Catholic fams at Nameberry

sanctanomina Birth announcement, Personal stories, Real-life naming,

I saw this sib set in the May birth announcements over at Nameberry:

Felix Ysmael, brother of Jacinta Gabrielle, Serafina Dolores, Avila Francesca and Cosima Ceilia

“Felix has been on our list since our first pregnancy almost eleven years ago. My husband loves it and it fits the requirements of being a Catholic saint name. I love that it means “happy, lucky.” Ysmael is my husband’s mother’s maiden name. She passed away last year and Felix was due on the one year anniversary of her death.”

I love all those names! And there was this one:

Sienna Theresa Joan

“Her name has a lot of meaning as a few day’s before Sienna’s birth my wonderful paternal grandmother passed away. She was called Theresa-Joan and her confirmation name was Catherine of Siena so we chose to honour her confirmation name in a roundabout way (we added the extra n because we didn’t want all the confusion for the rest of her life).”

(Big rule of baby naming is no criticism once the baby’s born and named! BUT … what do you all think of Sienna with two n’s? It’s a leeetle bit of a pet peeve of mine, that so many people think it’s Catherine of Sienna or Bernardine of Sienna — it’s after an Italian city people! Which is spelled Siena! I actually don’t mind it here though because (1) they know what the real spelling is and (2) they made of point of explaining why they changed it.)

ETA: I do know Sienna’s a legit spelling — a color and a minivan — it’s just not the spelling of the city that is part of the saints’ names.

10 thoughts on “Catholic fams at Nameberry”

  1. We named our 2nd daughter Katharine after St Katharine Drexel, but strongly considered naming her Catherine Siena. When St. Catherine’s feast day rolls around each year I kick myself for not using that combo.

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  2. I too prefer the original one-n spelling, but yeah, it works here too. I an understand not wanting confusion.

    What a great list of names!!

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  4. I’m so glad others have the same reaction to Siena/Sienna! And yet, there’s something to be said for using the dominant spelling. It’s why we went with Claire instead of Clare, even though Clare is more common on our family tree. So I totally get it. But I still give that extra ‘n’ a raised eyebrow whenever I see it!

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  5. I love that sibset! Gorgeous girl names.

    And I asked my [open-minded] DH about Felix the other day, since it has been growing on me. His response: “*pause*… For a person?” Oh well.

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  6. This is an old blog post… but I just searched your blog for anything related to the name “Cosima”… we are expecting a little green bean, and this girl name has been on my radar… but I wanted to know more about possible saintly connections, whether people think pronunciation will be an annoying issue, and any other things of interest? Might be name idea for a “name spotlight”! 😉

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