Month: October 2015

Baby name consultant: Saintly mid-century name needed for Baby #3, a girl

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Frances and her husband are expecting their third baby, a girl! Their other two children are:

Theresa
Paul

Great, solid, saintly names! She writes,

“I like that the names we’ve chosen so far are unambiguously Catholic, classic, well-known saint names that are rarely used today. I love when I get comments like, “Oh, you never hear that anymore!” We’ve noticed that we tend to favor names that peaked half a century ago and are no longer popular.

If it had been a boy, our top contender was Gregory. I also really liked the name Joachim while my husband thought it was too unusual. We both liked Joseph but I’d rather not pick a name that’s in the top 100.”

Did you all catch that? Frances likes Joachim! My life is complete! 🙂

“But since we’re having a girl …”

Names that they like but can’t use for various reasons include:

Margaret
Mary
Ann
Catherine
Clare
Elizabeth
Marie
Rita

All of which are such a bummer, because they feel exactly right, don’t they?

“We’ve talked about permutations of Mary (e.g., Marian, Marianne, Miriam, etc) but are sort of on the fence about them … I’m less interested in names like Seraphina or Evangelina, which although beautiful, aren’t associated with a well-known patron saint and also feel a bit too modern to my ears. I don’t want to have to search too hard to find the saint that goes with the name … So I’d love to get your perspective! Am I overlooking the perfect saint? What would you suggest given our parameters and the names of our other children?“

This was fun to work on, it’s not often I get to dig deep into the mid-century names!

Regarding Margaret, I wonder if Frances and her husband have considered any of its variations? Greta is my favorite, though Gretchen is cute too. (I actually really like Gretel, which could even be a nickname for Margaret or a pet name for Greta, but I’m thinking the fairy tale association might be too overwhelming?) They have the benefit of really getting away from the sound of Margaret … but it’s probably the sound of Margaret that they really like! I’ve always been intrigued by Marguerite as well, though I think that might be too close to the sound of Margaret. Or Magdalene? Margaret’s peak of popularity was in 1916, and Magdalene peaked in the 19-teens as well. I almost included Martha in my suggestions below, but I thought the Mar- made it too close to the sound of Margaret, but I wanted to mention it here anyway.

Regarding Mary names, I wonder if they’ve considered Maria? It peaked in 1966 and was #115 last year. It’s such a lovely, feminine name. Or is it too close to family member Marie’s name?

In coming up with other suggestions for this little baby girl, I really focused on names that were most popular in the 50’s and 60’s and that were out of the top 100 last year, and that were obviously saintly, and I came up with five that I thought struck me as just perfect:

(1) Jane
Jane peaked in 1945 and was #945 last year. It could honor a John (and there are so many awesome Sts. John!), or it could be for St. Jane Frances de Chantal, who was a close friend of St. Francis de Sales and started the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady. I’ve always liked Jane, its simplicity and elegance is so appealing.

(2) Monica
I think Monica is actually my favorite suggestion for this family. I love it as a sister to Theresa and Paul, and St. Monica is just an awesome saint. It peaked in 1973 and was #538 last year. (Readers: Do you think Monica has too much Friends association? Someone suggested recently that it does, which surprised me.)

(3) Regina
I spotlighted Regina just the other day, and I think it would be really great for Frances’ little Miss. I don’t hear any little Reginas these days! Of course it’s a beautiful Marian name, very traditional and classicly Catholic. It peaked in 1964 and was #525 last year.

(4) Angela
Angela peaked in 1975 and was #191 last year. I feel like it’s the “old” version of Seraphina, where parents who liked the connection to the angels back in the day would have used Angela or similar, where today they might lean more towards Seraphina. Angela could also be Marian, as in the title Our Lady of the Angels, or there’s St. Angela Merici and St. Angela de la Cruz (the latter was canonized by St. John Paul II).

(5) Bridget
After several years of climbing in popularity, Bridget peaked at #112 in 1973 before dropping off pretty drastically, so I think its popularity arc is pretty close to what Frances and her husband like. Bridget’s definitely saintly, with either St. Bridget of Sweden or St. Brigid of Ireland (also known as “Mary of the Gael”) as patrons.

There were two other names that didn’t make my final cut but I wanted to list them quickly anyway, just in case: Patricia and Deirdre. (Patricia didn’t make my final cut because it begins with a P like Paul, though I think it would be a great fit otherwise, and the same-first-initial thing is a small quibble; Deirdre had the right feel and popularity arc, but I thought it was probably just too Irish.)

