#screams!!!!!

So to explain the names of these three beautiful kiddos, I first have to explain the full names I’ve given to their parents — my dear Adam and Belle.

Adam Jean-Louis Antoine Adrien de Beaumont

It’s a mouthful I KNOW! These names are all just members of his family. I believe I made Antoine his grandfather, and Jean is a great-grandfather I think. Adrien is an uncle. Louis is his horrible, awful father. I think Adam would have been named after him directly if not for the fact that I have a whole backstory headcanon about how Adam’s mother was NOT King Louis’ first wife. How his first wife, Queen Agnès, gave him a daughter that would later die as a child, and a son that was stillborn (followed by Agnès dying from childbirth). So when the new, young Queen Renée FINALLY gave him a living son, a proper heir to the throne, he let her name him. Hence his simpler, Christian name: Adam.

And “de Beaumont” is an homage to one of the 18th century Beauty and the Beast authors, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont - from 1756. I’ve also seen Adam’s last name be Beaumont in Modern AU fic before, and I’ve fully adopted it as his family name. It’s just so fitting!! So in this canon world, his family line is the house of Beaumont - instead of Bourbon or Napoleon, as history actually dictates around this time.

Belle Annalise de Beaumont (née LaRue)

Much less of a mouthful! So my story on her name is that when her darling parents - Maurice James LaRue and Maria Catherine LaRue (née Bouchet) - were expecting her, they were both quite certain it was a girl. I don’t know how, but they just KNEW. And pretty early on, they settled on the name Annalise. They just both thought it was so lovely, so sweet. They simply adored the name. But on that calm evening on the second of May, when the crying little baby girl was placed in Maria’s arms, all she could say was Belle! Belle! For she had never seen anything more beautiful. Even when her dear husband came in, all tearful and smiling, all she could call their little angel was Belle. Eventually, Maurice suggested that that should be her name, and Annalise became her middle name.

Also the family name LaRue simply means “of the street or of the road” - I wanted Maurice to have a rather plain family name, and it’s symbolic of the fact that Maurice was a street artist, and lived on the street for a good portion of his life.

Now, onto the kiddos!!

Renée Geneviève Annalise de Beaumont

Their dear firstborn, the beloved first princess and heir to the throne! So! Renée’s first name comes from Adam’s mother. I think that, even though Adam spent a good portion of his life not really wanting children, or expecting himself to care, there was some part of him that knew if he ever did have a daughter, he’d name her after his dearly departed mother. And Belle was more than happy to agree upon this name! She thought it was quite beautiful too, and she of course knows how much Adam’s mother meant to him.

Geneviève was the name of Adam’s aunt and godmother - Louis’ younger sister. I headcanon that while she wasn’t around very much (she married a prince of another country when Adam was a child) she was always very kind to her little nephew and godson, and her sister-in-law, when she did visit. Despite King Louis’ anger, Geneviève was sensible and kind. One of Queen Renée’s only ports in the storm of her life, really. Aunt Geneviève unfortunately also died in Adam’s youth, I think around when he was 16, as his past is of course riddled with death. But all that to say, he remembers her fondly, and so gave her name to his daughter.

And Annalise is, of course, after Belle. Adam really wanted to make one of her names “Belle,” but his wife was less enthused with the idea. She loves her name well enough but she wanted her daughter to be her own person, aside from her king and queen parents, whom she would already be compared to for the rest of her life. So they compromised with Annalise. (And, by all accounts, Adam LOVES Belle’s middle name. I think he affectionately calls her Belle Annalise sometimes.)

Juliette Adrienne Maria de Beaumont

Their second daughter! Dear angel!! One can see pretty clearly where Juliette’s name came from. But I like to headcanon that Belle loved that name even before she read Romeo & Juliet. I think it’s even sweeter to think that it was just a name she heard one day as a child and got attached to. We all had names like that! Whether they were for future children or pets or characters or imaginary friends, sometimes you just find names you like. And Juliette was that for Belle. So when she actually DID read Romeo & Juliet, it made her SO happy to see a beloved name as one of the main characters!! And she ended up falling in love with the play, of course, which made it all so perfect.

