use your preferred version of the name. It really seems like a very small step toward compromise on his part, considering everything you have already agreed to.)
I really like Nicolai; do you like the nickname Nico any better? Though I agree that if you hate the nickname Nick, probably that rules the name out: it’s hard to know what the child himself may choose to be called.
Same with Tatiana, if you strongly dislike the nicknames. And I don’t like it with Vera anyway: it makes the name Vera seem plain by comparison, especially when there is a third sister named Cecilia. Cecilia and Tatiana end up sounding like the twins, and Vera their older sister.
Using your husband’s surname and also using your husband’s ancestry for the first names feels to me as if it leaves you a bit out in the cold. I wonder if it would open up the naming field to look at names from your family’s background? When parents are already having trouble finding names they can agree on, and then they level up to TWIN names, it seems like we should do anything we can to widen the pool of names.
You mentioned liking names with ancient Roman roots, so I’ve flipped to the Classical section of The Baby Name Wizard.
Aelia and Livia
Augusta and Claudia
Cassia and Sabina
Lydia and Claudia (maybe matchier than you’d like, with the -dia endings)
Sabina and Lydia
Liviana and Sabina
I started to make a similar list for boy names, but I wasn’t finding as many options. Marcus, maybe; Rufus, Darius, Cyrus—too much -us. Maybe one of those would work well with Roman, though: Roman and Marcus, Roman and Darius, Roman and Cyrus.
I’m finding the name Roman particularly difficult to pair with anything else. It’s a word name, and word names can be tricky: they can feel simultaneously as if they MUST and MUST NOT be paired with another word name.
I found a Behind the Name list of names from Bosnia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and paired some of them up with Vera:
Vera and Aida
Vera and Dalia
Vera and Lana
Vera and Lena (another possible Elena/Helena compromise)
I found a fair number of names on the list that worked in theory, but in the U.S. are much more popular names than Vera, and would be a very different style: Mia, Emma, Nora, Eva, Ella.
If I look in the Slavic section of The Baby Name Wizard, I might pair up names such as:
Anya and Mila
Danica and Veronica (matching endings)
Anya and Vera
Sonia and Vera
Daria and Katia
Vera and Irina
Vera and Nadia
Lana and Nadia
Mira and Sasha
Mira and Lana
Mira and Nadia
Verica and Irina
Anton and Roman
Andrei and Nikolai
Ivan and Victor
Marek and Roman
Marek and Lukas
Roman and Ivan
I think overall what is needed is MORE NAMES to work with. I think the place to start is with longer lists, so you have more room to play around with combinations.
Name update:
Hi Swistle,
We recently welcomed our identical twin girls! The process to finally decide on their names was a long one. We initially decided on Lydia and Helena, but after a little bit we both felt Lydia was not the right name for us. We kept coming back to Vera.
In the end, Vera Aldina and Helena Marie were born on 11/2! Their names fit them perfectly. Thank you and your readers for all your help!
There is an Ivan at our high school and he is just an amazing kid. I love Ivan and Roman. I would look no further. I love Nicolai from your list, but even if you always call him Nicolai, he might like Nick a lot and then you’d be stuck hearing it.
Vera and Valentina
Vera and Vivian
Vera and Maura (I really like the MM initials)
Vera and Danica
My daughter is Danica, which we pronounce to rhyme with Monica. She is named after my Croatian grandmother. I love the name so much, but I could never pair it with Veronica. I’m throwing the pronunciation out there because we correct a lot of people who say it like Danica Patrick, like it’s a variant of Daniel.
I love Marek! Great suggestion, Swistle.
Roman and Marek
Roman and Nolan
Roman and Sebastian
Roman and Linus
Roman and Titus
Roman and Jude
Roman and Remy
Vera and Alice
Vera and Marie
Vera and Helen
Vera and Beatrice
Vera and Anna
Ooohh, Vera and Beatrice for the win!
On the Nicholas front, I know a Nicholas whose nn is Cole, which seems to go along with your husband’s preference for the long o sound in nicknames.
I’m loving the idea of Lydia and Claudia with Cecilia. Maybe Lydia and Sylvia? That way you have the -ia preceded by a different letter, and they all have different initials, but they’re still tied together?
