Ever wondered what you would name a child if they were born on or near a major holiday? Would you go with a themed moniker, just because the birth seemed so auspicious?
If I were to give birth *tonight*, I’d be sorely tempted by one of these. I think I’d have to go with Balthazar or Gaspard for a boy and maybe Helena Hermione for a girl. Alliteration gets me every time (but I have yet to use it in a name).
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Hope it’s been a wonderfully merry one.
Names related to the Holy Family and the birth of Jesus:
Balthasar, Balthazar- One of the Magi
Casper, Gaspard, Jasper- While he doesn’t appear in the Bible, this is also said to be the name (here in several versions) of one of the three wise men
Christian, Christine, Christina, Christopher, Christabel (girl) and Cristobal (boy) – Followers of Christ
Emmanuel for a boy, or Emmanuelle, for a girl
Epiphany- For the celebration just following that commemorates the visit of the Magi
Estelle, Estella, Esther, Etoile, Seren, Stella- All have meaning related to “star”
Evangeline- “Spreader of good news”
Eve- For the night before
Jesus, Yeshua
Joseph, Josepha, Josephine (also cognates Giuseppe and Jozef)
Maria, Mary- The mother. Miriam is also etymologically linked to this name
Melchior- The third king to visit Jesus
Micah – He foretold that the birth of Jesus would be in Bethlehem
Natalia, Natalie- Derived from natal which means “birth”, Natale is the Italian word for Christmas; Natasha is an Eastern European nickname for Natalia
North- After the guiding North Star?
Shepherd
Theodore/a, Dorothea, Dorothy- “Gift of God”
Virginia- There are any number of names that represent the Virgin Mary. Plus you can say to her, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
Names connoting light:
Claire
Clara- Also the little girl in the Nutcracker, who in some versions is referred to as Mary or Maria; her brother is Fritz
Eleanor, Eleanora, Leonor, Lenora, Nora
Helen
Lucia, Lucian, Lucius, Lucy, Lux, Luz
The Angelic:
Angel, Angela, Angelica, Angelika, Angelina
Gabriel- Angel who broke the news to Mary that she was pregnant; Gabriella,Gabrielle
Hermione- “The messenger”
Malachi- “My messenger” or “my angel” in Hebrew
Michael- Another of the seven archangels, and a good choice if your loved one is away in battle, as he is patron saint of soldiers
Serafina, Seraphine- From the highest order of angels, the seraphim, and with the slightly ironic meaning “fiery”
Names that recall the spirit of the season:
Faith, Fidelity
Felicia, Felicity and Felix
Gloria, Glory
Hope
Joy
Merrily, Merry
Pax
Meaning “dove”, the symbol of peace:
Callum
Colombe
Columba
Dove
Jemima
Paloma, Palma
Greenery:
Berry
Cedar
Celyn- Welsh for “holly”
Elm
Garland
Holly
Ivy
Juniper
Pine
Spruce
(Mistletoe and Poinsettia are other possibilities, though I can’t get behind either one)
Related to the season, as it is in the northern hemisphere:
Bianca, Blanca- “White” in Italian, Spanish
Blanche- French for “white”
Eira- Welsh for “snow”
Lumi- Finnish for “snow”
Neige- “Snow” in French
Nevada- “Snow-capped” in Spanish
Nieves- “Snow” in Spanish
Robin
Snow
Solstice
Winter
Yuki, Yukiko- Japanese, “happiness + snow”, and “happiness + snow + child”
Yule- Winter festival
For Posterity:
Bell, Belle
Carol, Caroline
Christmas
Claus, Nicholas, Nicola, Nicole- For jolly old St. Nick
December
Drummer – Blogger Katie Dill put this on the scene when she named her seventh child for the little drummer boy
Ebenezer, Eben
Noel, Noelia, Noelle
Rudolf
This post is dedicated to my friend Bek and the new baby due any minute, baby Betsy, and all the other late December babies of the world. My article of names for a Christmas babe was previously run in slightly different form at Nameberry.
