This has been the kind of week that has me looking forward to Monday because things will get back to normal. Actually, things will not get back to normal until our new stove is delivered; until then we are cooking on a two-burner hotplate I ran to the store for.
Last night I had a dream that I was in the hospital and had just that day given birth to twin boys. The babies were being measured and cleaned up by the nurses while I rested in that happy “the delivery part is OVER!” state. Sometimes in dreams like this I then PANIC when I realize I haven’t yet come up with any names for the baby/babies—but in this dream it was a thrilling moment. I thought, “Oh!! I still have the whole fun NAMING part to do!!,” and I reached for a small yellow legal pad next to my bed and started making a list, thinking I would have to have Paul bring me my baby name books later. I wrote George, Oliver, Frederick, Charles, Miles—and as I was wondering if two names ending in -s would be a fun twin-name thing, I woke up.
I was disappointed to wake up so soon in the process. I tried to keep things going by pretending I really did have twin boys to name, but it was not the same. Still, it’s a fun activity for a Sunday! Let’s say you suddenly had already-born twin boys to name, so you needed to work fairly quickly: what would your list look like?
Grant and Reid
Milo and Eli
Graham and Davis
Oh, one more:
Sullivan and Finnegan: Sully and Finn
August and Harold (Gus and Harry)
Clifton (Clif) and Reed
I had four non-boy children and all of them have family names in all positions, so I would feel obligated by my precise nature to continue that pattern with the twins. Perhaps I would use my maiden name as a middle for both of them?
Alfred and George. Fred and George.
Classic and Harry Potter feel.
We already have our Alfred. I’ve always wanted to name my baby George but tribute name wins every time.
I’d use that opportunity to use both grandfathers’ names as middle names.
Calvin Robert and Silas John
After we found out we were having twins (at the late date of 21 weeks), there was about a day when we knew only that they were the same gender. Having two boys already, I assumed they would be boys too. The names I picked without a lot of mulling over were Seth and Luke to go with our older boys Joel and Theo. Once the shock of the twin discovery wore off a little we decided that indeed we would find out the genders even though we had originally wanted to keep it a surprise like we had with the older two. Well, we ended up with Cora and Evelyn and all is right in the world!
One baby would be Walter and the second would likely be Edwin. Walt and Win.
But Cedric and Henry would also be contenders for the second baby.
My mother was almost in this situation. Her doctor guessed she was having a large boy. Didn’t know until delivery (8 weeks early) that she was having twin girls. (My dad is also a twin. My grandmother let a hospital nurse name them!)
But what names did the hospital nurse pick?!
Yes! We must know!
William “Will” and Nathan “Nate”
Carter and James
James and Lucas
Theodore and Thaddeus
(Theo & Thad or Teddy & Tad)
Theodore and Thaddeus are two of my favorite boys names! I don’t think I have enough gumption to put Thaddeus in the first spot, though.
For me twin boys would be Theodore and Jonathan (another favorite of mine). Added bonus is that they share a meaning: Gift of God and God has given.
Miles Thaddeus and Peter Colin
Gideon Blaise and Brady Isaac
Isaiah King and Gideon Leander :)
Gavin Keith and Nolan Daniel
or
Aaron Daniel and Eli James
Cajetan and Simeon. Total fantasy. :)
Anselm and Olivier. More likely…
Peter Samuel and Simon Philip
Fantasy me who is more fun and less uptight would use Pascoe and Silas!
Oh fun!
I’d probably go with Zachary and Nathaniel called Zack and Nate. I don’t love Nathaniel like I love Zachary though.
Or maybe Nolan Zachary and Grady Jacob. I have a lot of boy names I love but not all of them pair well together.
Wyatt and Harrison
Jack and Grant
Nicholas (Nick) and Wesley (Wes)
William and James
Lawson and Harvey or Lawson and Reagan! I already have 3 boys and we are done these are the 3 names I didn’t get to use!
Mateo & Luca
Though Luca & variants are so popular now, maybe Mateo & Lorenzo? (Teo & Enzo)
Or Mateo & Nico
Reid William and Austin James
Reeve Alexander and Miles Anthony
Owen Sterling and James Rhidian
Archer William and Hunter Philip
Lincoln Andrew and Beckett James
So many to choose from! As you can see, I’ve thought about this before. Ha ha!
