Month: May 2015

Nicknames: Boethius/Boëthius

sanctanomina Nicknames , , ,

Someone I know was musing about the name Boethius for a boy, and she was trying to think of nicknames besides Bo.

At first I thought it was said “BO-thius,” so Bo seemed like the most natural nickname. I thought perhaps also something like Boze?

Then I saw online that Boethius (aka St. Severinus Boethius) was sometimes spelled Boëthius, and that means the “e” is pronounced, right? I’d verify that except my boys are asking for lunch, so I’m just going with the idea that it’s supposed to be said “bo-EE-thius,” and Bowie immediately came to mind. I also thought something like Boethius David could lead to Bede (I’m always trying to get Bede in there as a nickname! Haha!). Or, maybe something like Boethius Nathaniel for example could be Ben.

Finally, I thought Theo would work, which I thought was really cool.

What about all of you? Can you think of any other possible nicknames for Boethius besides Bo, Boze, Bowie, Bede, Ben, and Theo?

Baby name consultant: Baby #4 (boy names the hardest!)

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Theresa emailed me about a month ago hoping for help with names for her Baby #4.

“We are expecting our fourth this fall (almost out of our first trimester!) and would love love love your expertise with some suggestions. Obviously, we have a lot of time but we really like to name the baby shortly after we find out what it is, probably around the end of May/beginning of June because it really helps my husband and kids bond … We go for double Saint names for sure and mostly old/long names for girls, but not necessarily on purpose … Boy names are so much harder! … I don’t really know what boy names [my husband] likes. I don’t know if he knows … He doesn’t like names that are super specific to any ethnicity (Seamus, Carlos, Giovanni) or most Old Testament names (Noah, Elijah, Isaac) or names that are gender neutral or feminine sounding. If you can find a boy name we both like, I will be amazed!“

Oh husbands!! It was fun for me to come up against a really tough nut. I’m encouraged though because they’ve chosen some wonderful names together — their other kids’ are:

Elizabeth Anne Jude (“Anne is my middle name, Elizabeth just came to both of us at the same time and then the Mass reading a few days later was the Visitation, so we took it as a sign. Jude was because we had suffered a miscarriage before her (whom we named Felicity Jane) and thought a few times that we were losing her as well and prayed to St. Jude and she was fine“)

Adelaide Therese (“I have loved Adelaide for a long time and was stoked when I found out she was a Saint. My husband was hesitant at first but it grew on him. He picked Therese for the middle — sort of for me since I am Theresa“)

Roy Patrick (“He is the third, I did not choose his name, although I like Patrick … He mostly goes by Patch“)

For girls, they both like Genevieve, Charlotte (“but I don’t love how popular it is” … and now that the Princess is here …?), and a family name Mariemma (pronounced like Mary Emma). Theresa also likes Lucy, Evelyn, Eleanor, Louisa, Eloise, Bridget, and Cecily, while her husband likes Margaret (Maggie) and Rosemary (maybe nicked Rory or Romy).

For boys, they’ve discussed Augustine nicked Gus, which Theresa loves but her husband’s not sure. Theresa also loves Finnian (but already used by family), Seamus, Blaise, Ambrose, and double names like John Paul. Her husband likes James nicked Jimmy, Dexter, Peter, Thomas, and John.

Whew!

I wanted to address their current ideas first: After reading their already-born kids’ names, before I even got to what names they’re thinking of, my first thought was Genevieve — and there it was on their list! So that’s definitely one of my top choices for them, especially since it’s one Theresa and her husband both like. Their other ideas for girls are spot-on as well — if I were to nitpick, in the interest of narrowing down their list, I might delete Eleanor and Eloise, because they already have an El- (Elizabeth), but Louisa is a great alternative (especially being so similar to Eloise). Additionally, I’ve always thought Lucy could totally work as a nickname for Louisa, so I would combine those two into one idea. I like Evelyn, Bridget, Cecily, Charlotte (but the Princess!), Margaret/Maggie (or one of the other traditional but offbeat nicks, like Daisy or Maisie?), and Rosemary, I’m also really loving Mariemma for them! What a cool combo, and so great that it’s a family name! They don’t have a Marian name in their crew already, so that would be a great nod to Our Lady.

