Actress Madeleine West, and her partner Shannon Bennett, the head chef at Melbourne’s Vue Du Mond, welcomed twin girls on November 14, and have named their daughters Xalia and Margot. Xalia and Margot join big brother Hendrix, and sisters Phoenix, Xascha, and Xanthe. Xanthe’s birth was covered on the blog.
Back in July, blog reader Alison asked people to guess what Madeleine and Shannon’s twins might be called. They have absolutely foxed us, because not only did nobody guess the name Xalia, but nobody guessed that they would abandon their X-name theme for the second twin! A popular theory was they would use the X in the middle this time, with name choices such as Lexie and Roxy, but they didn’t do this either. The best guess was from The Mrs, who suggested Margaux for the couple – which would have been a great choice.
They have no doubt further fretted some readers by choosing the name Margot – a baby name that some have begun to worry is on its way to much higher popularity in the future. A celebrity baby named Margot will do nothing to allay their concerns.
(Photo of Madeleine and Shannon from the Herald Sun)
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I agree with what previous commenters have said, while Margot is an absolutely lovely name it just doesn’t match with the X theme of her siblings’ names at all! Margaux would’ve definitely fit better, but even that doesn’t have the same new age-y feel as the other kids’ names do. But congratulations to Shannon and Madeleine, they certainly have their work cut out for them! But so much joy and love too 🙂
I agree, Margot is a great name, but in the context of her siblings the lack of X is a bit of a niggle!
Do only name nerds care about this? Should we stage some sort of intervention? 😉
According to Shannon’s twitter, the newspaper article is Margot… Yes if only it was Margaux!
https://twitter.com/VueBennett/with_replies
I hadn’t realised the twins were identical! All the best with their brood!
Well if Shannon has tweeted a second article that seems to confirm the spelling, as surely he would say something if the name was being mis-spelled. I guess they just prefer Margot!
Of course, oh wow yes they should have used Margaux! I bet they didn’t even realise you could spell it that way, I wouldn’t have.
I just realised that somebody DID guess Margaux, which was a very close guess, and we will keep our fingers crossed for the magazine making a spelling mistake.
Although I love Margot, it just doesn’t go with Xalia, nor any of her other siblings! I know there are no ‘naming’ rules as such, but the OCD part of my brain just hates the fact one kid doesn’t have a X in it’s name.
I guess that’s why name nerds tend to advise not going with a theme: if you have lots of children (and this couple intended to have 2-3), at some point you may run out of names that fit your theme.
So what do you do when you run out of X names – choose one you don’t like that much just because it has an X, or choose the name you love even though it doesn’t have an X?
They did the only sensible thing, and abandoned the theme. Although as a name nerd, I can’t help thinking they could have chosen Margaux ….