Parents of twins often look for baby names that are related to one another in order to celebrate that special bond only twins share. Parents try to do this in a bunch of different ways and I’ve put together a list of ideas you can consider when naming twins:

4 IDEAS FOR NAMING TWINS

1. SAME MEANING

Choose names that have similar or complementary meanings. This is my favorite way to connect names (no surprise!). I wrote about this in the Introduction of BABY NAMES MADE EASY as a way to create a meaningful connection between siblings and their names, without being too obvious or cutesy.

A great example of this is Cleopatra and Mark Antony who name their twins HELIOS and SELENE, which mean “sun” and “moon,” respectively. Very cute, without being too cute…

2. SAME FIRST LETTER

You can use the same first letter for each name. This is relatively easy and you see it a lot. And I mean a lot… A whopping 8 out of the 10 most popular twin baby name pairings in 2008 follow this pattern, according to Social Security. Sadly, Social Security doesn’t collect data on twin names anymore, so I can’t give you new data. The top 10 were:

• JACOB / JOSHUA
• DANIEL / DAVID
• JAYDEN / JORDAN
• ETHAN / EVAN
• TAYLOR / TYLER
• GABRIELLA / ISABELLA
• ISAAC / ISAIAH
• MADISON / MORGAN
• ELIJAH / ISAIAH
• ELLA / EMMA

The people have spoken here. Clearly, lots of parents like the idea of choosing names with the same first letter for twins. Enough said.

3. FAMILY NAMES

You can use family names for each child. This is what Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick did with their twins MARION LORETTA ELWELL and TABITHA HODGE — ELWELL and HODGES are both family names.

You could take a look at your family trees and either simply choose names you like at random or choose a particular type of relative, such as great grandmothers, and choose from only those options (provided you like those options, of course). You can mix and match from mom and dad’s family trees of just stick with one. Tons of choices here!

4. SAME THEME

When naming twins, consider choosing names with the same theme. For example, choose two different location names or two Biblical names. Rebecca Romjin and Jerry O’Connell chose floral middle names for their twin girls CHARLIE TAMARA TULIP and DOLLY REBECCA ROSE.

This is a great idea because there are so many options and you can get really creative about what theme you choose!

Looking for more inspiration? Here are the names of some of the twins born to celebrities:

        « CELEBRITY TWINS BABY NAME IDEAS «

• COCO TRINITY and SAWYER LUCIA — daughters of Diane Farr and Seung Chung
• EMME MARIBEL and MAXIMILIAN DAVID — daughter and son of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
• FINLEY and HARPER — daughters of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Lockwood
• JUNO and REX — daughter and son of Marianne and Will Champion
• VIVIENNE MARCHELINE and KNOX LEON — daughter and son of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
• VALENTINO and MATTEO — sons of Ricky Martin
• PHINNAEUS WALTER and HAZEL PATRICIA — son and daughter of Julia Roberts
• DEXTER HENRY LORCAN and FRANK HARLEM JAMES — sons of Diana Krall and Elvis Costello
• MONROE and MOROCCAN — son and daughter of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

That’s all for today! For more baby name ideas, get a copy of my book Baby Names Made Easy.

Happy naming ♥ Amanda

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.