Tucker the Fierce guards his castle. Intruders, Beware!!!
Aside from watching handsome young men guarding their castles and hosting numerous birthday parties, we've been busy with school, scouts and church.
A few people have asked about the blog name. Will I change if from A Baker's Dozen? At this point, probably not, unless I think of something clever. A Baker's Dozen Plus One just doesn't have the same ring…but I am definitely open to suggestions.
The other big question is about transportation. The reality is, there are no vehicles bigger than ours without moving up to buses or shuttle vehicles, and our town doesn't lend itself well to parking those. Ezra will turn 18 in May and Keziah will be 18 in August. There are very few places that we go to as a whole family (church, and occasional trips the zoo or aquarium) but with two adult children, those events will be even less frequent. We will take two vehicles to church, and any other place we need to be. Hopefully Keziah will learn to drive in the next year or so, and that will change things too.
And speaking of the baby…choosing a name is pretty slow going this time around. Since we had a boy and a girl last time, we don't have any "leftover" names. Chuck and I always struggle with girls names…in fact, when I was pregnant with Enoch, we never did come up with a girl's middle name. Any wonderful ideas for girls' names out there? It should obvious that we lean toward more unusual names. Leave a comment for me. What's your favorite girl's name?
I have a friend who just completed a very difficult pregnancy inluding 3 months of hospital bedrest. When her beautiful and healthy baby girl was born, they named her Tirzah Joy.(Tirzah is both biblical and the name of Ben-Hur’s sister) One of my favorites is the Spanish pronounciation of Damaris. (Dah-ma-reese)
Well, I can’t tell you my absolute favorite since I have to keep that one a secret in case we ever have a girl.
But here are some other ones I like: Asha (means hope), Selah, Aria, Arianna/Ariana, Jubilee (oh, you already have one of those) 
, Mercy.
We have an Elianna (means The LORD answers prayer) and an Apphia — pronounced UH-FEE-AH(meaning increasing — her middle name is grace) — it is in the book of Philimon (sp?)
I’ve always loved Yael (say yah-EL), which means mountain goat in Hebrew… Eh. I prefer it more for the story of the actual woman!
And Natanya, I really love that one. It’s basically just a female version of Nathan or Nathaniel, “God’s gift”.
My husband loves the name Jael but I dont like the meaning (mountain goat) nor the story in the Bible. I understand she was killing an evil man, but pounding his head w/ a tent stake? A bit graphic for me
I did want to say though, that our firstborn daughters name is Adalia Iris Netanya…so we cant reuse that name!
My current favorite girls name is Viven. (Or Vivan). (Like Vivian, but with a softer ending.)
For a girl: Prayse Hymn! Not sure about a boy.
I do like Tirzah but here are my suggestions.
Hepzibah
Mehitabel/ Mehetabel
Adah (Ada)
Tamar
Hadassah
Zipporah
Dinah
Zilla
Naomi
Johanna
Lydia
Tabitha
Merriam
Does this mean that you already have a boy’s name picked out?
We dont have a boys name picked out, but I have no doubt we could come up with one we both love and agree on w/in 24 hours. With girls names, 9 months doesnt seem like enough time…
I like the name Gideon. For a boy or a girl.
If I may be so bold, Paisley is a lovely girl’s name, and rather rare. I’ve only ever met one other. It refers to the print of the same name. It’s history can be traced back to India, where it originated as the thumbprint of the king. I like that.
One of my daughters is named Campbell, which either means camp bell in the english – which reminds me of being called for the supper feast, or beautiful field in the french which reminds me of the fields ripe for harvest. My other daughter is named Sheridan, which means wild. I know, what idiot would name their child wild? But her middle name is faith.
My very favorite girl’s name is Naomi, but my husband doesn’t like it. :/ If ours is a girl, she’ll be Olivia Rae… which you’re welcome to use if you like it. lol
You asked for unusual. I never saw such a list of unusual names as has been posted in the comments here!!!
