Becoming An Aunt…. Again!

Hello there!

I did not think I would ever write that sentence “becoming an aunt” because my sister was adamant about how she wasn’t going to have any more children after the birth of my nephew four years ago. It’s definitely been a long time since those days, and we need to discuss some things before we get too involved into this post.

Sadly, my sister and brother-in-law separated and eventually divorced in 2020, they just grew apart as some couples do and we wish nothing but the best for them. We still love Brandon and see him from time to time, the most recent was when Nolan was playing T-Ball back in mid-May, as he helped coach his team a little bit, I always felt bad for when he was out on the field with Nolan and his little teammate directing their next movements.

My sister had started dating last fall, and we got to meet her boyfriend Zach (who is now her husband!) on Christmas. They didn’t have the kids that day, so it was a bit awkward to see them hanging outside in like 75 degree weather! I say “kids” because Zach also has a four-year-old son, named Isaiah, and he is literally the splitting image of his daddy. It’s still weird that I have also gained a second nephew through this part. I am happy to say Nolan and Isaiah are the best of friends, Nolan considers him his “brother” which he proclaimed one afternoon sitting at the table with us, and we almost started crying because it was so adorable to say something like that!

SURPRISE!

And then, January came around, and everyone was thrown for a loop when my sister announced to us, she was pregnant. Since her pregnancy with Nolan and everything that happened afterwards went a little topsy-turvey, we just assumed she couldn’t get or even wanted to become pregnant again, so this was a surprise for some of us. I wasn’t too shocked by the news honestly, although I didn’t expect it at all! I had respected her thoughts on not adding a sibling for Nolan in the future. Although this is a totally different pregnancy, it hasn’t been an easy one either. She’s been having contractions since late February I think, which is what happened last time. She’s been put on bed rest, monitoring her heart rate, blood sugar, etc. all throughout the ordeal.

BOY OR GIRL?

Towards the start of spring, we were very anxious to learn the sex of the baby. Despite the similarities between each pregnancy, there has been some odd things happen with this one. She has a better appetite in the beginning, but she’s also had a lot of heartburn too. This was sign number one that we could expect a girl, and it didn’t really settle until she began hearing the heartbeat early on and it was very fast, which is another telling point for when mothers are expecting a little girl, so we all called it around 16 weeks it would be a girl and we were right. They will be welcoming a baby girl in the fall.

Now, let’s discuss what her name will be, but first we have to go back to February and March, because at this time we still didn’t know the gender so there were many name combinations passed back and forth between the early months. I think I might save her actual name until she is finally here and do a whole post about the labor, delivery, and bonding with the boys. However, I will tell you the boy names that were in the running though, because I seriously doubt they will ever be used with them; never say never though!

THE NAMING PROCESS

Anyways, they had a fairly large group of names in the beginning.

After the second or third doctor’s appointment, they started to think of certain names, and they had a boy combination from the start and it didn’t really change that much, the first name never really went away, they still enjoyed the full name but thought using part of it as a good nickname. They were very attached to Jaxon Emery, and honestly, I was thoroughly impressed with this. I mean, I’m the namer in the family and yet I wasn’t asked for assistance!

We were kind of surprised that my sister wouldn’t want to use our papaw’s name: David. She explained they weren’t going to honor anyone because both Nolan and Isaiah have their fathers’ middle names. I understood this but yet it was a bit of a bummer to leave him out of this child’s name. Well, obviously, I wasn’t the only one who agreed with me on this and within a few weeks later they switched everything to Jax Morgan. We actually approved of this! The name Morgan was our papaw’s middle and his mother’s maiden name, it was on the list while she was pregnant with Nolan too, but for a little girl instead.

Speaking of girl names, this was another pairing they had picked out in the early days. They had watched the show Euporia when the second season had begun back in late January, and they were thinking of using Rue, but they had only switched it when they decided it was too close to our dog name’s which is Rumer. Later on, they were talking about Remy Mae, and I was not a huge fan of it. I mainly thought of Remy’s popularity in general, and that’s why I enjoyed Nolan so much because it hadn’t exploded in the naming charts, of course it did surge a bit after he was born, but I hardly ever see it now! For a solid four months they were set with it and I just hated it. I was fine with “Mae” as that is one of my sister’s middle names and another name that is huge on both sides of our families too, so it just seemed likely to come up than any other name, and it’s the only one that had stuck throughout this pregnancy and it does fit well with her first, so I can’t wait to see how much she manages it in the future.