So those are my ideas! What do you all think? What would you suggest for the baby sister of Theresa and Paul?

Frances also specifically asked if I could ask you all to pray for her and her unborn baby, as well as for her husband and other children. I know you will. ❤ St. Anne, please pray for Frances and her family!

Twilight Reimagined

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For a long long time, on all the name boards and name discussions I witnessed/participated in, the Twilight names — by which I mean specifically Edward, Bella, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, and Esme — were totally taboo. (I’m not including Jacob, because it was already monster hit on its own merits; other names like Victoria, James, and Sam were already in enough use that the Twilight association is not the overriding one; and Carlisle hasn’t ever been in the top 1000.)

The actual stats show a somewhat different story — Edward was already on a downhill spiral before the first book was released in 2005, and continued so until a small bump right around when the first movie came out in 2010, and then declined again; Bella was already on an upward trajectory but started moving up faster with the release of the books and even more so with the movies.

Rosalie wasn’t even in the top 1000 until the year the buzz for the first movie began, and has made the most dramatic climb; Jasper has been in the 500s or so since at least 2000 but jumped up a bit in conjunction with the movies; Esme made the top 1000 for the first time the year the first movie came out but stayed in the 900s every year since then until 2014 when it moved to #816.

The books and movies definitely helped make most of the these name more accessible to the general population, but that same association tainted the names for parents whose naming sensibilities are, I think, more closely aligned with ours here than not. For myself and many of you, our children’s names are chosen with heavy consideration given to our faith as realized through its holy people and places, its teachings, and its history. For many of the other people I encountered who crossed Edward, Bella, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, and Esme off their lists because of Twilight, if their children’s names weren’t chosen with a Catholic sensibility, then it was with a literary or artistic or offbeat or funky sensibility very informed by education or even just plain contrariness. The fact that names like those of the characters were even on their lists to begin with attests to that.

For our purposes, I have found Twilight to be quite a bother. Edward, to me, is St. Edward the Confessor! An amazing saint, a wonderful model and patron for any boy. Rosalie is a Rose- name, one of the many beautiful ways to honor Mother Mary or St. Rosalia (which Rosalie is a variant of). Jasper is one of the Three Wise Men, as I’ve mentioned so many times before. Emmett, Esme, and Bella don’t feel as faith-y, but they could be — there’s a St. Emma (Emmett is a male diminutive of Emma); Esme means “beloved,” which could easily fit into a beautiful name combo having to do with the faith; Bella on its own means “beautiful,” which could be treated the same way as Esme, or it can be a nickname or form of Isabella on its own or as a form of Elizabeth, both of which have their own very saintly connections. I actually love all those names, they are very much my taste.

But for years, to tell anyone you might like the name Rosalie, for example, seemed to automatically mark you as a Twihard — it wouldn’t matter how many times you protested, “No! It’s for Mother Mary! It’s for St. Rosalia!” people would just think vampire.

Finally, finally!, it seems, from what I can tell, that the Twilight names are becoming more acceptable. The association seems to be fading. And then I read Stephenie Meyer Announces New Gender-Swapped ‘Twilight’ Book (posted last week):

“Stephenie Meyer went on Good Morning America on Tuesday to announce she’s releasing a new Twilight book in honor of the 10th anniversary of the original novel. It’s called Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, and it swaps the genders of almost every character in the book.

Bella is now a human named Beau and Edward is a vampire named Edythe. In a foreword to the story, the author explained that there are slight personality changes to the characters. Beau is “more OCD” and “not as angry,” but Meyer said the love story is the same. The book is already available in hardcover and e-book, starting Tuesday.”

Noooooo!!!!

Because Stephenie Meyer has really really good taste in names, so you know whatever she chooses is going to be delectable (at least to my taste). Which means there’s the possibility of a whole new bunch of otherwise awesome names that will have the Twilight taint. In From Bella, Edward and Jacob to Beau, Edythe and Julie: The Full List of Name Changes in New ‘Twilight’ Book, the full list is given (the article itself is pretty interesting from a namiac perspective):

Main characters, most susceptible to being heavily associated with Twilight
Bella (short for Isabella) to Beau (short for Beaufort)
Edward to Edythe
Jacob (or Jake) to Julie (or Jules)
Dr. Carlisle to Dr. Carine
Esme to Earnest
Alice to Archie
Emmett to Eleanor
Rosalie to Royal
Jasper to Jessamine

More minor characters, probably no real risk here
Billy to Bonnie
Jessica to Jeremy
Angela to Allen
Mike to McKayla
Tyler (b) to Taylor (g)
Lauren to Logan
Eric to Erica
Rachel and Rebecca to Adam and Aaron
Ben to Becca
Connor to Colleen
Lee to Leann
Samantha to Sean
Sam to Samantha (also known as Sam)

The bad guys — not main characters, but not minor either
James to Joss
Victoria to Victor
Laurent to Lauren

So I’m most disappointed by Beau (I have a soft spot for it), Edythe (though the spelling is so different from our St. Edith that I’m hoping, since it will only be a book and not a movie, it won’t even seem like the same name), Carine (which was our girl middle name for a while), Eleanor (but it’s so popular already it’ll probably be fine), and Jessamine (a personal fave). I love the Juli- names, but I don’t think Julie will affect the Julia/Julian(n)(e)(a)/Juliet(te) names as much, since it’s been on its way down for a long time, and is currently much less popular than all the other forms. And Victor has been on my list for a long time, and is more distinctive/less traditionally popular than Victoria, so I’m just hoping, as my husband pointed out, that there’s very little chance that this book will take off the way the others did, especially since (as noted) there won’t be any sequels or movies (and indeed the SSA stats showed the bumps in popularity were more associated with the movies than the books).

What do all think? Do you think there’s any risk of a Twilight Reimagined backlash against any of these names? Would it matter to you if there was? Did it matter to you before, with the original books and movies?

Reading round-up

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I have a lot of reading to share with y’all today! (Yes, y’all, and no I’m not from the South. It’s just so useful! More of the country needs to get on that.)

First off, our reader skimac has sent me some awesome recommendations, with her annotations in parentheses:

History of Christian Names by C.M. Yonge (1884) (this seems to be the older revised version)

History of Christian Names Vol. 2 by C.M. Yonge (1864) (seems to be second half of above book, but has some different chapter headings so not sure how different)

Girls’ Christian Names: Their History, Meaning, and Association by Helena Swan (1905)

What is Your Name? A popular account of the meanings and derivations of Christian Names by Sophy Moody (1863)

A List of Christian names: their derivatives, nicknames and equivalents in several foreign languages by United States-Adjutant General’s Office (1920) (all male names since it is a war department document) (my note: I’m totally starry eyed over this description! “derivatives, nicknames and equivalents in several foreign languages” ahhh!! A quick perusal revealed Vest and Vester as nicknames for Sylvester, I’d never thought of those!)

Christian Names and What They Mean: A Birthday Book (very simple but has nice literary reference to every name)

Look at those publication dates! I LOVE old name books, and I’ve seen Charlotte Yonge cited in some of the ones I have. I only read the first page of the first book listed here and a quick look through the fifth, but I’m basically already hooked. 🙂

She also sent me this article the other day, which I quite enjoyed: St. Bruno, Bravado, & Baby Names: A Father’s Guide by Richard Becker. Skimac noted how great it was that it was written from a dad’s perspective, and I agree — we do skew mostly female here, though we do have a couple dads who read and comment and email me, and I always love hearing their perspectives. Thanks guys!

Speaking of dads … my own dad emailed me this article recently, which was pretty fascinating: 49 Preppy Baby Names Destined for the Ivy League. Digby, Connery, Blaine (a family name for me), Yates, and Darcy were some that caught by eye …

And finally, I know you’ve all been dying to see a picture of the well-named Fr. Bede I wrote about the other day — here he is, teaching Finney the Leprechaun about Jesus! 😀 Fr. Bede is seriously one awesome dude.

Happy Friday y’all!

Spotlight on: Regina

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Weeks ago Laura asked me to do a spotlight on Regina — I try really hard not to forget anyone’s request, even if it takes me a while to get to it. It’s been on my to-post list since then! And today’s the day, woo!

So Regina: What do you all think of when you hear it? I think of Mother Mary first and foremost — she’s always been my first association, maybe because I never knew anyone in real life with the name except for one small baby named Maria Regina, for Our Lady, so again — Mother Mary’s the big association there, for me. It’s a lot less popular than it used to be, so I imagine it might feel pretty dated to a lot of you, especially if you know women with the name.

And then there’s the pronunciation issue … how do you say it? I’ve always said reh-JEE-nah, but I understand there are some who say reh-JYE-nah, which of course rhymes with a part of the female anatomy, and even if parents are determined to have the reh-JEE-nah pronunciation, there’s still the chance that someone will mistakenly say reh-JYE-nah. (Turns out that’s the pronunciation of Saskatchewan’s capital, so … it’s definitely a possibility. Check out Abby’s profile of Regina for more info.) I can see that being the kind of thing a little girl might be mortified over (see the conversation from yesterday about names with bullying potential). (I guess a hard G is also a possibility, according to behindthename. Have you ever heard that?)

But, if that isn’t a concern, or if the intention is to put the name in the middle spot, I think this is just one of those great Catholicky Catholic names — super Marian, super traditional, *especially* paired with Maria. It’s got cute nickname potential too — certainly the familiar Gina, and also apparently Ina (Ina Garten was born just Ina though), and I think Ree could work, or Rina, or Ria.

The variants of Regina, though, are where I *think* most people of childbearing age right now would feel more comfortable: Reina/Raina/Rayna, or the Bulgarian Raya, or the French Régine or Reine (pronounced like wren, or like rain I think — the spelling Raine would make it more obvious if you prefer the latter). The Irish Ríona is quite pretty too, and I’ve also seen Regan presented as a variant of Regina, though I’m not sure how accurate that is since it was mentioned in the comments and not in the official post at BTN (and King Lear’s daughter and the character in The Exorcist ruin Regan for a lot of people, which is such a pity, because I love Regan).

What do you all think of Regina? Would you use it for a daughter? Do you know any little Reginas? What about pronunciation — how do you say it? What have you heard?

I know you’ll all understand …

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I had a funny conversation this past weekend about names — I was talking to a couple older people (older than 70), and I was telling one of them the nickname that one of my boys goes by. “That sounds like a name better suited to a grown man with a cigar hanging out of his mouth!” he said, good naturedly but with the unmistakable tone of what were you thinking? The other person in our conversation, who knows my little guy and his nickname, burst out with, “Yes! He sounds like a stevedore down on the docks!”

I can’t tell you how much I loved both comments! Haha! I know they weren’t meant to wound (we were having a fun conversation up to that point anyway, so I think they were kind of just going with the tone — kind of jokey, kind of roast-y — and besides, I get that older generations have a different taste in names than younger), and the fact that they indeed reveal a little of what they really think of the name (not positive) didn’t matter to me at all because one of the things I love about his nickname is the Old World, little bit fusty feel it has. I’m sure they thought I was crazy when I said, in response to their “man with cigar” and “stevedore on the docks” comments, “Thanks! I love that!” 😀

Gabriel B.

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I’ve been thinking about the first name Gabriel with a last name beginning with B ever since Emily’s consultation — though so many of you liked the idea of Gabriel for her, for Simon’s little brother, there was the strong opinion that the possibility of Gabe B__ — and the resulting sound of Gay B__ — rendered Gabriel unusable (here, here, here).

I hadn’t thought of that possibility when I suggested Gabriel, and I do agree that it’s something to be seriously considered. And it also made me think of two famous men who are Gabriel B., and how one of them is a perfect example of how times change.

First off: the actor Gabriel Byrne. He is so great, I just love him, especially in Little Women. And he’s Irish. (You know me and Irish!) (And, btw, he has a son named Jack Daniel! How funny! And a daughter named Romy Marion, which is striking me as really cool and faith-y all at once.) (Also, he received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland, Galway, which is where I studied abroad. 🙂 ) At least professionally, he’s circumvented the Gay B__ possibility by going by the full Gabriel.

Second, less well known to Americans but a BIG DEAL in Ireland is TV personality Gay Byrne whose given name is … wait for it …

Gabriel Mary Byrne.

Ohmygoodness I could die of happiness over that combo. Gabriel and Mary in one boy’s name? Love love love!

And I love that he too is Irish — because of these two men, Gabriel has always struck me as an Irish name (“Irish” meaning “used with some frequency in Ireland”).

Anyway, he hosted The Late Late Show from 1962 to 1999 (“the world’s longest-running chat show”) and he was “the first person to introduce The Beatles on screen,” among other things. Like I said, a BIG DEAL.

And he’s always gone by Gay. Or, affectionately, Uncle Gay, Gaybo, and Uncle Gaybo. I know this all started in a time when Gay wasn’t fraught with its current meaning, but it’s sort of hilarious how over-the-top his nicknames are, like he just decided to heck with it.

Mr. Byrne is still around — I had the privilege of chatting with him when I represented New York in the Rose of Tralee Festival and he was a judge — and still goes by Gay. It’d be so interesting to hear his thoughts on his name! Especially as times have changed.

