The Baby Name Wizard

I think Kingston and Barack are sibling matches for one another.

A suitable opposite sex sibling match for Kingston could be Odessa (also a place name).

For Sylvie, I would suggest Henry.

I know a Sylvie who is in her early thirties. Her sister is named Allegra and her brother is named Alexander; he goes by both Alex and Sasha. I think "Alexander," although far more popular than "Sylvie," makes for a perfectly fine match. Other suggestions:

Maxim
Ezra
Theodore
Roman
Leo

(On a different note, my cousin just gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. The girl was named for my cousin's partner's grandmother; it has ranked in the mid-300's for the last two decades, give or take. The boy's name has been declining in popularity since 1915; a similar girl's name was at its most popular around that time, too. Any guesses?)

No comments for Barack and Kingston.

Brothers for Sylvie: Theo or Leo.

For Sylvie's brother, how about Alban? It's well-used in France but seems to have disappeared in the English-speaking world, although there is the town of St Alban's to remind us.

Ooh yes, Maxim's a great one for Sylvie, HMF. Same upbeat feel, and Maxime (for boys) is very popular in France.

For now I'll tackle the easiest one - brothers for Kingston:
- Rex
- Rordan (Irish)
- Royal
- Zoltan (Hungarian)

I see Kingston as a celeb name, though I know it's rapidly working its way up the mainstream ranks.

Any of the above would easily be used by a celeb, and all have something to do with the meaning, King.

I believe that the brother of actress Mariska Hargitay (Hungarian) is named Zoltan.

Rocky, Antonio, Rio, Montego - all names or parts of names of major cities in Jamaica, as Kingston is.

actually, I think Barack is the easy one, for at least a few.

Nia, Imani (g) /Amani (b), Mandela

I'll keep working at it. 3 more?

Nia and Imani are both part of the Kwanzaa principles and I've met children named those names in the US precisely b/c of their connection with the holiday and their meaning.

Mandela is the most homage-able African leader I know of. Nyerere doesn't have the same ring somehow. It might be better as a girls name b/c of the nns Mandy or Dela.

I met a kid the other day named Askari, which is Swahili for soldier but I'm not sure it fits as well.

I think Gabriel goes well with Barack but I've known so many Africans named Gabriel that to me its almost an African name.

Sisters for Sylvie:
- Camille (Cammie)
- Charlotte

Brothers for Sylvie:
- Roman
- Blaise
- Dorian
- Felix
- Gabriel (Gabe)
- Julian
- Luc

I think that Max & Theo were great ideas too.

I don't know that I can come up with five of each gender for each name (well, I probably could, but it'd take alot of time that I just don't have right now).
A few ideas/ ie, my first thoughts:
Barack: Aaliyah, Jahleel
Kingston: Delaney, McCoy
Sylvie: Everett, Henri Claude, Remy...Noemi, Adele, Amelie, Hazel

Without looking ahead--

BARACK
Brothers: Kofi, Malik, Sefu, Udo, Wekesa
Sisters: Asha, Marjani, Maryam, Nia, Zuri

KINGSTON:
Brothers: Kai, Maddox, Magnus, Orion, Rex
Sisters Arielle, Kaia, Lorelei, Marley, Reina

SYLVIE:
Brothers: George, Hugo, Jerome, Raphael, Theodore
Sisters: Celeste, Delphine, Louise, Mathilde, Noemi

~Elisabeth
http://youcantcallitit.com/

I know a Sylvie who is in the 3rd grade at the school I work. Her brothers are: Preston and Rowan.

Brothers for Sylvie:

Jasper
Frederic
August
Claude
Edmund
Emile
Oliver
Ferdinand
Henry
Sebastian
Marcel
Hugo

Sisters for Sylvie:

Esme
Camille
Adele
Sophie
Imogen
Cecily
Florence
Rosalind
Mathilde
Eloise

I'm pretty stumped on Barack and Kingston...

A sister for Barack: Zahara
A brother for Sylvie: Emil

Well, I can't refuse a dare, but I really have nothing for Barack, though I'd tend to go with something Swahili sounding rather than a political match or foe.

For Kingston, why not something else from pop culture, like Rihanna or Brandi?

Sylvie I think would go well with Hugh-- doesn't sound too American, but it's masculine enough to sit beside a particularly feminine and traditional-spun name.

Kingston's Sisters:
1.Marley
2.Brooklyn
3.Chelsea
4.Julie
5.Harlow

well, i'm not really good at this sort of thing..
but i was going to suggest marley for a sister to kingston, although someone already did that :)

Wow, you guys are good. I LOVE Alban for Sylvie. And Nia and Imani are PERFECT for Barack, IMO. Kaia is a great suggestion for Kingston. Oh, and I want to throw Aliyah in the pot for a Kingston sister.

For Barack: Mandela (or borrow from "The Cosby Show," Nelson and Winnie)
For Kingston: Havana
For Sylvie: Claude, Yannick, Rene

Barack: Zahara/Zahra/Zara, Zora, Mandela, Amira, Aziza.

Zahara because it's both African in origin and has an Arabic root and cognates in other languages, like Barack. Zora is a variant and Zora Neale Hurston is a popular black author. People who name their kids after Obama might be inclined to use Zora as well. Mandela after the South African leader. It was used as a first name for the best friend character in the teen movie Ten Things I Hate About You back in the 1990s. It's a hero name that would be in keeping with a Barack or a Zora. Amira and Aziza because they're both names in use in Africa and by Muslims and in Amira's case, also by Jews. They all sound like modern American names.

Sylvie: Gaston, Francois, Damien, Raphael, Gabriel.

I'd say the Obama's did a good job of matching the first child's name to her father: Malia.

My cat is Sylvie and daughter is Camille - looks like I matched them well, even though it wasn't intentional!

for sisters : Esme or Estelle, Pauline, Gabrielle, and maybe Emanuelle?

Boy names are harder for this one I think. I agree with the earlier mention of Claude, but it doesn't work as well in English as it does in French.

Sylvie's brothers:

Oliver
Merlin
Edmund
Franklin
Virgil

Kingston's sisters:

Maxine
Rae
Frances
Stella
Cordelia

I was thinking that Malia works as a sib name for Barack too.

Would also add that going with strong AA women names would be good:

Camille (Crosby)
Coretta (Scott King)
Aretha
and then there is Oprah...

Kingston

Croix (For St. Croix Island...I knew a family who named their son this).

I agree that Maddox would be a good sib name.

Also Marley for a girl, or even Harley -- has kind of a rebel feel to it.

Sylvie

Amelie for a sister.

No idea for brothers.

Sylvie's brother could be Jules.
Barack's brother could be Ali.
Kingston's sister could be Olive or Sunday(don't know why, just what came to me)

Brothers for Barack:
Chane

Sisters:
Zahra
Adia
Dalila

Oh, I love Rae for Kingston!

Wow, Betty and Elisabeth echoed my thoughts exactly: I have a daughter named Sylvia (who is only rarely called Sylvie). If my second child had been a boy, he would have been named Theo or Theodore. We ended up having a second daughter, and we named her Ramona.

For Kingston's "sisters".. how about Presley or Piper?

I know a Sylvie (maybe she'd be 3 now) and her twin brother is Charles.

Barak = States (saw it on an old tombstone once & it stuck with me), Navarre.

Kingston = Evy, Harlow, Felice, Julia.

