Saintly names

December 7, 2015December 8, 2015 sanctanomina Birth announcement Kim and Kanye

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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Baby name consultant: A little green bean to join a solid, saintly set

Jessica and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown)! Their other children are:

Stephen Joseph
Paul James
Theresa Rose

You can’t get much more solid than those names! Beautiful!

Jessica writes,

“I love reading your baby name ideas, and now I’m in need of some help myself … My husband really likes Brady for a boy’s name because that is his mom’s maiden name [but] I don’t think it matches our other names. For boys, I like Leo and Dominic. Samuel is a possibility, but I don’t like Sam or Sammy. For girls, I like Gianna, Lucy, Cecilia, Elizabeth (for middle name). Madeline Sophia is a name I’ve always liked, after St. Madeline Sophie Barat … My dad is Kenneth, but I haven’t figured out a first name I like with it to use it as a middle name … [Also] My husband’s mom’s family is Irish.”

Names that can’t be used include:

Clare
Jacob
Emily
Monica
David
Nicholas
John
Christopher

Alrighty, first off, my thoughts about their current list:

I was most intrigued by Brady — I totally get how Jessica’s husband feels (it’s SUCH a cool thing to have a family surname that can work as a first name, especially one as important as a mom’s maiden name), but I also totally get how Jessica herself feels — Brady as a first name is a very different style than Stephen, Paul, and Theresa. If both Jessica and her husband liked it and were on board with it, then who cares, but since Jessica doesn’t like that it’s so different in style, my favorite thing to do in situations like this is find a compromise that both parents can live with. Like:

Brady as a middle name. I think this is the most likely possibility, and works for either a boy or a girl.
Brady as a nickname (even just as a family nickname/just used at home), perhaps by mashing up first and middle names that are better style matches for their other kids’ names than Brady is. Like: Brendan Henry, Ambrose David, or Brian Andrew. Each of these first+middle combos has a strong Br- in the first name and a middle name that could make Brady as a mashup nickname make sense, and I think Brendan, Ambrose, and Brian all fit the style of their other kiddos’ names better than Brady. (I know David’s on their no-go list, I only included it with Ambrose as an example.) (Ooh, maybe Ambrose Edward?) (Fun coincidence [or not?? 😉 ] — today’s the feast of St. Ambrose!)

The second thing I particularly noticed was that Jessica would like to use her dad’s name, Kenneth, somehow, but she’s struggled to find a first name that works with Kenneth as a middle. I know two guys named Kenneth Brian, which I think is a handsome first-middle combo, so I thought I might suggest that as a possibility, as both Kenneth and Brian fit the feel of the other kids’ names well I think. Otherwise, I think some of my suggestions below might work as first names that can take Kenneth as a middle.

I love Leo and Dominic, as well as Samuel (though I do think Sam and Sammy are somewhat inevitable, more so perhaps than with other boys’ names — there’s just something about Sam/Sammy that everyone loves! That said though, if they’re firm and consistent and immediate about correcting people, it might work.)

Their girl’s list is gorgeous, I love all the names on it. Madeleine Sophie is a favorite combo of mind as well, gorgeous! (If they decide to use this combo, Sophie the Giraffe would be a perfect toy for her, as it was named after St. Madeleine Sophie Barat!)

I do of course have some other suggestions for Jessica and her hubs based on the names they’ve already used for their other little ones and the names that are on their current list:

Girls
(1) Catherine
One of the first things I almost always do when starting a consultation is look up all the names (already used and on the list of possibilities) in the Baby Name Wizard book, as it has the awesome feature of listing, for each entry, boy and girl names that match the entry in terms of style/feel/popularity. Once I make a list of all those names, I look for overlap — names that are listed as similar to more than one of the names the parents like. Catherine was the big winner for Jessica and her hubs, showing up in one spelling or another in the lists for Joseph, Paul, James, Theresa, Cecilia, and Elizabeth. (The Catherine spelling was the most common for them, like St. Catherine of Siena, followed by Katherine and Kathryn; there’s also Katharine, like St. Katharine Drexel.) It’s a great name (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Katherine! 😀 ), and it has a bunch of great nicknames: K/Cate (which I go by exclusively), K/Catie, K/Cat, K/Cathy, Kay, even Casey. I thought Brady went particularly well as a middle for the super saintly Catherine (and, because I love to think about things like this, Catherine Brady would make sense of the spelling Cady, which I love!). (Jessica and her husband should, of course, just ignore me with the nickname/mashup thing if they think it’s/I’m crazy! Haha!)

(2) Sarah
I was surprised that Sarah was such a big hit for them, but it really was, listed as similar to Joseph, James, Samuel, Lucy (in the form of its traditional nickname Sadie), and Elizabeth. Sarah is a beautiful name with an awesome biblical namesake and enviable meaning (“princess”). I know a Sarah Elizabeth, which I’ve always thought was a pretty combo. Sarah-Lucy is striking me as an unexpected and appealing double name, if they’re into that kind of thing. Or Sarah-Kate. I really like Sarah Brady too, as a first+middle combo. I don’t know if they care about repeating initials, but it’s funny — I purposely didn’t put Thomas on the boy list, even though I thought it was a great match for them, because they already have a Theresa, who’s the next child up from this baby, and not only were the sounds the same and the initial, but with the first two letters of both names being the same (Th-) it seemed a little much. But I don’t mind Sarah as a sister to Stephen, probably because St- strikes me almost as an entire letter of its own, different from just S- (I know, my namey brain is weirdly wired!). Also because there would be two children between them.