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Aw, thanks, E! Not only a dedication, but a shout out to Eben too
We contemplated holiday naming… but it just isn’t us, ya know? I do, however, like this list a lot. So many ways to incorporate without being cheesy.
Also, did I miss Isaiah or is it not on the list? That’s a big time one on the prophecy of the Messiah’s coming, so I’d put that down as a holiday inspiration…
Now if only this baby would come out!
Love this entry Elisabeth!!!
I’m not sure what I would name a Christmas baby, but I do know I’d be very tempted to use something related to the season. I’m a sucker for Hermione. Everything inside of me sings when I think of it. I could totally picture using Hermione as a subtle nod towards Christmas.
I’m also crazy about – Theodora, Dorothea, Merry, Felicity, Juniper, Eira and Ebenezer/Eben from your list. You have an awesome compilation of good names.
My cousin had a daughter only two days before Christmas and gave her the middle name Noelle. I thought it was sweet. It wouldn’t be my choice, but it was nice and fits the little girl perfectly.
Good luck Bek!!! I’m praying for a quick and easy labor.
And extra birthday loves to Betsy too!
Would I holiday name? In an obscure sense maybe. But given that I love way too many names in this list, I am likely to have approximately 47 “holiday” children. Ha!
Evangeline, Estelle, Maria, Mary and Virginia
Claire/Clara, Helen, Lucian/s
Hermione, Seraphine, Glory/ia
Juniper, Snow, Belle, December, Drummer, Ebenezer
::must have more babies soon::
My 2nd baby boy is due on January 5th, and we STILL haven’t picked a name. We’ve narrowed it down to 2 and Shepherd is one of them. So happy to see it on your list here! Thanks for all of the baby name inspiration! I found your blog a few months ago, and LOVE your taste in names.
Aw, congratulations! Shepherd is a great name! What’s is his big brother called? Glad you like the site. Makes me happy.
did you pick a name for your baby? Is he here yet?
Hmmm, I’m not sure I’d give a holiday name, but looking at these suggestions, I think I would definitely consider a holiday name as a first or second middle name, if it was also a name I loved anyway. Of the names listed here, I love
Balthazar
Casper
Gaspard
Jasper
Emmanuelle
Esther
Micah
Theodora
Lucia
Lucian
Gabriel
Hermione
Serafina
Seraphine
Pax
Paloma
Ivy
Lumi
Winter
Claus
Drummer
And if I had to narrow it down, I think I’d pick Casper or Lucian for a boy and Theodora or Paloma for a girl.
Our Christmas baby (thanks for the shoutout!) Was born Dec 22 and came home from the hospital on Christmas morning. We had been considering Mary or some form thereof for a middle name for a few reasons, one being her likely Christmas birth. Sadly, we lost a close family in the middle of the pregnancy so that took naming precedence. I
But a loose christmas middle was as themey as I was prepared to goi. I even ditched one of my favorites (Juniper) for being too themey. Some people are so touchy about having a holiday birthday anyway, it doesn’t seem wise to draw more attention to it with a holiday name. However some of these options are so subtle and lovely (totally dg Althazar,
And Hermione) that I might reconsider. Baby Betsy (Elisabetta Daisy) enjoyed her first birthda and second Christmas very much!
I love this list. I’m due on Wednesday and Natalie was a name we always loved but I never thought I would use unless I had a Christmas baby. Our little girl seems to be taking her time and might be more like a New Year’s baby. Are you going to have a New Year’s list as well?
How exciting K, congratulations!! You’ll have to let us know what you decide on. I am planning on doing something for New Year’s, though in what form I’m not quite sure.
Our daughter, Mercy, was born on January 2.
LOVE her name! Congratulations!!!
Oh, I would definitely consider a Christmas theme middle. Some of the likely contenders would be: Noelia, Gloria, Angela, Paloma, Holly, Ivy, some form of Mary / Emmanuel or Nicholas.
Love this list.
BEK: best of luck with your new baby’s arrival.