We are dealing with the name quandary also. We are adopting a 6 year old Brianna Joy and I love her name… but I already have a Brianna Grace and a Vanessa Joy. Thought about combining the middle name with part of the first name to make Joyanna, but we are good friends with a family with a 6 year old Joyanna… Johanna maybe? I just can’t come up with anything that just strikes me and still fits in with our other three girls’ names. Arianna is pretty… I had forgotten about that name.
Salome
Noa
Aquila
Vashti
Rona
Silvana
Magnolia
Romilly
Saskia
Orla
Esther – biblical, not really common, I’ve known many lovely talented kind Esthers
Suzannah
Emmelia (em-maleea)
Dorothea
Audra
Ula (U-la)
Daria
OK, I’ve about run through all my favorites and unusual relative names – my name used to be very uncommon, but now there are thousands of us Kaylas out there!
I’m a bit partial to Selah.
I also like Anneleise…..a combo of Anna and Elisabeth who both proclaimed the Messiah’s coming.
I know a Zadie, which is a really cute name.
I also like Tirzah and almost named my last one with that moniker.
I know its not biblical…but I love, love, love Melinda. And not shortened to Mindy either!
I have been reading your blog for a couple of weeks now, and thought it was about time that I commented. You are, for lack of a better word, inspirational – homeschooling your children with such care, raising them so well, having the sheer organisation to look after thirteen children; wow!
As for names, I like Ruth and Miriam as Biblical choices, but none of them are particularly unusual.
I think Thankful is a brilliant name – for we are all thankful for God’s grace and presence in our lives, and all that He blesses us with.
Hosanna would make such a lovely name, too.
Shiphrah was a midwife who disobeyed the Pharaoh’s orders to kill young Hebrew boys – what a courageous, moral woman.
I’ve been amazed at home many of my nieces names have appeared here in the comments: Naomi, Arianna, Lydia, and Kayla. We have a Netanya and Jubilee (of course). Chuck also loves the name Tabitha, but I don’t like the name…We have two Esthers at our church (plus we have a Mordecai
Gideon is what we were going to name Kalina if she was a boy! I’m loving the suggestions though- keep ‘em coming…
Adeline
Edolie
Galia
Mabel
Quinn
Sesen
Ziva
I enjoy less-than-usual names as well, but I prefer names that are phonetically spelled. Those are some girls names I’ve collected over the years. I figure you can look up the meanings if you like the sound of any of them.
I noticed someone already mentioned this one, but I’ve always loved the name Hadassah (Hebrew form of the name Esther) for a girl.
You guys could totally pull that off. Us, not so much.
I love Esther. Not only was she beautiful on the outside, but just as beautiful on the inside. God chose her to help save His people. Awesome!…..June is pretty nice, too.
Gianna ( jee-AH-nah)
Zelie ( ZEH-lee)
Javalah ( HA-veh-lah)
Malea ( Muh-LEE-uh)
Cressida (CREH-sih-duh)
Those are a few off hand…
Good luck!
Karla
I love the name Eliana. Since we have 4 boys we figured the name would fit well. It means, “God delievered.” I also like Eden which means, “delightful”.
For boys names my favorite is my son’s name, Josiah which means “fire of the Lord”. I liked King Josiah from the bible. I also like Jonah. I really like his story in the Bible because it shows such a love from God with his grace, and so much of his character. I know that in the end Jonah didn’t “get it” but I like the lessons the book teaches. Jesus also refers to Jonah as comparing his ministry.
Good luck!
We named our newly adopted 9 year old daughter, Karis. The original Greek spelling is Charis, and it means “grace”. I love the look of the “ch”, but my husband was concerned it would confuse people, so we went with the variation on the spelling.
Hope the name search goes well for you! I seem to have an easier time with boy’s names than girls.
My girl is Nevaeh Solana. Nevaeh is heaven spelled backwards. Solana is sunshine in Spanish.