NOW WE WAIT…

As I said in the beginning of the post, Blondie has had contractions all throughout this pregnancy, but we are hoping for little miss sweet pea will keep inside the womb a bit longer. Once my sister makes it to around 32-36 weeks, her doctor will just let her go on with the early labor like she did with Nolan. I was also an early bird, but I was born three months in advance. We still don’t know why I wanted to break out so eagerly–hell, even I don’t know the answer to that question! We just hope she will be content, just a tad bit longer..

I do really want to meet this little babe and teach her the same things I taught her big brother, but I know the longer she keeps in the den the stronger she will be out here. Since she will have a pair of brothers going into preschool this year, she’s going to need all of the good fortune around her and mommy too. The boys are very excited to meet her, Nolan has been really curious of her while in Blondie’s belly. He’s already said he won’t change any dirty diapers though! Apparently, Zach will be in charge of that department! It’s going to be interesting to see how they react when she gets her first poopy diaper too…

I think I will wait until she is finally here to give you another update and tell you her name as well once she’s born and we’ve adjusted to the chaos of having a baby around again. Now if you’re on my Instagram, you might get a little treat as I may announce her welcome to the world on there. If you can, please send my sister and the baby some positive thoughts and prayers starting in early September to help ease the labor and delivery process for everyone involved.

Do you have any guesses as to what her name will be? Also, if you know, please don’t ruin the surprise of others commenting on this post.

Royal Baby | 32 Romantically Royal Names!

Hello!

EDITED: I wrote this post last month and was curious whether or not I would be able to get this out before Her Royal Highness gave birth, but I put out a poll on my name account on Instagram the evening when the news broke that they had welcomed a son, and I had a large amount of people who said they would like the post to go out as it was suppose to, so thanks to them, I am sharing with you all of the names and pairings I’ve had in my head for the past several months.

Well, 2021 will be a HUGE year for the British and Swedish royal families, as there are four different families (not counting Pippa Matthews because she is the sister to The Duchess of Cambridge!) who are expecting new additions in the spring. You know how much I love guessing and creating combinations for the royals, so I am so pumped to be doing this again!

For this post, I am focusing on Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank first child. Of course, like the majority of the English royals, they don’t say what the gender is to the public until the birth so I am using the same format as I have with both Prince Louis of Cambridge and Archie Mountbatton-Windsor. There will be four sections of names but in the aesthetic I think The Brooksbank’s will look into for their child.

I was really excited to hear that Princess Eugenie was pregnant. I follow her on Instagram so when the picture of her holding a pair of Koala booties was absolutely adorable! It actually didn’t take me very long to create a list of names that I thought could appear in the child’s name, but I wanted to look beyond my usual assumptions and focus on what this young couple could be thinking about, so I began to look into them a little more and we’ll have to see how right or wrong I was in the end.

Princess Eugenie went to Newcastle University in 2009, studying Art History and English Literature, which is how I came up with the idea of putting together a romantically-pleasing list of names that could be a winner. However, I still wanted to look to what Jack could enjoy as well, so I felt really good including vintage names into the mix. The way I have created this, is that the literacy type names are on the left side of each sex, while the more aristocratic/royalty names are on the right side. I tried to my best to include well-used family names and switched some spellings around too! I will list four names that I think will look really cute and fun and give you some information about each other, So, in total, there will be eight names and pairings for both genders.

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Jane Margaret

I think the name Jane is a very unused name in the royals; it was only used once with Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. She was the one who gave the king what he’s always wanted, a son but sadly she passed away a week after giving birth to the future Edward VI. The King was very saddened to hear that she had died, but considering how he treated his wives at all, it is unsure what her future would have been like if she had lived and how the Tudor dynasty would have unfolded.

Jane is somewhat in the middle of popular lists, but since it is a one syllable and feminine type of name, I feel like it is really nice for a first daughter. I find it very cute but strong as far as talking about literature: you have Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and the author Jane Austen who bridges the gap between romance in the aristocratic world of the 18th Century and the feminist mindset too. I really think if at least one royal couple gave it a shot, their daughter would really appreciate it!

