Baby name consultant: Mostly biblical+very saintly names needed for Green Bean #4 (on earth)

Megan and her husband Stephen are expecting their fourth born baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown). 🙂 Their other kiddos on earth are:

Monica Noelle (Christmas Day baby!)
Rebecca Therese (often called Becca; she was “nearly ‘Rachel,’ but we decided last minute that we liked the ‘-cah’ at the end to match her big sister“)
Jacob Michael

And two little ones in heaven:

Luke
Felicity

(I just love every single one of those names! Awesome style.)

Megan writes,

“I am glad pregnancies are so long because it takes us quite a while to agree on a name (often process of elimination), and then we tend to change our minds in the last week — lol. I blame the Holy Spirit, and He’s never failed us. We won’t know the gender of the baby (and my intuition is never right), so we need boys and girls options … Personally, girls names are so much harder for me than boys names. I like most of the common Old Testament boy names, and lots of familiar saint names, too. For girls, I tend to gravitate to the three-syllable names ending in “ah” [though Megan pointed out she’s not “committed to those syllables or to the ‘ah’ sound”] … Jacob would have been Maria Bernadette if he were a girl [though they’ve moved on from Maria] … We tend to like the names that are easy to say, easy to spell, but not super popular (well, Jacob might be…). So far all the names have a hard sound in them, which I can’t say I’m crazy about. I want the kids’ names to sound complimentary together, but I’m afraid that if we keep the “CK” sound in them for #4, it will be harder to break away for future names.”

Other names they’ve considered for girls include:

Vivienne (“as a pretty name, but no particular other reason, and I’d have to look it up to gauge the Catholicity of it“)
Susanna (“but not excited about Susie and there is a cousin Anna … would we really call her Susanna? I am open to it … or maybe Susie would grow on me“)
Avila (“But I don’t know if I have the courage to use such a different name“)

And for boys:

Gideon (“love the Biblical character, but it’s a little outside my comfort zone“)
Joshua
Caleb
Samuel
David
Jonathan
Micah
Joel
Joseph
Andrew
Thomas
Justin

Also:

“3 of the 4 grandparents have a name connection, so if it’s easy to connect to Brenda or Ellen, that’d be nice. Maybe Brendan for a boy? But it’s not vital … Baby is due mid/late October and there are lots of St. Johns on the calendar around that time. Would it be ridiculous to have another J baby just 18 months after Jacob? Would I be forever getting them mixed up?“

And:

“[Their last name ends with the “lee” sound, so] this eliminates first names ending with the LEE sound because I think it’s awkward. Even some names ending with just the “EE” sound make me pause“

Other names that are off the table because of relatives so named:

Nathan
Xavier
Levi
Matthew
Michael
Daniel
Gabriel
John-Paul
Joseph
Damian
Elijah

Okay everyone, buckle up: I had a LOT of thoughts! First off, I just have to say it — I love Maria Bernadette! I wonder if they’d considered Bernadette as a first name? A friend of mine was going to name her baby Bernadette and nickname her Betsy, which I thought was so clever and fabulous. (She ended up with a boy.)

Vivienne is beautiful, and of course I looked it up — Vivienne is actually a feminine spelling of the French male (!) name Vivian, and there is a St. Vivian, who had been a bishop. (Read more here, but pay no worry to the idea of Vivian as a feminine name being “either an Anglicized form of BÉBINN or a variant of VIVIEN (2)” – any of us who love any version of Vivian would be using it for St. Vivian of course.)

And Susanna! One of my very very favorites! Megan said Anna’s not do-able, and she’s not sure about Susie … there’s also Sukey/Suki, which is a traditional nick for the Susan names, and Zuzu, like Zuzu’s petals on It’s a Wonderful Life. They could do Annie — or is that too close to Anna? Or I’ve even thought Sunny or Sassy could be really cute for Susanna. 🙂

And Avila! I think they should definitely consider it! I see it often enough in families like all of you readers, so I don’t think it’s as out of the mainstream as Megan might suspect. But if it still makes her too uncomfortable, perhaps she can consider putting Mary in front of it? Mary makes any name do-able in my opinion! Mary Avila is just lovely, either as a double first name, or as a first-middle combo. Then they’d have loads of options, like calling her Mary (while always knowing that Avila’s winking from the middle), or Mary Avila, or Avila – all my dad’s first cousins who are women are named Mary+something, and they all go by their middles. Or they could even call her Molly, which is a traditionaI nickname for Mary, and also totally makes sense with the “L” from Avila. And Mary could kind of be an honor name for Megan, as her middle name is Marie. I also have another suggestion tied into this, which I’ll put in my formal suggestions below. 🙂