Sylvie = Blaise

My cousin's name is Barak (no "C"). He is one of 11-year-old triplets: brother Jared and sister Hannah. Their 14-year-old brother's name is Asher. They're Jewish, by the way. Hope this helps!

HMF - I am dying to know your cousin's twins' names!!! Please tell.

Elisabeth, you did a great job with the sibling ideas. Maureen, you too! I have to think on this one ...

OK, these are really just gut reactions, but...

Barack:
sisters: Samara, Indira, Jeanette, Zora/Zahra, Maya, Sojourner, Wanda

brothers: Khalil, Luther, Quincy, Omar, Reggie, Theodore, Kennedy

Kingston
sisters: Shelby, Morgan, Sydney, Jordan, Skyler, Arley, Dakota, Presley, Mallory, Queenie, Sadie

brothers: Austin, Carson, Coleman, Joss, Reese, Phoenix, Ranger, Desmond, Jameson, Colt

Sylvie:
sisters: Lucie, Zoe, Genevieve, Suzette, Juliette, Aimee, Gemma, Rosalie, Nadine, Phoebe

brothers: Luca, Luc, Ludovic (or Ludo), Arthur, Denis, Sebastian, Nico

Yeah, fine, fine, too many- and I suggested my own name- I think I lose points for that.

I only have time for Sylvie now--I'm stealing some (in agreement with the original poster), altering some, and adding some here:

Sylvie:
(B) Julian, Auguste, Alban, Leo, Theodore, Sebastien, Oliver, Adrien, Samuel, Roman, Gabriel, Alexander, Blaise, Calvin, Dashiell, Galen, Louis

(G) Adele, Amelie, Colombe, Marie, Juliet(te), Eloise, Elise, Rose, Louise/a, Lucy/Lucile, Nicole, Adrienne, Claire, Avril, Celeste, Caroline, Lisette

(the theory here being French or at least continental sounding names, but easy to say in English, including some that sound old-fashioned and/or musty, some that might be considered a bit too soon for a comeback, and some that are a bit trendier to catch the Sophie crowd--but all names that are fairly "safe" and attractive)

Here's my take on those names

Barack, Jordan, Omar, Neo,Videl
Battina, Aisha, Shiela, Janine, Elana

Kingston, Brogan, Alton, Graham, Brodrick
Ardon, Peyton, Carrigan, Fallon, Tegan

Sylvie, Cicily, Delphine, Estelle, Adaline
Lucian, Phillipe, Noel, Adrien, Henri

My favorites:

Sylvie: Luc, Pascal, Amandine, Juliette

Kingston: Evander, Lyric, Truman, Marley

Barack: Malindi, Tana, Nyeri, Waris

I like the ideas on here so far! Here are the names I came up with before reading others' suggestions.

Brothers for Sylvie: Dimitri, Felix, Lucian, Sacha, Theo

Sisters for Kingston: Calypso, Indigo, Lavinia, Regina

I like the ideas on here so far! Here are the names I came up with before reading others' suggestions.

Brothers for Sylvie: Dimitri, Felix, Lucian, Sacha, Theo

Sisters for Kingston: Calypso, Indigo, Lavinia, Regina

Barack was the easiest for me, too (disregard my cultural connections--I'm thinking objectively;). But it's only easier if you're looking for names that are likewise common in Muslim, Swahili-speaking East African circles. IN that case, just go with any of the usual suspects:

Sisters--Amina, Jameela, Mumtaz, Zahra, Faiza, Aisha, Malaika/Malika, Hasina, Layla,
Brothers-- Omar, Hassan, Jameel, Ali, Mohammed, Malik,

Now, this is the type of matching I would normally take with the name Barack/Barak, because in Africa and around the world, Muslim identity often trumps local cultural or ethnic practices when it comes to naming. (For example, it would be quite out-of-the-norm if Barack's g-father, who converted to Islam, named his kids a traditional "tribal" Luo name or the name of a Luo relative [the majority of Luos are Christian]).

On the other hand, if we are talking about a NON-Muslim American family wanting to name their kid after Barack for other reasons, then the field is much more open. Check these out:

(1) A parent or parents with some African and some European ancestry that wants kids's names to reflect multi-ethnic role models:
-- Halle, Eliza, Mabel, Nella, Maya
-- Aleksandr (or Pushkin, for the adventurous), Alexandre or Dumas, Alessandro (lots of famous Alexs!), Frederick, Booker, Bob or Marley, or Walter (for the tremendously brave journalist W. White).

(2) A parent/parents interested in hi-lighting the African connection. This is tricky because the parent/s will have to realize that in many parts of Africa, Muslims and non-Muslims very rarely use the same name-sets. A brother and sister called Marcus and A'isha would immediately (whether wrongly or rightly) be classed as belonging to a Western culture in which names can be cross-pollinated across religions. But, if parents are aware of this ans still want to do a Pan-African thing, here're some suggestions:

SIsters-- country names (Tunisia, Kenya, Egypt, Tanzie, etc.), Femi (West Africa), Fatou (Muslim West Africa), Maren (Christian Ethiopia), Nagesa, Sanyu, (non-Muslim Ugandan), Njeri (non-Muslim E. Africa), Kesi (non-Muslim E. Africa), Wangari (as in Maathai).
Boys-- country names (Chad, Egypt,Zim/Zimmie, Zaire,), Janani, Dembe, (Non-Muslim Ugandan), Kimani (non-Muslim E. African)

Finally, there's always famous political or social or artistic leaders (most are left-leaning like Obama, but I tried to mix it up). I'm not really into this, as I find it gimmicky, but here goes:

Sisters: Susan (for B. Anthony), Gloria (Steinem), Nawal (al Sadaawi), Wangari, Ellen or Sirleaf,
Brothers: Che, Diego (or Rivera), Mandela, Desmond or Tutu

Brothers for Sylvie:

Maximilian or Maxim or just plain Max (This is the first name that popped into my head.)
Sebastian
Theodore or Theo
Linden
Burch or Birch

Sisters for Kingston:

Marley
Reese
Harper
Skye
Presley

Barack--I have no idea.

Oh, and maybe Scarlett and Eden as sisters for Kingston as well. I think I like those better than Skye or Presley.

Sylvie, Colette, Louise, Lisa, Anne, Elise
Frederic, Xander, Philip, Peter, Ilan

Kingston, Roman/Romeo, Landon, Apollo, Bennett
Alexandria, Victoria, Britannia, Marly, Hera

Barack, Malcolm, Aaron, Jesse, Isaiah
Eden

Kingston's sisters: Olive, Edie, Pearl

Sylvie's brothers: Rowan, Otto, Sam

I know a Sylvie and Iris set of sisters.

For Kingston you could have a London boroughs theme (if you wanted to be really tacky): Camden, Chelsea, Brent

When we were voting for name of the year I composed a vote for Barack, but somehow lost it and didn't have the energy to post it again! The main point was that the reasons it should be the name of the year is that we're having debates over the origin/meaning, etc., just like we did with Shiloh.

Anyway, are you disregarding the Hebrew Barack? S/o above posted about a Jewish Barack that she knew. My son (middle name Bennett) has the Hebrew name Barack, based on the word for lightening. I've also heard that Barack comes from the same root as Baruch, which means blessed.

For me, the sibling names for Barack come from a different perspective, and I'd suggest names with Hebrew origins, or references to nature (sort of trendy -- so capturing the it factor that Barack has).

Boys:

Levi (also, as of a day or so ago, a celeb. baby name)
Gabriel
Eliezer
Jonah
Noam

Girls:

Shoshana
Liora
Naomi
Noa
and, for different reasons others have stated, Zahara.