(Adam wasn’t entirely keen on the name at first, but between the facts that he got to choose their first daughter’s name, and that Belle has ALLEGEDLY loved the name since childhood, he grew fond of it. And he loves it more and more every day, associating it with his darling girl more than anything else <3)

Adrienne is the feminine version of one of Adam’s middle names - Adrien. Adam never actually knew the Adrien he was named after, as he was his father’s younger brother that died in their youth. But Belle likes the name on its own and wanted to include her husband in their child’s name, and Adam agreed it sounded quite nice with Juliette.

Maria is Belle’s mother!!! Not only did they both LOVE the way Juliette Adrienne Maria sounded, but they both knew they had to honor Belle’s mother somehow. Belle didn’t need her daughter to be named after her, as Renée is, but she certainly wanted her to be a part of her daughter’s name. When they told Maurice, he of course was touched, and so very happy to see his darling wife living on through his sweet little granddaughter.

Maurice Jean Adam de Beaumont

Their son!!! The darling prince!!!! Maurice is, quite obviously, named after his grandfather. And don’t worry, he absolutely cried when he learned this little guy was named after him. I could scream about this forever but oh my gosh!! Look, you can name your OC’s whatever you want. I’ve seen some GREAT names of Adam/Belle sons in other fics. But for me personally, you just cannot ever convince me that Adam and Belle WOULDN’T name their firstborn son Maurice. It is rather obvious how much that man means to Belle; he raised her all on his own!! He’s such an incredible father and he taught her EVERYTHING!!! He gave her as much as he could in the circumstances of their unexpected small town life. He’s just everything to her. To literally quote Belle: Everything she is is because of him.

BUT TO ADAM??? GUYS!!! Adam lost his mother when he was nine and a half years old. That’s just my headcanon age of course but he was a KID. We KNOW that. He was an only child left with an abusive father.

To quote Mrs. Potts: “When the Master lost his mother, and his cruel father took that sweet, innocent lad, and twisted him out to be just like him, we did nothing.”

Adam was left defenseless with his horrible father and I fully believe he was abused by him. My point is: Maurice was like the light at the end of a tunnel to Adam. I mean Belle is too, in a million ways, but to Adam as an individual, as a man, Maurice is so important to him. Maurice shows him a father’s kindness, a father’s forgiveness, a father’s LOVE. He teaches him that you don’t have to be brutish and aggressive in order to be considered a man. You can be gentle and kind and respectful toward others. Maurice taught Adam what it truly meant to be a good man, and to be a good father. Maurice just sits in such high esteem in Adam’s heart, and I don’t doubt for a second that he was his first name choice when their son was born.

Also, I headcanon that they call him Reece/Reecy quite regularly. Partly to differentiate from his grandfather, but also because when he was born and his sister Juliette, who was five years old at the time, was told that his name was Maurice, she responded, “I like Reece!” sort of unknowingly cutting his name in half and giving him a life-long nickname all in one affectionate sentence. He still gets called Maurice, especially by Adam, but to his family and friends, he’s mostly Reece.

Jean comes off as a filler name, just because it’s so simple and common, but it has some meaning to it, as well. It’s Adam’s first middle name too, so there’s a parallel to that. The actual Jean from Adam’s life was his great-grandfather, who, while on the throne, did go by Louis. But his family called him Jean, and though Adam also didn’t know him personally, records and archived documents told him that he was actually a rather good king, respected by his subjects and peers. So Adam was happy to pass along his first middle name to his son. And it turned out that that was one of Maurice’s grandfather’s names too, So Belle and Adam actually both had great-grandfathers named Jean. AND it was the middle name of one of Maurice’s younger brothers, Félix Jean. A tried and true family name to be sure.

Finally, Adam! While our Adam was quite certain that their son should be named after his grandfather, I think Belle definitely fought for him to be named Adam, if only for a few weeks during the pregnancy (they didn’t know they would have a son of course, this argument came up during every pregnancy.) Adam, like Belle, didn’t love the idea of giving their child his own name. In addition to Belle’s point of letting him be his own person, Adam was never really too fond of his name. He learns to live with it, and hearing Belle say it with such affection over the years certainly made it more bearable, but it still wasn’t enough for Adam to be willing to pass it on to his son - at least in a first name capacity. He wants his son to have his own legacy, not just be another Adam, attached to every sorry detail of his predecessor.