Do any of you know a Gabriel B.? How old is he, and has Gabe B__ been a problem?

Nicknames: Ash/-ash

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You all know I’m a big fan of nicknames, so it should come as no surprise that I’m constantly on the lookout for new/interesting/different/offbeat nicknames for “normal” names, or “normal” nicknames for unusual/long/difficult/complicated given names.

Recently, I’m loving nicknames that rhyme with Ash. Dashiell nicked Dash has been a favorite of mine ever since The Incredibles — how totally clever was it to give a speedy kid a name that nicked to Dash?! And how cool is that nickname anyway? I’m not a huge fan of Dashiell, but for Dash? I’d consider it. I’d prefer to find a different name that nicked easily/logically to Dash though … like … David Shepherd? Daniel Seamus? Can you think of others?

I’ve seen Cash and Nash used now and again, and they always appeal to me, so I must just really like the -ash sound. I’ve seen Cash for Johnny Cash, and Cash as a nickname for Cashel. I could see it maybe working as a quirky nickname for Christian or maybe even Charles. Until very recently I’d only seen Nash used as a stand alone name, but then it occurred to me (or maybe I saw somewhere?) that it could be a natural for Ignatius or Nathaniel. I kind of love that idea!

Bash is one of the cleverest nicknames for Sebastian, in my opinion. I love that Grace’s boy is Sebastian nicked Bash, sooo cool.

And finally, what inspired this post was this comment from Sarah about a little Athanasius nicked Ash. Ohhh my! Clever clever, I love love love it! (I was also thinking Nash could work for Athanasius too).

What do you all think about the Ash/-ash nicknames? Do they appeal to you? Have you heard other examples, and what are the given names?

A kiss from Pope Francis

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A Sancta Nomina baby was kissed by Pope Francis in Philadelphia!

Jenny’s baby Luke had the amazing blessing of being kissed by Pope Francis, and an amazing picture was taken of it, and I’ve seen it on social media about a THOUSAND times since, between just the regular Pope Francis coverage while he was here and Jenny’s constant sharing and resharing of it (which I would totally do too, Mama! And maybe a bigger-than-life-size print made and framed and hung on the front of the house. Discreet like.), but it wasn’t until one of you wonderful readers emailed me a link to the story to be sure I’d seen it and said, “One of your consult babies got kissed by the pope in Philadelphia!” that I thought about it in that way.

One of our consult babies got kissed by the pope in Philadelphia!!

Well. Between Grace sharing her PF story and photos with us and Jenny’s baby being kissed by him, Sancta Nomina did pretty darn well during the papal visit. 🙂 ❤

Baby name consultant: Saintly, nature-y name that follows the rules needed for Green Bean Baby #3

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Chelsea Anne (lucky girl, with our own St. Anne as a patron!) and her husband Timothy are expecting their third baby, gender unknown (green bean!). She writes,

“My husband and I wait until birth to find out the baby’s gender, so we are on the hunt for a boy’s name and a girl’s name.

Interestingly enough, my daughters were named before I was even considering reverting to Catholicism. Saints weren’t even remotely on my radar. And yet, there is that Catholic glimmer in both of their names! It seems like a sign to me that I am on the right path.”

Okay, you guys? This is one of the very reasons this blog has been such an amazing blessing to me — I get to read stories like this! The workings of the Holy Spirit can be evident even in baby naming.

Their girls are:

Celeste Marie (both family names; “I love that the name Celeste is rooted in Latin and that it is familiar in many languages. I love that it is ancient and somewhat rare. I also love that it reflects the natural world (the celestial, starry, heavenly, bodies).”)

Rosa Maeve (Rosa’s a family name and Maeve a tip of the hat to Chelsea’s Irish heritage; “Rosa’s first name is also familiar in many languages, as it has that Latin root. It is also somewhat rare (Rose is far more common). And it reflects the natural world (in the case, in Rosa’s earthiness!) I don’t even know how to explain her middle name, except to say that we were called to give her the name Maeve because of her mischievous wild temperament!“)

I could just die over both of their names. Sooo beautiful!