Off topic, I met a little tot named Arrow. (Boy). I like it. The only thing was that his hair was curly, and I expected him to have hair that was straight (as an arrow). ;)

Mom was named Kiki. Now there's a name that you don't hear very often. She said it wasn't a nickname either. Hubby tried to sell me on Kiku when I was pregnant, which is "chrysanthemum" in Japanese. Apparently he knew a girl with that name. It reminded me too much of "cuckoo."

The book Lewis Carroll wrote after the Alice books was called "Sylvie and Bruno" - they're a great match AND a literary reference!

Barack: Bennett, Barrett, Beckett, and Benedict. (Hee!)

Kingston girls: Gwen, Astrid, Aspen, Linden, Teagan.

Sylvie boys: Bertrand, Bernard, Milt, Evander, Adrien, Alain--and a lot of others from your French category.

The first thing I thought of for Sylvie was Marc.

i have been thinking kingston would be a great match for my daughter Piper. to me they are both spunky and spritely with a bright sound. the meanings give them each a bit of weight but its almost a fun silly weight.

Sylvie: Celeste Delphine Louise Matilda (or some spelling) Camille
Alban Blaise Julian Edmund August Frederic George Theodore

Kingston: Delaney Arielle Marley Harlow
Kai, Maddox, Magnus, Orion, Rex (I think Elisabeth nailed it well)

Barack: I have a hard time with this one. momtochuck's boy's suggestions feel the most on-center to me. Not too "black", not too political, not too African/Swahili... More about going back to deeper roots... ?? yet relevant to todays naming trends. I think that the people going for the black/political/Swahili style wont really be looking here for their names. I could be wrong. But that is my gut feeling.
Zahara is the only girls name that really struck me.
Levi
Gabriel
Eliezer
Jonah
Noam

It cracks me up that Sylvie has so many more suggestions that the others. It is also much more in sync with most of the people on this borads naming style. (by my observation)

What ARE the twins names??? How dare you hold us in such suspense? (all in good fun)

I wouldn't call myself good at this, but it was fun.

Barack (went more Arabic than African)
sisters: Alia, Hadia, Laila, Mariam, Zakia
brothers: Haidar, Jabril, Mahir, Rahim, Samad

Kingston
sisters: Addison, Hadley, Paige, Sydney, Zoe
brothers: Baxter, Cade, Emery, Monroe, Reed

Sylvie
sisters: Carine, Isabel, Nicolette, Rachelle, Vivien
brothers: Bastian, Ethan, Gerard, Leo, Tristan

Barack's Brothers:

Abidemi
Kofi
Imamu
Kwame
Obi
Mosi
Desmond
Malcolm
Josiah
Malik
Chinua

Barack's Sisters:

Nnenna
Amara
Oni
Iman
Marjani
Zuri
Aliyya
Jamila
Laila
Maryam

Barack's Brothers or Sisters:

Ekene
Chidi

Kingston's Brothers:

Trevor
Peter
Ziggy
Toots
Alexander
Busta
Steadman
Tupac
Jimmy
Johnny

Kingston's Sisters:

Roxanne
Aiesha
Desiree
Monette
Charlize
Eve
Dusty
Tanya
Nico
Ella

Sylvie's Brothers:

Marc
Patrick
Stephan
Joel
Noel
Hugh
Hugo
Guy
Pascal
Serge

Sylvie's Sisters:

Martine
Cybele
Adele
Marielle
Catherine
Isabelle
Fanny
Nina
Anouk
Yseult

Kingston brothers: Bronwell, Fordice, Ivanhoe, Kirkwood and Howell

Kingston sisters: Rosedale, Beulah, Greenly, Hoover and Clementine

Barack brothers: Ali, Thurgood, Jamal, Reuben, and Samad

Barack sisters: Zora, Hagar, Ali, I'm stumped

Sylvie brothers: Jules, Gus, Blaise, Alastair, and Royce

Sylvie sisters: Delphine, Adele, Poesy, Marie, and Simone

Barack: Rosa

Kingston: Nevis (long "E", like the island)

Sylvie: Marc

Barack is also a Jewish/Hebrew name, so maybe you should look in that direction. I went to school with a Barack and I think it means Lightening in Hebrew and his brother's name was Thunder in Hebrew.
Perhaps Barack's sister is Miriam. Oh wait, maybe it's spelled Barak, not Barack.

I'm standing by Hagar for Barack's sister!

Oh, and I really want to know the twins' names!

Kingston brother: Reardon? Beaumont?

Barak:
I agree with Zara or Suri or Shiloh, but I thought maybe Rosa (as in Rosa Parks), and obviously Hillary or Oprah (tongue in cheek).
Brothers: Mohummad, Ali, Denzel

Sylvie:
Sisters: Sophie, Claudine, Heloise
Brothers: Henry, Frederick, Jules, Hugo

Kingston:
Brothers: Kai, Keanu, Brooklyn
Sisters: Sunday (or any other day of the week), April

The first thing that came to mind is sister India for Kingston. Place name, kind of trendy, kind of edgy.

BTW, the reason I did not included Hebrew sibsets for Barack was because she framed her initial question in terms of Barack's Muslim, and Arabic-Swahili elements.

Jessica, I can't speak for all non-European posters on this board, but I may well end up naming my child something "ethnic" with socio-political resonance and I still greatly enjoy Laura's blog and book. I also know a Ghanaian-American, Arab-American, and Indian-American who have copies of the original book. Just because we may have different naming trends in our ancestral backgruond does not mean we do not take part in the majority culture...in fact, most minorities are heavily tuned in to the majority zeitgeist and take part in many elements of it. ;)

I also disagree that one culture's set of names is a better "fit" for a multi-cultural name like Barack. My hope is that Laura will list two different sibsets for names that have dual meanings in two large cultural milieus (in this case, I think she should have a "Hebrew" sibset, and an Arabic-Swahili or Muslim-Swahili sibset listed). Imagine if you wanted the Arabo-African connection for your Barack, and when you went to the book, you found "Levi" as a suggestion for the brother.

For another example, I believe Mari is a Japanese name that means something entirely different from the Western/Biblical derivation of Mari. I believe such names deserve two distinct sets of sibling suggestions.

Barack's brothers
Kwame
Elias
Asa
Orion
Solomon
Isaiah
Jamal

sisters
Nia
Martine
Aiyanna
Kenya
Malia
Zoe
Sabra
Serafina

Kingston's brothers
Grayson
Emory
Merit
Kellen
Roman
Miles
Emmett

sisters
Cadence
Spring
Kylie
Lindsey
Gwynne
Zia

Sylvie's brothers
Lucian
Jameson
Rafael
Blaine
Julian
Bevan

sisters
Audrey
Genivieve
Rose
Lucia
Adrienne
Simone

Barak is also Hebrew, so a lot of Hebrew based names match

[Barack: Malindi, Tana, Nyeri, Waris]

I'm not familiar with Waris but having been to Malindi, Tana and Nyeri (all places) they don't seem right to me as siblings for Barack. So many East Africans have Old Testament names that the Jewish suggestions also sound very good to me.

and while EasternBetty (?) is right, for Islamic names religion generally trumps ethnicity, I know several non-Muslim Baracks (or Baraka sometimes) in EA.

So to me, there is a definite Swahili sound group of sibs, an Old Testament group of sibs (which also sounds somehow African to me) and then a group of Af/am homage sibs. I really like Sojourner in this category, btw.