(3) Rebecca (nicked Ruby?)
I’m worried that Jessica and her husband may be tiring of my love for nicknames (!) but this is the last one I’ll do for the girls, promise! 🙂 (I just like to make sure they have lots of options and ideas.) Rebecca was already a style match for this family through Stephen, Joseph, and Samuel, and then I saw that Ruby was matched up with Rose, Leo, and Lucy, and it reminded me that I know of a little Rebecca who goes by Ruby — when I first heard that, I thought I would die of name happiness! Even if Jessica and her hubs don’t care for Ruby as a nickname for Rebecca, or at all, I still think Rebecca is nice for them — it has a similar feel to me as Sarah, and it’s a substantial name that grows well from girlhood to womanhood.

(4) Anne or Anna
The BNW says Anna’s a better match for them, and I do love it, but I’m kinda feeling that Anne might be more their speed. I love Anne (Anne of Green Gables! And dear St. Anne, who’s the patroness of the blog), it’s solid and substantial, and even sophisticated in its simplicity. The only downfall with either Anne or Anna is that I think it would make Gianna unusable if they wanted to consider it for a future daughter. I’m loving the idea of Anne Cecilia, pretty! Or Anne Lucia (instead of Lucy)? (Or maybe they don’t want to use their first name possibilities as middles? I understand that — I’m the same way. I have very distinct first name and middle name lists.)

(5) Gemma or Veronica
Despite my heavy reliance on the BNW to make sure I’m on the right track style-wise, Gemma and Veronica were inspired by a friend of mine, who has what I think is similar taste to Jessica and her husband. Veronica especially has a similar popularity arc to Stephen, Paul, and Theresa, and is a gorgeous and really saintly name. I’ve always loved Gemma, beautiful name and great patron for a girl. I also like that it’s like the more familiar/mainstream Jenna, but not. (Like with Anne/Anna I think Gemma would disqualify Gianna for any future daughters.)

Boys
(1) Gregory
Gregory was well represented in the BNW for this family, with a popularity profile similar to Stephen, Paul, and Theresa. Its saintliness and manliness is impeccable as well, being a Pope St. the Great like Leo. As the BNW puts it (I love this!): “Popes, saints, and Gregory Peck! Can a name get any more distinguished?” It would absolutely be my tippity top suggestion for this family — the ONLY thing holding me back from unreservedly putting my #1 stamp of approval on it is that it can’t take the middle name Brady. (Well, I guess it can, if they were okay with Greg Brady jokes all.his.life.) I do quite like Gregory Kenneth. So handsome!

(2) Patrick
Patrick pretty much ties with Gregory in my estimation. I really love it for this family, for a couple of reasons: It’s similar in style/feel/popularity to the other kids’ names (saintly, mid-century peak of popularity); it’s Irish, which is a nice nod to Jessica’s husband’s family; and it takes the middle name Brady really well. Patrick Brady is a really swoony combo!

(3) Martin
Martin was a style match for Stephen, Paul, and Theresa, and St. Martin de Porres is one of my personal favorites, so it seemed an ideal suggestion for this family. I also love the nickname Marty, but the full Martin is very handsome. Martin Brady sounds great imo.

(4) Henry
As I’ve posted about before, I love Henry, it’s such a sweet name for a little guy, and totally fits a man as well, and when I saw it listed as similar to Rose, Samuel, Lucy, and Cecilia, I was excited to suggest it for Jessica and her husband. I don’t love the rhythm of Henry Brady; I don’t mind Henry Kenneth or Henry Dominic; I really like Henry Patrick.

(5) Anthony or Vincent
Anthony and Vincent are super solid, super saintly names. Jessica and her husband’s ideas of Dominic and Gianna reminded me of them both, because, like Dominic and even more so Gianna, they can have an Italian feel, but within a Catholic family with saint-named sibs, ethnicity melts away and they can work for anyone. Like Stephen, Paul, and Theresa, they’re timeless, but also not currently popular. I think either one could be a great fit for this family. I like Vincent Brady and Vincent Kenneth; I don’t think Anthony Brady works as well, but I like Anthony Kenneth a lot.

So those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little brother or sister of Stephen, Paul, and Theresa?

A baby needs our prayers

December 7, 2015December 7, 2015 sanctanomina Uncategorized

One of our faithful readers, Sarah, is worried about the health and safety of her little one, with whom she’s only a few weeks along. She’s particularly interested in St. Jude as an intercessor, since he’s the patron of impossible causes; St. Rita is as well, and has been a powerful intercessor in circumstances I’m privy to; and of course, our dear St. Anne is special to us and I believe we are special to her. Please pray for Sarah and her baby!

Spotlight on: Jude

December 4, 2015December 7, 2015 sanctanomina Spotlight Biblical names, Catholic baby names

Laura recently asked for a spotlight on the name Jude, one of my favorites and I know a lot of you love it, too.

I had a sense that Jude is one of those “new” Catholicky Catholic names, in that it wasn’t used too much until recently, and I looked it up on the SSA site and lo, I was right:

jude_stats
jude_stats2

Pretty crazy popularity chart, right? Like, what’s the spike between 1955 (#954) and 1957 (#799), especially since it didn’t even make the top 1000 in 1956? Why did it decrease so much from 1977 to 1978? Why the huge jump from 1999 to 2000? I’m not going to research all that — I might be at the computer all day! — but I suspect the 1999-2000 jump is likely due to actor Jude Law, and the Beatles’ Hey Jude was released in 1968, which corresponds to a jump up. Thomas Hardy also wrote the novel Jude the Obscure in 1895, and a movie of it was released in 1996. (Did anyone see it? It’s completely unfamiliar to me.)