“I wasn’t consciously aware of the above patterns when they were born, but the commonalities I find between my daughter’s names are:

-Traditional, romantic
-Latin Root/familiar or accessible in many Western languages
-Have a Marian aspect (“Marie” and “Rosa”)
-Reflect the natural world in a very subtle way (in the above cases, the elements of Earth and Air)
-I tend to like “ethnic” sounding names
-My husband pointed out that both their middle names start with M and have five letters, which was unintentional but very noticeable to me now

The baby name wizard book describes both the names Celeste and Rosa as “womanly” which is very cool to me. I tend to like the idea of naming grown-up people rather than babies! … If I do have another girl, it would be cool to honor a Saint for her first or middle name, maybe include a subtle Marian aspect. I love rare, high-impact, somewhat intense, romantic, traditional names.

I also feel interested in honoring the sea with this child’s name, for some unknown reason … but thats not a rule.”

BUT … speaking of rules …:

“I do have a few pesky naming rules. The good news is that I am quite open-minded so you might get me to budge on some of these. Especially if the suggestion is really, really cool.

Rules
-I would prefer not to choose names (for either gender) that repeat the first initial (C, R)
-I would prefer not to choose names that repeat the ending of the name. In other words, I have always liked “Lucia”, but I feel that the “a” at the end of that name already belongs to my Rosa. When I call my children’s names outloud, I love the idea of their names having distinct endings. For Celeste, this is a non-issue. But if you eliminate girl’s names ending in the letter “a”, you definitely wipe out a lot of options.

My heritage is very important to me (especially because my children will receive my husband’s very common last name). I am Cuban/Spanish, Irish, German, Dutch. My husband’s ancestry is English, Irish, German … Because I am so new to Catholic naming, I am sure there are names out there that I am just not even aware of. I would love to find some new names (or reexamine names I have overlooked), particularly in the girl category!“

Some of their favorite names are:

Beatrix
Brigid
Margaret (but popularity is an issue)
Genevieve (ditto re: popularity)
Therese (“my husband cant seem to pronounce this tho…“)
Maris
Pearl (but used by a friend)
Luz

Padraig/Padraic Willem
Forrest/Forest Willem
Seamus Henry
Simon Henry
Duncan ___

And names from their family tree:

Ellen
Helen
Cullen
Anne
Ivo
Palma
Margaret
Patrick/Padraig
Willem
Bernadina
Magdelena
Edward
Catherine
Lillian
Molly
Maureen
Thomas
Francis
Arthur
Aloysius
Victor
Graciela
Luisa
Matthew/Mateo
Simon
Beatrice
Lucia
Grace
Lola
Olive
Henry
Nathaniel
Phineas
Samuel
Mabel
Muriel
Elisabeth
Edwin
Willard
Elias
Forrest
Everett
Pearl

A further note:

“I tend to really go for Irish boy names, as you can see by the list above. For boy’s, I also like the idea of using a name that is traditional, HANDSOME, hearty, possibly with a Latin root, that includes at least one nod to a Saint (in either the first name or the middle name). The only name on this list that reflects the natural world in any way is Forest, which is probably why it is the favorite of my farmer husband.”

Also, because I know you’ll all love it, Chelsea told me that getting feedback from me “is like having a name doula” — a name doula! I might just have to put that on my business card! 😀

Okay, first my thoughts about their current list:

Their girls choices are all great and lovely! It’s fun to see a mix of names I see a lot through the blog (Genevieve, Therese, Margaret) and those I’d love to see more often (Beatrix, Brigid, Maris, Pearl, Luz). I personally don’t think they can go wrong with any of them. I particularly like how Maris can fit into the five-letter-beginning-with-M pattern they already have for Celeste and Rosa’s middle names, and it’s Marian, and it’s related to the sea—it seems like they have a perfect middle name right there!

The boys names have a very different feel to me than the girl names, and I like them all. I’m particularly impressed with the super Irishy Irish Padraig/Padraic! AND I discovered recently that St. Patrick is the patron of organic gardening! Since Chelsea’s husband is a farmer, I thought that was particularly meaningful. I have an idea for a middle name for Duncan, which I’ll include in my suggestions below.

I had fun coming up with ideas for this family, because of all the rules! I love love a good name challenge! I always shoot for three, but I came up with so many ideas that I grouped them into five suggestions for each gender:

Girls

(1) Carmel
Aaaand right off the bat I’m breaking rules! But I’m hoping this might be one of those really, really cool suggestions that they don’t mind, especially since the C doesn’t make the same sound as Celeste. Carmel is for Our Lady of Mount Carmel—it comes from the Hebrew for “garden,” and is the name of a mountain in the Holy Land featured in the book of Kings (chapter eighteen). In this chapter, the prophet Elijah challenged King Ahab to call on his god Baal to start the fire of sacrifice, while Elijah would call on the Lord. “The God who answers with fire is God,” Elijah said, and “All the people answered, ‘Agreed!’” (1 Kings 18:24). Not surprisingly, Our Lord was victorious. Afterward, Elijah instructed his servant to look out to the sea from Mount Carmel and report what he saw there; six times the servant reported there was nothing to see, and Elijah sent him to look again. On the seventh time, the servant told Elijah, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea” (1 Kings 18:44).