Vera and Anya get my vote if going with Vera.
For boys, all of Swistle’s list seems good to me. I want to add Darian to the list, Roman and Darian?
I think Emil works well with Roman, plus is pan-European:
Roman and Emil
I also like Elias, Pavel, Mateo, Julian, Adrien and I love Swistle’s suggestion of Anton!
For girls, what about Marta? Cecilia, Vera and Marta? Or Julia: Ceceilia, Vera and Julia?
I second someone’s suggestion of Roman and Jude—perfect. I also alike Roman and Sebastian or Roman and Cyrus.
For girls, I like Swistle’s suggestion of Aida, Anya (Anja), Mila, Mira, and Katia (or spelling Katja). I would add Carys/Cerys, Kira/Keira/Kiera, Arden, and Fleur.
Favorite combinations for girls are…
Vera and Carys
Vera and Fleur
Arden and Vera
Carys and Mila
Mila and Katia
Anya and Fleur
Roman and Omar
Roman and Ottmar
I’ve looked through one of my polish name books, and here’s what i’ve found:
adela, agata, aldona, alina (my aunt’s name), barbara, beata, dagamara, eugenia, ida, hanna, irena, katia, klara, ksenia, lara, larisa, lea, liza, magda, maryna, mira, nela, nina, olga, petra, pola, raisa, renata, zoia, zofia, tamara, tania, teresa, ursula
adam, adrian, aleksander, bernard, bogdan (my uncle’s name; it means “God’s gift”), igor, conrad, damian, teodor, julian, leon, maksym, miron, nikodem, norbert, radomir, stefan, viktor, zenon
and I think that Vera (“faith”) and Nadia (“hope”) are just perfect for twin sisters!
I love Anton with Roman! It has the same number of letters, but despite sharing the “an” sound, feels like a completely different name.
For a girl, maybe Cassandra, nicknamed Cass? I like Vera and Cass together.
Ohhh I didn’t even know of the meaning of Nadia, I just love the name and think it works perfectly as Vera’s sister. (And with Cecilia too!)
I like the suggestions of Marek, Conrad and Emil. Maybe Hector, Ferdinand, Xander, or Xavier.
What about Ana (Ah-na) as a nickname for Tatiana?
A few more suggestions that I think would work really great! For girls: Antonia, Elise, Eloise, Delphine. For boys: Samuel, or Anders! I think Anders and Roman go together so well.
I love Swistle’s suggestion of Lena with Vera—and it feels like a good compromise to the Helena/Elena question.
My first thought for boys was Nico!
Cecilia, Vera and Nico
Cecilia, Roman and Nico
For girls, maybe Iris.
Cecilia, Vera and Iris
Cecilia, Roman and Iris
I work with a Tatiana who goes by Tanya, if that appeals.
Vera and Laura
Vera and Alina
Vera and Dalia (or Dahlia)
Vera and Rita
Vera and Nora
Those are all from the Behind the Name list Swistle posted- each of them lends to a completely different style but I like all of them!
I also particularly like Nikolai nn Nico – I like the nn Nico to start with, but I also like that the two names are kind of interchangeable – you could casually call him Nikolai in one sentence and Nico in the next without it being a big deal, if that makes sense, and it might not be a big deal if mom mainly calls him Nikolai and dad mainly calls him Nico.
Roman and Nico (no need to give him a longer name)
Roman and Oscar/Oskar
Vera and Flora
Vera and Rose
Vera and Talia
Vera and Marguerite
I went to school with a girl that was from Bosnia and Herzegovina, so I have to suggest Aida and Emina for girls names. I think both would be lovely.
Vera & Aida (or even Ada) is beautiful!
I know a teenage girl named Tatiana who goes by her full name, so I don’t think the nicknames are inevitable. And while I usually agree with Swistle I disagree about the pairing of Vera and Tatiana. It doesn’t make Vera seem plain to me. So I’d keep Tatiana on the list.
For girl names with Cecilia (and maybe Vera), I like Clara, Gabriela or Katarina. Are Vera and Clara too matchy? I find that a pleasing amount of matchiness. It’s not quite a rhyme, more of a half-rhyme because the vowel is slightly different.