Everyone's suggestions for Sylvie seem spot on to me. And totally in the style of this board!

Love Solomon for Barack. Just love that name, I guess!

My 2.5 year old daughter is named Sylvie Winifred. No siblings yet, but hey that doesn't keep the baby name obsession at bay!

Sisters: Beatrice, Olive, and Esther are my top contenders at this point.

Brothers: Gus is my favorite for the time being, but I'm also stumped on this one.

Barack's sister Pilgrim, just for spice?

Or Kingston's sister Sayward?

Btw Kacey, I love your daughter's name. I'm a newly wed, no kids in sight, but I fantasize about names. Sylvie has always been a great favorite of mine!

Sarah S - Maybe just me, but I think of India Wilkes, so it's a nogo with Barack.

Just a note on Barack vs. Barak:

Barack/Baraka is from an Arabic root meaning "blessing." There are, in fact, closely related Hebrew names: Beracha/Baruch (blessing/blessed). The Hebrew Barak is unrelated and means "lightning." Despite the resemblance between the two names, I'm not planning to consider the Hebrew Barak in my matching because stylistically, in America in 2008, that's just not what the name Barack is about.

BTW, I *love* all the ideas you've been offering! Some of the suggestions were already on my short lists, others I hadn't considered at all. I'll be sure to post the ultimate selections here for your approval!

Leonie for Sylvie (I also like Delphine)
we considered it for our little leo.

Desmond could work w Kingston, after musician Desmond Dekker, or for Barack, after Desmond Tutu

Eaternbetty: I am sorry. I did not meanthat they would not be chewcking teh book at all. I did a poor job of explaining what I meant. Hopefully I did not offend anyone bc I have no! evil intentions.
I think you have a brilliant idea about some names having several sets of sibling names. Barack is the perfect example. I have little exposure to the religious value of the name. I have even less to the Swahili roots. Hence the names that sound on track to my "blonde/blue roots" (please understand me!!) is gpoing to be very different than someone with another connection to the name.
That make sense? I hope so. I am not singling out any group over another!

To me, Sylvie is not an unusual up-and-comer, but rather an ordinary, middle-aged name. Upon doing a little research I found that Sylvie was apparently the most popular girls name in Quebec from 1955-1964. So while it may be largely unknown in the States, to me it is like someone telling me that Donna, Mary, Debra, Linda, Susan, Barbara, or Patricia is an unknown potential up-and-comer. It really makes me realize how distinct the culture I grew up in really is, despite being only an hour away from the American border.

So who are Sylvie's siblings? Jean (zhEHN... however you would write that without phonetic characters... it's like Wyclef Jean's last name), Yves (EE-v), Sylvain, Pierre, Michel, Luc, Anne, Louise, Diane (DEE-an), or Yvonne.

Actually, Diane should have said dee-AHN.

I may have to amend my Sylvie brother list. I like Hugh/Hugo too.

Sylvie's siblings
- Hildie
- Beatrice
- Mireille
- Leni (not French, but very sporty and cute)

- Simon
- Theo
- Olivier
- Felix
- Lionel
- Lucien
- Sacha

Disregarding the French connection, I also like Cedric, Cosmo, Linus, Calvin, and Milo with Sylvie.

Oh, and how about Violet with Sylvie? Or Violette if you wish.

I can't believe no one has suggested Condoleezza as a sister to Barack yet. It is true that Rice and Obama are on opposite political sides, but they are both AA political figures whose names are new on the American naming scene.

I agree with pps that Barack could have siblings pairs with African-American and African leaders.
Brothers: Nelson, Desmond, Martin, Luther, Malcolm
Sisters: Coretta, Condoleezza, Sojourner, Rosa, Zora

Also traditional African names, which you undoubtedly know more about than I do. I looked up Barack Obama Sr.'s bio on Wikipedia and his wives' names might make good sister pairs to Barack: Kezia and Hebiba.

Pairs for Kingston would include other celebrity baby names (Maddox, Zahara) and place names (Brooklyn, Catalina) that are modern-sounding and a little pretentious. I see Kingston as very similar to Maddox, so you could just take what you have for Maddox's sisters and copy them onto Kingston. (Is that cheating?)

I see a few people have suggested Marley as a sister to Kingston - I second that, and would also like to add Marlo. Sound-wise, it seems a better fit because of that jaunty, unusual -o ending.

I'm very probably about to show my ignorance of at least one culture, but the first thing that came into my head for Barack's sister was Ashanti. I know it's the name of an African people (so, not exactly a traditional first name), but I get the feeling it's used among African-Americans, partly due to the singer's influence, but also to connote a connection to Africa? Having just Wikipedia'd the Ashanti, I also feel the name might fit a family with progressive politics as they are a matrilineal society where the female line determines inheritance! The singer Ashanti's Wikipedia page states that her mother named her after the Ashanti because she wanted her daughter to follow that model of powerful, strong women. Plus, Barack and Ashanti sound good together!

For Sylvie's brother, I second the suggestions of Maxim, Felix, Oliver and Sebastian, as well as my original suggestion of Alban.

I'm probably coming at this form a different perspective, I'm not American and I've only heard of the name Barack in the last year. In fact the first time I heard it I thought it was a really tasteless name for an American president- hearing it as Barrack the places where you keep lots of soldiers.To me something like Gunn goes perfectly with Barack.

I'm not overly familliar with African names but Barack seems to have a much harder sound and also sound very Western- no one is going to be looking at it trying to figure out how to pronounce it. How about sibling names to Barack which are African but don't on hearing don't necessarily sound like an African name? The only one I can think of is possibly Zain.

For Kingston Leslie popped straight into my head.

There have been loads of great Slyvie suggestions so I don't have anything to add here.

Regarding Kingston, when it comes to Gwen and Gavin's next child, I would not be surprised if they took a name from the women in rock or punk history books and revived a name like Faye or Gloria/Glory.

As for the name Kingston and his potential siblings, I echo the choices of some other posters and suggest some new ones:

KINGSTON
Sisters: Cairo, Tempest, Dahlia, Nico, Romy, Callisto
Brothers: Rex, West, Rio

It's seems like only a matter of time before hip parents get wind of Cairo. Rex seems a very suitable brother for Kingston and I could easily see this name becoming a hit after seeing a Rex on the UK's current Big Brother.

As for Sylvie, it's one of my absolute favorite names and I had no trouble finding her siblings. I also echoed some other poster's choices and gave some new ones:

SYLVIE
Sisters: Cleo, Tess, Amelie, Suzette, Eulalie
Brothers: Leo, Remy, Noel, Felix, Max, Milo, Zane, Zeke

Barack is giving me some trouble, though. Will get back to you on that one.

Sister for Barack: Zaria

(I had an African American student by this name, loved her and loved the name. It is simple, dignified, easy to spell... I want to encourage the world to use it!)

Barack:
Boys: Dante, Adrian, Griffen, Isaac, Orlando
Girls: Luca, Matea, Carmen, Leona, Nadia

Kingston:
Boys: Conrad, Dorian, Philip, Henry, Wesley
Girls: Delilah, Carrignton, Samanatha, Lorelei, Dagny

Sylvie:
Boys: Raphael, Ryan, Marcus, James, Cristof
Girls: Emily, Macy, Fiona, Shelby, Gemma

That's Carrington and Samantha (stupid typos)

These names came to me practically in my sleep so I decided to post them. I see that several have already been posted, so in that case I second them:

Brothers for Barack: Nelson, Elijah, Gabriel

Sister for Barack: Maya

Brothers for Kingston: Eddy, Nelson, Charles

Brother for Sylvie: Luc

Sister for Sylvie: Simone

Kingston's sister Honor?
The tricky thing with Kingston is that it is not up the charts yet. I think the parent using it now isn't a "place name" parent. Gwen did what so many parents want to do. She picked a name that is distinctive, but not "weird", not just, well, a word (hey, I can think of words that aren't used as names, too!), that seems right as a name. It has the "why didn't I think of that?" factor. I am decidely unhip, so I actually found Kingston really tough. But I still like Bronwell from my list.

The first thing that came into my mind for Kingston's sister is Savannah.

Langston could be a good brother for Barack or Kingston. And I love Claudine as a sister for Sylvie.

I know a little Sylvie with brothers Bennett and Elliott. They always seemed to go together well for me. Sylvie doesn't sound as French to me as a Luc does and so I think goes fine with some other ethnicities.

I like the idea of Imani as a sister to Barack.

Wow. That was another fun one. Barack was really hard, but I came up with Sisters: Nima, Aliyah, Indira, Kiara, Amira, Brothers: Omar, Gabriel, Noah, Malik, Kareem (my favs, Nima & Kareem)
Kingston was a little easier, although the boys stumped me. Sisters: Lucea, Mandeville, Marley, Cedella, Harlowe Brothers: Montego, Royal, Maximillian, August, Montgomery (my favs, Harlowe & Montgomery-nn Monte)
Sylvie was the easiest, probably because the names are closer to my style. Sisters: Opal, Minnie, Tessa, Louisa, Amelia, Brothers: Leo, Max, Julian, Luc, Theo (my favs, Opal & Leo)

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought Hillary as a sister to Barack. Because, honestly, my first thought with brothers to Barack was "Clinton". But I'm not Baby Name Wizard, so I'm pretty sure my gut instincts are severely lacking on the 'matching' front.

Surprisingly I don't have any feelings good or bad for the name Barack. This could have something to do with my being Canadian, and not taking a huge interest in American politics.
For Barack-
Sisters: Aaliyah, Za(h)ra, Karima, Leila, Naima
Brothers: Mohammed, Abdul(lah), Farid, Gamal/Jamal, Hassan

I have decided that Kingston is a lost cause, I can't think of much at all. My associations are with Sean Kingston and Kingston, Jamaica
For Kingston-
Sisters: Not a clue
Brothers: Kent, Hudson... ?

For me Sylvie is a middle-age Québecois name, as Karyn stated. And I work with several who are in their late 40s-late 50s, so I have to admit it sounds dated to me, but I'll attempt to pretend that it's a fresh, new, anglophone name and make suggestions based on that, though I tried to be sure that all the sibling names sound good in French as well as English.
For Sylvie-
Sisters: Linnéa, Natalie, Camille, Coralie, Juliette, Caroline
Brothers: Lucas, William/(Guillaume), Simon, Charles, Oliver/(Olivier)

Can I just say I love Desmond for Kingston's brother--or even Dekker! But maybe I just love Desmond Dekker. I should be listening to some Desmond Dekker right now...

And Karyn's comment about Quebec's Sylvies being middle-aged also caught my eye. The one Sylvie I know is a 40-something mom... from Vietnam, so elsewhere in the Francophone world.

The lesson, I guess, is if you're ever tempted to marvel about an immigrant named Shirley or some other unhip name (sorry for the Shirley fans, just an example from my own family)--remember that a young American named Sylvie might come off as similarly odd in French-speaking places, no?

I want to serve as an example to everyone as to the reason we should all proof-read our posts before we press submit. I am very sorry for such a ridiculous run-on sentence, above.

As a side-note, Sister Melinda, that is a very astute comment about the unhip-Western-name-on-an-immigrant phenomena! I hadn't thought of it like that.

Everyone has such enlightened suggestions! I drew a blank on Barack, but:

Kingston -- Jagger, Talan, Barron
Sheridan, Leighton, London

Sylvie -- Juliet, Celia, Therese, Elodie
Pierrot, Tristan, Noel

love the suggestion of Violet for Sylvie and India for Kingston -- Perfect!

On another note, I'd like some input on a naming question. I'm expecting my first child. If it's a girl, the name is set -- Margaret(nn Meg). If it's a boy, I'm leaning toward Owen. But our ln starts with "N." Does the double "n" break a cardinal naming rule? TIA

Mine are partly pilfered from other people, partly not. Mainly gut reaction rather than any logic as such (least logic, as you will see, went into deciding Barack's siblings):

Kingston
sisters: Guinevere, Charlotte, Eleanor, Josephine, Sapphire
brothers: Orfeus, Max, Conrad, Caleb, Seamus

Barack
sisters: Zamira, Malindi, Maren, Simone, Selma
brothers: Marlon, Kofi, Ramon, Mars, Luther

Sylvie
sisters: Sofia/e, Lucille, Mat(h)ilda/e, Marinella, Sabine
brothers: Mathieu, Sebastian, Leon, Caspian, Florian

Barack:
Sisters- Rosa, Layla, Hope, Malika, Hillary :)
Brothers- Lincoln, Kenya, Mandela, Chinua (also means blessing), Khalfani (leader)

Kingston
Sisters- London, Poppy, Bex, Isla, Calypso
Brothers- Truman, Cheyenne, Asher, Roman, Cal

Sylvie:
Sisters- Josephine, Eloise, Amelie, Gigi, Claire
Brothers- Blaise, Hugo, Christophe, Adrian, Luc

For Barack I was all over the place: namesakes, Swahili names, virtue names. He was definitely the hardest.
For Kingston, mostly place names or names with that "I'm a cool mom" feel and short, catchy nicknames.
For Sylvie, non-aggressively French names or the French spellings of popular English names (and Hugo for Victor Hugo)

Jessica, no harm done and no offense taken!

The problem with offering sibsets in general is that inevitably, there will be someone who named their first kid something for a different reason than the sibsets offered. People gave the example of Kingston: a parent might have named their first kid Kingston because it had never occurred to them before Stefani, and now that she used it, it seems new and exciting (call this the "celebtrendy" namer, if you will).

But Laura may be offering sibsets based on names that are city-place names with connections to a global South culture (i.e. Cairo or Jakarta). The parent might go, "huh!" and scratch their heads, because they had been considering Pax, Jayden, and Honor as siblings.

But this is probably an unsolveable problem--I mean, we DO want sibsets in the Wizard, but the book can't grow to be encyclopedia-sized. So choices--like Laura's to emphasize Barack's non-Hebrew derivation--will have to be made, I suppose.

Even though these have already been suggested, I wanted to second the following:

Naima as a sister to Barack
Conrad as a brother to Kingston
Lucie as a sister to Sylvie

Okay, I posted without reading any other suggestions. Amazing how many of us thing alike.

Catherine, I can't believe we independently came up with Calypso for Kingston. Or maybe I can believe it.

Nina, I laughed out loud when I came to Toots on your list! (I hope that's not anyone's child's name).

And obviously others had the same Rosa Parks and Hillary ideas I did. Sigh, that's the problem with posting the next day.

I have a second cousin named Sylvie (she must be a teenager by now) from Belgium with a brother named Pierre. I would be interested to know what the relationship is between naming trends in francophone Europe and Quebec. Sylvie is very French sounding to me, so I would agree with those who have suggested French names that are relatively easy to say in English - Sebastien, Marc, Gabriel, Luc, Felix, Xavier.

