Stephanie writes:
We just found out that our identical twins are BOYS. Yay! Unfortunately, we also found out that they are very sick. They aren’t due until early December, but we are having surgery on Monday to try and correct their diagnosis and give them both a fighting chance. Their prognosis is as good as it can be, given the situation, but we feel it’s important to name them before surgery for several reasons. One, it makes us feel closer to our sons and two, well, just in case.
We have one daughter, Amelia Marty and we call her Mia. We don’t care too much if the boys’ names go well with hers, but it gives you an idea of the style we like. We chose Amelia because it was a classic name, not too common (yet??) and it’s a family name for us. I always thought we would choose really unique names but when we look at our final list, you’ll see we really tend towards more classic names.
We’ve got one twin named: Miles. We’ve always loved this name and it was our boy name for Amelia (gender was a surprise until d-day). His middle name will be Jeffrey or ______. I say “or” because if one twin doesn’t survive, my husband wants the surviving twin’s middle name to honor his brother. I think it’s a sweet idea and I’m on board, although it’s complicating things.
We also have a middle name for Baby B. It will be Keith or ______. Jeffrey and Keith are our fathers.
The names on our current list are (in no particular order):
*William
*Henry
*Charles
*GraysonWe both like William, but we’re not sure how “Will Marty” sounds and we think we will call him by a nickname. Also, it’s just not sticking with us as “the one.” One major plus of the name is that it works with the middle name situation (i.e., William Keith Marty, Miles William Marty, or William Miles Marty all sound good to us).
Same goes for Henry…we don’t love the nickname options, which is fine, but also the name just isn’t sticking as “the one.” It does work with the middle name situation, so again a plus for Henry.
We both loved Charles, calling him Charlie, but I think we’ve eliminated it due to the middle name situation. It just doesn’t work with Miles if we end up needing to use it that way.
We both like Grayson, but it just seems SO different from Amelia and Miles and not really us. It does work with the middle name situation…
There have been LOTS of names we’ve looked at and said no to. For example:
*Jack: love it but too common and we have close friends naming their son Jack next month – we hate to name our son Jack and not have him survive – seems awkward for us and our friends.
*Marcus: don’t like the nickname of Mark.
*Truman: We really liked this and then decided it wasn’t us. The nickname “Tru” didn’t help its cause.Thanks so much for your help. I know it’s VERY short notice and if you don’t have time to get to it, I completely understand. Also, I hope everything makes sense – I’m writing you at 2am because I can’t sleep, which doesn’t bode well for clarity and grammar. :)
I like Elias. Miles and Elias. Elias Keith Marty. And, if necessary, Miles Elias Marty or Elias Miles Marty. I like a little bit of matchiness to twin names, and it appeals to me that both names have five letters, share the long-I sound, and end in S. In fact, they have four letters in common—and yet they’re very different-sounding names: different initial, different number of syllables.
Another name with the same number of letters and the same long-I sound is Isaac. (I swear I’m not LOOKING for only that sort of name, but I keep finding one that sounds nice and then noticing the things that match.) Isaac Keith Marty. Miles and Isaac—and, if necessary, Miles Isaac Marty or Isaac Miles Marty.
I like Owen and Oliver, too, and I hesitate only because Miles Owen/Oliver Marty has the initials “MOM” and I don’t like initials to spell things.
One of my favorite boy names is Elliot. Elliot Keith Marty. Miles and Elliot—and, if necessary, Miles Elliot Marty or Elliot Miles Marty.
If you love William, keep in mind that there are many nn possibilities (not only Will). Bill, Billy and Liam. Even Willen and Wim.
A few more suggestions, that I believe would work well with mn possibilites and your last name. And with Amelia of course!
Alexander
Clayton
Graham
James
Thomas
Philip
(I thought of Clayton and Graham because you like Grayson but feel it’s not really for you…)
All the best to all of you.
Oops. I meant Willem of course.
From your list I like William and Henry best. They sound good with each other, with the surname and with their sister’s name.
Owen’s been suggested and I like it with William, the subtle repetition of the W sound is pleasing to me, either as a sibling pair or a first and middle name for the same child.
I like Joshua and Zachary (Josh and Zach) for boy/boy twins. I’ve never had twins but I had it picked out just in case during my last pregnancy because I like to have all the bases covered.