The reason why I decided to pair it up with Margaret, is because it is her mother’s middle name. It would be a subtle way to keep her close and I also believe, like Jane, is underrated with the royals. There isn’t anybody in the immediate line of succession with the name so it could be a nice way of bringing it back home within the York family tree too.

Mabel Alexandra

The name Mabel has been growing in popularity in the last couple of years, so if the couple wanted to do a more “in” type of name as a first, then I think it is not only a lovely name but winner overall.

For me personally, I have always have an love/hate relationship with Mabel. I have known about it for several years now, mainly because of a sitcom my family and I used to watch all the time called Mad About You. The main couple: Jamie and Paul Buchman name their own daughter Mabel because of an old saying Jamie’s mother use to say to her daughters, the anagram is “Mother Always Bring Extra Love” but unfortunately, I have never liked it enough to put it on my list. I do love how it is short and sweet, but with it’s growing fanbase, I’ve sort of had to put it at the lowest placement.

I am a HUGE lover of combining both small with long, almost regel like names together, so, pairing it with Alexandra is both beautiful but gives the little girl a strong, masculine type of name. The nearest royal with the name is Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogvily. It is also one of the Queen’s middle names, and of course, we have to look at Alexandra of Denmark, Princess of Wales, and eventual Queen to her husband King Edward VII.

Beatrix Victoria

Okay, I think out of all the names in the banner, I feel like this one has a better chance of being used out of any other name. Princess Eugenie is the younger sister to Princess Beatrice, and I feel like they are incredibly close and it would only be right to say that this variation would be high on their list. The “rix” at the end gives it a more literacy type of style, because of the children’s author Beatrix Potter, and I also think this way has a lot of moxie compared to the other spelling. I actually have an old friend who is also using this way, for her second daughter so it is definitely a trend at the moment.

Now I think placing two powerhouse names together is very interesting and also honors the Victorian era to a T! It actually rolls off your tongue pretty well, but the main reason why I decided to combine it is because Victoria is the last middle for the Princess. I think it would be a nice way of keeping a tradition but mainly because it is easier to say than her own name: Eugenie. I mean, I have a difficult time saying her name, and I think it would be interesting to switch it with Victoria or maybe Helena too.

Elizabeth Ophelia

Princess Eugenie has a very close bond with her paternal grandparents, I think it is fair to keep the name Elizabeth on a higher spot because of this, but mostly because it is pretty low on almost all of the name charts. There is the fact that it is used more as a middle name than a first, so if they were to use it as a first with this generation it would probably have the same effect that Princess Charlotte had when she was born in 2013. If they didn’t want such a robust type of name, maybe Isabel/Isabelle/Isabella could be a nice variation too. It would still work with the classic trend going on in Great Britain too.

Speaking of trends, it was slightly easier to picture the name Ophelia for Eugenie and Jack’s baby than any other couple, mostly for the fact that it was created by William Shakespeare. It comes from Hamlet, and I think it’s gorgeous and fun for a distant royal; that is one thing that Eugenie and Jack have going for them, they don’t have to basically use popular and traditional royal names, but since she did study art and literature, I think it is far to say that this than any other Shakespearian name is contender.

If they do indeed have a boy, I believe they could use one or the other of its grandfather’s names, but it probably wouldn’t be as a first. The reason why is because of the obvious scandal with the Duke of York, The name Andrew is still a family name that has ties to the Duke of Edinburgh’s line, but again I just don’t see it coming up as a first, but with a different way of spelling could make it work without drawing that uneasy comparison to Prince Andrew.

After the birth of Prince Louis in 2018, a lot of people were surprised by the fact that Louis is one of their eldest son’s middle names. The public was shocked by this, but it actually didn’t necessarily freak me out because it has been done over many generations with the royals, for example, all of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s sons (including one of their daughters’) have the name Albert. The first boy was named Albert Edward, but the other three all had the name towards the end. Their fourth daughter Princess Louise had a feminine variation: Alberta as part of her whole name too! So, naming their son George could be used but having it in the front could be interesting because they could be accused of basically stealing although I’ve just explained how this has happened before and is a beloved way of giving back so to speak.