My immediate associations with Kingston are very different from the ones featured prominently here - I spend a significant part of my childhood in the Hudson Valley, so the most natural pairing I can think of would be "Poughkeepsie." Not exactly what Ms. Stefani was thinking, I imagine. ;)

And a big thank you to everyone who posted "Calypso". It was the name of a student I have been racking my brain to remember.

This is a fun question!

For Barack-
Since Barak is a name in the old testament perhaps some other names from the same would work.
For boys-
Abel,
Ezekiel,
Ephraim,
Elon,
Ezra.
For girls-
Adina,
Tirzah,
Keturah,
Helah, pronounced Hel-AYE, like the ER character),
Maryam or Miriam,
Sela.

For Kingston I would try to match the feeling I get from the place name so,
For Boys-
Cyan,
Rio,
Ari.
For Girls-
Oceane (French, O-say-ann),
Joy,
Nerissa (sea spirit),
Iona,
Odessa,
Azure or Azura.

For Sylvie, the first name that came to mind was Vincent (as in Van Gogh and sunflowers and French Impressionism.)
For boys-
Vincent,
Sandro,
Lucas,
Claude,
Alan,
Julian,
Noel,
Victor.

For girls-
Annette,
Thalia,
Adele,
Helen,
Juliet,
Violet.

Now i have to go back and read everyone else's ideas!

For me, Barack doesn't really fit with many of the African names suggested. I know that there are some parents who will use the name for the afro-connection or Muslim connection, but for me the name is 95% political. I thought the suggestions for Coretta were very astute. Coretta evokes images of strength, resolve, purpose, determination and perseverance. Those characteristics match really well with Barack. Oprah is too identified with a single person (ala Madonna or Cher). Which is kind of ironic since who else can we imagine when we hear Barack? Or Coretta? What makes some 'owned' names okay to use and others not okay?

Condoleeza does not have the depth of Coretta to match. Madeleine might though (ala Madeleine Albright). To me, the name Hillary (and Condoleeza for that matter) is too polarizing, while Barack and Coretta are about ooming *together*. I think Mandela is a complimentary choice as is Nelson. Girl names are hard though. What other feminine names speak of unity and triumph, strength and perseverance? Martha (Washington)? Rosa is probably pretty good though not as singular of an association. What about Theresa (as in Mother Theresa)?

I don't know what the origin of Nia was, but I liked it as a fit. Perhaps its appeal is exactly that I *don't* know what the origin is? Until I read it here I had no idea what the origin of Barack was. Straight froward sound, easy to spell, kinda exotic...

Can't wait to see the final lists...

LOL - 'ooming' should have been 'coming' in my previous post.

New baby born yesterday to my husband's co-worker: Emmanuel Celestino last name.

Sarah, I loved your take on the name Piper. For the first time, I actually kind of like it!

Re: Barack. Here are several suggestions I believe have not yet been mentioned, although I may very have missed a few posts:

Sethe (from Beloved)
Cory (for Cory Booker)
Booker (for Cory Booker and Booker T. Washington)
Celie (from The Color Purple)
Edwidge (for Edwidge Danticat)
Achebe (for Chinua Achebe)

I also second -- or fifth or tenth, it seems like -- the "Zora," "Maya," and "Coretta" suggestions.

(Oh, and for the record, my cousin's newborn twins are named Helen and Francis.)

Here are my sibling set suggestions. Some have been mentioned already.

Kingston:
Sisters: Marley, Phoenix, Kiley, Presley, Maia
Brothers: Maximus, Sterling, Prince, Maverick, Jagger

Sylvie:
Sisters: Beatrix, Claire, Tessie, Helene, Margot, Merit
Brothers: Adrian, Julian, Luc, Felix, Oliver

Barack:
Sisters: Dalila, Jamila, Mandisa, Zuri, Kamilah
Brothers: Nasor, Omari, Maalik, Hakim, Umar

Sigh. One of the (many) reasons I turn to name blogs is to get away from the collective political swoon over Sen. Obama by the elite media. Oh well, here's the perspective of a non-Obama fan:

Sibs: Jamal, Ahmed, Hakeem, Abdul, Leila, Zenobia, Ayasha, Jamila

However, as one who rejects "identity" politics, I see Mr. Obama primarily as a standard, if well-packaged, leftist politician, in the bland Euro-socialist tradition, far more than I do his ethnic or religious heritage. Therefore, I would say his siblings SHOULD be like-minded heroes of the left and near left:

Sibs: Che, Walter (Mondale), Fidel, Michael (Dukakis or Moore), Breyer (for Stephen Breyer), Bader (for Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Emma (for Goldman), Red Ken, (for Livingston), etc.

Couldn't help having a little fun with that... But my point remains completely serious that for me it is his (somewhat disguised) ideology which is the salient factor determining compatible siblings.

Kingston could bring to mind Canada as well as Jamaica. Kingston, Ontario is an historic old town with a famous prison. Sibs: Cornwall, Bimini, Roscoe, Folsom...

Sibs for Sylvie: Lucienne, or Lucien, Solange, Gilbert, Jules, Philibert.

Eo - I thought Thurgood would cover both bases. How about Barack and Teddy?

What I find interesting about Kingston is that it is ranked 45 for last year in Hawaii.

In the US it is ranked at 355!

I don't know where it ranks in other states. I would not have guessed that it was a popular name in Hawaii.

Oh, and what about the one name that goes perfectly with Barack? Obama!

CB, thanks for the compliments about my daughter's name.

I love the suggestions of Otto and Hugo for brothers of Sylvie. I am really anxious for the official sibling list!

Also, I just thought of a possible sister name for Barack: Haania (pronounced Hahn-yuh). I loooove this name, I think it's an Arabic name. I also kinda think it has a Scandinavian feel to it with the double vowel?

I was at my daughter's camp open house today and saw two names I thought might work as sisters for a Barack: Zanovia and Zaira. The first was the name of a teenage sister of a 2nd-grade camper. The second was a mom's name.

Love this post! Just wanted to add Hal as a brother for Sylvie, if it's not already been mentioned.

Oh, and if we're going with canada's Kingston, not only home to an (in)famous prison, but Queen's University, a historic military base and nearly the capital of Canada, I'll add Halifax, Dalhousie, McGill and York as brothers. Or sisters.

At first, I couldn't think of anything for Barack, but after seeing momtochuck's reply, I thought Boaz might make a good sibling name. I also agree that Coretta might be nice for a sister's name.

As for Kingston and Sylvie, some of these are repeats or taken from other people's suggestions, but here's what I think are good matches (not necessarily for each other, but for Kingston or Sylvie, at least).

Kingston:
-Brothers: Thatcher, Royal, Croix, Maddox, Raleigh, Riley
-Sisters: Adelaide, Daisy, Chelsea, Amelie, Charlotte

Sylivie:
-Brothers: Remy, Marc, Felix, Milo, Philip
-Sisters: Claire, Amelie, Sophie, Lettie, Valerie

oh, and whomever suggested Condoleesa as a sib for Barack... I think that would only work if one parent was a staunch Democrat and the other was a rabid Republican. I can't imagine a person who would admire both of them to the point of wanting to name a child after each!