And the boy ideas: Too bad about Finnian! Such a cool name! Augustine/Gus seems like it fits right in with the other kids (maybe The Mister would warm to August if he can’t to Augustine?). I’d probably delete Seamus because Theresa said her hubs doesn’t care for ethnic names (or maybe put it in the middle?) … Blaise is so cool, and the men I know tend to like it/not hate it because it sounds like Blaze=fast and fiery and just all around cool. Ambrose is great, and I wondered if a nickname like Sam would help The Mister come around? Sam totally works as a nick for Ambrose!! Double names for boys are pretty rare, except John Paul, but I think that there are loads of great combinations one could come up with. (But I do not like Billy Bob, which is probably what many of the men in my life would use as a reason not to double name a boy. Men!)

The Mister’s boy names are hilarious — they were basically what I’d expect, but then … Dexter?? Wow! I’ve taken it as a particular challenge to find a boy name he and Theresa both like!

Okay, now for my suggestions (besides what I mentioned above) … I always shoot for three for each gender, but came up with four for girls, and I went a little heavier on the boy suggestions, since Theresa said they were so hard:

Girls

(1) Josephine
As I’m sure you all know from reading other consultations on my blog, I rely heavily on the Baby Name Wizard book when coming up with ideas. It has this awesome feature where, for each entry, it lists boy and girl names that are similar in style/feel/popularity. Josephine was all over Theresa and hubs’ list!! Of course it’s an amazing saintly name, both for wonderful St. Joseph and St. Josephine Bakhita (I was reading about her recently — amazing woman!). It’s got the greatest nicknames too — Josie of course, and Jo (like Little Women!), and I totally think Sophie could work as a nickname too.

(2) C/Katherine or C/Karoline
My research showed Catherine, Katherine, and Katie as quite similar to their style. They’re great names (so says a Katherine/Kate who has always loved my name and been grateful to my parents for it!), and Katie/Kate/Kat and even Cass or Casey (as I’ve seen both) are great nicknames.

If Charlotte is too popular for them (and it is very popular) (and the Princess!), I wonder if they’d like Caroline or Karoline? Either could be a great honor name for our great St. John Paul II (birth name Karol). Especially spelled with a K, it’s much less popular than Charlotte, while still being in the same name family (Charles).

(3) Sara(h) (+___?)
This was so unexpected to me! But Sara(h) was even more a match for the names Theresa mentioned and ones that I thought fit their style than Josephine! It showed up as similar to Elizabeth, Adelaide, Thomas, John, and Katherine, so I had to include it here. But with Elizabeth and Adelaide being long-ish names, and Theresa’s ideas of Genevieve, Rosemary, Margaret, Charlotte also being long, I thought maybe a Sara(h) double first name would suit better? Like Sara-Kate (could even be a nickname for the first-middle Sara Katherine) or Sara-Clare/Claire or Sarah-Mae or similar? (With or without hyphens; with or without the H on the end of Sara.)

(4) Penelope or Beatrice/Beatrix
These were my offbeat research results that I just couldn’t not mention. Penelope, which is such a fab name, is a style match for Felicity, Eleanor, Rosemary, and DEXTER! What?!!! Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, there’s no St. Penelope (recognized by our Church anyway; I believe there’s one recognized by the Orthodox Church), but I did find that it’s said to St. Irene’s original name, so that could work, right? Like Saul/Paul, Abram/Abraham, Simon/Peter? And Beatrice and Beatrix were so similar to a bunch of Theresa’s name ideas that I had to throw it out here. I also read about its origins recently, and loved it, very faith-y.

Boys

(1) Francis nicknamed Finn
You all probably saw this as one of my suggestions for the Pattons — I just love it. I think it hits such a great spot right now, with the heavier, more serious Francis (that’s a little out of touch with current naming tastes, but so important to so many of us) and the fun, current, ah-MAZing nickname Finn! This seems particularly great for Theresa and her hubs, where Francis seems more along his taste lines, and Finn for her Finnian.

