
We all know that it’s twice as hard to name twins, especially if you’re trying to avoid the old matchy-matchy trap, or even the most popular baby names for twins. We also know that celebrities, for better or worse, have a tremendous influence on baby names. So, putting the two together, we take a look at some of the prominent celebs who’ve produced multiples, and see how we think they’ve handled the creative baby name challenge.
1. Monroe + Moroccan Scott: Just call the girl-boy twins of Mariah Carey and Nic Cannon “Roc and Ro,” as their parents do. The highly publicized inspirations for their names were one of Mariah’s idols, Marilyn Monroe, and the Moroccan-style decor of the area of their NY apartment that was the site of their marriage proposal. (Photo via Kevin Winter/Getty)
2. Dexter Henry Lorcan + Frank Harlan James: Leave it to a pair of hip musicians, Diana Krall and Elvis Costello, to put together a set of really cool names. Unfortunately, they have never revealed the specific inspirations behind their choices.
3. Juno + Rex: British Coldplay drummer/vocalist Will Champion was ahead of the curve on baby names when he named his twins in 2008, picking up on Juno just a year after the indie hit movie was released, and was also early with the kingly Rex, which is just picking up steam now.
4. Marion Loretta Elwell + Tabitha Hodge: Stylish couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick made some solid, offbeat choices for their girls, including giving them unequal numbers of middle names. Both Hodge and Elwell are surnames from SJP’s mother’s family; ancestor Esther Elwell was one of the accused in the Salem witch trials.
5. Charlie + Poppy: Born in 2012, the names of the boy-girl twins of Anna Paquin and True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer were kept under wraps for almost a year. The couple finally revealed two peppy names, Poppy blending perfectly with the floral name of Moyer’s older daughter, Lilac.
6. Darby Galen + Sullivan Patrick: Patrick Dempsey stayed true to his Irish roots when naming his boys. Darby shares his dad’s middle name, while Sullivan has Patrick as his middle. Dempsey’s older daughter bears the Irish spelling of her name, Tallula.
7. Charlie Tamara Tulip + Dolly Rebecca Rose: Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell obviously put a lot of thought into choosing and balancing their girl twin names. Two nickname firsts, two floral thirds and two three-syllable seconds, one honoring mom Rebecca. Dolly is a tribute to Dolly Parton, Charlie is O’Connell’s brother and Tamara is Romijn’s sister.
8. Hazel Patricia + Phinnaeus Walter: When Julia Roberts used Hazel and Phinnaeus (especially with that archaic spelling) in 2004, her choices were seen as slightly eccentric. Recently chosen by Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Hazel is now at 157, while Phinnaeus Walter Moder is known as Finn, one of the hottest boys’ names.
9. Maximilian + Emme Maribel: Like most Maximilians, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s boy immediately became known as Max, forming a compatible pairing with twin sister Emme. Max has long been a celebrity fave, going back to the now grown sons of Dustin Hoffman and Steven Spielberg, while Emme followed the Emily-Emma trend. A nice twist is that Emme echoes the first letter of Max without them sharing the initial. (Photo via Jason Merritt/Getty)
10. Nelson + Eddy: Celine Dion had valid reasons behind her boys’ names, probably unaware that together they formed the name of a Golden Age Hollywood singing star. Nelson was named after Nelson Mandela, whom Dion met when touring South Africa; Eddy was a tribute to her first record producer, Eddy Marnay.
11. Valentino + Matteo: Born in Puerto Rico as Enrique Martin Morales, Ricky Martin clearly embraced his Latino heritage when naming his twin boys. Valentino is one of the most romantic of names, dating back to the days of silent film. Matteo is a real crossover hit, also chosen by Colin Firth.
12. Vivienne Marcheline + Knox Leon: The Jolie-Pitt twins, born in 2008, may have had the greatest influence of all the pairs on this list. Vivienne’s name contributed to a spike in the popularity of both this French spelling and the more familiar Vivian; Knox, following the family tradition of x-ending boy names (Maddox, Pax), was found in the Pitt ancestral history, and propelled this old Scottish surname onto the SSA list in the year following his birth.
Did your favorite baby names make the list? Tweet us @BritandCo and let us know!
This post was previously published on Nameberry.
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures