Spotlight on: Dominic

sanctanomina Spotlight, ,

Today’s the feast of St. Dominic and I’m a Lay Dominican so it’s a ready-made name-spotlight day!

I LOVE the name Dominic. It is SO my style, SO Catholicky Catholic. Even behindthename knows it:

“From the Late Latin name Dominicus meaning “of the Lord”. This name was traditionally given to a child born on Sunday. Several saints have borne this name, including the 13th-century founder of the Dominican order of friars. It was in this saint’s honour that the name was first used in England, starting around the 13th century. It is primarily used by Catholics.”

I mean, come on. So awesome. It’s not for nothing that I chose it for one of my boys’ pseudonyms on here.

I admit that, growing up, I might have thought that it was too dark and latin-y for what I assumed my children would look like until I saw Kindergarten Cop and thought I would die over how cute the little Dominic was AND he looked just like what I thought my kids would look like (and a couple of them do!). So yes, it definitely works as well for a blondie as it does for anyone of Spanish descent (like the St. Dominic who inspired this post, de Guzman) or Italian descent (like St. Dominic Savio). Actor Dominic Monaghan (LOTR! Lost!) is a good example of a non-swarthy Dominic. (Actually, there are a couple actor Dominics who aren’t Latin — Dominic Purcell and Dominic West are two such, both of English and Irish descent.) (Also, FYI, Dominic West’s first three names are Dominic Gerard Francis. His children are Martha, Dora, Senan, Francis, and Rose. So fab. Name-wise he couldn’t get more Catholic if he tried.)

Another thing I loved, surprisingly, given my all-nicknames-all-the-time way, about KC‘s Dominic is that he went by the full Dominic, no nickname. I just really love the full name, it’s so handsome. But if you want a nickname, there are a few to choose from. Dom is the obvious, and I think it could be thought of as a half step away from Tom; my dad knew a Dominic growing up and they always called him Dommy, which also calls Tommy to mind. Nic(k)/Nicky is also a possibility (as is the spelling Dominick), or Nico, especially if you go with the super Italian Domenico. Domen is a Slovak form of Dominic and Dinko is a Croatian diminutive — I could see both having potential as nicknames (though Dinko’s appeal would likely be limited). Or there’s the Basque form Txomin. (Oh my.) (I believe it’s pronounced CHO-meen — anyone know any different?)

What do you all think of Dominic? Do you know any? What does he think of his name? Does he go by a nickname?

Happy feast day!!

ETA: This is a perfect place to link to the post I posted on FB the other day — check out these new Dominican Sisters’ beaauuutiful religious names!

28 thoughts on “Spotlight on: Dominic”

  2. I feel like in some ways, Dominic is kinda the perfect name (at least to me). It’s known, but never extremely popular. Easy to spell (I can only think of two spellings, which is rare with names these days). Masculine, without screaming frat boy or wrestler. It seems to have a lot of features that people tend to look for in a name.

    I also just think it’s just plain old handsome 🙂

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  3. I love your thoughts on a little blond Dominic!

    We ended up at a Dominican parish yesterday, and were blessed with a 1st relic of St Dominic after Mass! For the first time in my life I smelled roses (there weren’t any), so we’re totally putting Dominic on the middle name list for this baby.

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  4. I have a nephew named Dominic and he has blonde hair and blue eyes! 🙂 Hubby has a cousin who is Dominic who is also blonde, and one of my sisters-in-law is Domonique and she is a blonde too 🙂

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  5. Love, love, love Dominic!!! It’s high on my list if we have a 3rd son. My husband has been reluctant but the nickname Nico has been slowly changing his mind. Yay!!!

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  6. Oddly, I’ve known several peers named Dominic, none of them Catholic or Italian or Spanish or swarthy! I love the name though… love. it. It’s just not usable because I dated one before meeting my Dh (he went by “”Dom” a lot). I do know a little Dominic too… he is really cute (and also fair-featured). I love the history of this name too, and I love the Dominicans… lots of love here! 🙂

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  7. {“Or there’s the Basque form Txomin. (Oh my.) (I believe it’s pronounced CHO-meen — anyone know any different?)”}

    I’m still finding all the past Basque name references in your blog- lol – yes, that is the correct pronunciation of Txomin. My youngest is Joseph Dominic so I do love the name. We didn’t use the Basque form though in the early days we jokingly called him Jose Domingos (Portuguese) or occasionally Joseba Txomin (basque) which did not stick.Wanted Dominic for first name but my sister wanted to use it as well, so we didn’t, and she never did use it…

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  15. […] — Dominic: St. Dominic is traditionally considered the saint to whom Our Lady gave her rosary, which makes it a great Marian/Rosary name! Another fun tidbit is that Dominic means “of the Lord” and was traditionally given to boys born on Sunday. Very cool! AND Dominic’s actually a style match for Rosa’s girls’ names! I love how long and sophisticated it is. I did a spotlight of Dominic here. […]

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  16. I love the name Dominic so much that I named my 1st boy Dominic🤗
    I’ve been calling him Dommy since he was a baby and I was curious to see how common a nickname it is for Dominic because I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone referred to as Dommy. Which is how I found this lol.

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