For a boy with Cecilia (and maybe Roman), I like Alexander, Sergei, or Sebastian. Roman and Sebastian I like, too, because the ending is the same but there’s a different number of syllables, which makes it not quite so matchy.
Ooh – this also makes me think of the French-ified Serge:
Roman and Serge
Cecilia, Roman and Serge.
I know twins named Roman & Levi. Not sure if it’s your style, but it did work/flow well.
Congratulations on your twins!
With Cecilia, I love:
Roman and Victor – both strong names with similar balance.
Vera and Irene or Edith – I think these more spare but very feminine names go well with Cecilia. My suggestion is to avoid giving the girls romantic names (e.g., Cecilia, Tatiana and Veronica is just too much for me).
Also, Roman, Victor, Vera and Irene all seem to have similar flair, and all pair well with Cecilia!
Best wishes.
I have a husband named Roman and a baby named Nicolai who would have been Helena if he’s been a girl so this letter feels super familiar!
I’m used to saying my husband’s name with his buds so here are some ideas:
Roman and Andreas
Roman and Gregor
Roman and Andre
Roman and Christian
We also considered Helene and Elin, both of which sound lovely with Vera, in my opinion.
I think you should definitely stick with Vera and Roman if you love them. I have twin nephews whose names have nothing to do with one another but flow off the tongue just the same. Good luck!
Vera reminds me of the Layin root for “truth”. So what about another name rooted in Latin like Ama (love)? I also like Seraphina. Vera and Phina (Fina.)
For boys names, how about Roman and Phineous?
Roman and Luka
Roman and Ivor
Roman and Goran
Vera and Nina
Vera and Milena
Vera and Daria
Love the suggestions of Anton and Emile for a boy, Lena and Nadia for a girl.
Ada, Stella, Elsie or Larissa? Vera and Elsie are nice together.
Vincent, Simon, Grant or Hugo? Martin or Quentin?
Good luck!
Oooh! If I’m pronouncing these all right, Milena sounds like it could be a sweet compromise on Helena/Elena. Or maybe Vera and Mila?
Perhaps, Vera and Xena, or Roman and Damian?
Or, Therese
Drusilla
Mattijs
Stefan
Dominic
Fabian
Lavinia
Maxim
Cecilia, Vera and: Eliza, Florence, Harriet, Georgia, Louisa
Cecilia, Roman and: Jasper, Milo, Louis, Victor
Stick with Roman–I love that name!!!
I really like Roman and Leander as brothers. If you are a nickname inclined person you could go with Ro and Leo and have the long “o” tie-in. I also love the suggestions of Roman and Jude.
As for girls, I am totally sold on the previous comment of Vera and Beatrice.
Cecelia, Vera, and Beatrice.
Cecilia, Roman, and Leo.
Cecilia, Vera, and Roman.
Vera and Serena
I know you said not matchy, but I love the subtle matching of having two virtue-meaning names and I also think Serena nicely splits the difference on romantic-ness between Vera and Cecelia. I also like Vera & Nadia, for the same reasons. Altogether, I love Vera—if I were having more kids, it would be on my short list.
1. I know some Tatianas (common name here in Brazil) and their nicknames are/were Tati and Tatá, unless and if you were *very cool*, then – Tatia.
2. Maybe Tatiana and Veronica – Ana & Vera?
Vera and Nadia (faith and hope)
Vera and Margot
Vera and Vivian (faith and life)
Vera and Beatrix
Vera and Jane
Vera and Alice
Vera and Thea
Vera and Talia
Vera and Oriana (or Veronica and Oriana)
Vera and Anya
Verity and Annabel – Vera and Anna or Vera and Bel
Guinevere and Cordelia/ Isadora/ Aurora / Anastasia / Aurelia – Vera and Delia; Vera and Sadie; Vera and Aura; Vera and Anya; Vera and Goldie/ Aura / Lia.
Primavera and Emerald / Esmeralda – Vera and Emme
Verona and Valencia – Vera and Lissy
Roman and Nico
Roman and Julius
Roman and Cole
Roman and Eli
Roman and Jude
Roman and Tobias
Roman and Maxim
Roman and Alexander
Other suggestions:
Maddalena / Magdalena and Dorothy – Maggie and Dottie/ Dolly
Winifred and Pauline
Natalia and Cassandra – Talia and Cassia
Nina and Sara
Lydia and Esther
Cora and Eve
Eliza and Naomi
Victor and Sebastian
Alexander and Edmund
Peter and Arthur (Narnia and the Arthurian legends!)
