Question of the day (15th February).

   If you had quadruplet girls, what would you name them? Feel free to include what middle names you’d give them as well! 

   My answer: 

   Quadruplets! What a scary idea! But so delightful when it comes to naming! 😀 I honestly have to say I don’t really understand people who feel the need to have their multiples’ names match, to the point where, at least to me, it’s glaring, like, say, Dolly, Holly, Molly and Polly, or Amy and May, or Madison, Addison and Mason, or Skyla and Starla, what not. Maybe I just don’t get cuteness, but I think it’s rather unambitious, and smothering the children’s individuality. And so impractical. I’m not a twin, but back when I still went by my birth name, my and Sofi’s default nicknames rhymed, and we would often be frustrated because we wouldn’t be able to figure out from a distance which one of us someone was calling, or people would often mix both up, and neither did I have any desire to be Sofi, nor did Sofi have it to be me. 😀 But no, I don’t think our parents actually did that on purpose, it just happened. Similarly, I don’t understand dressing twins in very matching clothes, unless they are big enough to express what they want and are on board with it. They’re humans, not dolls or a litter of kittens, and as such should develop their separate identities imo. A subtler, less obvious theme can be very cool though and I really like seeing such, the likes of Zoe and Eve (both mean life, have the same amount of letters yet different amount of syllables, and end with the letter “e” but not the same sound), or Caitlyn and Kevin (both start with the same sound, but not letter, and are anglicisations of Irish names, plus both end with “n”) or Eleanor and Michelle (both come up in Beatles’ songs). 

   With all that being said, I don’t think I’d go about naming quadruplets any different than naming four girls from four separate pregnancies, unless I actually had some clever theme in mind and there would be enough names fulfilling this theme’s criteria that I would actually really like, and not feel like I’m using any of them just to match the theme. Also I fall in and out of love with various names regularly, and the degree to which I love them changes almost daily, so if you asked me the same question tomorrow, possibly I’d be in the mood for something different than today. 😀 

   As it is currently, I think they’d be as follows: 

   Helena Felicja, Eliza (eh-LEE-zah in Polish, not e-LIE-zuh) Anna, Saskia Jaśmina and Wilhelmina Kornelia. I Think all these names are Classic, though not all are classic in the same way, for example names like Helena and Anna have been popular and common for decades. Felicja feels decidedly more retro but I see more and more parents embracing it lately. Eliza, while known here for centuries either as a nickname for Elżbieta or an independent name, is on the more unique but not extremely rare side, having had a spike in popularity in the 70’s, but in my opinion not big enough to make it feel a strongly 70’s name. Saskia and Wilhelmina are more on the obscure side but I think they have quite a classic feel internationally, and are also not total novelties here in Poland, especially Wilhelmina. Jaśmina was in top 200 for babies last year so definitely getting more popular, yet, as for now, at least, still very unique, especially in the overall population, it also feels kind of trendy because we like plant-related names for girls currently, feels more modern than the rest but still fairly classic to me. And Kornelia used to have similar known yet underused status as Eliza, but now there’s a whole lot of girls Sofi’s age and younger with this name, and is in top 50 for babies currently which is one reason I would rather not go with it as a first name.

   Even though each of my imaginary quadruplet daughters has one name that is quite unusual and eye-catching, each also has one name that’s a bit or a lot less unique, so if Helena decides that she’s tired of sharing her first name with a dozen of other Helena’s in her workplace, she can still go by Felicja, which like I said is rising but is nowhere near as popular among babies as Helena is. If Eliza will think her name actually IS too 70’s, or will be pissed by people misnaming her as Luiza (which apparently happens to a lot of Elizas), or by every other person saying how unusual her name is even though it’s not really, or if she will have a lot of contact with Anglophone people and won’t like being called e-LIE-zuh she can go by Anna, which is not tied to any specific generation and is very common, thus possibly providing more anonymity, and less pronunciation trouble as it’s pronounced more or less the same in most languages. And if she will indeed have a lot of contact with Anglophone people she also has a delightful possibility of going by something like Annelise, if Anna doesn’t quite work either and is too underwhelming. If Saskia decides her name is really too obscure and she’s sick of people commenting on it and asking what’s her nationality, she can go by Jaśmina, which by her adulthood will perhaps still be on the slightly unique side, but nowhere near as spectacularly as Saskia. And same with Wilhelmina. If her first name is too overwhelming and won’t feel like herself even with the plethora of nicknames (you do have to be quite a character to pull of Wilhelmina) she can become one of many Kornelias. I think it’s a good strategy if possible when you want to give your child a more unique name, that you also give them a middle that blends in a bit better in case that’s what they end up preferring, and the other way around, if you give your child a name that’s very common either overall or in their age group, then it’s a cool idea to give them a more bold middle so that they can feel more special and stand out of the crowd if that’s what they want, even if they won’t actually end up going by it but won’t feel like they’re just a millionth Olivia Jane in the world. 

   How about your quadruplets? Would naming quadruplets be any different for you than naming four children from individual pregnancies? 🙂