This is the coolest part: Carmelite tradition holds that Elijah understood this cloud to be a symbol of the Virgin Mother who would bear the Messiah, as foretold in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14).

I’ve done a little research on it, and one place I found online explained, “When the servant of Elijah saw a small cloud rise from the sea, God revealed to Elijah that a certain child, Blessed Mary, symbolised by that cloud would be born of sinful human nature, symbolised by the sea.”

Tradition also suggests that, even in Old Testament times, a group of hermits followed in the example of Elijah by living on Mount Carmel and leading lives of contemplative prayer; praying, in fact, for the coming of the Virgin Mother. Then,

“On the Feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the spiritual descendants of [Elijah] and his followers came down from Mount Carmel. Fittingly, they were the first to accept the message of Christianity and to be baptized by the Apostles. When, at last, they were presented to Our Lady, and heard the sweetest words from Her lips, they were overcome with a sense of majesty and sanctity which they never forgot. Returning to their holy mountain, they erected the first chapel ever built in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From that time devotion to God’s Mother was handed down by the hermits on Mount Carmel as a treasured spiritual legacy.” (source)

In the thirteenth century AD, so my favorite version of the story goes, the hermits left the mountain and went to Europe, where they received Papal approval for their Order, and became known as the “Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel,” or, the Carmelites. Later that same century, on July 16, 1251, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite, and gave him the Brown Scapular, promising, “‘This shall be the privilege for you and all Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall not suffer eternal fire.’ In time, the Church extended this magnificent privilege to all the laity who are willing to be invested in the Brown Scapular of the Carmelites, and who perpetually wear it.”

So Carmel is Marian and related to the sea! I love it, I think it would be smashing for Chelsea if she has a little girl. If she hates the C, because of it repeating the first letter of Celeste’s name, behindthename.com says that the Hebrew word, when transliterated, becomes Karmel, which for some reason we then make Carmel, so Karmel would be a possibility. It also strikes me as Irishy and womanly, probably because the only Carmel I’ve met was a middle aged woman who ran a B&B in Dublin. Also, the Spanish version is Carmen, which they also might like because of their Spanish heritage.

(2) Hildi or Edith
It’s hard to follow Carmel with all its info! But I had immediately thought of Hildi when I was reading Chelsea Anne’s email. St. Hildegard of Bingen (who was famous for her writings and poetry and prophetic visions) was recently declared a Doctor of the Church, which is a big deal because she’s a woman (there are three other women: St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese, and St. Catherine of Siena), and I know of a little girl named after her—I can’t remember if they named her the full Hildegard or just Hildi, but she goes by Hildi and I’m just head-over-heels in love with it. It’s so sweet! I definitely think Hildi stands on its own, despite technically being a nickname, and it fits all their naming rules. Another option, if they preferred a non-nickname name, is Hilde, which is the German and Dutch (their heritage!) version of Hilda, which is related to Hildegard, but Hilde is said the same as Hilda, so unfortunately there is the –a ending that’s already Rosa’s. (And I wasn’t sure if they didn’t want to repeat the ending sound of Celeste (T) or actual letter (E)? So there’s that too. Hildi gets around all of that.)

Hildi made me think of Edith, because of its Germanic-ness, and Edith is St. Edith Stein, whose religious name in life was St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was a convert from Judaism and died in a concentration camp during WWII. She is awesome, and I’m seeing Edith get quite a bit of name love among Catholics recently. The nickname Edie is beyond adorable too. Both Hildi and Edith have a womanly feel to me, like Chelsea said she liked about the Baby Name Wizard’s description of Celeste and Rosa.

