Month: May 2015

Bonus consultation post

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You all know I only post name consultations on Mondays (so I don’t get overwhelmed!), and I’ve currently got all the Mondays booked into mid-September. But I’ve had loads of mamas (and one papa!) email me asking me for ideas/suggestions, and it’s been so fun to do, but I am always sorry that some of the people who would have liked a public post for reader feedback can’t have one because they’re due too soon and/or all the Mondays are already taken.

One reader has figured out a workaround, which is so great! Marci at The Wallace House blog is expecting her third (and first girl!) at the very beginning of July, and she posted excerpts of my consultation for her on her blog so her friends and family can offer feedback, and so can all of you if you’d like to!

She and her hubs added a couple more names to their “maybe” list between when she emailed me and when I got back to her, so with those in mind, I’ll offer a few more suggestions: Lucy, Linley (like a combo of her listmakers Linden and Kylie), and Chloe; and because she says she likes French names: Elise, Sophie, Juliette (or Juliet), and Corinne.

I’d be happy to link to any of your blogs if you receive a consultation from me and want to post it!

FTW=”for the win”

sanctanomina Housekeeping

A reader (and my friend in real life) wondered what FTW means in my use of #MotherMaryFTW, since her only familiarity with it is as an explicit not-appropriate-for-use-with-Our-Lady acronym.

Be assured I would never pair bad language with Our Lady!

I’ve only ever seen FTW=”for the win,” and my use of it is referring to the fact that Mother Mary is all over the name charts (even though you have to have your Marian goggles on to see it). Woo! Mother Mary for the win!

But of course I had to look it up! Fortunately, urbandictionary.com verified what I’d thought, listing “for the win” as the first meaning. In the second definition offered, it does also reference the other meaning (and there are other meanings too, but it seems “for the win” is the primary, and this other is the top of the alternatives):

“In biker gangs it meant $%*@ the World,
but in online usage it mainly means For the Win.”

I don’t think I have biker gangsters reading my blog? But to be on the safe side, I’ll likely be writing out #MotherMaryForTheWin, at least for a while, which makes me feel a little geriatric (like the younguns are going to see it and be like Kate at Sancta Nomina is soooo old, she says “younguns” and she spells out FTW!). But for Mother Mary, I’ll risk it.

A new-to-me saint’s name

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

I was reading Withycombe tonight and came across a name I’d never noticed before: Aglaia. Are you familiar with this name? It’s pronounced “ah-GLY-ah” and means “splendor, beauty.” It was the name of one of the three Graces AND a 4th century saint! It seems the French form Aglaé (ah-GLAY) might be more familiar? I like the sound of the French form better, but it does have a very algae look to it, non?

What do you think of Aglaia/Aglaé? Do you know anyone with one of these names?

Finney’s family part 2

sanctanomina Naming resources

Finney the Leprechaun introduced some more family members in today’s post — gorgeous names, all, but my very favorite is Áine Roísín. Oh my!

And a word of name wisdom from our little God-loving leprechaun:

“I, Finney, then, would like to say,

‘Choose your names in a joyful way.

Think of the Saints and holy things,

And then just watch how your heart sings

When the name meant for you to choose

Comes to your mind, as you do muse!‘”

Alumni mag namespotting

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Alumni magazines are one of my very favorite guilty pleasure, and when I received one of my alma mater’s last night, I put it in my very-necessary-things-to-do pile and dove right in after the boys were in bed.

Though I usually turn right to 1990 or so, to the people most likely to list their kiddos’ names, I decided to start from the beginning (in this case, 1932), and found a lot of names of interest, names that I thought looked more like preschool rosters of today, or at least of much younger people (it was originally an all-girls’ college, I don’t remember when it switched to co-ed but the first male alumnus mentioned in this issue was Class of ’77).

