I know that many, many naming sites have exhaustive lists on how to honor a relative with an unsavory name, but I still thought it would be fun to do my own, considering I don’t always agree with their suggestions. You can always use the same first letter, of course, but if you’re more of a stickler for similarity (like me!), maybe you can find these lists of some help. I’m going to stick to different international forms of the name, but I might end up doing a “similar in sound” list later.
- John: Johann, Ivan, Evan, Sean, Hamish, Ian, Jens
- Jean, Jane, Giovanna, Joan, Joanna, Sinead, Siobhan
- Richard: Ricardo
- Ricarda
- Anthony: Antony, Antonio, Antoine
- Antonia, Antoinette, Antonina
- Timothy: Timoteo, Timo
- Timothea
- Michael: Miguel, Mikhail, Miles, Milo
- Michaela, Michelle, Michela
- Robert: Roberto, Robin, Rupert
- Robin
- William: Wilhelm, Willem
- Willa, Wilhelmina
- David: Taavi
- Davina
- Thomas: Tavish, Tomas
- Thomasina, Tamsin
- Mark: Marcus, Marco, Marcello, Marcos, Marek
- Marcella, Marcia
- Charles: Carl, Carlo, Carlos
- Charlotte, Carla, Carlotta, Caroline, Carolina
- Stephen: Etienne, Stefan, Tahvo, Esteban
- Stephanie, Estefania
Moniker Madness! 
Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Great Idea, Cat! Sometimes putting a tiny spin on a classic livens it right back up. For me, John/Ivan, William/Willem & Marc/Marek float all around the family.
Would you do something like this with the more standard/popular classics: Alexander, James, Charles, etc. ?
And I’d like to offer a femininsation of Rachard: medieval Richenza. Isn’t that just a swoony way to honor a Richard? *sigh*
Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Richenza is divine! Much prettier than Ricarda. I did Alexander and James in the next post. If there’s any more you’d like to see pipe up, definitely!
Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Richenza! That’s wild, Lola – I love it. 🙂
Cat, I love a lot of these – Davina and Tamsin, especially. And Esteban/Estevan was in consideration as a middle for us – mostly because our son’s first initial *had* to be A. And our last name starts with S. So Stephen? That was out!
Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Heheheh. Good thing that disaster was averted. My favorite Stephen variant is Etienne, though. I knew a really creepy Esteban, so that’s right out for me!
Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hey Cat, great list! Several of these names are those of my close family so it’s fascinating to see how they could be honoured. The only snag is – while I love the thought of honouring a Richard with a Richeza (I’ve also heard Richenda but don’t like it nearly as much) or a Charles with a Charlotte or Thomas with a Tamsin and so on, I now that my other half and family won’t see it as honouring someone unless you actually use their name. Hmm….
Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
My mother is the exact same way as your husband, even when it comes to spelling variants. Her middle is Lizzette, and I would use Lisette, but she balks. Oh well, I imagine when there’s an actual baby on the line, maybe your husband’s mind will change!
Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I love this idea, Cat. I suggest Tamsin to people who like unisex sounding names on girls. It sounds like a medieval boys’ name, but it isn’t. It goes very well with a sister named Rowan or Logan or even Madison.
Thanks for the Stephen suggestions, by the way. Stephen is my father’s name…and my brother’s name…and a dear family friend’s name. I love the sound of Stephen so I was thinking of using it in the middle as it would honor so many men in my life, but I’m really in love with Tahvo right now.
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 11:55 am
That’s a great idea! Tamsin does have that unisex sound without actually being unisex.
And glad I could inspire you a bit! Thanks for stopping by!
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