Saintly names

sanctanomina Birth announcement

In light of the announcement of Kim and Kanye’s baby boy’s name (Saint), which has sent the internets into a capital-T-tizzy, thought I’d reblog the post I’d done on the name Saint over a year ago.

As I commented on Twitter, I think the selection of Saint is evidence of a yearning for holiness, which is a wonderful gift to give one’s child. 😇

Sancta Nomina

I just read the birth announcements of Saint Lazslo (born August 20), son of Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, and Ophelia Saint (born August 1), daughter of Foo Fighters rocker Dave Grohl.

I was struck by the use of “Saint” in both names (and especially as a first name) — I’ve never known that word to be used as a given name in English (and I admit I’m a little surprised to see it being used by celebrities who, as far as I know, have not been loud and proud about any religious affiliation. Never mind that “Saint” is a pretty Catholic term — I have heard non-Catholic Christians refer to all of faithful Christendom as saints, but at least in my experience it’s generally more heavily weighted toward Catholic). However, there are common names in other languages that translate as “Saint” or “holy” (which is what “saint” means):

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12 thoughts on “Saintly names”

  1. I like really want to get behind the name Saint, but a very large part of me just cannot. Saint is such an honor to be bestowed upon someone, it seems slightly self involved to me to give it to your child. And part of me is like “but it’s reserved for such a select group of people who truly serve God!” Idk, I just can’t really get on board with it, no matter what the intention behind it is (I way more support using an awesome Saint’s name or a virtue name)

    Also, as my friend pointed out, what if Saint is (god-forbid) ill-behaved? Imagine! “Saint West gets arrested” “Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s son, Saint, goes to Rehab” I can see the headlines now 😛

    Though, I guess we can just appreciate that they did not use Messiah like it was rumored.

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  2. Also, keeping in mind it was Kim and Kanye who picked the name, I’m not sure that they were actually striving for a child who would be holy and have a wonderful spirit. It seems very self congratulatory with them, more so than if someone else used the name.

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  3. I remember reading something along the lines of “they chose North because the North Star is the pinnicle”… something like that. They probably chose Saint for the same reaon. IMHO, they should have just named him Apex and had it done with.

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  4. Names deriving from Latin sanctus (which gave rise to modern English ‘saint’) are not uncommon in the Middle Ages. Perhaps the most surprising one — people not realizing where it came from — is Spanish Sancha and Sancho! These directly arise from sanctus (m.) and sancta (f.).

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