Missouri quadruplets: Adam, Benjamin, Christopher, Dylan

quadruplets and stork

In December of 1999, Susan and Rick Hellebusch of Missouri welcomed quadruplets, all boys.

The babies were born at 30 weeks gestation and weighed less than three pounds each.

What were they named?

Adam, Benjamin, Christopher, and Dylan.

Why? Because Susan and Rick had noticed that the babies were labeled A, B, C, and D on the sonogram. They’d already chosen the name Dylan, so they “decided to start at the top of the alphabet to select the remaining three” names.

The couple went on to have two more babies, daughters named Elizabeth and Maria.

P.S. As a nursing student in the early 2020s, Ben Hellebusch happened to meet one of the neonatal nurses who’d cared for him and his brothers. The nurse still remembered the quads’ alphabetical names, saying: “I thought it was the cutest thing that [their mom] did that.”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Multiplication (1905) by Gordon Ross

Celebrity baby name: True

American actor Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker

Actor Forest Whitaker and his late ex-wife, Keisha Nash, were the parents of four children:

  • Ocean, b. 1990 (Forest’s son from a previous relationship)
  • Autumn, b. 1991 (Keisha’s daughter from a previous relationship)
  • Sonnet, b. 1996 (daughter)
  • True, b. 1998 (daughter)

Their youngest, True Whitaker, was interviewed several days after the birth of Khloé Kardashian’s daughter True (in April of 2018). In the interview, she told the story behind her name:

Whitaker discovered that her parents originally planned to name her Truth before deciding on True, which was inspired by Lauryn Hill‘s version of “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” by Frankie Valli. “I remember to this day my mother singing the lyrics ‘You’re just too good to be True’ to me in my little cradle.”

True Whitaker’s birth did not noticeably affect the usage of the baby name True in the late ’90s, but the birth of her older sister did give the rare name Sonnet a boost in 1997.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Forest Whitaker by David Shankbone under CC BY 2.0.

Baby names with SKY: Skyla, Chesky, Lovensky

the sky

Looking for baby names that contain the word SKY?

If so, you’re in luck!

Because below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter sequence “s-k-y.” Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data. The rest were gathered from U.S. vital records, censuses, and headstones.

  • Chesky
  • Dawensky
  • Dorlesky, Darlesky, Dorlisky, Dorlusky
  • Dosky, Dusky
  • Esky
  • Hasky
  • Husky
  • Lensky
  • Lodusky, Ladusky, Lodosky, Ludusky, Lodesky, Ledusky, Lodoisky
  • Losky, Lusky
  • Lovensky, Lovinsky
  • Marvensky
  • Sandusky
  • Skya, Skyah, Skyia
  • Skyanna, Skyana
  • Skyanne, Skyann
  • Skyasia
  • Skyden
  • Skye, Sky, Skyy, Skyye, Skyee, Skyi
  • Skyel
  • Skyen
  • Skyla, Skylah, Skylaa, Skyela, Skylla
  • Skylair
  • Skylan, Skylann
  • Skyland
  • Skylar, Skylarr, Skyylar, Skylaar, Skyelar, Skyllar
  • Skylark
  • Skyle
  • Skylea
  • Skylee, Skylie, Skyley, Skyleigh, Skyli, Skyelee
  • Skylei
  • Skylen
  • Skylene, Skyleen
  • Skyler, Skyyler, Skyeler, Skyller
  • Skylette, Skylett
  • Skylia
  • Skylier
  • Skylin, Skylinn, Skyelin
  • Skylind
  • Skylinda
  • Skyline
  • Skylir
  • Skylis, Skyliss
  • Skylit
  • Skylon
  • Skylor
  • Skylur
  • Skylynn, Skylyn, Skylynne, Skyelynn, Skyelyn
  • Skylyr, Skylr
  • Skynesha
  • Skynora
  • Skyra, Skyrah
  • Skyrel, Skyrell
  • Skyren
  • Skyrene, Skyrine
  • Skyron
  • Skyshun
  • Starsky
  • Woodensky

Some of the more whimsical SKY names I’ve seen include Morningsky, Nightsky, Midnightsky, Northernsky, Wintersky, Thundersky, Bluesky, Redsky, Graysky/Greysky, Skysea, Skysun, and Skydancer.

Which SKY name do you like most?

Sources: SSA, FamilySearch.org, Find a Grave

Image: Adapted from Behind a cloud by jenny downing under CC BY 2.0.

Female names in six generations of the same family

Roxanne Steele (100) and her great-great-great-granddaughter Trina Byerly (10 months)
Roxanne with great-great-great-granddaughter Trina

In mid-1972, Life magazine ran a photo of six females — mothers and daughters spanning six generations within a single family. The oldest was 100; the youngest was not yet one.

All six live within a one-hundred mile radius of the 90-acre farm in the flatlands of southern Alabama where Mrs. [Roxanne] Steele, now the matriarch of a clan so vast that no one has counted it, was born.

Here are the birth names of the six females (five women and one baby):

  1. Roxanne Kennedy (b. 1871), who, with David Steele, had a daughter named…
  2. Stella Steele (b. 1898), who, with John Godwin, had a daughter named…
  3. Geneva Godwin (b. 1918), who, with Rayburn Moye, had a daughter named…
  4. Rita Moye (b. 1935), who, with Ples Booth, had a daughter named…
  5. Shirley Ann Booth (b. 1953), who, with William Byerly, had a daughter named…
  6. Trina Roxanne Byerly (b. 1970)

Which of their names — Roxanne, Stella, Geneva, Rita, Shirley, or Trina — do you like best? Why?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Life magazine (21 Jul. 1972)