Sick of thinking of baby names! Help!

August 3, 2006 12:10 PM

Help my wife and I pick a middle name for our daughter

Our daughter Adeline (in utero) will be born around September 22nd. Please help my wife and I come up with a middle name that will flow beautifully and smoothly. Names with a Latin American or Spanish origin are a plus but not necessary.

We presently have two daughters: Eva Luna (6) and Stella Victoria (3). Ideally we would like a name that will go with Luna (moon) or Stella (star). We thought of using Luz (light), Sol (sun) or Alba (sunrise) but none of them really stuck with us.

Be creative and have fun! My wife and I appreciate your help.

posted by tbrowne76 to Society & Culture (55 answers total)

Aurora
posted by penchant at 12:12 PM on August 3, 2006

"Metafilter"

Only one in her class!
posted by jellicle at 12:14 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Sunshine
posted by clh at 12:15 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Claire
posted by mdiskin at 12:16 PM on August 3, 2006

Nebula?
posted by agregoli at 12:19 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Blaze
Adeline Venus
posted by FastGorilla at 12:19 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Celeste is pretty.
posted by iconomy at 12:19 PM on August 3, 2006

I like Sol and Blaze and Celeste.

I think Adeline Sol is a very pretty beginning.
posted by onepapertiger at 12:25 PM on August 3, 2006

Azura (sky blue)

Estrella (star)...not sure if this is too close to your other daughter's name, though

Celeste (from the heavens)

Sol/Soleil (sun)
posted by theantikitty at 12:26 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Tal (dew of heaven)
Adeline Nora (from the light)
Adeline Iris / Rosa (flower)
posted by ejaned8 at 12:26 PM on August 3, 2006

ah. you scooped me
posted by theantikitty at 12:26 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline del la Sol Yourname
Adeline del Sol Yourname
(Better double-check those gender-specific whatchamadoozies)

Adeline Waaseyaa Yourname (Sunny/Sunshine in Ojib. Can probably be Romanized as Wasaya(h))

Adeline Tidal Yourname
Adeline Enileda Yourname
posted by unixrat at 12:28 PM on August 3, 2006

Ciela (feminine-sounding version of Cielo/sky)
Vela (candle)
posted by staggernation at 12:32 PM on August 3, 2006

Brandon is an excellent name. The world can never have too many Brandons.

And there's also Lucifier!

Terra would be nice though.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:33 PM on August 3, 2006

My obligatory link.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 12:35 PM on August 3, 2006

I really can't hear the name "Sol" without thinking of an old Jewish guy, for whatever that's worth.
posted by staggernation at 12:38 PM on August 3, 2006

Here's (More than) a few to consider...

A names
- Alena (Greek/Slavic - 'Pretty' or 'Light')
- Anahid (Armenian - Goddess of the moon)
- Arana (Australian Aboriginal - 'The Moon')
- Astra/Astrid (Greek/Old Norse - 'Star')
- Aurora (Latin - 'Dawn')

C names
- Celeste (Latin - 'Heavenly')
- Chiara (Latin - 'Famous' or 'Light')

D names
- Dancia (Slavic - 'The Morning Star')
- Dawn (Old English - 'Dawn')
- Diana (Greek - Goddess of the moon, roman form was Artemis. I'm partial to this one...it's my sister's name)

E names
- Eileen (Greek - 'Light')
- Estelle (Persian/Latin - 'star')

H Name
- Haleigha (Hawaiian - 'The House Of The Rising Sun')
- Helen/Helena (Greek - 'Light', also the name of Helen of Troy)
- Hesper/Hester (Greek - 'evening star')

J names
- Jyoti (Hindu - 'Light')

K Names
- Kamaria (Swahili - 'Of/Like the moon')
- Kiana (Hawaiian - Moon Goddess)
- Kira/Kiran/Kyra (Latin/Hindu - 'Rays' 'Sun' or 'Light')