(2) Benedict or Bennett
This was really inspired by Dexter — I was so blown away by its inclusion in The Mister’s list of names that I paid extra attention to it, trying to find any connections. Barrett was listed as a similar boy’s name, which immediately made me think of Bennett, which is a medieval form of Benedict. Bennett on its own would be great, and Ben is an awesome nickname, but maybe they’d prefer the full Benedict? Bennett could still be a nickname, or Ben (or even Bede, which I’m sure The Mister would hate but I love the idea of two heavy-hitting saints in one name!). Benedict is similar in style to Genevieve and Penelope and John Paul, so it is connected to other names that seem to fit their style.

(3) Theodore
What would The Mister think of Theodore? It’s a style match for Adelaide, Augustine, Josephine, and Penelope, and it’s got the awesome nicknames Theo or Ted/Teddy (so cute for a little guy!). Maybe?

(4) Charles
Charles too was quite similar to many of the names on their list and my-list-for-them, and would give the name family of Charlotte without the Charlotte popularity. It could also be an honor name for JP2 (Karol=Charles), and while some families haven’t care for Charlie’s rising popularity among girls recently (as a nick for Charlotte), I think it’s totally fine for a boy, but there are other nicknames for Charles as well — Cal being one of my favorites, and some really offbeat ones like Huck, Hutch, Arlo, or we seriously considered Charles Augustine nicked Gus — maybe something like that would work for them?

So! That’s what I came up with! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Theresa and her husband?

I love to do name consultations! If you’d like me to give your name dilemma a go, check out my Baby name consultant tab.

Birth announcement: Louis Gabriel!

sanctanomina Update , ,

Sarah’s consultation was one of the first I posted, way back in January, when she was seeking help naming their eighth baby, a boy. Yesterday she let me know he was born! She writes,

“He’s here! Delivered today – Mother’s Day – 5/10/15! He’s 10 pounds even. First name Louis (Louie or Lou) … [and] We chose Gabriel for his middle name!“

Louis Gabriel! What an amazing combo!! And even cooler is that, unbeknownst to me, it was on their original list (before my consultation), and though I didn’t think of it, one of our readers did! You are all very important to these consultations! Congratulations to Louie’s family!!!

louis_gabriel

Louis Gabriel

On my bookshelf: Polish First Names

sanctanomina Naming resources, On my bookshelf , ,

Well okay, I don’t technically own this one — it’s on loan from a friend — but I’ve been loving it: Polish First Names by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab.

Its claim to fame so far has been its bolstering of my argument that there are two acceptable pronunciations of Xavier, as it lists the Polish version as Ksawery. To quote that entry a bit more, because I love it: “A well-liked name in Poland, often given as Francis Xavier. Franciszek Ksawery Malinowski (1808-1881) was a notable priest and linguist from the Pozan region.”

That’s the thing I love about the ethnic name books — the ones that have a bit of commentary for each entry — I learn other things about the country, the culture, the language, the faith. I learned from the intro that,

“Polish names are derived from two major time periods: from ancient times until the acceptance of Christianity in 966 A.D., and from 966 A.D. to the present. The former includes native names categorized as Old Polish or Slavic in origin … The second group of names dates from Poland’s acceptance of Christianity in 966 A.D. until the present. During this time, the Church required individuals to receive baptismal names with Christian significance. At baptism, when they were “born again,” early Christians assumed new personal names — invariably the names of exemplary people and saints who had gone before them. Popular Polish names such as Krzysztof and Magdalena can be traced back to the Old and New Testaments … the name was always a Catholic one, derived from the Old or New Testament or from the lives of the saints.”

I thought the bit about the Old Testament names being included in the general group of “Catholic names” was interesting, considering our conversation from the other day.