But for us, as I wrote here, Jude is the apostle Jude Thaddeus, the saint of desperate situations and impossible causes, hospitals, and hospital workers (all of which fits right in with the related but also separate association of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which was a direct result of a prayer to St. Jude by Danny Thomas). CatholicSaints.info gives this snippet about St. Jude:

“Son of Cleophas, who died a martyr, and Mary who stood at the foot of the Cross, and who annointed Christ’s body after death. Brother of Saint James the Lesser. Nephew of Mary and Joseph; blood relative of Jesus Christ, and reported to look a lot like him. May have been a fisherman. Apostle.

Wrote the canonical Epistle named for him. Preached in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia with Saint Simon. Healer. Exorcist. Could exorcise pagan idols, which caused the demons to flee and the statues to crumble.”

(Kind of sounds like he’s the perfect guy to turn to right now, no? Impossible causes and desperate situations … preached in Syria … exorcist …)

I hadn’t remembered that he was the brother of James — kind of cool for a family with a James to consider using Jude for another boy. I kind of love that it’s at a real peak of popularity right now too, because I feel like it’s one of those names that might have been considered … soft … for a boy not too long ago, but there are a decent amount of little boy Judes right now, so I think it’s a good time for Jude.

I really like the Baby Name Wizard entry for it too, saying it has “a pioneer style and a strong religious heritage that gives it impressive gravity. It also has a simple sound that keeps it unpretentious. The one other choice with that that same style combo is Luke, which has been a steady hit for decades. Jude is a less common alternative that is finally realizing its breakout potential.” I like that: Jude is the Luke less traveled.

A small mention should be given to the fact that Jude has some usage among girls. Martha Stewart’s granddaughter is Jude, one of Bridget Jones’ inner circle (female) is Jude, and it’s not uncommon as a nickname for Judith, though Judith is at an all time low, hovering right near the 1000 mark. Jude as a given name for girls isn’t even on the charts, so it’s a very small consideration. I would imagine that parents of boy Judes would want to avoid the possibility of it turning into Judy, but I don’t think Judy would be a huge deal, since itself is not common for girls these days anyway.

Jude can also be used as a nickname for Julian — I’ve seen it done so, and I suspect it’s because the Hey Jude song was originally Hey Jules, written for Julian Lennon when his parents split up.

What do you all think of Jude? Would you name your son Jude, or have you? Do the little Judes you know like their name? If you love the saint and would love to name a boy after him, do you prefer Jude or Thaddeus?

More about names from Billie Letts

December 3, 2015December 3, 2015 sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty Literary names

I posted a little the other day from Where the Heart Is, by Billie Letts, and there’s another passage from it that I thought you’d all enjoy:

“… Two months had passed since Willy Jack had dumped her — and she had done nothing. She hadn’t looked for a place to live, hadn’t figured out how to make a living. She hadn’t even picked out a name for her baby.

Then she remembered a list of names she had started on the day she and Willy Jack left Tellico Plains. She pulled the spiral notebook out of her beach bag and flipped to the back. The list was still there — one page for girls, one for boys. Felicia, Brook, Ashley. Novalee made a face as she read them. Rafe, Thorne, Hutch, Sloan. Names she had taken from soap operas. Blain, Asa, Dimitri. Moses Whitecotton had told her to find a strong name, but the names on her list weren’t strong. They just sounded silly.”

(Also: Willy Jack. Fantastic name for his mostly despicable character.)

(I have a hard time hating the name Novalee though, I love the character too much.)

A birth story, and the importance of giving your baby a good name

December 1, 2015December 1, 2015 sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty, Personal stories A Blog About Miscarriage, Personal stories

Mandi at A Blog About Miscarriage has just posted the most wonderful birth story! Her little David is one of our own — I was honored to do a consultation for her while she was pregnant, and to offer nickname ideas for the little man once he arrived — and his birth story is amazing. Suffice it to say, I now know how the mess from a car birth is cleaned up! 😮 I’m also so moved by the healing God allowed Mandi to experience through David’s birth. He is so good, and knows exactly what we need. ❤

Speaking of births, I read Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts over the Thanksgiving weekend, and loved this bit about baby naming:

“Name’s important,” [Moses] said. “Keeps track of who you are.”

“I guess so.”

“That’s right. Name’s an important thing. You picked a name for your baby yet?”

“Not, but I got some I’m thinking about.”

“Well, take your time. Can’t rush a thing like that. Name’s too important to hurry.”

…

“You know,” she said as she popped the Life Saver into her mouth. “I’ve been thinking about Wendi, with an i, or maybe Candy, if it’s a girl.”

“Get your baby a name that means something. A sturdy name. Strong name. Name that’s gonna withstand a lot of bad times. A lot of hurt.”

I know we all totally get it. The names of our faith absolutely help us know who to turn to in the bad times.

I hope Advent has started in a wonderful and blessed way for you all!

Baby name consultant: My newest nephew!

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Baby name consultant, Biblical names, Catholic baby names, Irish names, Nicknames

I have the special privilege today of posting a consultation for my brother and sister-in-law! They’re expecting their second boy, a little brother for Leo Patrick.

Between various conversations over the years, especially at our family vacation this past summer, and in more recent text convos, these names emerged as very indicative of my SIL’s taste:

Francis
Beau (most likely as a middle name for Francis, and he’d go by Beau)
George
Walter
Sebastian

(I will also note that my brother has his own name thoughts, but my “client” here was my SIL, so I’m focusing on her ideas in this post.) (Sorry bro.)

