How I Named My Babies: Elise Caroline, Jude Joseph, & Lillian Laine

Jennifer and Jacob Edgar, a small business owner and comic book artist, live in Savannah, Georgia with their triplets: Elise Caroline, Jude Joseph, and Lillian Laine.

Their babies were born on September 16, 2021. Here, we talk to Jennifer about how she and Jacob named their triplets.

Tell me how you named the triplets!

It was obviously a shock to find out we were having triplets. My husband and I have been together for almost 13 years, and there have been so many names we’ve talked about. It took us a while to get pregnant, and when I found out, I didn’t like any of our names. I wanted to throw out the list!

That was my biggest fear with naming. That I would choose a name and five years down the road, not like it anymore. I went through the whole process and ended up with the same names I had on my original list.

I’ve loved the name Elise since I was 12 years old. It was the middle name of one of my childhood best friends. I distinctly remember where I was when I heard her mom say her full name. I was like, “Ooh, I love that!” It’s my first memory of liking a name.

I really could not shake Elise, so she was named first. It took a little while to figure out her middle name, Caroline, which is an honor name for my grandmother, Carolyn. I knew it flowed well, but there are at least four other people in my family named after that grandmother. I initially wanted to share the love and name her after someone else, but we kept coming back to Caroline. Each child has an honor name in their name.

My husband and I really went back and forth on boy names. I wanted George, which is my maiden name, but Jacob just couldn’t see it. Our last name is Edgar, another man’s first name, and he said, “If we name him George Joseph Edgar it just sounds like three old men.”

We had Jude on our list for a long time. Jacob’s a Beatles fan and it’s a biblical name with a strong meaning. He really wanted Luke or Jude, and we decided to go with Jude because it’s not as common.

I had a freak-out moment when we were two weeks away from the babies being born. We told Jacob’s ten-year-old nephew the babies’ names and he was like, “I thought that there was a boy!” We said, “There is a boy, it’s Jude!” and he said, “Jude is a girl name!” So then I’m posting on Nameberry and taking a poll: is Jude a girl name or a boy name? I didn’t say anything else — I didn’t want to lead anybody.

It wasn’t a huge shock — I love unisex names anyways — but we just wouldn’t want too much confusion for our son. But Jacob was like, “We’re not letting a ten-year-old decide that this can’t be our son’s name. This is what we’re choosing!” We went ahead and named him Jude, and we haven’t had any mix-ups yet.

Our sweet little Lillian — her name took the longest. We went through so many different names. She was Lena at one point, and Annie.

Lillian is actually my middle name, and I was named after my great-grandmother. I always said that I was going to name my daughter Lillian and call her Lily, but when it came down to it, I felt like I knew so many Lilys. I didn’t want her to have such a common name and have to go by Lily E. in school. That’s why we didn’t go forward with Lily from the beginning. But after I thought about it for a while, I realized that it’s just a name that I love, like Elise, and I didn’t want the popularity to sway me.

How do you feel about your own name and how did that influence your decision?

My name is Jennifer, but I was born about ten years after the Jennifer boom. I was never the fifth Jennifer in my class or anything like that, but I did know other Jennifers who were older than me.

Lily was the same way. I knew it had been popular, but not as popular as Jennifer had been. That helped me make the decision too.

Did you decide on all the babies’ names before they were born?

Yes. There was a time when we thought that one of our babies might not make it, so that’s when I pushed to decide on the names. I wanted to be able to pray for her by name and I thought that having a name made it feel more real.

We knew the genders before our gender reveal, and we announced the names there. I know that’s controversial! We had people say, “No, don’t tell the names! You want to keep them to yourself because you don’t want peoples’ opinions.” But I felt like I got more opinions before I announced the names. People were sending me names and ideas all the time.

How did people react to their names?

Most people loved the names. It took us a little while to decide on Jude’s middle name, Joseph, which is my dad’s name. It’s kind of a mouthful — you have to pause between the names saying Jude Joseph Edgar. But we wanted to name him after someone, and I felt like it flowed better than Jude George. We’re close with my dad and wanted to honor him — he was so happy.

My cousin Carolyn, who’s named after our grandmother, was not happy that we chose Caroline instead of Carolyn. But other than that, everyone really liked our choices.