And Gideon! Also an awesome awesome name, I just love it. If it didn’t sound weird with our last name, I’d totally want to use it!! I personally have found that its lack of natural nicknames is difficult (as you all know, I’m a big nicknamer) BUT (and I know this is crazy) when the actor that played Gilbert Blythe on Anne of Green Gables died, I started thinking about how much I love the nickname Gil, but don’t love the name Gilbert, and how one could get to Gil — and I thought of Gideon with an L middle name, and I’m so in love with this idea that I’m extra annoyed we can’t use it! Gideon Leo, for example, or Gideon Louis – a good biblical name paired with a good saintly name! Even if Megan didn’t want to nickname it though, I love Gideon. I definitely think they should seriously consider this one too. 🙂 If, however, Megan and her husband still can’t get comfortable with it, what about something like John Gideon? John is one of those names that does for boys what Mary does for girls I think — putting John in front of any boy name makes it do-able! John Gideon could go by John or Gideon, or John Gideon.

Finally, before getting to my suggestions, I don’t think John is terrible after Jacob. Yes, they’ll probably mix them up, but I do that with my own kids, even the ones who don’t have matching initials! Hmm … Monica and Rebecca have a nice connection in that they both end in –ca; maybe Megan and her hubs could think of it as Jacob and the new baby if it’s a boy having their own special name connection by sharing the same first initial.

Alrighty! I always shoot for three suggestions for each gender, and I did so here, taking into account no hard K sound and no “lee” sound so as to sound okay with their last name:

Girls
(1) Evelyn or Evelina
I’m pretty psyched about this idea. It was inspired by Megan’s love of Avila and her uncertainty regarding her comfort level with it – both Evelyn and Evelina are from the name Aveline, which behindthename says is “From the Norman French form of the Germanic name Avelina, a diminutive of AVILA.” So Evelyn/Evelina=Avila, but in a more familiar way. So cool! AND it was also listed as similar to Vivienne in style/feel/popularity in my trusty Baby Name Wizard book. Winner! Evie/Eva/Eve are awesome nicknames that also really remind me of their style. And Evelina is long and ends in -a like the other girls.

(2) Eleanor and/or Nell (and its relations) (Or Elena!)
Megan mentioned that she might like to work Grandmother Ellen’s name in somehow –Eleanor was listed as similar to Vivienne in the BNW, and Ella as similar to Luke, so names with that sound seem to fit her taste. I quite like Eleanor with Monica, Rebecca, and Jacob, though I will just warn that Eleanor and Ellen have a tricky relationship etymologically (if you follow that link, be sure to read Sara’s comment as well). I actually started this train of thought with Ellen, and how Nell is a traditional nickname for it, and then I followed the Nell trail — it’s also used as a nickname for Penelope (love!), Helen(a) (so saintly!), and Eleanor — so there’s another connection too. Anyway, it all loops back to Grandmother Ellen, and a lovely way to do so! (I don’t hate “just Ellen” either, I’ve seen it used recently! The nickname Ellie is sweet too.) If Megan and her hubs wanted to match the -a ending of Monica and Rebecca, Eleanora is lovely as well. Or — ooh! — Elena! Like Ellen with an -a on the end!

(3) Lydia or Miriam
I just love Lydia, one of my very favorites. Unsurprisingly (as it’s a biblical name) it’s similar to both Susanna and Gideon in style. Miriam just *seems* like it fits to me — and I have nothing to back that up but my gut! My only hesitation in using either Lydia or Miriam is that they leave Monica out as the only non-biblical name. It’s not a huge deal — Monica’s been used for so long that it has an almost biblical feel — but it’s just something to be aware of. (Like with Mary Avila, Miriam could also be an honor name for Megan — a Mary name like her middle.)

Boys
(1) Jeremiah
Megan basically listed all the boy biblical names as ones she likes! Haha! But she didn’t have Jeremiah listed, which wasn’t at all on my radar anyway until the BNW informed me that Jeremy is similar to both Monica and Rebecca in style. Jeremy didn’t strike me as quite right, but maybe Jeremiah?

