California octuplets: Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariyah…

kinderfest

“Octomom” Nadya Suleman, the mother of the octuplets (6 boys, 2 girls) born in California in January of 2009, has finally revealed the names the babies. Here they are, by order of birth:

  1. Noah
  2. Maliyah (girl)
  3. Isaiah
  4. Nariyah (girl)
  5. Jonah
  6. Makai
  7. Josiah
  8. Jeremiah

(In early reports, the girls’ names were misspelled Maliah and Nariah, and Makai’s name was misspelled McCai.)

Five of the above are biblical, while the other three have a sort of biblical styling to them.

The names of Nadya’s older six children (4 boys, 2 girls) are…

  • Elijah (born in 2001)
  • Amerah (2002)
  • Joshua (2003)
  • Aidan (2005)
  • Calyssa (2006, twin)
  • Caleb (2006, twin)

Sources: Octuplets make American TV debut (Guardian, 2009), Her side of the story (NBC, 2009), Suleman octuplets – Wikipedia

3 thoughts on “California octuplets: Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariyah…

  1. According to the Nadya Suleman Family Website (http://www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com/), the babies were born — and named? — in this order:
    1/A – Noah
    2/B – Maliah
    3/C- Isaiah
    4/D – Nariah
    5/E – McCai
    6/F – Josiah
    7/G – Jeremiah
    8/H – Jonah

    Seven names ending in ‘ah’ plus McCai? Some have wondered if he were the surprise 8th baby, but that wasn’t the case. Maybe McCai was named after someone. Micah would have fit in better with the other names.

    I like the five strong biblical boys’ names, and while Maliah and Nariah aren’t my style, I think they’re pretty names. The name of Nadya’s first child Elijah matches the octuplet boys’ names (other than McCai), as the name of her second child Amerah matches the octuplet girls’ names.

    There is a lot of controversy and criticism of this mother, and while sharing the skepticism that a single parent with very limited financial means can raise this many children, I wish her well. I hope her friends and church members will rally around her and her children.

  2. I’m curious about the significance of the name McCai. Why were 7 of the octuplets given matching end-in-‘ah’ names while one baby was given a name totally out of that pattern? Another curious thing about the name McCai is that the mother used names very similar to it as the middle name of two of her older sons: Elijah Makai and Caleb Kai.

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