Vincent and Gregory – Van and Rory
I like Nico too!
For girls I’d suggest Vala, Talia, Iris, Blythe, Siri, Mila and for boys Miles, Vaughn, Elias, Oscar, Oliver, Luca.
For girls I really like the suggestions of
Mila
Mira
Anya
Nadia (Love Love Love this!)
If not Vera, what about Zara?
I would suggest Emilia but it’s too matchy with older daughter Cecilia.
I especially like Nadia with Vera because Vera means truth and Nadia means hope. It’s a nice subtle way to connect twin names.
For boys I do love Nicolai and I think now more than ever it is easier to have your child called by his full name rather than a nickname. I’ve met so many little ones named Daniel not Danny, James not Jimmy, Michael not Mike.
With Roman I like the suggestions of
Ivan
Victor
Marek
Do you like Zane or Zain with Roman? I think they both sound very strong together. Same with Alexander or Julian or Xavier.
Overall I really like Vera and Nadia, Roman and Nicolai, Roman and Marek, Roman and Zane/Zain, Roman and Xavier.
Or if not Roman and Alexander what about Roman and Evander?
I love Roman and Otto together! One thing that I did notice about those though is that they’re were both empires (Roman empire and Ottoman Empire). This could be a plus or minus, but I think it’s kinda of a cool little twin connection. Also, Otto would work for your husband’s short name with “O” sound.
I have also heard of lots of Tatianas going by Tati, which I love. I wouldn’t cross it off your list!
I know a Tatiana who goes by Tati, at home at least. Her mom is Chilean, so it’s tah-TEE, with two hard tees. TBH, I was worried that she’d end up being called “toddy” all the time, but that didn’t happen. Much as folks respect the full name vs. nickname thing, they pay attention to pronunciations too, at least in my highly diverse corner of California.
I combed through the Slovenian Top 100 for you, maybe you’ll find something that works :)
Luca, Mark, Oscar, Adam, Isaac, Vito, Tristan
Lana, Mila, Nina, Lily, Lucia, Lena, Veronica, Mina, Valentina
Roman and Adam? Vera and Lana?
P. S. After reading the comments, I must say Vera and Nadia are absolutely perfect together :)
I love Vera with Lana. Feminine but not dainty, Bosnian roots.
Helena and Tatiana, Nina and Vera, Elena and Mina
Boys Lucas, victor, Marcus, Emil.
I named my son a name with 1 possible nickname I didn’t like. By 3 months old my 2 year old organicly started calling him by the hated nickname. And you know what? I loved it! I loved him, and I loved him by all of his names, especially the one our daughter decided to use. So nick might grow on you.
So many great options here. I would second:
Vera & Anya
Vera & Nadia
Roman & Cyrus
Roman & Evander
I’d also throw in Vera & Luna though I think I prefer Anya or Nadia. Luna feels similar to Vera to me without being “too matchy matchy”.
We have a Roman! He’s one of a set of triplets (two identical, one fraternal) – his identical brother is Alexander, and his fraternal brother is Liev (*such* a Russian name). Someone above recommended Emil, and that’s actually my husband’s name! Obviously, IMO, Roman goes with all of those. (I’m curious – are you pronouncing it Ro-MAN or RO-man? We do the first.) I also love the name Oleg, but we didn’t use it because pronunciation in the US wouldn’t match the beauty of the original Russian – O-leg versus a-LYEG. We also have a singleton girl, Sabine (the German form of Sabina), and I think Sabina and Vera would be lovely! You could even go more Italian with Savina – Vera and Savina. Or more pan-European with Nina – Vera and Nina. Or go a completely different track and try to find a name that matches the meaning of Vera, truth. In Greek, the name that means truth is Aletheia – Vera and Aletheia.
Oh, also! You could circumvent the whole Nick issue and give a Nicolai the nickname Nico!
My name is Helena Marie! I think you’ve chosen quite well! ;-)