(2) Samuel
I know Megan likes Samuel, because she included it in the list of boy names she likes, so I just want to throw my vote behind it as well. Not only do Sam and Jake seem like the most adorable pair of brothers, but Samuel was also listed as similar to Luke in style. What an amazing connection between all three brothers that would be.

(3) Stephen or Simon or Benjamin
I wonder if Megan’s husband would be interested in a namesake? Stephen seems spot on to me, and the BNW concurs — it’s similar to both Maria and Susanna. It’s a bit unusual on little boys these days, but I profiled blogger/author/editor Danielle Bean’s kids a while back, and she has a Stephen Matthias, which I’m still swooning about. Maybe?

I’m not sure I’m getting the vibe from Megan that Simon is exactly her style, but the BNW says differently. 😛 Simon matches up with Vivienne, Susanna, and Gideon (in the form of Simeon), so I thought it definitely deserved a mention. And Benjamin wasn’t on their list of faves, but they have Jonathan on there, and I know a pair of brothers named Benjamin and Jonathan, so I had to suggest it too. Ben and Jake? Come on! So great!

Those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What girl and boy names would you suggest for this family?

Happy Mary Day! And a funny Assumption story for you

August 15, 2015August 15, 2015 sanctanomina Including Mary Mary, Powerful patrons

Happy Awesome Feast Day!

My second was due on the Feast of the Assumption, and when I told my friend’s mom my due date, she said, “Oh! If you have a girl you can name her …”

(I *ahem* assumed [!] she meant Assumpta, but no)

“… Susan!”

Susan? Turns out that many people of Italian descent have used the name Susan as the English “translation” of the common Italian name Assunta. A quick internet search revealed that it’s not uncommon for American women with the given name Assunta to go by Susan—there is even an art gallery called the Assunta Fox Gallery, which is owned by and showcases the art of Susan Volpe. “Volpe” in Italian means “fox,” so Susan Volpe=Assunta Fox. Clever!

Certainly there’s no etymological connection between Assunta and Susan, but my guess is that it may have evolved because of the similarity in sound between the two? Do any of you know more about this? It makes me think that Susan and its relations could be considered Marian … do you agree? Especially with their meaning being both “lily” (in Hebrew) and “rose” (in modern Hebrew) (so is the “lily” Hebrew “regular Hebrew”? Or “old Hebrew”?) — which both have Marian connections.

I hope you all have a faaaaaaabulous holy day and weekend! Holy days=celebrations — be sure to live it up!! 😀

Birth announcement: Uebbing Baby Quattro!

August 14, 2015August 14, 2015 sanctanomina Birth announcement Baby name consultant, Birth announcement, Catholic baby names, Mama Needs Coffee, Powerful patrons

I don’t know what I did with my life before Instagram (despite my recent bellyaching about it — I’ve come around) and Twitter and Facebook — how does one stay abreast of important happenings without them?? Like: birth announcements! Social media (here and here and here) has informed me that Jenny Uebbing has had her baby — a boy! Luke Maximilian! On the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe!

If you remember from my consultation for her, Luke was on her longtime boy list but she’d said,

“meh. I’m fading on this one. But I’ve loved the name since I first saw Star Wars at age 12, and what child doesn’t want that kind of honor associated with his moniker? Plus, the Gospel of St. Luke is my fav“

and I’d said,

“Luke is hard to beat! The Gospel and the Skywalker are of course amazing reference points (reasons why it’s one of my faves too!), and it’s such a good match as a brother to Joseph and John Paul“

and I’m soooo delighted that she and her hubs decided to go with it, and I love love love it paired with Maximilian, and ON HIS FEAST! Can it get more perfect!

And a million thanks to Baby Luke for coming today, because I’d wanted to post about St. Max, but I did the Holy Name of Jesus post earlier (momentarily forgetting what today’s feast is) but now I have a great reason to post for his feast, and birth announcements are the very best posts of all.

Congratulations to Jenny and the whole Uebbing family, and happy happy birthday Luke!!

THE promoter of the Holy Name

August 14, 2015August 14, 2015 sanctanomina Holy Name of Jesus Catholic, Powerful patrons

I was doing a little reading on the Holy Name of Jesus — teachings about It, devotion to It, etc. — and discovered that, though many saints loved and promoted the Holy Name (St. Ignatius of Loyola is a notable example, having chosen the monogram of Jesus’ name — IHS — for the symbol of his Order, which he named after Jesus as well [the Jesuits]), there was one saint who rose head and shoulders above them all as the one most known for his devotion to and promotion of the Holy Name: St. Bernardine of Siena.

