Baby name consultant: Eve? Adrienne? Or …?

sanctanomina Baby name consultant, , , ,

Beth and her husband are expecting their fifth baby, a girl! Unfortunately her husband has vetoed “many popular Catholic female saints that I like like Gemma, Felicity, Kateri … We both like the name Eve, but don’t want to necessarily name her after Eve in the bible, so we thought of Genevieve or Evangeline and call her Eve, but then again none of our other kids have nicknames and we aren’t big on nicknames. We have also discussed Adrienne and found out there’s an interesting catholic author who died in the 60s named Adrienne … I would love a good strong holy saint … We also don’t want a repeat first initial so no M, J, L or S. I know, so picky. ;)”

Their other kiddos are named:

Madeleine Margaret

John Paul Landon (goes by John Paul)

Leo Michael

Sarah Gianna

I found this dilemma a difficult one! Not repeating initials knocked out a lot of names I thought seemed really perfect for this family! Like Lucy, and the Juli- names, all of which showed up in the lists of names similar to the ones Beth and her husband have already chosen for their kids and are considering: Julie, Julia, Juliet, Julianne, Juliana.

Also, I just have to comment on Eve — it seems to me they’ve found *THE* name for their girl! Beth said both she and her hubs like it, and it totally fits with the other kids … I love Genevieve and Evangeline, but if they’re not big into nicknames then that doesn’t seem like a great solution … so I wondered if just moving away from Eve-in-the-Bible and more toward Mary-the-New-Eve would help? I was surprised that they don’t already have a Marian name, and was totally going to suggest one, but then there’s Eve! There’s also the mysterious St. Eve of Dreux who appears in some good books, like Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, but doesn’t have much information available.

But of course I can always come up with more suggestions. 🙂 I always shoot for three ideas:

(1) Isabel
I love that Isabel is a form of Beth’s name (whether she’s the full Elizabeth or Beth alone, Isabel’s related!), which is such a nice connection between Mom and daughter. Since Beth wanted a “good strong holy saint,” any of the Sts. Elizabeth could be a patron, but I also discovered St. Isabel of France who, according to The Catholic Baby Name Book, “was a daughter of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. She received several offers of marriage but refused them all because she had consecrated herself to God. She devoted herself to serving the sick and poor. She also founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Longchamps in Paris. She lived there but never became a nun.” I don’t know of too many saints who were celibate singles (as opposed to priests or religious, or children saints), so St. Isabel is distinctive in that regard, and a good example of God calling each of us to our own path.

(2) Claire or Clare or Chiara
I always look through the Baby Name Wizard book when trying to come up with ideas for families — each entry has other names listed that are similar in style/feel/popularity — and when I looked up the other kids’ first names and the names Beth is considering, Claire showed up a lot as being similar. At first I was going to suggest Clara instead, thinking two syllables was a better fit with their one-syllable last name, but then I realized Clara rhymes with Sarah. So I went back to Claire, which is different enough from Sarah in my opinion that it works fine, and I don’t mind Claire with their last name (nor do I mind Eve with it, or even Beth for that matter). If Beth has a devotion to St. Clare, that spelling is lovely too. Or Chiara, which was St. Clare’s actual name (Italian version of Clare), and a recent Bl. Chiara Luce Badano is setting the Catholic world on fire (she was young when she died of cancer — she was born in 1971, so very current and relevant for girls today — and beatified by Pope Benedict). (Claire/Clare can be an honor name for her too.)

(3) Faith
Another name that showed up in my research was Hope, which immediately went on my list for Beth and her hubs to consider, and then I realized that Hope coupled with their last name, which begins with P, tends to reduce Hope to Ho in sound, which probably isn’t something anyone would love for their daughter. But it made me think of Faith, both because they’re similar, but also because I knew sisters growing up named Sarah and Faith. I have no other reason I like it for this family other than that it just *feels* like it would fit! I also know a little Faith currently, and I just love it on her — it’s sweet and so meaningful.

Those are my ideas for Beth’s baby girl! What do you all think? what other suggestions do you have for this family?

40 thoughts on “Baby name consultant: Eve? Adrienne? Or …?”

  1. I started laughing when I read the list of Beth’s kids’ names, because they were so familiar… and then I realized that Beth and I are FB friends!

    Re: Adrienne, it could be a nod to St. Adrian (of which there are many, including a few Popes).

    Eve could be a nod to Bl. Eva of Liege (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=275) or St. Eva (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=6264).

    Eve could also be a nickname for Evelyn, although sadly there is no St. Evelyn. (Maybe this baby could be the first?) 🙂

    Another thought was naming the baby something like Elizabeth Veronica, and then the “E” of first name plus “Ve” of the middle name would make Eve.

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    • Ha! That’s awesome!! We keep good company. 🙂

      I love your suggestions! Also re: Evelyn — it’s from a form of Avila, so though there’s no St. Evelyn, exactly that way, Avila’s a great saintly connection … so maybe that could make it doable?

      I also love your idea of Elizabeth+Veronica=Eve, cute!

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  2. I love all of your suggestions! Out of them, my favorite is Claire/Clare 🙂 St. Clare is probably one of my absolute favorite saints (along with her friend St. Francis). Claire is then the name of my godmother. I intend to one day use either the Claire or Clare spelling because of those two great women.