I thought this was a pretty fab list — sort of distinguished and down-home all at once. Her idea of Francis Beau was really great, and probably my favorite of the ones on the boy list. I love the sophisticated Francis, which is also a family name; I love the unexpected middle Beau; and I love that he’d go by Beau — perhaps difficult to pull off as a given first name, but totally doable as a middle and a call name. SIL and I talked about the unfortunate Twilight Reimagined issue with Beau, but I wouldn’t cross it off the list yet … I would wait and see what happens — that book might never be mentioned again, and I have evidence that she liked the name before that book was even known about! An alternate suggestion is Francis Xavier, which I kind of love for them — both Francis and Xavier are, separately (!), family names for us, and Francis Xavier is the origin of the name Xavier anyway, since St. Francis Xavier is where it comes from. My own hubs quite likes Frankie for a little boy, and I can see both my brother and SIL liking that — it is pretty cute. And Frank is solid for a man.

George — Unfortunately, we all agree that George doesn’t work with their last name.

Walter — It cracks me up that SIL likes Walter, but it’s totally true that names like this are coming back! It made me think of another name I see mentioned sometimes on name boards, and it always surprises me, and I won’t be surprised if they don’t like it … but I kinda won’t be surprised if they do: Wallace. The Wal- of Walter is what really made me think of Wallace, but my brother’s love of sports also made me think of it, because whenever I see anyone considering the name Wallace, they almost always say they might use Ace as the nickname. I love that! It feels very like my brother to me.

Sebastian — Love love love. My SIL said that they love that St. Sebastian’s the patron saint of athletes and that if my IronMan brother “could name a child Nike he would.” Ha! They’re not crazy about Seb/Sebbie or Bash, but I wondered what they’d think of:

Baz
Bax (especially if the full name was Sebastian Xavier — that’s a NAME! And also exactly Grace Batton’s Bash’s name)
Banks (feels cool and kind of preppy; Sebastian Francis would make sense of it — B+Frank)
Maybe even Bo, if it was paired with an O middle name?

So let’s talk about Bo. SIL loves Beau, but that spelling is difficult right now because of the aforementioned book, and also because my brother doesn’t care for it. He doesn’t mind Bo, though, so SIL asked me for ideas to get to Bo (she said they’re fine with B.O. initials as a way of getting to Bo). This is a listing of names that *I* would consider, if I had a boy named Leo and wanted to use the nickname Bo, so I knew some of them would make my brother and SIL (especially my brother! Haha!) say what? But you never know!

Bonaventure, Boniface, Bartholomew, Balthazar, Barnabas — these are super-duper heavy-hitting saints’ names that are totally my style, and I think all of them could take the nickname Bo, with or without an O middle name.
Boaz — Not only do I think Boaz is a really cool name, but I love the biblical Boaz, who was Ruth’s husband. It’s short and zippy like Leo, it’s got the snappy z at the end, and it very naturally takes the nickname Bo.
[John] Bosco — this is one that I could actually see them going for. Grace Patton named her newest baby Bosco, but I’m thinking that they might like the full John Bosco (first name-middle name) even better, with the nickname Bo. St. John Bosco is a great saint, a great patron for a little boy, just like St. Leo the Great.
Ambrose — we’ve actually had Ambrose on our list for a while, mostly because he’s one of the Church Fathers and a great saint, and because my father-in-law had a connection to St. Ambrose, but also because we both really like it. I’ve always thought Sam and Bram would be perfect nicknames for it, but it occurred to me recently that Bo works as well. (Along with all of the suggestions in my first two bullet points, I can picture my brother saying, “Ambrose?” with a baffled/not-loving-it look on his face, so I thought I’d link to this cutie here named Ambrose, and this one‘s now a teenager! Ambrose has a little of that old-man feel to it that my SIL seem to like. Also, fun fact: the term “sideburns” comes from Civil War general Ambrose Burnside, who had some epic sideburns! Also the Baby Name Wizard says about Ambrose, “Ambrose is like a handlebar mustache, so cheerfully outdated and overblown that it’s actually a lot of fun.” Love it!
Benedict or Bennett — I suspect my brother and SIL would like Bennett more than Benedict, but Bennett’s a medieval form of Benedict, so it gets the saintly reference in there anyway. Bennett would be a prime candidate to pair with an O middle name for the nickname Bo.
Brendan — this is another of my top choices for them — it’s Irish (they like Irish), it’s traditional, it’s a solid boy’s name. Brendan O– would be a great way of getting to Bo.
William — this too is a top choice for them — I was thinking of names that don’t start with B but have a traditional B nickname (like Robert, which is not usable for them) and I thought of William/Billy. William is a family name on both my parents’ sides, which is great, and I def think Bo could work, initials for Billy O. I really like it for them.

So my top choices for this baby if he were to have the nickname Bo are John Bosco, Brendan O., and William O., but I do like all the ideas on this list.

And of course I have a bunch of new ideas as well! I always shoot for at least three, but I came up with seven for my new little nephew:

(1) Henry
Henry was one of the first ideas I had for them — I love it with Leo, but honestly it was the nickname Hank that clinched it for me. I could totally see my brother and SIL liking Hank! Hank reminds me of George and Walter, they’d all be smoking their pipes on the porch together. I also liked that it has a connection to my SIL — in a very roundabout way — via the fact that she studied abroad Scotland, because Wills was at St. Andrew when she was (so cool, right?!), and of course his brother is Prince Harry, whose given name is Henry (Harry’s a traditional nickname for Henry). (Very roundabout.)