It’s funny Swistle suggested Elias because I know an Amelia with a brother named Elias. Their other brother is Quincy.
Best of luck with the surgery. I will keep you and your boys in my thoughts.
I am an identical twin, and I agree with Swistle that the names should match a bit. My sister also has an A name with 6 letters. I knew fraternal twins, one had a virtue name and one had a spunky modern name. Completely different.. But then I knew boy twins Bry.an and R.yan. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there.
I like Miles and Elias for the subtle matchy factor, as Swistle suggested.
The first comment has James and Thomas, which I second. Love the repeating S. I would vote more for James, because it has the same number of letters, but both sound great. Miles Jeffrey and James Keith. Miles James. James Miles. Miles Jeffrey and Thomas Keith. Miles Thomas. Thomas Miles.
I’m going to throw out some same initial names:
Mason
Madsen
Magnus (suuuuper old-fashioned, but begins with M and ends in S!)
Marek (comes from Marcus and would be easier to avoid Mark as a nickname)
Mitchell
Morris
Maurice
Myron
I’ll be thinking of you three, and your whole family. I hope everything goes well.
If you both love Charles (and it is a great name!), and the only thing holding you back is that Charles Miles doesn’t flow especially well, would naming him Charles Milo in honor of his brother Miles work for you? I know different people feel differently about honoring someone using variations on a name, but Milo seems pretty close to Miles to me, and I thought I’d throw the idea out there.
Otherwise, I love Swistle’s suggestions of Elias and Isaac, and also the suggestion above for Thomas. I hope you find what you’re looking for, and best of luck to you, the twins, and your family!!!
Thomas means twin, so I think that would be a good choice:
Thomas Keith Marty
Miles and Thomas
I think those names are excellent together — each name ends in ‘s’ and both are classic names. Miles and Thomas fit well with Amelia too.
In the event you would need to change the middle name of the surviving twin, then the resulting name would sound well too: Miles Thomas Marty or Thomas Miles Marty. I think your husband’s idea is very appropriate and touching… And I can understand why you want to name them before their surgery.
It’s amazing what prenatal surgeons can do for unborn babies these days. I’ll be thinking of your twins tomorrow and sending many positive thoughts to you and your family.
I want to add that I also like
William Keith Marty
(Miles William or William Miles),
as well as Henry Keith Marty
(Miles Henry or Henry Miles).
I think each of those pairings sounds great and would go with Amelia too.
I’m not as taken with the sound of ChARles or ChARlie MARty, and I don’t think Grayson fits with Miles or Amelia.
But I love William and Henry, as well as Thomas, and think they’re all superb with Miles.
I’m sorry to hear of your situation and hoping everything works out for you.
I like Swistle’s suggestion of Isaac.
I quite like the sound of Vincent with your names: Vincent Keith, Vincent Miles or Miles Vincent.
I think the short i sound goes quite nicely with the other names and balances the long i in Miles:
Vincent
Richard
Philip
Quentin
All the best for you and your boys.
Stephanie- you and your wee boys are in my thoughts <3 <3
Lots of great suggestions already here- just wanted to add my prayers and well wishes to those already expressed.
One of my favorite boy names is Tobias/Toby. Toby would work, though possibly not Tobias?
Love James as well! So many nickname possibilities and I love them all.
Good luck. Wishing you and your boys a healthy surgery and eventual birth.
I like William with the nn Liam, which would work with Marty.
Mostly I’m commenting to wish you lots and lots of luck with surgery, the rest of your pregnancy and their birth. Best wishes!
Personally, I love Miles and Elliott together. I really hope that everything goes well for you and your family.
There are so many great suggestions here (Charles is my fave, but I just wanted to throw out an idea about the middle names.
Have you considered finding a middle name for both twins and then adding the other boy’s name as a second middle for his brother if he doesn’t survive?
Like this:
Miles Jeffrey
Charles Keith
Miles Jeffrey Keith
Charles Keith Miles
I think that eliminates some of the CharleS MileS problem, and it also means that you can still honor your fathers and both sons in the names.
I also think that Charles Jeffrey Miles is easier than Charles Keith Miles. Would you consider switching the middle names for the boys?
Wishing you a happy healthy pregnancy and two sweet sons at the end :)
I like William. I also like Swistle’s suggestion of Eliot/Eli. I think it goes well with Miles. Best wishes/prayers for your boys.