And, surprise surprise!, I love all the nicknames. The intro states that, “Christian name diminutives often became the ‘pet names’ or ‘nicknames’ used within the family and by close friends as terms of endearment. Some of the ancient Polish spellings would make for unique names themselves.” Some of my favorites from the book include Krysia from Krystyna (Christina), Gosia for Malgorzata (Margaret) (the L has the diagonal line through it), and Klimko for Klemens (Clement).

I found several of the other entries fascinating, like the one for Petronela: “Feminine form of Petroniusz (Petronius) … An old-fashioned name, commonly found among older generation women and nuns.” Isn’t that fascinating? I had to look it up on Behind the Name, to find out why nuns would be interested in this name. I suspected it might be a form of Peter, but what I found was much more interesting: “This was the name of an obscure 1st-century Roman saint, later believed to be a daughter of Saint Peter.” Had any of you ever heard of St. Peter’s possible daughter St. Petronilla? Isn’t it interesting that Poland grabbed onto it? It would take some more digging to find out why — and my hubs is making dinner for me for Mother’s Day Eve right now ❤ so I can’t look it up right now — but, again, it’s one of the things I love about name books. A little tidbit like that can take me on a research trail that I thoroughly enjoy, and I find out such interesting things along the way. All because of the names.

So! If you’re interested in Polish given names and/or Polish nicknames and/or the history and origin behind the traditional names, I think you’ll like this book.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas in your lives!

Find out what other books and web sites I recommend on my Resources and recommendations page.

 

Birth announcement: Clare Meryt!

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A mama who’d emailed me a month or so ago with a very near due date just let me know that her baby has been born! She writes,

“Just wanted to update you that baby has finally arrived! Her name is Clare Meryt. We chose the name Clare from St. Clare of Assisi — I think i mentioned in my original email choosing this name due to our devotion to St. Francis of Assisi. Her middle name, Meryt, is an Egyptian derivation of Mary (meaning cherished and beloved). She is the 4th generation to have a form of Mary in her name. We heard this name in a movie and did lots of research to make sure it is a variation of Mary. In all of our research we found it to be the origination of the name Mary. We particularly liked that it was something unique… And it wouldn’t sound like a magazine title 🙂 Thanks again for all your help and suggestions!! I really do appreciate it!“

Isn’t that a beautiful name?? It’s not often people can surprise me with a Marian name I’d never heard of, but such was the case with Meryt. I’m totally loving it!! Congratulations to Baby Clare and her family!!

Most popular names (et al.) of 2014 announced today

sanctanomina Including Mary, Naming nitty gritty , , ,

So the name world has been holding its breath in gleeful, frantic anticipation of the release by the Social Security Administration of 2014’s most popular names — and this morning it happened! (Which you probably all know already anyway, because the first to know and share I am not and likely never will be.)

Of note:

  • Emma and Noah are the #1’s
  • Charlotte entered the top ten — in the year before the princess was born. It’s been hot hot hot for a while
  • The three fastest rising girl names are Aranza, Montserrat, and Monserrat (from telenovelas)
  • The fastest rising boy name is Bode (like Olympian Bode Miller)
  • The fastest falling names included Miley, Britney, and Rihanna; Carmelo and Channing

I’m not a number cruncher or a trend spotter (like Abby: here and here), so I have no further analysis than my bullets above (which were spelled out in the article), but I will say: Mother Mary did pretty darn well for herself.

Consider that Mia and Ava are both in the top ten — neither necessarily Marian, but they could be, with Mia having traditional use as a nickname for Maria (see Mia Farrow, born the gorgeously reverent Maria de Lourdes) and Ava being a variant of Eve (like how Mary’s the New Eve). I’ve also seen Ava paired with Maria in Catholic families because of Ava Maria’s similarity to Ave Maria (Hail Mary in Latin).