(2) James Blaine
I was on a little bit of a first name-middle name kick when I was doing this for my SIL, with Francis Beau, Francis Xavier, and John Bosco on the brain. James Blaine was my great-grandfather and he went by Blaine. I suspect that if they used James Blaine they’d prefer to call the baby James, but there’s Jamie and Jem too (I LOVE Jem — it’s one of Anne Shirley’s sons, a nickname for James, and I’d totally forgotten until I looked up that link that another of Anne’s sons was Walter!), or I think Bo could work for Blaine, no? I also have a friend who married a man from Scotland, and one of their boys is James, just James, so it feels “Scottish” to me, which, again, I associate with my SIL.

(3) Gregory
I started out thinking about Rory for this baby, which reminded me that I’d suggested Rory as a nickname for Gregory to Grace Patton, and then I thought Gregory actually seems like a great fit. Again, this might be one of those names that I would be more likely to use as a brother to Leo than my brother and SIL, but there aren’t that many St. the Greats and St. Leo the Great and St. Gregory the Great are two of them, both popes, so I’ve always thought they make good brother names. I actually love the nickname Rory for them too — it gets away from Greg (no offense intended for anyone who loves Greg!) and has the Irishness going on.

(4) Oliver
My hubs and I talked about Oliver through my first two pregnancies and had decided on it for our No. 3 but then cooled on it when I was six months pregnant. I’m not sure why either, we both love it, it just hasn’t felt like one of our boys. But my brother and SIL seem to love O (Leo and Bo), and Oliver’s serious, bookish, sort of Irish-y or Brit feel I find really attractive.

(5) Simon
I consider Simon to have a similar feel to Oliver — serious and bookish — but with a good dose of biblical, which I personally love. I think Leo and Simon are a great brother set!

(6) Russell
When Leo was on the way, I asked everyone what their name ideas were — what did we all think they would choose, based on what we knew of their taste (my brother and SIL didn’t share their name ideas until the birth) — and my husband’s only idea was Russell. I was so surprised by it, but he said he could see my brother liking Russell, and the nickname Russ, and this time around I feel like it’s a good suggestion. It reminds me of the old-man names SIL likes, and was listed as a style match for Rosemary, which is a name I know she likes, so I thought it was a good suggestion. My hubs did want to go on record, though, as saying that this time around he actually doesn’t think my brother will like it because of the Seahawks quarterback. (I would never have thought of that.)

(7) Tristan
This suggestion is a little out there — I personally love the name Tristan, and I thought it made sense to throw out an offbeat suggestion, just in case. It’s a style match for Sebastian and Xavier, and it’s got the Irish-y connection. I’m not sure I would use the nickname Tris, as that’s the name of the main character (female) in the Divergent series, but I could see Trip (if with a P middle) or Trio (haha!) if with an O middle. I don’t know, maybe it’s a crazy idea … For some reason I can see my brother liking it more than my SIL. When I asked my hubs what he thinks of it, he said he doesn’t hate it and that Tristan Thompson is pretty well known right now as a basketball player, so it’s not unheard of anymore.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? If you had a Leo, and your taste was Francis-Beau-Walter-George-Sebastian, what would you name his little brother? Thank you from an excited Auntie! 🙂

Bonus (pseudo) consultation, and happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2015November 25, 2015 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, French names, Irish names, Mary, Personal stories

Isn’t this just one of the very best times of the whole year? I love Thanksgiving — it’s the beginning of the holiday season; I get to see family that I don’t usually get to see; we get to eat a lot of really good food; and everyone says really wonderful things about how grateful they are for the blessings in their lives. What a good and holy way to spend our time and orient our thoughts!

I am full to bursting with gratitude for my life and the people in it and the wonderful ways I’ve been allowed to see God working in this beautiful world, and this blog and all of you dear readers are one of the very best things that’s happened for me this year. So many times I’ve sent up thank-you prayers because of our little community here! It’s such a blessing to have a wholesome little virtual cozy spot to curl up in with others who like to talk about our faith and the beauty of babies through the lens of names. St. Anne chose us this year too, and I’ve been loving my new relationship with her. We are a blessed bunch. ❤

I won’t be posting any more this week — I’ll be back on Monday with a new consultation — but I wanted to leave you all with this amazing little gift we’ve been given: I received an email a couple weeks ago from a reader who is very much like I was at her age — she loves names, especially the names of our faith, and wanted to share with me the names of her and her eight siblings. She also issued a name challenge for me, if God were to ever see fit to send them a #10.

Is there anything I love to do more than see a beautifully named family? And come up with new ideas for them? Not much comes to mind! 😀

“My name is Pauline and I am a recent graduate of Benedictine College. And while I’m nowhere near expecting a baby, I read your blog every day for future name ideas (what girl doesn’t? Isn’t it like having a pinterest wedding board?). Oh, and so does my mom.

Speaking of my mom, I also happen to be the oldest of nine children. My mom’s name is Beatrice and she was born and raised in France until she met my American dad when he was studying abroad (so romantic, I know) and they got married and moved back to the states where they had nine children (it’s casual). My dad (Patrick) is very Irish and my mom is clearly as French as you can get, so they decided on a system for naming. My dad got to name all of the boys Irish names and my mom got to name all of the girls French names.

So these are the names we all ended up with. Our ages range from 21 to 5 years old.”