What would your younger self have liked to name a baby?

Lily and Elise were my two top names, so I definitely would have wanted to use those. I also have really liked the name Graham from the time I was young. I knew a little boy named Graham and I thought it was just so cute.

I have asked Jacob at least once a month about the name Graham. He cannot stand it. That was a heartbreaking moment to let go of Graham. I’ll never have a son named Graham! Maybe a grandchild — I might be able to talk one of my daughters into it.

My mom always told me that my grandmother Carolyn’s favorite name was Jillian. When my mom was pregnant with me, she tried to convince her to name me Jillian. I like that name because my grandma liked it. I never had it on the list for these babies, but when I was little, I would say I wanted to name my daughter Jillian. Plus, it’s kind of like my two names mixed together — Jennifer and Lillian.

What was it like to name three babies at once?

In some ways, I think it was easier than how I imagine naming one baby would be. Some people have two favorite names they have to choose between for their child. I love the name Elise and I love the name Lillian. If I hadn’t had two daughters, how would I have made that decision?

It was hard to try and find names that fit together. I didn’t want them to be matchy — to start with the same letter or rhyme. One of our neighbors down the street is a triplet, and she said their names are Paul, Paula, and Paulette. She said, “I’m so glad you gave them their own names!”

I still wanted their names to be cohesive, though. One of the names I loved was Merritt, but I felt like it didn’t go well with Elise. Elise is so girly, and Merritt is unisex and brings to mind a different feeling.

What are the trendy names in your social circle?

Nora! I’ve loved the name Nora ever since I was a kid. I had an Aunt Nora who I never met, but my parents talked about her. It’s such a popular name where we live.

Emma is pretty common right now, and Jackson is very popular. Not just with babies, but even going back ten or so years ago. I taught school for many years and had two Jacksons in my class at one point. And those kids are in fifth grade now! I saw one of them and he was like, “Yeah, they call me J.W. now because I’m one of five Jacksons in my class.” That’s what the Jennifer boom was in the ‘80s.

Did being a teacher affect your choice of names at all?

Yes, definitely. I wanted names that were easily spelled — not just for the teachers but for the kids. And classically spelled as well. My relatives tried to get us to spell Elise with an A, but I felt like Elise was the more traditional spelling. I didn’t want her to have to say, “Elise, but with an A” or anything like that. Although we still get questions about how her name is spelled sometimes.

It was important to me that the names didn’t have too many letters so they could learn to write them pretty easily. I had a student named Sarah-Catherine, and it took her a long time to be able to spell her name.

And of course, I had some good associations with names and some bad associations. There were definitely some names that my husband brought up where I would say, “Absolutely not.” And some associations aren’t good or bad, but just having an association is enough to cross it off the list. You don’t want to feel like a copycat.

If you were going to have another baby, what names would you choose?

There are so many on the list! For a girl, I really like Madeline or Indy. We almost named Lily Indy, because my mom’s name is Cindy. I kind of have a little bit of regret about that. I love Lillian and can never think of her name being anything else, especially knowing her now, but I do still have love in my heart for Indy.

For a boy, I’m not so sure. I might keep trying my husband on Graham or George. I really tried for George! I feel like if we had a few more years to think about it, I could convince him. Although it’s been 13 years and he hasn’t come around!

What was the most surprising part of the baby name process?

That it was so difficult for me, especially since I had been thinking about it for so long. That made it harder, almost. It was such an important decision to me, and I was so nervous that I was going to mess it up. It would have been easier to come in not having thought about it so much.

I was surprised that I didn’t like any of the names on my list. Maybe that was my subconscious that wanted to go through a baby name process.

What advice would you give someone who’s just starting the baby name process?

For triplets, giving them their own names is really important. Even my girls — they’re identical — their names are distinct but connected. Lillian and Elise have the same meaning, “devoted to God.” That’s one reason we decided to name her Lillian rather than just Lily.

Trust your gut. Go with the name that you love and don’t worry so much about what other people are going to think or what the popular names are. The popularity bothered me so much, even with Jude. I remember thinking, “It’s not popular right now, but it’s going to be popular. I don’t know that! I was getting way too into my head about it.

Thank you so much, Jennifer!

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