    Two names immediately popped into my head: Frances, after Papa of course but that would have 3 out of 5 kids with Pope names, and I don’t know how they might feel about that, then Caroline also came to mind, but then I had to question how they are saying Madeleine (I know two personally, one says it like Madelyn and the other like the Madeline books).

    Your suggestion of Faith also got me thinking about my name, Grace, and it can be Marian! Like you, I was quite surprised that they don’t have a Marian name yet! Maybe Isabel Grace or Grace Isabel?

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    • I’m surprised there aren’t more Frances-es — nice idea! I like Caroline too (though your pronunciation question is a good one), and Grace is such a beautiful name (and Marian! love it!).

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      • Hmm. Don’t know if I have one. I know of one Francesca who goes by Frannie. I’m not such a fan. . . . The other Francesca I know of is a toddler, and I think her family calls her by her full first name. . . . Baby Name wizard lists these nicknames: Fran, Frannie, Franny, Frankie, Francie, Cesca, Cecca, Cicca, Chessie, Chessy, Franchu, Checka, Checky, Fancy, France, French, Frenchie, Franca, Xesca, Chicca, Frances, Fanny, Fannie, Sasha, Saskia,

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      • I love Sasha and Saskia — I’ve never seen them for Francesca. And I know a Franca, I never thought of it as a diminutive of Francesca … and Xesca! What will they think of next! haha! I’m assuming it’s said CHES-ka? Thanks for this! I love Francesca and Francisca but could never think of a nickname I really liked for them (the traditional ones I knew of weren’t really my taste).

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  3. I love Eve and I’ve tried several times to embrace the Marian angle but I can’t do it. I’ve thought thest maybe the right middle name would do the trick. Any brilliant ideas?

    Love Isabel and Faith suggestions. I have a Clare and we nearly used Sarah but I’ve since decided that maybe we dodged a bullet because they are mighty similar.

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  4. I love all your name suggestions for this family. I think Isabel is so beautiful, but I also think Claire would probably fit better with their current naming style. It’s so hard to come up with names that are nick-name proof, although Eve obviously is, but she would probably be called Evie, right? I think Evie is really cute and the suggestion of Eve Immaculee, just rolls off the tongue and would be a name with significant meaning.

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  5. From your list I really love Claire. It sounds so nice with the other kids’ names. Other names I like a lot that I think fit well are Catherine, Abigail, Anne/Anna, Elisabeth, and Amelia. Catherine, Abigail, and Elizabeth have a ton of nicknames, but I feel like nicknames are most often used when the family starts out using them, so that could be avoided. I’ve heard Amelia as Amy and Mia, but neither of those are sounds that are completely in the name, so I think that’s also easily avoidable. My favorites are probably Anne for Saint Anne (also it seems most similar in style to the names of her siblings) and Amelia, which seems like a nice bridge between the shorter names and the longer “Madeleine.”

    I might be sliiiightly biased, but I also think Charlotte fits in well with the names of the other kids. Though the popularity makes it a no-go for some folks.

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  6. 1. YES the “Clara/Sarah” dilemma is real. We had to avoid Clara for this very reason for our daughter (although “Clare” is still on our list for future first names for a daughter). Funny how they don’t seem like similar names, but on a practical level, don’t work together well. 2. I love “Faith”… I am a sucker for virtue names. 3. I love “The New Eve” angle on Eve… I forgot about that possibility.. great way to redeem a name with an unfortunate biblical connection. Pondering other names.. “Anna”? or “Annaliese”? Madeliene and Sarah feel like traditional female names to me, so for some reason the “Anna” options popped up in my mind too (especially because parents who like Sarah often also like “Anne” and variants). And she is a great Saint. 🙂

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  9. I like your suggestions a lot, especially Claire/Clare/Chiara, esp to honor Bl. Chiara Luce Baldano.

    But I really, really love Eve and agree that with the right middle name, this is probably the name for this family. Eve Immaculée hits just the right notes in my opinion!

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  11. I didn’t reply to this initially, because I couldn’t figure out the thread between the other girls’ names. Madeleine and Sarah. One very French, one more plain, early-American-esque (in my mind… yes, also Biblical).

    But I just realized their oldest has one French name and one “early-American” name… bear with me here. And the youngest has the early-American/pioneer name first, paired with a very Italian name.

    So. Based on that classification of their names, My first suggestion is: Jane Frances. She is a great patroness, and her name contains both elements we are looking for, namely an early American plus a more European name. Or they can reverse her names, to avoid the repeated first initial.

    Eliza and Louisa also came to mind (Louisa for a middle?).

    And the suggestion of Abigail (above) is great, because like Sarah it is both early American and Biblical. Maybe Susanna would be a good pair, too, with another French first name? Or something like Anna Gabrielle?

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    • Ohmygoodness Beth how wonderful!! Congratulations!!!!! I love love love her name!!! Would you mind if posted it as a birth announcement? Do you have a picture you wouldn’t mind sharing? If so could you email it to me? If not, that’s fine too! I hope you’re enjoying your little sweetie!!!

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