Walker and Lawson
I had a dream when I was pregnant with my daughter that I was in the delivery room giving birth to triplet boys! It was terrifying and exciting. I named them Ethan, Thomas, and Jack. If my daughter had been a boy he would be named Ethan – middle name Thomas. Not sure where Jack came from but I like it!
In this fantasy I have a different last name:
John and Reginald – Jack and Rig
Crosby Shepherd Joseph and Ephraim River Allen
or
Joseph Shepherd and Ivan Woodrow
Hugo and Felix (if my husband got a say)
Tobias and Calvin (if I was naming them on my own)
Nicholas and Benjamin / Nick and Ben
Dashiell West and Charles Sutton
Dash and Charlie
Or Dash and Archer?
Dash, for sure. I have three boys with names I adore, but still pine for the chance to use Dash. But won’t! Three boys is lovely and exhausting, so I’m done.
Matthew and Theodore (or is that too much TH?? I would call him Teddy anyway)
With middles… maybe Matthew Michael and Theodore Stephen (family names).
Probably Sebastian Ambrose and Benjamin Lazarus.
One would have my dad’s name Harrel John- I always used to think I would call him John but I keep wanting my brother to call his son (who is James Harrel Jr.) Harry instead of Jim, James or JJ so maybe it would be Harry. Harrel was my great grandmother’s maiden name, my grandfathers name, my dad’s name, my brothers’s middle name and now my nephew’s middle name. The other boy would be Samuel Gregg, after my mother’s father.
Harrel John and Samuel Gregg
Harry and Sam
I used to dream of having boy girl twins named Jessica Nell (yes, I know that gives my age away) and Harrel John, Jessie and John which happens to be the names of my great grand parents. Although it was Jessie Harrel (her maiden name) and John.
Julian & Calvin
Callum & Declan
August & Theodore (Gus & Teddy)
John Harvey and Phillip Jack after my grandfathers
Oh gosh! Boy names. We never really settled on a boy name during my pregnancy…only one really floated around, a meaningful but loaded family name it was hard to fully commit to. And then we found out we were having a girl. I love names, and my husband and I have similar tastes for girl names, but our boy name styles diverge widely.
I guess…Reed and Mark (both close family names). In terms of non-family names, we both like Piran/Perran, the name of a Cornish saint associated with mining (my husband comes from a long line of miners).
I could name ten sets of girl twins in ten minutes flat, starting with Maeve and Rosemary.
George and Oscar–I like the shared o and r without being super similar.
Or
Henry and August (Hank and Gus)–I like the pair of the full names as well as the nicknames together.
We are currently ttc our 4th child, and I have wished/hoped/prayed for twins to strike every pregnancy. Haha, maybe this is a lucky post for me. ;)
Have you watched Arrested Development? George and Oscar as twin brothers immediately gave me an AD vibe haha
Abel C. & Altas I.
I always imagine this will happen to me so I have them all picked out loll!
Probably: Elliott and Simon
Maybe: Louis and Bennett… or… Grant and Owen
Ooh this is tough.
Henry (Hal) and Frank – but then I’d want to give a longer form for Frank and I’ve never liked Francis or Franklin that much.
Or Henry (Hal) and Nathaniel (Nat)
Or Ansel and Casper if I was feeling brave.
I honestly don’t think I can come up with two, lol. I could name 10 girls, but boy names are super hard for me.
The only one I love is Reeve. I’d prefer a three syllable middle name I think, but don’t have a favorite.
Other contenders would probably be Crawford and Kessler. I like Wright, but that’s too close to reading, writing, arithmetic, lol.
Matthew Thomas and William Paul. I like the sound of both names, and I love the nicknames Matt and Will. I also chose them because they are strong and versatile names which age well and are timeless classics. I chose Thomas as I love the biblical story of Thomas and Paul as he was an important apostle of Jesus. I want strong biblical names as middles that reflect my faith, but are also classic.
Elias and Judah
Matthew and William
Iain and Rory
I had my hypothetical twin boys’ names picked out when I was younger: Nathaniel and Nicholas nn Nat and Cole (maybe they should have shared King as one of their middle names?).
