Her Name

We like our kids' first names to be their patron saints and we like their middle names to be in honor of a relative.

Our first daughter is named Claire Camille after St. Clare of Assisi and Adam's paternal grandmother. Our second daughter is named Margaret Joyce after St. Margaret of Scotland and my paternal grandmother. Both first names get bonus points for being family names as well - my childhood neighbor/honorary grandmother is named Claire and Margaret is actually my middle name.

Our third daughter's name is...

Beatrice Jacqueline.

Sticking with the great-grandmother tradition, we had two names left to work with, Jacqueline (my grandma) and Shirley (Adam's grandma). Adam was pulling for the name Beatrice, which we both agreed sounded better with Jacqueline, and I was pulling for the name Alice, which we both agreed sounded better with Shirley.

We decided to go with Jacqueline first because Adam's grandma really doesn't like her name. When someone says, "Why would you name a baby after me? Shirley just isn't a pretty name" you realize maybe the other grandma would appreciate the honor a bit more.

Her patron saint will be St. Beatrice of Portugal, who left her home country to serve as one of Queen Isabel's ladies-in-waiting and eventually founded a religious order in Spain. Beatrice is also technically a family name - it's my maternal grandfather's (Jacqueline's husband's) only sister.

Beatrice is a pretty long name for a baby, but we don't love any of the traditional nicknames. We think Betsy could work though and the internet seems to agree. That's our plan for now, but we'll see what sticks when she arrives!