I used alternate characters in the names that I thought might be particularly identifying:

Ila (’36)
Phoebe (’43)
Libby (’44)
Genevieve (’44)
Claire (’47, ’56)
Isabelle (’47)
Evelyn (’48, ’54)
Katey (’48)
Leah (’49)
Catherine (’50)
Margot (’50, ’56)
Margaret (’51)
Charlotte (’51, ’55)
Gabr!elle (’53) (twin of G3rda!) (alternate character for privacy)
Natalie (’53)
Josephine (’53)
Adelaide (’54)
Jessica (’56)
Emily (’56)
Evie (’59), Evy (’59)
Mollie (’62), Molly (’64, ’75, ’79) (I wonder how many, if any, of these were born Mary?)
R0rry (’65)
Cor!nne (’67)
Penelope (’68, ’72)
K@rra (’78)
G3mma (’79)
M@ura (’79)

Some really interesting nicknames:

D0tsy (Dorothy?), and D0tsie (Z!lpha)
Fuzzy (Fl0ra)
T3x (B3tty)
Jo (J0an)
J0d0 (J0sephine)
M!bs (M@ryAnn3)
M!ckey (Myr@n)
B@mbi (Marl3n3)
Ch!ck (M@ry)
R0xie (Car0lyn)
Andy (Aur3l)
C0rky (C0r!nne)
N0ni (N0r33n)

And interesting given names:

Fl0ra x2 and a Fl0ranna (I’ve heard Flora recently as of interest to today’s namers)
D0e
Fa!th H0pe (first name/middle name or double first name, as far as I can tell)
Myr@n (a different woman named Myrna was on the same page, which makes more sense to me — maybe Myr@n was a typo?)
Aur3l
Vall!e
Charl0n
Tha!s

Interesting men’s names, or gender unknown (’98 and more recent):

R3mc0 (m)
J0n0 (m)
F!tzhugh (m)
Crest0n (gender unknown)

Interesting children’s names of the older- to mid- generations:

L!nden (daughter of ’67 alumna)
Av!s (daughter of ’71)
Pack3r (son of ’75)
Th0r (son of ’79)
Cab3l (son of ’81, brother of Tyl3r and Isab3ll3)
Z!ggy (daughter of ’81)
Ol!ve (daughter of ’86)

Grandchildren of olders or children of younger generations that jumped out at me:

R0rke (b) (grandson of ’67)
Ma!z!e, Lucy, and L!la (cousins, grandchildren of ’71)
Warr3n (grandson of ’78)
T0b!n (son of ’90)
Ya3l (daughter of ’90)
V!enna (daughter of ’93)
Ele@n0r and Cl@ra (daughters of ’98)
S3nna (daughter of ’99)
Penel0pe (daughter of ’08)

Were you surprised by any of these? Do you have any insight about some of the more unusual ones? Do you also (please say yes) scour your alumni mag(s)/those of others for baby names??

Marian name spotlighted over at Appellation Mountain

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Abby at Appellation Mountain is discussing Aranza today, one of the fastest-rising girl’s names of 2014 according to the SSA stats and a diminutive of the Marian name Arantzazu. It’s a pretty great write-up, be sure to check it out!

What do you think of Aranza? Do you know anyone in real life with this name?

Birth announcement: Sylvia Rhea!

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I posted Sylvia’s name consultation on May 4, and on May 19 she posted on her blog, Tales from the Mommy Trenches, that she’d had her baby that morning! Sylvia wrote,

“Sylvia Rhea Bass arrived bright and early this morning! … As for her name, Scott and I finally arrived at an agreement in the eleventh hour. In the Cuban tradition, all eldest daughters are named after their mothers. The way they distinguish between the mother and the daughter is that the daughter’s name is in the diminutive. For example, my great grandmother’s name was Maria Matilde, and my grandmother was named after her and called “Matildita.” My grandmother has friends (named after their mothers) who still go by “Sarita” or “Blanquita” even though they are in their advanced years. Anyway, we missed the boat on our eldest daughter (as well as the second and the third), but when Scott wanted to name this one after me, I thought it was a sweet nod to the Cuban tradition to have our own “Silvita.” As for Rhea, my family knows I have always been a Greek mythology nut, and Rhea is the titaness mother of Zeus. When Scott stumbled across that name, we knew it was the one. All of our girls go by their middle names, and this one will be no different.“

If you remember, her other girls are Gloria Ruth, Victoria Rose, and Elena Wren. What wonderful names Sylvia and her husband have come up with!! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Rhea!!