Asa Nicholas

It was very difficult narrowing two male names from the left side of the banner, mainly because there are so many interesting choices that resemble the type of aesthetic I’m going for in the post, but the name Asa was actually kind of natural, mainly because it is very different compared to all of the other names. Asa has grown in popularity in the last few years, but it is original and I think it would be cool to see a name like this, grow within the royal families.

For the middle, Nicholas was just the first one to pop into my head. I wouldn’t normally combine two names that feature an “s” so close but as soon as it came together, I started to realize how angelic and adorable the names are together. The name itself has strong ties to the Saxe, Coburg and Gotha bloodline and the former Russian royal family: Romanovs. Tsar Nicholas II and his British wife, Tsarina Alexandra (born as Princess Alix of Hesse, daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse).

Valentine Ferguson

Every part of me really wanted to chose a totally different name but the name Valentine is probably one of the most romantic names you could give a child. I have only started to enjoy it less than a year ago, because I’ve never been a huge fan of the “holiday” of sorts, but I really enjoy it for boys rather than girls. I think it does something, almost radiates everything the beginning of the February tries to bring out amongst the general public. However, I think it’s one of those names that work for all stages in a person’s life; it’s adorable on babies and is handsome on grumpy old men too.

My only issue with it was figuring out what to pair it up with, and I was really drawn to use the surname Ferguson because I feel like we always forget about spousal’s family names. In this case, Ferguson is Princess Eugenie’s mother’s maiden name. When the Duchess of Cambridge announced she’s pregnant, we all hoped that maybe we’ll see “Spencer” is featured in the child’s full name, but so far it’s not going to happen, so, I thought it would be interesting to see this one pop up as an unexpected surprise for everyone!

Henry Thomas

This one was inspired by the strong relationship the Princess has with her cousin, Prince Harry. They have always had a close bond and when I heard that she and Jack were going to move to Frogmore Cottage, in Windsor, I truly thought it was a sweet gesture because there are a large amount of royals who are living at Kensington Palace, including the Cambridge family, so it was easy enough to understand how much the young couple need their own place to live while adjusting to becoming a family of three.

Now there is another name that I think is an equal company as the Duke of Sussex. Thomas Brockbank is the elder brother of Jack. Of course, we don’t exactly know how good of a relationship they have since the wedding but I still think that the name could be used as well. The name isn’t as popular among the royals, so it would be really neat to see the classic pop in as a newcomer!

Philip Edmund

Princess Eugenie is very fond of her paternal grandfather: The Duke of Edinburgh. She speaks really lovingly towards him in a documentary directed towards The Queen’s 90th birthday a few years ago. So, I have really high hopes that maybe we all see Philip come back around with the great-grandchildren. and if it turns out that it is a girl, then Philippa would be a special way of keeping him close to her heart too.

I always hope that this name comes back into the royal family and it is Edmund. This is such a classic and very old name as the last royal who had it as a first was Prince Edmund, Duke of Somerset in 1499, the sixth child of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. I do consider this name as romantic because it has grown out of favor over the years but is still included in the annual name charts for England and Wales. It is also a nice alternative to the ever popular Edward too, so I genuinely hope that maybe it will come back around some day.

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Whenever I do these types of posts, I always feel bad that I hadn’t included a lot of the father’s interests, but with the royals, especially if they are lower on the list of succession like Princess Eugenie, figuring out they hobbies and style isn’t as easy to pin point and that was the main reason for looking at the Princess a little closer and using what she does outside of being the granddaughter of The Queen!

Another thing I have to remind myself is that I purely do this for fun. I don’t get paid to do this and honestly, I wouldn’t want to because that’s just really odd and I feel like I would lose interest into the whole thing because it does look way more complicated to create the entire post, and that includes the banner too! I don’t mind being wrong or right–although it does feel good sometimes!–but as a lover of names, you always wonder what everybody has on their lists and sometimes you get lucky and are asked to help the parents-to-be too, which can be intimidating at times too, So yeah, that’s why I continue to come up with these type of posts.

Do you have any guesses on what Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack are going to new their little bear? What kind of style do you believe could make an appearance?