Pauline Helene Marie (“I am Pauline Helene Marie after my French Grandmother, Helene. Pauline is after St. Paul and St. Therese had a sister named Pauline“)

Florie-Ann Marie (“Florie Ann Marie is named after my American grandmother, Ann. Florie is a French girls’ name- I have seen other French variations of this name all having to do with the French word “fleur” which translates to “flower”“)

Faustine Marie (“Faustine is the French version of Faustina, after St. Faustina. (My mom was confirmed when she was expecting Faustine and also chose St. Faustina as her confirmation saint! 🙂 )”)

Liam Patrick (“My American Grandpa is named William Patrick, my dad’s name is Patrick William, so my parents loved the Irish variation of Liam Patrick to continue the tradition.”)

Domitille Marie (“Domitille was named after St. Domitilla. From what I’ve heard, St. Domitilla was a Roman martyr who used to have masses in her home for the first Christians! … I know a couple Domitilles in France … Domitille is always a hard one to pronounce! Most people think she is saying Dominique. It is pronounced Do-mee-teel, if that makes sense? Her friends and family sometimes call her Domi (Do-mee). I think it’s so cute!“)

Emeline Marie (“Emeline is another French name and we actually used to read a poem about a little girl named Emeline for school. St. Emeline was also a French saint. My parents were also considering the name Constance for Emeline. I have a little goddaughter in France with that name now 🙂 I love it!“)

Fintan Joseph (“Fintan Joseph is named after a St. Fintan who was a monk in Ireland. He probably has the most nicknames in our family- Finn, Finny, Fintan Joe. “)

Thomas More (“We gave British a chance 🙂 … Thomas More was named for amazing St. Thomas More. I remember my parents just admiring the Saint and liking the idea of his last name as a middle name. Thomas loves the story of his patron saint!“)

Callaghan John (“And Callaghan John is named after my great grandmother, whose maiden name was Callaghan. It was a last name that was in the family. John is after his godfather, a priest named Father John who has always been close with our family. We do call him Cal! And Calli and Cal-Pal and Shnookums, depending on which sibling is cuddling him ;)”)

“All of the girls have the middle name Marie for Our Lady but it is also a French tradition- even my mom’s Grandfather had the middle name Marie! St. Therese’s family had five girls and they all had Marie in their names as well.

Another French tradition is to have your grandmother’s name in your middle name. It is not uncommon for people to have two or more middle names!

Being named after a saint is beautiful and important, but my mom is also firm believer that even if you aren’t directly named after a saint, you have the opportunity to be the first saint with that name! I love it and totally agree.

I don’t see my parents having more but they always joke that they would have absolutely no more name ideas if God were to send us a #10. If you want a project, even though there truly is no baby coming (that I know of!) I thought it might be fun to see some name suggestions that you might come up with! Otherwise, enjoy this list of incredibly strange but kind of intriguing names.”

I just can’t even tell you all (though I know you probably feel similarly), I walked around for days after getting Pauline’s email with a big goofy smile on my face, just thinking and thinking about their names. They are, each one, so beautiful!

And to be given the opportunity to come up with ideas for another little one? Especially when Pauline’s parents said they “would have absolutely no more name ideas”? So amazing! It kind of feels like we’re all sitting around the kitchen table with our coffee and tea and having a good chat about babies and names, two of my very favorite things. How wonderful! ❤

It was really fun thinking of names for this family because French and Irish are two of my favorite favorite name styles. And especially with all the girls having French names, and all the boys having Irish names, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as it seemed at first. This is what I came up with for the girls:

(1) Marie-[something]
I claim a small bit of French ancestry but I don’t really know much about their naming traditions or practices — most of what I know I learned from Pauline! But I’ve always loved that the French seem much more comfortable with hyphenated double names than we do (see Florie-Ann), and I’ve always loved the ones starting with Marie. Marie-Bernarde was one of my first thoughts — it’s St. Bernadette’s birth name, and I love that Bernadette can be a nickname for it. But then I was thinking about Marie-Azelie too (the birth name of our new St. Zelie Martin, St. Therese’s mom). Which made me think about St. Therese, who was born Marie Francoise-Therese, which I love, or maybe just Marie-Francoise or Marie-Therese. Or maybe Marie-Beatrice, for Mom? Really, I would be happy preceding any of my other ideas for girls with Marie-. It would also be a different way of continuing the tradition of having Marie in all the girls’ names.

(2) Any of my other favorite French girl names
I know, I know, this is a cop-out category. But there are so many GORGEOUS French names, I was having such a hard time narrowing down the list! So I just thought I’d put them all together:
— Aurore
— Aurelie
— Christiane
— Clementine
— Colette
— Elisabeth
— Elodie
— Emmanuelle
— Genevieve
— Juliette
— Leonie
— Madeleine
— Mathilde
— Seraphine

(3) Currently popular in France
I also took a look at some names that are currently popular in France, since I don’t really have any idea — there’s a good chance that all of my ideas above are considered outdated or unattractive by the current French population. Even though it was written in December 2013 (so not totally current), I really liked this article: French Baby Names: Trends and Predictions 2014. Of the author’s top twenty list, I really liked Lilou, Maëlys, Juliette (yay! One of the ones I listed above!), Romane, and Louise, and then the author mentioned “retro first names like Louise and Suzanne,” which made me want to add Suzanne to the list as well. I also love Lola from the list, though it doesn’t feel right for this family, and I love Manon too, but it’s a diminutive for Marie right? So if they were to use it, I would imagine they’d prefer it as a nickname for a Marie-[something] name instead of a given name on its own.