Emmie (Emmanuelle) might be our next girl name… unfortunately our friends from church just named their dog Emmie!!
Here are some other ideas:
matisse
summer
kyla
dawn
monet
shine
jolie
grace
angel
soleil
zion
lucy
liv
miana
lyric
lesia
angel
trinity
I love, love, love Hadassah. I think it would go well with the rest of your kiddos’ names!
I’m no good at coming up with unusual names, but here’s a great list for you to peruse.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/unique-baby-girl-names.html
Here are a few from my head and from friends of ours.
Eva/Ava (means ‘life’)
Haven (means ‘rest’)
Emmaline
Amelia
Audra
Elena (pronounced el-ay-nuh)
Claire
Delaney
and we have an Eliana, but we call her Ellie
I just thought of one you might both like. My friend Ashley’s sister is named Lael – pronounced “Lay-el”but as one syllable. I have never met another and it means “belonging to God”
Our daughter is Evaline Rose, and our other favorite girl’s name is Eleanor, which we’ll probably use if we ever have another girl. We like names that are a little different, but mostly old-timey and classy. Our boys are William and Benjamin. We got Evaline from a Weezer song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIYo17tozU
Well we had 2 boys and are done so I’ll never get to use my girl names.
Harper
Shelby
Scarlett
Tess
Emma
Glory
Josie
Journey
Jubilee
Liberty
Mallory
Marley
Savannah
Veronica
Another name that I love (but my husband doesn’t) is Aglaia (UH-gly-uh). She was one of the three graces in Greek Mythology (along with Thalia and Euphrosyne). You can’t get more beautiful than one of the graces! I have a friend named Aglaia with a Spanish last name, and it fits perfectly!
My girls names are Brenna and Bridget, so I think they are pretty special names
Not biblical though.
I have always liked Hadassah as mentioned by a few other people. Carys (Brenna was nearly named this – it means ‘Beloved’ in Welsh), Faith, Hope, Bethany, Hannah.
I dont know if these are your style, I am not American so I am not up on popular biblical names…
I love the name Eilonwy. It’s not Biblical, it’s from Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. Based on Welsh names, it’s pronouced eye-LAHN-wee.
I love Davene’s recommendation – Asha. How beautiful!
My next comment is for Angel Ford. I would call her Rianna (REE ahna). Rianna B Joy. You keep her name, all the letters, and you get to let her know that adopting her into your family will B Joy!
You’ve gotten tons of great suggestions, I can’t really add much. We’re expecting our first boy in May… and of course, I can’t think of any good boy names.
Girl names? No problem. We’re partial towards Greek/ Biblical names. Almost named our second daughter “Agape”– sometimes I wish we had the guts to go through with it, but we’re at peace with the name we chose, too 
Euphrosyne (Ef-ro-see-nee)-Greek for joy
Seraphima
Evangelia
Ilyana (a female version of Elijah)
First time commenter– I’ve been lurking for a couple of months. Your family is beautiful!
Schuyler is the top of my favourite girls names right now.(Dutch for Scholar)
Other more unusual ones that I like are:
Jerusha (Jeh-roo-sha) – Hebrew for Inheritence
Tate (English, Cheerful)
Zahavah – Hebrew for Golden One
Jericho (obvious meaning)
Ziva (Brillance, Brightness – Hebrew)
I love Genevieve – pronounced the French way – John-ve-evh – terrible phonetic spelling there!
Niamh (Neve) – Bright, Irish
Noa (movement, Hebrew)
Zaynah – beautiful, Hebrew
Rowan, Hannah, Sophie, Leah, Dolly/Dorothy, Mary, Maryam, Charity, Patience are just some of my favorites but I don’t think they are unique enough for your family
I just did a lesson at school on the importance of names and looked up the 30 names of my students – amazingly not one of them knew the meaning of their name and very few knew why it had been chosen – they were very excited to find out!
Good luck choosing! I need to bookmark this list hopefully for the future
I really like the name Kellen for a girl! We were blessed with 3 boys. Each pregnancy I had a girls name picked out just in case.