This might not have meant that much to me, except a little known fact about my alma mater (especially little known by those who didn’t attend, but even also by some [many?] alumni) is that, though its current name is Siena College, its original name was St. Bernardine of Siena College. (I can’t tell you how many people think it’s named for St. Catherine of Siena, even though it’s a Franciscan college and St. Catherine was a Dominican.)

St. Bernardine of Siena College, Loudonville, N. Y. — St. Bernardine of Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y. by Boston Public Library (2011) via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.

How cool to discover that my school’s patron was a superfan of the Holy Name??

So this isn’t really a name spotlight, because Bernardine is kind of … out of fashion? Even among Catholics who go bananas for heavy duty saint names. This is really more of a Holy Name of Jesus post, a note on one of the many awesome things I discovered about it. Which St. Bernardine, being a saint and a lover of the Name, would probably prefer — having Jesus be the focus. Like how St. John Paul the Great would put the crucifix in front of him, so when people looked at him they had to see Jesus first.

Luxembourg-5151 - Pope John Paul II — Luxembourg-5151-Pope John Paul II by Dennis Jarvis (2013) via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Says the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent:

“… the greatest promoters of this devotion were St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran. They carried with them on their missions in the turbulent cities of Italy a copy of the monogram of the Holy Name, surrounded by rays, painted on a wooden tablet, where with they blessed the sick and wrought great miracles. At the close of their sermons they exhibited this emblem to the faithful and asked them to prostrate themselves, to adore the Redeemer of mankind. They recommended their hearers to have the monogram of Jesus placed over the gates of their cities and above the doors of their dwelling (cf. Seeberger, “Key to the Spiritual Treasures”, 1897, 102). Because the manner in which St. Bernardine preached this devotion was new, he was accused by his enemies, and brought before the tribunal of Pope Martin V. But St. John Capistran defended his master so successfully that the pope not only permitted the worship of the Holy Name, but also assisted at a procession in which the holy monogram was carried. The tablet used by St. Bernardine is venerated at Santa Maria in Ara Coeli at Rome.”

I love too that St. Bernardine’s partner in ~~crime~~ good was St. John Capistran — one of the friars that I particularly loved during my time at Siena was a Fr. Capistran.

St. Alphonsus wrote about St. Bernardine and the Name of Jesus:

“If we read the life of St. Bernardine of Siena, we shall see how many sinners the Saint converted, how many abuses he put an end to, and how many cities he sanctified, by trying when he preached to induce the people to invoke the name of Jesus.”

So powerful! We could all use a little of that, right?? St. Bernardine, pray for us! Protect us from all evil, in Jesus’ Name.

IHS and St. Bernardine of Siena by John Donaghy (2013) via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

You light up my life

August 14, 2015 sanctanomina Housekeeping

I know I’ve gotten gushy on you before, but I just want to say it again — you’re all so great!! I just finished up responding to some emails and putting together consultations and I’m just constantly blown away by the great people this blog has connected me to. What a blessing to “know” so many faith-filled people! I love each and every one of your stories, and I constantly feel the amazingness of the privilege it is to be invited into the intimacy of your families. God is so good. ❤

I’m still a little behind …

August 13, 2015 sanctanomina Housekeeping

… I’m not sure why exactly — maybe the power outage of the other day? Or just summer, with its swimming and sun and not-sitting-at-the-computer-as-much? Whatever it is, this week I really feel like I’m scrambling. I know I still have a couple people I owe emails to, and I’m just about caught up with consultations — I don’t think anyone’s fallen through the cracks? But if you’re waiting to hear from me and are worried you might have gotten lost in the shuffle, please email me!

Namespotting/hearing

August 12, 2015 sanctanomina Namespotting Catholic baby names, Mary

I’m backed up on a couple of things (including a few consultations — they’re coming!!) so my quick post for today is:

— I heard on the radio today an ad for a festival at a local parish called St. Adalbert’s, and though I’d never heard it said (I’ve never been to that church) I’d always assumed it was said AH-dul-bert, but the radio guy said ah-DEL-bert, which surprised me. I just looked it up on behindthename and they have the former pronunciation listed. Do you think the radio guy just didn’t know how to say the name? Or have you heard Adalbert said with the stress on the second syllable?