And those fastest rising girls’ names are not actually “rooted in Latin soap operas” as was asserted in the article — certainly I get that their use in the telenovelas is what made them spike in popularity here, but their roots are Marian — Aranza is a diminutive of Aran(t)zazu, from a Basque word meaning “thornbush,” stemming from an apparition of Our Lady on a thornbush in Spain; Montserrat and its alternate spelling Monserrat are also used to honor Our Lady, as there’s a Marian shrine in Montserrat and the associated title Our Lady of Montserrat. (Weirdly enough, I did a consultation recently for a mama who asked for unusual Catholic names, and Arantxa was one I gave her, which is also a diminutive of Arantzazu. Never in a trillion years did I think Arantxa’s sister Aranza would be in the list of top 1000 girls’ names in the U.S.!)

So that’s what this Catholic baby name lover gets out of the new SSA stats! My final word: Mother Mary for the win! 😉 ❤

Wait to see to name?

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

Alrighty, another burning question on my mind: Do you wait until you see your baby to bestow a name, or do you decide ahead of time? Why or why not?

I know of people who narrow their choices down to two or three and wait until they see the baby to decide which of the names fits the baby the best (or throw them all out upon seeing the baby and start afresh because none on the list seem to suit the baby). And then there is everyone else who decides on a name and that’s the name (or, if they change their minds, it’s for some other reason than “It didn’t suit the baby”). (We’re the latter.)

Old Testament names okay for Catholics?

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty , ,

A reader emailed me with this intriguing bit of info:

“I was reading an article a while back (I wish I could find it again) about Catholics and how we shouldn’t use Old Testament names. Instead of going back to the old covenant, we should look towards the saints for name inspiration and looking at the Old Testament was a protestant thing to do. What do you think about this? Do you think using names from the Old Testament is fine as a Catholic?”

I might have felt the tiniest bit ragey while reading it, because my initial reaction was That’s a bunch of bologna! and whoever is spreading this kind of info is spreading untruths, and can’t you just see a good-hearted well-intentioned mama of an Elijah or Esther starting to twitch upon hearing that the names she gave her babies in good faith are actually not okay?

I hate that kind of thing. We have enough to worry about without worrying about things we don’t need to worry about. Right? I mean, really.

I get that sometimes it’s an honest mistake. I also get that certain things used to be different from now, so the older generations might have a certain idea about things that the younger generations are unfamiliar with and vice versa. Just in the arena of baby names, as I noted on my “About this blog” page,

“In the old days, you may have heard, parents who wanted to have their babies baptized in the Catholic Church had to bestow a saint’s name — or the priest would. Indeed, the old Code of Canon Law (in effect from 1917 until 1983) did stipulate that the baby needed to be given a Christian name, and if not, the priest was to add a saint’s name to the baby’s given name. (Canon 761)

The Code of Canon Law changed in 1983, and the new naming requirements are not so strict. Canon 855 states that, “Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to take care that a name foreign to Christian sensibility is not given.” That’s it. Basically, most names are totally fine.”

So I decided to look into it, and found this post on Nameberry, which asks,

“I posted here last week that we finally found our perfect boys name: Tobias. I love it, and so does my husband. I’m just a little confused about using Old Testament names, as a Catholic (I’m new to Catholicism). My mother in law told us that Catholics traditionally use New Testament names/Saint names for Catholic babies, and that Old Testament names like Tobias are traditionally considered to be Hebrew/Jewish names. I would love some clarity on this subject. Is the name Tobias traditionally considered a Jewish boy’s name? Of course, it won’t make or break using the name for us; I am just curious. Thanks!“

I immediately zeroed in on “My mother in law told us” which, to me, smacks of older generation vs. younger generation. I’m sure her mil was not trying to deceive her — the mil likely believes that New Testament and A.D. Saints’ names are the best to be used — perhaps that was even the definition of a “Christian name,” since I suppose pre-Jesus names aren’t considered technically “Christian.”