Peace

A postscipt to my musings above on mentions of certain political names:

The name Barack Hussein Obama has become almost a mantra in the liberal media, and for liberals in general. To be repeated adoringly, almost every 20 seconds, it seems, especially on MSNBC! Of course, it's much harder for my heroes to get other than bored, dutiful mentions in this environment. So, I'll rectify that now!

Sib sets for John Sidney McCain:

Peter, William, James, Henry
Mary, Elizabeth, Anne, Jane

There's a lovely simplicity to these timeless, well-loved names. But, just as I would choose compatible Obama sibling names based on his primary characteristic, leftism, I would choose McCain sibling names that evoke this former prisoner of war's courage and self-sacrifice.

True sibs for McCain:

Winston (as in Churchill), Joan or Jeanne (as in d'Arc), Reagan (as in "Ronaldus Magnus"), David (as in he who faced Goliath), Abraham (as in Lincoln), Theodore or Teddy (as in Roosevelt, CB, NOT Kennedy!), Audie (as in Murphy), Martin (as in Luther King), Esther (as in the Biblical heroine who charmed her sovereign), Patrick (as in Henry).

Sisters for Kingston

Lola/Lulu/Lolo
Sailor
Sapphire or Emerald
Avalon
Sienna

My take on folks picking this name is that they want something that seems a little "rock star," without being too risky-names that maybe aren't run of the mill but have sounds reminiscient of more usual names.
Were it not for the notoriety attached to it, I would have suggested Paris.
I also wouldn't be at all surprised to meet a Kingston with a sister named something like Bailey or Riley. Others I thought of were Seneca and Larkin.
I also agree with the pp that Kingston reminds me of Maddox.
The Maddox I know irl has a brother named Lachlan, and his mom considered Lennox.
I could easily imagine Lachlan or Lennox as brothers to a Kingston.

Amani is a Swahili girl name from Kenya. That would work as a sister to Barack.

Coll, my placement of Toots of my list is a reference to the legendary reggae/ska band, Toots and the Maytals. I believe Toots' real name is Frederick, but I was just trying to echo a vibe with some of my names rather than being completely proper. Hence the Jimmy (homage to Jimmy Cliff),Ziggy and, on a later post, Eddy (remember Eddy Grant?). And there are so many cool Johnnys I decided to throw him in as well. Other nicknames such as Teddy and Billy would be in the same vein.

I agree with Joni that the name Barack is largely political rather than African. But when I began looking at African name lists I was so moved I got a bit carried away. Just seeing that Abidemi means "born during father's absence" in Yoruba gave me more than pause.

Peace, I love the suggestion of Serafina as Barack's sister. And Mara, do you think Sylvie's sisters Cleo and Eulalie could perhaps join Kingston's household as well?

Does anyone besides me see the elephant in the room? I wish I could do spoiler tags so no one had to look unless they so chose. But I can't, so here it is: Hussein.

How about Gloria as a sister to Barack? There are subtle political connections (Steinem) and it's a name that seems to me to be used by both blacks and whites.

For Sylvie, I like Amelie as a sister. For a brother, Arthur?

Wow, Eo, you seem to be the one injecting politics into an innocent, nonpartisan discussion of names. Obama's primary characteristic is leftism? Sure, about as much as McCain's is conservatism. Be fair now.

Please keep from turning this into something political. Barack is a much more unusual name that John (McCain). It is far more difficult to find something that matches. That's why Laura asked, I believe.

For every post about the "elite media" there will then be one about the only 3 companies that own media organizations that are just out to make a buck and are in the GOP's pocket.

For every Obama's brother could be Fidel comparison, we can then read that a good John sibling name would be Tomas, as in Torquemada the torturer. Or James, Earl or Ray since McCain was opposed to making Martin Luther King Day a holiday in 1983.

If anyone wants that can't they go to one of the several billion political blogs?
Otherwise, just concentrate on the subject at hand instead of mudslinging.

When I first posted (yesterday) I resisted my first impulse to name as Sylvie's brothers those French double names that were so popular in the 60s: Jean-Claude, Jean-Paul, Jean-Luc, Jean-Pierre, Jean-Joel...

...they eventually won the tug of war, so voila!

Eo - while I feel your pain, I have to say the Barack sibling set offers a very difficult problem. Is the parent choosing it doing so because they like the style of that name and find the cultural reference pleasant, but not all important? In that case we go with other names from that language. Or are they directly honoring Barack Obama, in which case they need other highly distinctive names that honor people.
So while I am a little bored by Barack Obama, I find this challenge very interesting!

I third the requests to keep this conversation about names and not politics, left, right, or center.

Kingston & Admiral
Kingston & Havana (?)

how about the other elephant in the room: Barack & Osama. As far as I'm aware, Osama is still a regular name for regular people. Is there an Arabic language name voyager?

I will respectfully point out that only AFTER political names have been injected into this blog, have I responded. Senator Obama has been introduced several times; back when Senator Clinton was the presumptive liberal standard-bearer, she wss introduced as well. I have noticed that scoldings rarely occur at the introduction of such figures. Partisanship is in the eye of the beholder, in my view.

Personally, I can only reiterate that, for news and politics, I do look elsewhere. This blog is reserved for fun! But I well understand that certain political personalities hold great fascination for some. And that's fine! But given our diversity, some people will have opposite reactions to the individuals and/or their names mentioned. I cheerfully exercise the prerogative of expressing mine...

What's interesting to me is this: once topics like Senators Obama or Clinton are introduced, one can't really orchestrate how others will see them, or where it will lead. That's part of the fascination of an on-going blog, I suppose.

Just did a little brushing up on the history of Ska music and I'd like to offer the following suggestions for Kingston:

Brothers: Buster, Duke, Dodd, Reid, Coxsone
Sisters: Ivy, and I love the suggestion of Glory!

Also, though not ska, what about Hendrix?

Nina - I, too, had the impulse to include hyphenated French names as siblings to Sylvie. While I have no idea if they are out of fashion in France, I know that in Quebec they are alive and well... well, they were in the early to mid 1980s when my contemporaries were born.

And tying in with the previous post about cross-gender names, I have always found it strange to encounter (generally middle-aged) men named things like Pierre-Marie. (Although come to think of it, I never think twice about a girl named Marie-Pierre, illustrating again how much more acceptable or usual or whatever it is for a girl to have a boy's name than it is for a boy to have a female name.)

For me, being non-American and almost totally non-political, the name match I immediately thought of was Kofi. I actually know one little Kofi, and have heard of another (both in Western countries).
For Kingston, I think Marley and Calypso match quite well - they have that Jamaican feel without being totally obvious.

Sisters for Kingston...well, any of the Pepperidge Farm cookie names would do. They're mostly famous cities. I like to joke that I will name my kids after PF cookies!

Seriously, here are some ideas inspired by world capitals:
Vienna
PAZ
Athena
Victoria
London
Brazza
Valleta

Liz and Louka (and all the previous posters who said the same)-

I can completely see the sibset: Kingston, Marley and Calypso. And this is coming from the gal who couldn't think of even one girl option for Kingston. I hope at least one of these makes Laura's "List". I can't wait to see the final tally.

Eo, I agree with your point that suggesting names perceived as complementary that happen to have belonged to people WIDELY viewed as "greats"--Susan, Theresa, Desmond, Rosa, Martin, Sojourner--is an implicit statement of parents. The statement it makes is "Barack Obama is, in my mind, amongst the ranks of these widely-lauded and even revered individuals."