— I saw today a local woman whose given name is Mary Lourdes (love love!), and she goes by Mary Lou. Makes me wonder how many other Mary Lous might really be Mary Lourdes, or named after a Mary Lourdes? My husband had an aunt who went by Lou, and her given name was Lourdes. I’m thinking updated nicknames might be Lola (a la Madonna’s daughter Lourdes nicked Lola. I admit, I love it, the whole thing) or Lulu. I also have a soft spot for Louie on a girl — I have a cousin whose name is not anything like Lourdes/Lulu but my mom nicknamed her Louie years ago and it stuck — I love it, maybe mostly because it’s so affectionate? I don’t know if little Lourdes at My Child I Love You goes by a nickname? I just love seeing Lourdes as a name.

Power’s out!

August 11, 2015August 12, 2015 sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty Catholicism in culture

The power’s out! And posting from my phone makes me want to tear my hair out. So until tomorrow I’ll leave you with this question: What examples can you give in American culture (places, products, etc.) of saints’ names or references to Jesus or Mary, especially those who origins have been mostly forgotten? For example, Sophie the Giraffe (as I posted about the other day), or the city of Los Angeles (originally named for Our Lady).

Baby name consultant: Five-syllable firstname-middlename(s) combo needed for Baby Boy!

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Appellation Mountain, Baby name consultant, Catholic baby names, Irish names

Amanda and her husband Vince are expecting their fifth born baby, a boy, and his firstname-middlename(s) combo has to equal five syllables. How I love a good name challenge!! 🙂

Their other kiddos are:

Oliver Lawrence
Elizabeth Joan (“Ellie or Ellie Jo … I sometimes call her Betty just because I can. 😉 “)
Theodore William (Theo)
Henry John Vincent

As you can see, the firstname-middlename(s) combos equal five syllables, which is, like, Master Class naming. Especially since they did it so well — such great names, all! And, as Amanda explained to me, each combo is full of saintly and family significance.

Names they’ve discussed for this baby boy include:

Sylvester (“my maternal grandfather’s name [and Vince’s top choice] … we really like Sylvester for the middle name and are pretty positive we want to use it there (unless there’s some nickname I’m not thinking of [other than Syl, Sly, and Slivy, which is what her grandfather went by] so that we could use it for a first name“)

Felix (“my top choice. St. Felix and the Spider is one of the books the kiddos received for Christmas, and I love the story … [but] there’s the reference to a cartoon cat… along with Sylvester the cartoon cat… I don’t really care – should that be an issue?!?“)

Declan (“It’s Irish, and I know it’s a saint’s name but I don’t know his story. I like it because it is different and I know no one by that name [but it’s] not as “soft” sounding as our other names… We don’t have any hard D or K sounds“)

Aidric (“Again, it’s an Irish saint’s name but I don’t know the story. Same with Declan on being different and obscure“)

Ivan ([Vince’s other top choice.] “I don’t know the saint story… I think it’s Russian, so it doesn’t go with our Irish/British thing, but it is regal sounding, like Elizabeth“)

And others that aren’t as serious as those listed above:

Linus
Louis
Milo
Silas
Levi
Otis

Finally, Amanda doesn’t want to repeat any names already used by family or close friends, which knocks off:

Gabriel
Augustine
Blaise
Kolbe
Xavier
Matthew
Michael
Isaac
Peter
Owen
Andrew
David
Jeffrey
Anthony
Caleb
Max
Wyatt
Timothy
Christopher
Nicholas
Joseph
Daniel
Samuel
John
Francis
Benjamin
Aaron
Zachary

Whew! Amanda concludes,

“Again, we really like Sylvester for the middle name and are pretty positive we want to use it there (unless there’s some nickname I’m not thinking of so that we could use it for a first name). Vince is almost sold on Felix, just can’t see it for a baby. We used to really like Raphael, but it goes over my 5-syllable limit if Sylvester is the middle name. We’re open to more suggestions but I think those five we have go well with Sylvester as the middle name. Which of them fit best with our other boys, or is there a better one out there we haven’t found yet?“

So first off, a couple thoughts about their current name list:

Sylvester is a NAME! Whoa! I’ve never known anyone considering it! Kudos to Amanda and Vince! Syl and Sly I’ve heard of, but not Slivy – that’s interesting! The only other nickname I came up with that might be doable is Sully. Maybe? I agree it’s a great middle name with the other names on their list, though it does lock them into a two-syllable name. Not that that’s a bad thing at all.