So then I looked into whether or not the Old Testament holy people are considered Saints — I always thought they were, but maybe not? I found this good article, “Old Testament Saints?” by Fr. Ray Ryland on Our Sunday Visitor’s site, which explains that “the Church does in various ways venerate and ask for the intercession of Old Testament saints,” as in the litanies of the saints, the First Eucharistic prayer, and one of the general prayers of the funeral liturgy. Fr. Ryland also notes that the Roman Martyrology, which lists “all the saints whom the Church had officially recognized up to” its publication in the 1600s, “remembers, among others, the following Old Testament saints: the prophet Habakkuk (Jan. 15); Isaiah (July 6); Daniel and Elias/Elijah (July 20 and 21); the seven Maccabees and their mother (Aug. 17); Abraham (Oct. 9); and King David (Dec. 29).”

My own grandfather’s first name was David, and he was born in Ireland and baptized Catholic (an interesting example, considering he was born in 1904 — definitely “old generation”). Another good example, using David again, is my other grandfather, who was a convert to Catholicism, and when he converted, since neither his first nor middle names were recognized as “Christian names,” he changed his middle to David.

And what about St. Isaac Jogues? Isaac is OLD TESTAMENT, and yet (as far as I can tell) Catholic parents in the very early 1600s gave it to their son. (I say “as far as I can tell” because I can’t find any evidence that Isaac is his religious name rather than his birth name. But even if it was not his birth name, it only bolsters my argument that Old Testament names are fine fine fine for Catholics, if even a priest can choose it for his religious name.)

Have any of you heard this perspective before, that Catholics should stick to New Testament and other post-Jesus Saints’ names?

Little Miss Stark!

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When I posted the consultation for Angela and Tim Stark back in February, Angela was really hoping to convince her husband of the name Augustina Christi for their baby-girl-on-the-way, or at least find a way to compromise as they searched for the right name. She wrote, “He shoots down anything different or unique and I shoot down anything that sounds too common.”

The baby has been born! And she has a beautiful name!!! Little Miss Stark was named:

Rosemary Anne

How lovely! Angela writes,

“Thank you so much for your assistance with the name, you were the one that got the wheels turning for us. The funny this is is that my husband ended up agreeing to Augustina Christi and I immediately shot down his recommendation of Rosemary. But for some reason my heart kept going back to Rosemary. It just seemed to suit her sweet personality. Rose is also my patron saint, Mary is just awesome, and saint Anne is just as wonderful. It just all seemed to fit for us. Plus we’ve decked out her whole wardrobe and nursery in roses! Thanks again for the awesome recommendations!”

What a great story! As I told Angela, stories like this always make me think of God whispering in the parents’ ear about the name the baby’s meant to have. Congratulations to the whole Stark Family!!!

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Rosemary Anne

Spotlight on: Gennaro

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My sister had a boy in her class when she was little named Gennaro. I knew nothing about his name but that I assumed it was Italian, and I loved it so much that I had it on my own preteen/teen name lists for years, despite the fact that I have not a drop of Italian blood (and, though I didn’t know it back then of course, neither does my husband).

I thought Gennaro was the coolest name — I’d never heard it before that little boy, and I hadn’t heard it since then — until March, when the blood of Naple’s patron saint, St. Januarius — aka St. Gennaro — liquefied in the presence of Pope Francis, the first time it had done so in the presence of a pope since Pope Pius IX in 1848.

What a miracle that was! Amazing! And I read about it in wonder, and rejoiced over it, and I thanked God that Pope Francis had been given such a gift … but always in the back of my mind was that swoony feeling I had every time I would carefully copy Gennaro onto my name lists (yes, I had several). And to know it’s a saint’s name!

I don’t know about you all, but Januarius has like 1/millionth of the coolness of Gennaro. Funny enough, despite my constant pretzeling of names to force feasible nicknames out of even the most un-nicknamable, I’ve never once thought of doing so for Gennaro. Off the top of my head, I can’t even think of one — certainly not Gen(n). Naro? Jar-o? (Ha!) Maybe Geo? That would probably be my favorite. But really, for me, it’s all about Gennaro.

What do you all think of Gennaro? Do you like it? Do you know anyone with the name? Is there something wrong with me that I was almost as interested in the Saint’s name as I was in the amazing once-in-two-centures miracle? (*Almost as*, I promise!)