I personally am not "a fan" (or supporter) of either Obama or McCain. Further, I am so far the opposite of naming a child after somebody famous--no matter how influential--that I find the idea of naming a kid Barack, Condoleeza, or even Madonna (a comparitively more widespread name in the West) untenable.

But, even given all this, I offered suggestions because I know there ARE people who name like this, and who view Barack in this fashion. When it comes to offering name recommendations, I aim to please, irrespective of my own feelings on the subject!

(Your suggestions for John were, as expected, very good. A bit easier task than Barack or Kingston, though, eh? I don't understand why Sylvie is perceived as being tough to match, but go figure.)

I really like the idea of Marley, but I just don't "feel," the sound of it with Kingston. Also, did anyone else read that book about the World's Worst Dog?
It was super popular for a while, and I think I'm stuck on that association.

Laura and bloggers: A certain proportion of us has expressed a dislike of "matchy" sibling sets. The book did a good job for the most part of not being too matchy, IMO (personally, I have idiosyncratic tolerances for matchy-- all New Testament or Hindu or Old English names would be a nice type of matchy for me, whereas the names of the first six U.S. presidents or The Temptations or three Academy-Award winning-actresses or three different types of flower would feel gimmicky).

Although I love the symmetry and sound of Kingston, Cairo, and Jakarta or Kingston, Marley, and Calypso, I'm very surprised no one has expressed a dislike of their matchy-ness. And I'm surprised these are the types of sibsets Laura would encourage parents to use via the book (I only say that because I suspected Laura might have been one of the anti-matchys, but I wouldn't be surprised to be proved wrong on this count).

What is the line between "congruent, effortlessly blending sibset" and "gimmick?"

Here here Easternbetty! That's exactly what I was thinking with Kingston!
And Eo, I think a similar discussion on the other side of the spectrum wouldn't be John's sibset...It'd be Rush's sibset (being a name that evokes one individual in American culture, being highly charged, and in itself an uncommon American name)

Amusing point, CB! I like!

As usual, Easternbetty, I bow before your wisdom. By the way, in my list of Arabic names was "Zenobia". Love it. It is Arabic, is it not? I thought it was one of those romantic, desert names taken up by the English. Much in the way that "Zara" (also Arabic?) was appropriated by Princess Anne for her daughter, Zara. Seems to me there was a Zenobia Phipps, who I'm associating with the Bloomsbury Group, for some reason?

Zenobia was a 3rd century Syrian queen, ruler of Egypt and the Palmyrene Empire, who lived out her last years in an Italian villa (sweet!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia

Says she was Julia Aurelia Zenobia at birth; in Arabic, she was Znwbya Bat Zaddai; in Greek, Xenobia or Septimia Zenobia. She signed documents as "Bat-Zabbai," or daughter of Zabbai.

Easternbetty, you're probably right. While the Jamaica connection isn't too "obvious" in Kingston, Marley and Calypso individually, it does stick out like a sore thumb when the three are together. I still like them though...

Can I just say the more I think about it the more I'm really falling in love with one of my own suggestions? I think Scarlett and Kingston make a fun and snappy sib set. But maybe that's just me. :)

Easternbelly, I am completely with you on matchy sibling names. I'm not a fan. I tried to stay away from all French sibling names for Sylvie. I though Suzette and Eulalie worked, though. However, naming sisters Sylvie and Simone was a little too matchy for my taste.

As for Kingston - I think it's even MORE ridiculous to try to match it up with another place name or another Jamaican-influenced name. Cairo, however, is a name that I thought would have been snatched up by the lovers of Kaya/Kaia, Kaylee/Kaylen, Kyle, Kyla, etc a long time ago. I can easily see it becoming popular and end up with spin-offs like Kyro.

Aside from Rio and possibly West, I thought my other choices for Kingston's siblings were a bit more realistic. I can easily see a Kingston and Callisto, a Kingston and Tempest, a Kingston and Rex, for example.

AK - I, too, thought of Scarlett for Kingston but because of the popularity of Scarlett Johansson, it seems to have jumped from slightly unusual to nice but commonplace for me. It's the same way I feel about Violet - it's beautiful but becoming more and more common.

oh how fun! Have to really admire some of the recommendations (and steal their best, with some of my own additions thrown in)

Brothers for Sylvie:
(delicate, frenchish names)
Adrien, Felix, Bastien, Emile

Brothers for Kingston:
(punchy, off-beat names)
Jericho, Bronx, Paxton, Berlin, Attila, Mars (Montgomery also cool)

Sisters for Kingston:
(strong, unusual, non-frilly names)
Phoenix, Scarlett, Jamaica, Xenia, Ramona, Dolores, Juno, Avril (Marley's also cool)

Thinking about my association with Kingston, I saw that really what stood out to me was the "King" element of it. So, since I personally would never go with theme naming, I tried to think of a way to incorporate the royal element less obviously than naming Kingston's sister Queenie. In the end, some of the names I came up with sound pretty good with Kingston (to my ear at least, whether or not I would ever really use them myself) and others are less good because they are too different in style. I didn't include the truly awful ones.

Queen:
Raina/Raine/Rayna/Rheanna
Juno (for now also has the pop culture reference)
Rhiannon
Regina/Regine (I think the non-French is better here)
There are also Malka, Lareina, and Rani, among others, but I didn't think that they went too well with Kingston.)

Prince/Princess:
Amira
Sarina (and a huge list of other names derived from Sarah)
Orla/Orlagh/Orlaith (probably too distinctly Irish for Kingston)
Brendan (although past its peak)

King:
Reagan/Regan

I'm sure that there are others but that's what I've got right now. Also, there are conflicts between sites about what means, say, Princess or Queen, but I went with the majority. It doesn't really matter anyway because they both go with the theme.

FYI, Senator Barack Obama's real life Indonesian sister is Maya. One of his Kenyan sisters is Auma.

Indira was the first name that came to mind for Barack.

She was prime minister of India, so it has a political connection if that is what one is after, and it also has a groovy ethnic vibe, IMO.

I'm posting without reading the above comments because I didn't want to be influenced by what anyone else had said. Here goes...

BARACK

Olivier
Willson
Treeve
Anatole
Jean-Baptiste

Amina
Grace
Mariam
Tirzah
Zurie

KINGSTON

Maxim
Tate
Dashiell (Dash)
Piers
Jacobs

Lola
April
Keilah
Alder
Mercy

SYLVIE

Remi
Griffin
Calvin
Ezra
Amoux

Elodie
Aimee
Aurore (Rory)
Severine
Anouk

Interesting... after reading all the other comments, I now see some of my suggestions tied in with those made by others:

2 people suggested Amina as a sister for Barack.
5 people suggested Mariam/Maryam as a sister for Barack.
2 people suggested Tirzah as a sister for Barack.

2 people suggested April as a sister for Kingston (and several more suggested Avril)
2 people suggested Lola as a sister for Kingston.

4 people suggested Remi/Remy as a brother for Sylvie.
3 people suggested Calvin as a brother for Sylvie.
2 people suggested Ezra as a brother for Sylvie.
2 people voted for each of Aimee, Anouk and Elodie as sisters for Sylvie.

Laura,

I think it's extremely interesting to see what other people see as sibling names for these three diverse sources, and to see how much overlap there is.

Is there any chance you might put a place on this site solely devoted to sibling name suggestions by your readers? Or is the comments section already devoted enough to this? I know nymbler already does this (I'm a huge fan), but it would be a lovely complement to that software.

Regards,

Elisabeth
http://youcantcallitit.com/