L Names
- Lani (Hawaiian - 'Sky' or 'Heavens')
- Layna (Greek - 'Light' or 'Truth')
- Leila (Arabic - 'Dark as night')
- Lena (Latin - 'Alluring' or 'Light')
- Levana (Latin - 'The Rising Sun')
- Lila (Arabic - 'Night')
- Lucy, Lucille, Lucinda, Lucia, or Luciana (Latin - all of these mean 'Light', with Lucinda meaning 'Bringer Of Light')

'S' names

- Sahara (Arabic - 'The Moon')
- Selene/Selena (Greek - 'The Moon', also the same root as serene and the name Serena - Peaceful One)
- Shidra (Latin - 'like a star')
- Sitara (Sanskrit - 'The Morning Star')
- Sorona (Japanese - 'From/Of the sky')
- Surya (Hindu - 'The Sun')
posted by aristan at 12:52 PM on August 3, 2006

I like Adeline Terra. But I'm a latent hippie.
posted by theredpen at 12:55 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Esme
Adeline Elsbeth

Adeline is a pretty name btw.
posted by Constant Reader at 12:55 PM on August 3, 2006

Just curious, was Eva Luna chosen from Isabelle Allende's books? It's a beautiful name.
posted by bookish at 1:05 PM on August 3, 2006

Marisol.
posted by peep at 1:06 PM on August 3, 2006

Best answer: Adeline Rhea

Rhea was the mother of the gods in Greek Mythology and has earth aaspects, as well as having the moon as one of ther symbols.
posted by lekvar at 1:08 PM on August 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

Phoebe (meaning Bright, Shining)
Celeste (meaning Heavenly)
Dawn (meaning, err, Dawn)
Aurora
posted by CrunchyFrog at 1:11 PM on August 3, 2006

And a few more:

M names
- Margaret (Persian/Latin - 'Child of light' or 'Pearl')
- Maura (Latin - 'Dark')
- Meira (Hebrew - 'Light')
- Mira (Latin - wonder, aim, 'Light Of God')

N names
- Nell (Greek - 'Bright' or 'Light')
- Noelani (Hawaiian, 'The Beautiful Girl From Heaven')

--

And I know it doesn't fit with the names you've given your other children, but I love the name Veronica. It's latin for 'True Image' and I think it would song beautiful with Adeline.
posted by aristan at 1:12 PM on August 3, 2006

Response by poster: Constant Reader: Thanks - I really like the name Adeline too. It was the name of my great grandmother. Her middle name was Josephine. We are consdiering that as well.

Bookish: Yes, we got the name "Eva Luna" from Isabelle Allende's books. My wife is Chilean and really enjoys her writings.

Everyone else: Thanks so much! You all have been a ton of help. Keep em' coming.
posted by tbrowne76 at 1:26 PM on August 3, 2006

Estrella
posted by catseatcheese at 1:39 PM on August 3, 2006

Sage.
posted by wubbie at 1:39 PM on August 3, 2006

Zola is Italian for a piece of earth. Gaea or Gaia, while being Greek, are the Greek equivalent of Rhea (mentioned earlier) and have that romantic feminine sound.

Some Sun-related names that might fit are Elektra/Electra, Thea/Althea, Soleil, or Solange.
posted by solid-one-love at 1:51 PM on August 3, 2006

Personnally, I like Miriam but, what about Graciela?
posted by Pressed Rat at 2:30 PM on August 3, 2006

I guess "Johnny" is out?
posted by Robot Johnny at 2:36 PM on August 3, 2006

Danger
posted by KirTakat at 2:39 PM on August 3, 2006

"Gibbous" is a winner.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 2:42 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline GOLDEN PALACE Yourname!! ;-)
posted by Kickstart70 at 2:51 PM on August 3, 2006

tbrowne: how are you pronouncing your daughter's name? "A-del-een" and "A-del-ine" wouldn't work with the same middle names, IMHO.
posted by rob511 at 4:35 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Blue
posted by Ugh at 4:41 PM on August 3, 2006

Mia, because it just works :)
posted by DrtyBlvd at 4:46 PM on August 3, 2006

Louisa. Adeline Louisa Brown. Elizabeth and Marie are good all purpose middle names, as well.
posted by MadamM at 4:49 PM on August 3, 2006

Someone already mentioned it, but I like Gaia or Gaïa. For a while my hard drives were Gaïa, Luna, and Sol.
posted by raf at 4:54 PM on August 3, 2006

Lyria / Elyria.