Be sure to hop on over to Sylvia’s blog to check out more photos and the birth story, but she said I could post one here. 🙂

rhea_bass

Sylvia Rhea

The dads in your life will thank you

sanctanomina Resources and recommendations

WARNING: If you’re one of those people who gets totally annoyed by Amazon affiliate link-heavy posts, please click away! And pretend you never saw this!

I’ve been thinking of adding gift ideas to my “Resources and recommendations” page, because I think it would be helpful to you all — baby shower gifts, for example, or gifts for baptisms, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Christmas, etc., gifts that are related to faith and family and of course names (when possible), all of which are at the heart of my blog — and it would be helpful to me and my fledgling participation in the Amazon Affiliates program, so I’m hoping you don’t mind this mutually beneficial gift-ideas post too much?

I was browsing for Father’s Day on Amazon today, which made me think it might a good time to try this idea, because I saw some really cute things. Like “Happy First Father’s Day!” onesies — I mean, really. How cute. Or the “Like Father … Like Son” matching adult T-shirt and baby onesie set. Or perhaps the “I am your Father’s Day gift” onesie. (Can you tell I really like the onesie idea?) Fear not! I also liked (loved) the *new* “Coolest Dad Ever” Star Wars (!) shirt and the “How to say ‘Dad’ in eight different languages” socks. I mean really, What Dad doesn’t want these things?! 😛

Or maybe tchotchke-type things? Like the “To Daddy on our first Father’s Day” picture frame (there were actually a bunch of different ones like this). The “Best Dad Ever” regular mug or travel mug. The titanium “Dad” ring engraved on the inside with “Love you Dad.” A Willow Tree statue of a dad with his two little girls (totally reminds me of my dad and my two youngest sisters, who we will always and forever call “the little girls,” much to their chagrin) (they’re 25 and 27).

I’m a big fan of books as presents, both to give and receive — you too? Or not at all? I thought these were good ideas for a dad on Father’s Day (disclaimer: I haven’t read any of them, but I’ve seen the first two highly recommended by trustworthy sources, like CatholicMom.com, and the third just sounded like a good Father’s Day gift):

Man to Man, Dad to Dad: Catholic Faith and Fatherhood, by Brian Caulfield
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know, by Meg Meeker
Dad’s Playbook: Wisdom for Fathers from the Greatest Coaches of All Time, by Tom Limbert

(I did a search for “baby name books for dads” but didn’t like any of the results. Sorry Dads, I know you’re bummed.)

(I also did a search for “book of saints for catholic dads” — there’s one for Moms, but not for Dads!)

And there were a couple things for grandfathers too, like “The Grandfather” t-shirt (a take on The Godfather) and the “Keep Calm and Papa Will Fix It” shirt (this could be for those dads who go by “Papa” too).

Done! Those are my ideas! If they’re helpful, I’m delighted! If you hate them, and this post, and my audacity, then … I don’t know what. Hopefully that’s not the case!

Leprechaun names

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Our reader (and my mum) irishnannie has her own blog connected with her book, Finney Hides the Pot o’ Gold (the first in the The Adventures of Finney the Leprechaun series), and not only is it thoroughly Catholic (it’s written in Finney’s voice, speaking to children, teaching them about God and how much He loves us and other truths of our faith), but it’s also all in rhyme! (Which is just amazing to non-poet me, and so fun to read out loud. My boys love hearing about Finney’s shenanigans.)

Anyway, today’s post is called “Namin’s” and it’s all about Finney’s family’s names! He’s got quite a few relatives and all with gorgeous Irishy Irish names. Pronunciations are explained too, which is always the kicker with those kinds of names. I think you’ll enjoy reading about Finney and his family!

Thank yous all around!!

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My very first thank you goes to our fallen soldiers, all those who died for me and mine. I’ve thought of you often today, and prayed for you and your families, and told my boys about you and your demonstration of the greater love. Happy Memorial Day to you all!

Thanks also to Jenny‘s readers who hopped over here to take a gander at my suggestions for her, and to leave your own! Such good ideas, and such thoughtful responses! Aren’t name conversations the very best??!! ❤

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And my final thank you to Nameberry for posting another of my name articles: Problematic Baby Names. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that too! And any others you might add to the list?

I hope you all have a great start to your week!