If I were to have a daughter her name would be Lilith Jiska
I also like:
Alva
Alba
Linnea
Mathilda
Madita
Lenka
Nella
Milla
Rahel
Delia
Jisha
Lillian
Maeva
Anuk
ok those are the ones I love…
Havilah
Tovah
Lyric
Xenia (ka-SEN-ya)
Storey
Once again, I am amazed at the creativity of you blog readers! Its fun to read all the suggestions…I actually really pushed to name Adalia Zion Meadow- but Chuck hated it. Ironically, I had a friend who had a baby BOY born six weeks before Adalia and she named him Zion! I thought that was so weird because Id never heard that used as a name. I also pushed for Havilah several times, but Chuck hates that too…Haven is what we were going to name Tucker if he was a girl, but Im glad it didnt work out because Ive seen many little girls named that since his birth.
I like the name Talitha, which means maiden. It’s used in the Bible when Jesus raises Jirus’ daughter from the dead, He says “Talitha Cumi”, which means Maiden Arise. Actually, Cumi would be pretty as a middle name, too.
Boy names? I like Ethan, but since you already have an Enoch that might be confusing…
Well, hope you find something you like! I can’t wait until the baby is born!
Also, just curious, would you rather have a boy or a girl?
I keep coming back to see the newest suggestions… and I finally thought of a couple of my own.
My little niece is named Shiloh – They got the name out of the book Desire of Ages where it talks about Jesus and how he had many names…. Shiloh the peace giver, the Root and offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star, the Desire of All Nations, the I AM….
I know a girl named Ceri (Sar -EE). She’s beautiful inside and out and so the name is gorgeous to me.
I know a girl named Terez. (actually not sure how it is spelled.) I was a little taken aback when her parents named her that. It was before I was attuned to the world of unusual names.
I think that Talitha is softer, more feminine than Tabitha.
My girls have a friend named Kaylise…
I like:
Melinda (as was mentioned above)
Anna (too common for you, I suppose)
Juliet
Siobhan
Laurel
Rosemary/Rosalie
Alessandra
I’ll probably think of ten more later…
Man, Havilah was already mentioned and nixed (I know an amazing woman named Havilah).
More girl names that fit your criteria…
Celicia
Jemuelle
Shaloma
Neveah
Genesis
Selah
Sarai
Naphtali
Lael
Dinah
I wrote a big long comment… and it’s gone.
So I’ll just write the names I thought of.
Shiloh
Ceri (sar EE)
Talitha
Terez
WE have a Hosanna – I LOVE her name. We also have a Jubilee and I always thought those two went together. I like Eden too
Happy baby naming!
I too love the name Gideon for a boy..Giddy is fun too!
I have always loved the name Xavier ( Zavier) and Xander ( Zander).
Girls: Hard! I like Cecelia ( Cece) and Joshannah ( jo shawn nah).
Have fun. I love all of your names. You will do great…I just know it.
I was wondering about the van space by the way….
My husband and I like unusual names as well. We only have one child at this point and her name is, Taeya Brynn. I’ve seen many different spellings for Taeya. Taya, Tehya, Tayah…
My votes were for Zipporah, Havilah, and Tirzah but it looks like those have already been suggested
We have Oceana Faith and Naomi Aroha [means love]. O: oh shee ann uh, A: ah rrr[rolled] oh ha. Also know of a Blessing, Delighte, Honour, Damaris, Azzah, India, Zuri, Jemma, Atea [ah tee uh].
Aurelie
Giselle
Madrona
Aurora
Juniper
Alevai
Mirei
Ales (a more interesting way to spell Alice)and could be a shortened form of Alessandra.
Penelope. I just love that name.
How about Opal, in keeping with the pregnancy nickname?
Or Pearl. That’s a good one.
Those aren’t unusual but maybe old. I like the names of all those ladies over 70 in church, I guess.
Vivian. That’s another good one.