But what I really dreamed of having was twin girls so that I could use something from my list of lovely long girl names like Leonora, Lucinda, etc. When I realized that all I was ever going to get to name in reality was one boy, the only way to deal with the disappointment of losing all those girl names was to have more fun with my son’s name. Which I did! I threw out Nicholas and Nathaniel and used a name I’d never even heard of before my name search.
Even though my twin boys will always be dream twins, I now have a new list of names to pick from. The top choice would be Bramwell and Sylvander nn Bram and Van or Wells and Anders.
Miles Gilbert & Frank Thomas
John Robert (Jack) and Charles Douglas (Charlie)
My 3 year old son is Charles Douglas called Charlie ! Expecting another boy….leaning towards Oliver Daniel but I like your suggestion too. I guess those are my twin choices but I liked yours for obvious reasons!!
Ooh, what a delicious problem…
Evander and Cillian
Bram and Stellan
Ignatious and Kit
Michael Lindley and Edward Siegfried. Lots of family names, classics, but we don’t run into little Michaels or Eddies very often.
Oooooh! I love this kind of thinking game!
These are for hypothetical/dream twins, not necessarily what I would name twins if I had them (some of these wouldn’t work with my real kid’s names).
Tucker and Porter
Dash and Jett
Graham and Giles
John Elliott and James Everette (both as double names)
Woodrow (Woody) and Montgomery (Monty)
Leo and Arthur (lion and bear!)
I had a dream that I had twin boys named Malcolm and Noah, and I really like that.
I daydream about Miles and Wesley too. And my out-there pair would be Caspian and Theon.
But really, if my next baby is twins I hope that they are both girls. I already have two boys, thanks!!
I had a pair of boy names I loved and used (Jordan and Samuel), and not really any others.
If I were naming them without regard to family names and other similar issues, I might go with Theo (standing alone) and Sebastian.
I really like Raphael but didn’t think I’d use it in real life. Matthew and Charles were under consideration if there were to be a future boy.
Girls names I have plenty of, as well as two favorites!
Maybe influenced by this post (!), I dreamed this morning that I had just given birth to a (single) girl, unexpectedly. She was also quite homely/awkward looking, though lovable and cute of course, and my first thought was, “I have to name her! An unexpected daughter to name!” followed by “Are all of my favorites too difficult for a girl who might turn out to be a little homely beyond the newborn period?” My first thought (in the dream, but also top of the list in waking life) was that maybe Rosemary was too old fashioned, or not beautiful enough, to serve her well. In the dream the runner up name was Hazel (my husband’s fave) and that, too, seemed too mundane. I woke before resolving the issue.
Wells and Shepherd
This is very easy for me, since I had a 50% chance of twins thanks to my IVF/FET, and I had 4 honor names all picked out before I even knew my younger child was a singleton or a girl.
Jonathan Jesse and Andrew Lewis. Jon and Drew
A set I daydreamed about but couldn’t use were Robert James and Gerald Paul, Rob and Gerry. My only nephew is James Robert, (James is a family name in both BIL and DH’s families.) My husband was assaulted by a Jerry when he was a teen, so as much as he loves my Grandma Gerry, he couldn’t bear to name his child that.
This is a great thread! I especially love how so many of the pairings are standalone names – not too match or cutesy. Out of curiosity how would people go about naming *triplets* of one sex? (Full confession – I have triplet boys.) It was actually pretty easy for me, in the naming stages, to come up with two names I liked – for both boys and girls – but I kept hitting a snag when coming up with a third for a child of the same sex. I resolved it, obviously. :) (Alexander, Roman – with the accent on the second syllable -, and Liev) We went with honor names for middle names, so I’m not as concerned with adding that complexity to the equation, but if one is so moved…
It occurred to me yesterday that the 3 young female pastors I know would make a great sib set. Joanna, Sara, and Laura.
Ignatius and Benedict–Nash and Ned
With my DH being involved…
Nolan Curtis and Nicklas Nathan
With my DH not being involved…
Frederick Curtis and Rory Nathan
This isn’t something i would consider for my own children, but i think it would be cool to have twins named Bosley and Beauchamp…nicknamed Boss and Champ.
Chase Kellen and Jason Kendell