One of my twin baby boys has the name Shepherd!! We settled on his name (in utero) last Christmas (now he’s 10 months old) – it’s perfect for him!! Nicknames for him are never in short supply:
Shep, Shepper, Chepper, Sheppy, “Tepperd” (as our 2 year old calls him)
3 big brothers are Thaddeus (his twin – often called Thad or Tad), Megersa (adopted from Ethiopia) and Cale.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this blog. I recommend it to all my pregnant friends.
Katie
Thaddeus and Shepherd are fantastic as twin names!!
Thad & Shep thank you!!
They were born 8 weeks early and spent just under a month in the NICU. One day in their first week I had a neonatologist come up to me and say “thank you” for naming them what we did. Apparently she had seen waaaay to many Bradens and Ellies….
Fantastic list! My favourites for boy and girl are Drummer and Hermione/Seraphine (can’t decide which I love more). I had never heard Drummer as a name before baby Dill was born, and at first I thought it was a little bit odd, but now I just adore it! I just think it’s such a gorgeous name. Also love Shepherd, it holds a special place for me as my soon-to-be-sibling will most likely be Shepard if it’s a boy. And Juniper is a front runner for a girl!
PS Drummer Dill is baby number 6, not 7
My (American) cousin who lives in Finland has a daughter named Lumi, it’s such a sweet name and it suits her perfectly! I had never heard it before.
Like Isaiah, the Christmas liturgy of the Gospel of Matthew and Luke could be an inspiration. Along with David, in reference to David’s city a.k.a. Bethlehem. They’re all nice in a subtle, traditional sense.
I normally don’t appreciate these holiday lists but you really hit this one out of the park. I love Epiphany, Glory and Dove so much. Thanks for this food for thought.
I don’t normally like holiday themed names either, but many of these are appealing because the holiday theme isn’t blatantly obvious or the names don’t seem overdone on babies born around this time, with the exception of Holly and Ivy, but you can’t have a list like this without including those names.
There are way too many names I like to list them all, but I especially love Felicity and Callum. I have an Ivy, but she was born in May!
I’d hesitate on Ebenezer because the cruelty of children would probably be calling him Scrooge all the time! Heaven forbid the child gets in a bad mood!!
haha, when my Eben gets in a terrible mood or is being especially ornery, he does get called Ebenezer – by me! Not because of the Scrooge thing, but in the same way another child might get called by their full, long name in times of trouble. Ebenezer makes him stop in his tracks, even though he really is Eben on the BC.
This is a very nice list Elisabeth
My boys will celebrate their birthday this week so we did have a momentary thought about holiday names, but our boys list was so short anyway we just went with what we loved. Had the boys been girls I think we could have had a Natalia, or if we’d been brave enough, a Hermione.
My baby turned one on December 24th. He was a surprise Christmas boy as due near the end of January. He is Leo Fabian. Not at all Chrismassy though I realise now that it’s similar to Noel
Helena Hermione! What a gorgeous meaning! I’m a sucker for alliteration, too. I’ll be having another little girl this spring, and admittedly the season did nudge her middle name toward the top of the list, although I’ve loved it for a long time. She’ll be Josephine Lilac, and my daughter’s name, Clara, is on the Christmas list, too. I’m a fan of subtle connections, and I like that this list includes a full range of options from expected to unexpected.
I LOVE Josephine Lilac! Josephine has consistently been atop my name list for ages, I just think it’s so sweet and timeless. Congratulations on your Spring baby
We had our first baby one week ago (on Christmas Eve) and named her Evelyn Esther. It was coincidental that “Eve” is part of her name, but we purposefully chose Esther – my grandmother’s middle name – for both sentimental reasons and for the “star” connotation. We love our baby AND her special, vaguely seasonal name!
i love this list! very comprehensive! the feastday of the annunciation (greek:evangelismos) from which evangeline derives is march 25, another excellent time to name a baby evangeline
the feastday of epiphany/theophany is today, a day to celebrate names associated with light and light-giving.
We adopted our little girl Mirth Serenity December 2010. Mirth was our top girl name and Serenity was the name her birth mother gave her. I love how appropriate her name is for the Christmas season even though we hadn’t planned on giving her a seasonal name.
How lovely! Mirth really sings, and she will treasure that you kept the name her birth mother gave her. Congratulations two years belated!
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