Good luck!
My favorite girls name is Liliana, it sounds so graceful and lovely. The Lily flower is a symbol of innocence, purity and beauty. And Ana means gracious and merciful.
Haha, that’s a good point about Jael… I suppose I’m a bit desensitized, after taking a “Violence in the Bible” study course. It was quite interesting, though!
In that case, I’ll also suggest Tzipporah, and Yocheved, although one might choose to anglicize that to Yoheved, to avoid the ch-like-church pronunciation.
Ariana, Adriana, and Alessandra all sound like princess names, appropriate for a little girl.
I like Aurovinda, it means lotus. It’s Indian. I think it’s just lovely.
Keturah….but have seen it spelled other ways, mine is Katura. And it is biblical….Genesis 25:1-7
I like Tarynn, Irie, and Fia
Irie-means happy, carefree and blissful
Fia-means flame
Tarynn-of the earth
Love the pictures of Tucker! So cute!
I love unique biblical names. For girls I like Michaiah, Keilah, Abilene, Neriah, Salome (probably more for a middle name though), Selah, Neah (I’m torn on this one- can’t decide if I love it or hate it- pronounced NEE-ah not NAY-ah), Jada, Marah and Kelaiah (love the meaning of this one- voice of God or gathering together).
For boys I like Nehemiah, Elias, Asher, Silas, Isaac, Ezekiel, Cyrus, Hiram, Levi, Jonah, Micah, Zaccai and Malachi.
And while we’re on the topic of names – I commented on one of your entries a while ago because I was wondering about what your kids’ first and midddle names were and how you thought of them. I’d love to hear about how you picked each name!
You’ve chosen 13 FABULOUS names so far, so I have no doubt this baby will be no exception. Congratulations!!
In our family the two granddaughters with different names are Ocean and Peace.
I like Esme’ pronounce es’mae
I thought some of this was interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14_(number)
Perhaps something about 14 kids in 14 years.
You could go also with 16 (including mom, dad, + kids)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_(number)
maybe referring to “sweet 16″.
Maybe the kids could research and brainstorm names for the blog.
I like Asa for a boy. 1 Kings 15:14 says Kings Asa’s heart was “loyal to the Lord all his days”.
For a girl I think Honour is pretty.
Eternity
Myrrh
Shekniah
Berea-Acts 17
boy-Perazim
My favorite and (hopefully) first daughter’s name will be Marnie. Marnie means from the sea but it has a Hebrew meaning of “rejoice” as well.
I’m also partial to Eleanor (not rare, just traditional), Evelyn (same), Isaiah (yeah, a boy’s name, I know), Genevieve (sounds so medieval), Shailene and the list goes on.
Can’t wait to see your beautiful bundle of joy!
I didn’t read through all the comments above so someone may have already mentioned this name, but one of my favorite unusual girl Bible names is Rhoda. It’s from the new Testament, the servant girl who answered the door when Paul got out of jail miraculously.
I know it’s a little late but my oldest daughter’s name is Kia (pronounced just like the car). Hope you have good luck figuring out a name!
Hodaya might work for you. It means gratitude in hebrew.
Bruriah means G-d is clear/apparent.
I know it’s probably a bit late now, as the baby’s due any day, but I just felt I should contribute a few names, too. Firstly, though, I would like to say that the names that have been suggested are lovely and so beautiful – I’d never have thought of them.
Now, for more names, I read a book once with a character called Sandrilene (Sandra for short) and my mother thought that was a beautiful name. I’ve always liked the name Prudence, but I’m partial to that as it was my late grandmother’s name and my sister’s middle name. Another I like is Telitha (or Talitha). I also like Rose (I have since reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books when I was small – it’s her daughter’s name), and also Lauranne or Laurel.
If you look through the early books of the bible, there are a number of lovely names there (although notably more boys than girls!) however I don’t know their meanings; Zillah, Adah, Edith, Judith, Shiphrah, Puah, just to name a few.