And some of the Pleiades (a cluster of stars in Taurus) have nice names - they represent the daughters of Atlas so they should all be female names:
Alcyone, Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta, Pleione, Celaeno, Asterope

and if your interest runs to the slightly more unusual but often very pretty names, don't neglect sci-fi!
posted by BishopsLoveScifi at 5:21 PM on August 3, 2006

My sister's name is Solana. I don't know how well that works with Adeline. But it's got the sun thing, and spanish-derived etc. Plus it doesn't sound like an old jewish guy.
posted by fireflies to stars at 6:01 PM on August 3, 2006

Telephoné
posted by SPrintF at 6:38 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Maia. (already mentioned, but I like it)


Adeline Bobadeline Yourname
posted by unixrat at 6:53 PM on August 3, 2006

I hate to offer this, because it violates one of the rules of christening euphony, but it works:

Adeline Miranda
posted by megatherium at 6:54 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Quinn
posted by blueplasticfish at 6:55 PM on August 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

I think Adeline Mia sounds nice, too. Just 'cause Mia's my own name! My father speaks Spanish and Portuguese, so that's where it comes from.
Your other daughters have lovely names, by the way. I wish you could give children middle names in Japan, too.
posted by misozaki at 8:01 PM on August 3, 2006

Response by poster: rog511: We are pernouncing it "A-del-ine"

You all have been such a great help!
posted by tbrowne76 at 8:14 PM on August 3, 2006

Shams al-Doha (Morning Sun) [actually, sun of the sunrise]
Suha (star)
posted by Liosliath at 9:37 PM on August 3, 2006

Adeline Clarisa
Adeline Flor (or Florinda, lit. blooming)
Adeline Galena (little bright one)
Adeline Nieves (Nieves is a relatively common name in Spain, and one of my favorites)

Also, this is one of those posts that needs a follow-up; please let us all know what you decide!
posted by anjamu at 9:46 PM on August 3, 2006

Just for fun, Aristan, more Arabic/Berber moon names (there are many)-

Badr/Badr'dine [m/Arabic]- full moon
Badra [f/Arabic] - Full Moon
Hilal [m/Arabic] - crescent moon
Yoor [m/Amazigh] - moon
Tamayyurt [f/Amazigh] - full moon
Tufayyur - [f/Amazigh] - more beautiful than the moon

and my favorite constellation

Amanar [m]
Tamanart [f]
= Orion (Amazigh)
posted by Liosliath at 9:50 PM on August 3, 2006

rog511: We are pernouncing it "A-del-ine"

In that case, gotta go with Dulce*
*Somebody had to say it — and it does work!
posted by rob511 at 10:24 PM on August 3, 2006

I'd like to add a strong second to Adeline Soleil. The names are both unusual and go together nicely. And Soliel has to do, of course, with the sun.

As an aside, before our youngest was born, we helped our oldest son (almost 5 years older) buy into the idea of having a little brother by letting him choose the middle name. We'd decided the first name would be Jonathan; big brother chose Adam. It was a very good choice.
posted by lhauser at 10:41 PM on August 3, 2006

I vote for "Lucy" (light!) for obvious reasons.

My friend's one-year-old is named 'Nova', which I think is gorgeous, and has that spacey quality you're going for.

Or how about 'Astrid'? (as in 'astral')
posted by Lucie at 10:55 PM on August 3, 2006

I think Adeline is a great name. My GF and I are thinking about Adelaide. I think a great middle would be Evelyn. But some others are: Marie, Vinita, Gloria, Love, or Mariella.
posted by parmanparman at 8:56 AM on August 4, 2006

or Vivian.
posted by parmanparman at 8:56 AM on August 4, 2006

Response by poster: We decided to go with "Adeline Sol". She should be arriving on Sept. 26th.
posted by tbrowne76 at 12:28 PM on September 14, 2006