Felix is definitely getting a lot of love among Catholic families these days — I see it on people’s lists a lot, and there’s one Catholic family on the Baby Name Wizard forums that has three boys: Felix, Xavier, and Raphael. So it’s definitely out there, and at least among young Catholic families I don’t think the cartoon characters are an issue, like Amanda said. Although … even as I typed that and reread her Felix paragraph … Felix Sylvester … all of a sudden the two-character-names thing is really hitting me! I don’t know, I think it could go either way. Totally depends on who’s hearing the names. I think a deciding factor would be if it bothered Amanda and Vince if people pointed it out a lot after they’d already named the baby? What do you all think?

I personally love Declan. I know a few, including my cousin’s 2yo, and she’d chosen the name 15 years ago when she and I were in Ireland together and she heard it for the first time – that’s some name love! I actually didn’t know his story either, other than he was a saint, but because of Amanda’s email I looked him up, and while you can certainly get his basic story from Wikipedia and similar sites, I loved this one the best – it was written in 1914 and translated from the Irish (!); it has a long explain-y intro; and the main bulk of it is the life of St. Declan – he was preaching when St. Patrick arrived! And he seems quite beloved in Ardmore. It’s definitely an authentic Irish Catholic name!

Aidric I’d actually never heard of, but when I googled it, a post by Abby at Appellation Mountain came up – she does a great review of the name as both a saint’s name and a boy’s name in today’s America. I’m only seeing that he was French though, not Irish? Though it definitely sounds Irish, like a mashup of Aiden and Patrick.

Ivan, another WOW name! I think immediately of both Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible. It’s Russian for John, so when I googled it I saw references to both St. Ivan Rilski and St. John of Rila – same guy. It’s a cool way to honor a John, if you like heavy Russian names.

So of all those, I think Declan Sylvester is my favorite. It continues their Brit/Irish theme, and it’s got the right number of syllables, very handsome!

Okay! On to my suggestions – I can always come up with some! And holy cow – alllll the names that are off limits!! I think I did okay though – I always shoot for three suggestions, but came up with a couple more than that (they’re all two syllables, to go with the three-syllable Sylvester):

(1) Patrick
As far as I can tell, neither Patrick nor Brendan (below) has been used by someone in Amanda’s friends/family (fingers crossed!). I know they’re pretty basic as far as Irish-y boys’ names go, but I like them both with Sylvester, and there are some great nicknames for Patrick too: Patch and Packy are my faves, but I know a couple little Patricks who go by Paddy, which is beyond darling.

(2) Brendan or Brannoc(k)
St. Brendan is certainly a great Irish saint, and St. Brannock is a British/Celtic/Welsh saint as well — I like that Brannoc(k) has similar sounds as Brendan but is more offbeat/unusual.

(3) Ian or Ivo or Hugo (or Conrad!)
Ian and Ivo were inspired by Ivan, but I thought Ian especially fell within Amanda’s taste better. It’s a Scottish form of John (the Irish Sean doesn’t have enough syllables), and I like it with Sylvester. Ivo is definitely an offbeat choice, but it’s the name of several saints (more familiar under the forms Yves or Ives). It’s not an Irish or British name, but I believe it’s well used in England, which is why I thought it might work for this family. Then I thought of Hugh, but it doesn’t work because it’s only one syllable, but the variant Hugo is the perfect length. (My husband kind of loves this name, and really wanted me to suggest it to Amanda!) (Incidentally, two of the names we considered for our youngest were Hugo and Conrad – which reminded me immediately that Amanda shared that Vince’s middle name is Conrad – I’d be a big fan of adding Conrad to the list! Conrad Sylvester is so cool!)

(4) Robert nicked Rory
Finally, I thought of Rory, but it didn’t have a formal enough feel to me, to go with the other kids’ names. Robert might work though – St. Robert Bellarmine is great – and I’ve long thought Rory could be a nickname for Robert. Robert Sylvester is very handsome.

Those are my ideas! What do you all think? Amanda and Vince would love suggestions, so go ahead and fire away!

Spotlight on: Dominic

August 8, 2015August 8, 2015 sanctanomina Spotlight Catholic baby names, Nicknames, Powerful patrons

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!