The boys I found a bit easier to narrow down my ideas, so I have a neat five-name list:

(1) Dermot
I love Dermot. It’s got a cool sound and rhythm, and some blesseds and saints too. I also had the opportunity to hear author and donkeyman Kevin O’Hara speak recently, dear friend of my mom’s (that’s him on Mom’s blog with Finney the Leprechaun — the eleventh photo, to the right of Fr. Bede‘s pic!) and he said he has three brothers — Jimmy (I think), Mickey, and Dermot — which is one of the things I love about Irish naming, that names like Dermot can reside happily in a family with names like James, Kevin, and Michael. Or Liam, Fintan, Thomas, and Callaghan, as it were.

(2) Declan
Lots of people are loving Declan these days, me included. Like Dermot, I just love its sound and rhythm, and it has the possibility of the cool nickname Deck. St. Declan was a pretty great guy too.

(3) Colman
I can’t tell if I think this is too close to Callaghan or not, especially since it would immediately follow Callaghan and not have the benefit of a few kids in between, but it’s a name I love, so I’ll throw it out there anyway. My grandfather was born in Cobh, Co. Cork, and the church there is St. Colman’s Cathedral — he was baptized there, and was an altar boy there, and I imagine I have family members who were married and buried there as well. And Cole is a fabulous nickname!

(4) Tadhg (or Thaddeus)
I was inspired to include Tadhg because of boy #3 Thomas: I have a devotion to Bl. Thaddeus Moriarty, OP, a Dominican priest who is one of the Irish Martyrs (for being a priest), who was beatified by JP2, who was also known as Tadhg, because Tadhg is sometimes anglicized as Thaddeus. The Thomas connection is that Bl. Tadhg had a brother who was also a Dominican priest, named Thomas. How cool! (Read more about him here, here, and here.) I could also see Thaddeus with a “nickname” of Tadhg working as well. Or just Thaddeus with no Tadhg at all (I know a little Thaddeus nicked Taddy, so cute!).

(5) Myles
One of my name books, Oxford Dictionary of First Names, says that Maolra is a “[m]odern spelling, common particularly in the west of Ireland, of earlier Maoil-Mhuire ‘devotee of Mary.’ It has been anglicized as Myles.” It’s an Irish Marian boy’s name! Love it!

Those are my ideas for a hypothetical ninth sibling for Pauline — what do you all think? Do any names come to mind as being perfect for this French-girls/Irish-boys family?

Pauline added, “I’ve also attached our awkward family photo just so you know we’re real people.” Haha! Thanks so much to Pauline and her mom and their beautiful family for all this great info, and happy Thanksgiving to you all!

paulines_fam

Patrick and Beatrice and their children Pauline, Florie-Ann,
Faustine, Liam, Domitille, Emeline, Fintan, Thomas, and Callaghan

When you’re doing your Advent and Christmas shopping …

November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 sanctanomina Resources and recommendations Amazon affiliate, Catholic Company

The whole time I’ve had my own household to manage — thirteen years this past September — I’ve never had an Advent wreath, and I’ve always wanted one. Last year I decided I was definitely getting one for this Christmas, and today (yes, I’m almost always Mrs. Last Minute) I ordered this one from The Catholic Company.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — The Catholic Company is always my go-to for religious items for gifts for others or for me or for the kids or our family. They have beautiful things for Advent and Christmas, and I’ve posted previously about other select items that I like. All of this is why I signed up to be an affiliate with them to begin with — they have so much that I’d recommend to all of you!

I’m also an Amazon affiliate, because that’s where I’ve gotten almost all my name books — all the books I’d recommend to you or to anyone who wants ideas for naming a baby, or for Confirmation, or for characters in your stories, or just because you love names and can’t think of anything you’d rather do than curl up with a name book. I know I’m not the only one! 😉

So when you’re doing your online Advent and Christmas shopping, consider starting here! I have lots of good stuff listed on my Resources and recommendations page. Even if you don’t end up buying anything I’ve recommended, if you use any of my links to get to Amazon or The Catholic Company, I’ll get a percentage of the money you end up spending in that transaction. (Also, because I’m a terrible businesswoman and I’m not in dire circumstances, I do want to let you know that many many bloggers are affiliates of different businesses, so if you know of any that you think need particular financial help at this time of year, use their links instead!)

Oh! Don’t forget that I have my NamePrint printables available as well!

This post contains affiliate links brought to you by The Catholic Company – The World’s #1 Catholic Store and Amazon.com.

Baby name consultant: First baby!

November 23, 2015 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Baby name consultant, Biblical names, Catholic baby names, Nicknames

Jackie and Mike are expecting their first baby, a boy! Jackie writes,

“We are at a stand still when it comes to boy names. Early on I was convinced that the little one was a girl, and picked the name Felicity Marie — I loved its meaning, it had family connections and I just fell in love with it. but then we found out its a boy after all. And though I am really excited to have a boy, We haven’t found a name that seems to hold up to the girl name … [It’s] important to note that faith, prayer and the holy spirit definitely played a huge part in our journey, and we are so excited to share our faith with our new family, starting with an awesome name.

As for naming style — we agree strongly that we want a saint’s name, and that a family name would be great as well. My husband likes simple names (his term), whereas I like names that are traditional and familiar, but I get worried about being too ordinary or too popular. I’m also struggling because I soooo felt like Felicity was perfect (it means happy) and Marie has been in my family 500 years….“

(Haha! “500 years”! I laughed out loud the first time I read it, and I laughed again now as I typed it in here. 😀 )

“Additional considerations: we have a very German surname … which has been difficult to match with. Also we both come from large families which leads too lots of name would rather not repeat as first names, but would consider for the middle.”