(3) Margo
Chelsea said she loves Margaret but its popularity is concerning—I think Margo’s a great alternative. It’s a variant of Margaret, and I think it can take all the Margaret nicknames if they wanted it to. The original Margot, of which Margo is a variant, is French, so the T is silent, but since they wanted to avoid repeat endings, I thought maybe the T was too close to the appearance of Celeste? Margaux is another acceptable spelling. Margaret also means “pearl” so using a Margaret variant would honor the Pearl in their family! Pearl can also be Marian (I blogged about it!), so Margo could be considered a very subtle Marian name. I also like that Margo is five letters starting with M, so if they didn’t care for it in the first name spot, they might like it in the middle. (I also wonder if they’d like the Irish form of Margaret, Mairead? It rhymes with parade.)

(4) Pilar or Belén
These two were inspired by all their rules and their Spanish heritage. I’m not sure if they’d be interested in a Spanish name, but I love both of these. Pilar is from a title of Our Lady, and under this title (María del Pilar) she was declared Patroness of Spain and of all Hispanic Peoples by St. John Paul II in 1984. Belén is the Spanish form of Bethlehem. Both gorgeous, meaningful names!

AND — ohmygoodness!!! — I didn’t know this until right this minute but TODAY is the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar/Nuestra Señora del Pilar!

(5) Verity or Amity
I did a little research in my BNW, looking for connections and overlap with the names that they’ve used and liked, and was following a path from Forrest to Mercy to Amity, which also made me think of Verity, which I’ve always liked—Amity means “friendship” and Verity means “truth” so they’re really great meaning names, AND they don’t break any of the rules!

Boy

(1) Elias or Elliott
I spotted Elias right away in their list of family names, because it’s one I’d already had in mind for them as I was reading the beginning of Chelsea’s email because of the Carmel connection—Elias is the Greek form of Elijah, so using it for a boy could be thought of as a nod to the sea and honoring Our Lady all in one. And it’s a family name for them! If Chelsea and her hubs didn’t like it as a first name, I thought it would be an amazing middle name for Duncan. Duncan Elias is so handsome! And Elliott actually originated as a diminutive of Elias, so they could use Elliott both as a connection to Carmel/Elijah and their family member named Elias.

(2) Declan
I thought Declan seemed a perfect addition to their list, based on their desire for “Irish, traditional, HANDSOME, hearty … includes at least one nod to a saint.” St. Declan was a contemporary of St. Patrick and is quite loved in Ardmore in Ireland. One of my cousins used it for her little boy, and I just love it.

(3) Nicholas, Brendan, Elmo/Erasmus
I wasn’t totally sure if their desire to honor the sea was also for boy’s names, or just girls? But I looked up patron saints of sailors, and St. Nicholas, St. Brendan (Irish!), and St. Elmo (also known as St. Erasmus) are all. All these names fit the rules as well.

(4) Isidore, George, Fiacre
I also looked up patron saints of farmers and similar, which is how I discovered that St. Patrick is the patron of organic gardening. There’s also St. Isidore, patron of farmers, which I’d known, and St. George is the patron of farmers, field workers, and shepherds, which I hadn’t known! And I thought they might be really intrigued by Fiacre—it’s the French form of the Irish Fiachra, and is the name of an Irish saint who settled in France—and he’s the patron of those who grow vegetables and medicinal plants, and of gardening in general. How cool! Now I know that each of these names has the same ending as Celeste, but I as I mentioned I was a little unclear as to whether they didn’t want to repeat her ending sound (T) or her ending letter (E), so I took a chance.

(5) Heath, Jasper, Timothy
When I was looking up names in my BNW, looking for connections and overlap with the names that they’ve used and liked, I found Heath as a brother name for Amity, and I immediately thought they might like it because of its nature connection. It originally meant someone who lived on a heath, sort of like an uncultivated field. Jasper was a brother name for Everett, which I was intrigued by from their family names, and I loved Jasper for them because it’s a kind of rock (nature!), and also one of the names traditionally assigned to one of the three Wise Men (Casper is a variant of Jasper, which is also sometimes given for that Wise Man). And Timothy! Chelsea’s husband’s name! I only recently discovered that timothy is hay! Or rather, it’s a kind of grass that is “widely grown for hay in the United States” (according to the dictionary). I don’t know if she or her hubs would like using his name as either a first or middle, but it’s pretty cool to have that nature/farm-y connection.

Whew! Those are all my ideas! What a mama of a post! What do you all think? What names would you suggest to Chelsea Anne and her husband for their little baby-on-the-way?

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.

P.S. to my last post

sanctanomina Housekeeping

I forgot to say — I prayed for you all during the meeting today, during the beautiful Mass we had, and I asked each of the relic-ed (?) saints to pray for you all as well. You’ve all been such a blessing to me! ❤