The names that Jackie and Mike are considering include:

Gabriel
Gavin
David
Thomas
John
Simon/Simeon
Zachary
Jacob
Jules/Julian

And family names they love but wouldn’t use as first names:

Anthony
Neal/Cornelius
Gerold
William
Michael
Steven
Edward/Edmund
Andrew
Eugene

Alrighty, the first thing that jumped out at me was that Jackie noted that “faith, prayer and the holy spirit definitely played a huge part” in their relationship, which reminded me that I’d done a post a while back on names to use as a nod to the Holy Spirit. I took a look at the ideas listed there and thought some of them might interest her and her hubs:

Hugo—According to Behind the Name it comes from “the Germanic element hug, meaning ‘heart, mind, spirit.’” Hugo’s actually one of my top choices for them, as I looked up all the names on their list, including Felicity, in the Baby Name Wizard book, which has, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in style/feel/popularity, and Hugh was a pretty big match. It could also be a “Holy Spirit” name, as Hugh and Hugo are variants of the same name, but for some reason I felt like Hugo was more Jackie and Mike’s style. It seemed more similar to Felicity’s style to me.
Jonah—Jonah means “dove,” which is the tie-in to the Holy Spirit. It’s similar to Gabriel, Zachary, Simeon, and Jacob from their list, so I thought they might like it.
Colum—this is another of my top suggestions for them. As a Holy Spirit name, it also means “dove,” from the Latin columba, which is also an Irish saint’s name (St. Columba), and Colum is a variant. Malcolm also popped up in my Baby Name Wizard research as similar to their taste, which literally means “follower of St. Columba” in Irish—“mal” + “colm” (Colm is another spelling of Colum), so I saw that as another sign to include it in my suggestions for this baby.
Abel—The word “spirit” comes from the Latin “to breathe,” and Abel means “breath,” so I thought that might work. It’s also heavy duty Old Testament like some of the other names on Jackie and Mike’s list, I really like it.
Ignatius—Maybe, for Mike’s sake, this should be considered only as a middle name? 🙂 Ignatius can be related to the Latin ignis, meaning “fiery,” like “tongues of fire.” It’s a bold choice for sure, but it has some great nickname potential—Iggy, Nate, and Nash. And actress Cate Blanchett has an Ignatius actress Cate Blanchett has an Ignatius!
Kenneth—this is also a fire-related name, from the Irish Cinaed, which means “born of the fire.”

So those were the Holy Spirit names that I thought might appeal to Jackie and Mike, but I have other non-Holy Spirit names to suggest as well. I gave heavy consideration toward names that I thought fit the feel of Felicity, and also the feel of Gavin, which was so different from their other names that I thought it revealed something about their taste. I also think all these would count as “simple” names (well, maybe not Sebastian as much) in keeping with Mike’s taste?

(1) Colin (Nicholas)
I was kind of blown away by how well Nicholas and Colin matched up with their taste in names! Especially since Colin is a medieval diminutive of Nicholas! Nicholas was listed as similar to Gabriel, Zachary, Julian, Anthony, and Andrew, and Colin is similar to Gavin, Simon, and Felicity. Given that Colin is similar to both Felicity and Gavin, both of which I really used as markers of their taste, you can see why Colin is my predominant suggestion here! It pairs up nicely with several of their family names too—I think Colin Anthony might be my favorite, and I also love Colin Michael.

(2) Jude
Jules and Julian on Jackie and Mike’s list both made me think of Jude (the Beatles song “Hey Jude” was written for Julian Lennon and was originally “Hey Jules”), and I love Jude as an idea for them. It’s so saintly and biblical, a great option, and really similar to so many of the names on their list. Jude Anthony (wow, what a one-two saint punch that name is!), Jude Edward, Jude William, and Jude Michael are all jumping out at me as really nice combos.

(3) Conrad
Conrad showed up a couple times, mostly as matches for the names on their middle-name list (specifically Cornelius and Edmund), and I decided to include it because it goes really well with a German last name, and I’ve recently been loving St. Conrad of Parzham, who was a German Franciscan. Cord is a traditional nickname for Conrad, and I could see it turning into Cordy, which I love—it reminds me of Gordy and Jordy, which have always been favorites of mine, nickname-wise. I would LOVE something like Conrad Cornelius, wow!! 😀 They could maybe even consider Conrad an honor name for the Cornelius in their lives, as the first four letters of Conrad are the same as that of Cornelius, just in a different order (I wrote about that kind of thing this morning here). Conrad Eugene also has a nice rhythm, and Conrad Michael would be so nice for Mike.

(4) Oliver
Simon, Julian, and Felicity all had Oliver as a style match, and I love it for this family. St. Oliver Plunket is a great Irish saint, and Our Lady of Olives could also be the patron. Oliver William, Oliver Anthony, Oliver Michael, Oliver Steven, Oliver Edward, Oliver Edmund, Oliver Andrew, Oliver Eugene all flow really nicely, it’s easy to work with!

(5) Sebastian
I was surprised to not see Sebastian on their list! It’s a style match for Felicity and Julian, and one of those heavy-duty saints’ names that often show up in lists like Jackie and Mike’s. Seb/Sebby and Bash are great nicknames for it, though I love the full Sebastian. Short middle names go really well with long first names imo, and I think Sebastian Neal Schubert is very handsome; I also love Sebastian Michael.

So those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What would you suggest for Jackie and Mike’s baby boy?