Year: 2015

Birth announcement: Henry Edward!

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A private consultation mama has let me know her baby boy has arrived — Henry Edward! She writes,

“I wanted to share with you that Henry Edward was born on October 8th.  He is such a blessing and I think Henry fits him perfectly. I’ve attached a picture of Henry with his proud big brother, John and big sister, Lucy.”

I love love love Henry, and it’s so perfect as a brother to John and Lucy — what a great sib set! So well named! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Henry!!

(I just love the joy and pride Lucy and John exude in these pics!)

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Henry Edward and big sibs

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Baptism day!

Baby name consultant: Baby Borobia #8

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I think of Dwija Borobia of House Unseen. Life Unscripted. as a mix of who and how I’d love to be and also holy cow I just don’t think I could ever do it. By “who and how I’d like to be” I mean: someone who gave up all they knew and were familiar with for Jesus. And Mary. And NFP and all that that entails (awesome post btw). And the whole rest of the Catholic life and catechism that makes absolutely zero sense to everyone else. (I’ve never had to make that choice, not really — this life and faith was mine by birth and I’m eternally grateful, but I’m always always so moved by those who have made such brave decisions and I just always hope and pray I’d be so strong if ever faced with a similar situation.)

By “holy cow I just don’t think I could ever do it” I mean this, from her About Me page, which is too hilarious and *her* for me not to just post it:

“This blog started a little bit by accident as a way to share our misadventures in fixing up our fixer-upper that we bought sight unseen off the internet. Because when your in-laws (and this is an important tip) read a facebook update about you finding snakes in your kitchen walls, you’ll be all “Hahahaha! Isn’t that wacky?” and they’ll be all “Ohsweetbabyjeezus, my grandchildren are going to get eaten by wild boars! Or snakes! As it were!”

So you start a blog so everyone can get the whole story and they don’t imagine a shanty and an outhouse and then start praying novenas to the patron saint of People Getting Some Sense Knocked into Them.”

(Hm. Well, maybe when I say “I just don’t think I could ever do it” what I mean is that I like and thrive on familiar and stable and risk taking is not really part of my wiring … BUT, speaking of wiring, I love love love a good house renovation. And so yes, I’ve drooled (and taken notes) over these before and after pics a time or two. So I think maybe it’s the “Life Unscripted” part I’d have the most trouble with, not the “House Unseen” part. Also the snakes in the walls.)

ANYWAY we aren’t here today to talk about house renos, as fun and fab as they are … as you’ve come to expect, we are here to talk about BABY NAMES because Dwija’s expecting her eighth baby and there’s NO STOPPING my excitement when there’s a baby on the way! ESPECIALLY when that wee one needs a name! Dwija has graciously allowed me to offer some ideas, and I’m so excited to do so, even though she and her husband have done an amazing job with their others so letting me do this is probably more charity than necessity on their part. They have, in order:

Kathryn Marisol (Katie)
Elizabeth Anne (Lizzie)
Paul Anthony
Cecilia Jean (Ceci)
Mary Isabel
Nicholas Robert (home with Jesus)
John Charles (Charlie, but I love love seeing #dailyjohncharles on IG — what a great first-middle combo that is!)

Beautiful, right? Classic, saintly, solid.

For this baby, if a girl, Dwija says,

“Right now we have one girl name on the list: Helen (no middle name) and zero boy names … [Also] Teresa, Monica…pretty much I’ve decided on Helen for a first name though if it’s a girl to be honest. We are just undecided on a middle name. BUT if you have some other first name ideas, I’d love to hear them! … Oh, I like Margaret too!”

And for a little Mister,

“We are running low on ideas actually, especially for boy names that we both like and that fit all the ridiculous rules we’ve created 😉 … [seriously,].zero boy names. Hah! We’ve talked about some that are not on the “no way” list- Martin, Dominic, Gabriel.”

Wait! Did she say something about “ridiculous rules”??? Yesssss!!!! I just love rules, no joke—a good name challenge is the best! They are:

“T [hubs] does NOT like William because of William of Orange (true story. This is what I mean about all our weird rules!)

More rules include:
Must be a saint name but not a quirky one (no Scholastica or Cosmas, etc.)

Must exist somewhere in one of our families (you won’t be able to know this, but that’s okay)

Cannot start with a letter we’ve already used.

Cannot start with a B

Initials can’t make a potentially embarrassing word (MIB made it through because I don’t think her friends are going to know anything about Men in Black. Are you starting to see how crazy I am???)”

So I clapped my hands and rubbed them together gleefully and got my cup of coffee and my Baby Name Wizard and my thousands of other name books and went digging around in my mental archives of saints and names and came up with what I think are some pretty great options. They fit all The Rules as far as they can — I just don’t know, as Dwija pointed out, if they fit the “family name” req or of course the always subjective and not always entirely predictable do-I-like-it-or-don’t-I test. (Also, regarding those rules, I just have to say — preeetty sneaky getting a Ceci and Charlie in the same family when one of The Rules is no repeating first initials — just tack a John on the front of that Charles and you’re good to go! Brilliant!)

First though, just some quick thoughts about the names on their current list:

I love Helen. Beautiful name, beautiful saint, great for a sister of the Borobia children. Dwija didn’t ask for middle name ideas, but Helen Sophia was striking me as a really gorgeous combo.

Teresa, Monica, and Margaret are great options too, and gave me a really good idea of their taste and style, BUT — Monica and Margaret repeat Mary’s M, so they’re out! Maybe as middles?

Martin, Dominic, and Gabriel are awesome — some of my very favorites. But Martin’s an M name, so I did use it for inspiration, but I don’t consider it a real contender for them. Dominic and Gabriel seem to be going in just a little bit of a different direction than what they’ve done so far — they both seem a touch more exotic, perhaps — but they are great names and great saints, so I have no real quibble at all. (Although, now that I think about it … perhaps a quick look at my Gabriel B. post would be wise? It’s always good to have all the information.)

Okay! Here are my ideas/suggestions:

Girl
(1) Ruth, Rita, Rose/Rosa
So when you have seven other children, all with first and middle names, plus a list of names that you’ve decided you don’t hate, there are a LOT of names to work with. It makes finding patterns in the Baby Name Wizard a bit more challenging, but also a lot of fun and really satisfying. Ruth, Rita, and Rose/Rosa revealed themselves as style matches for the Borobias, and they all fit the rules so well. I’ve grouped them together because they all begin with R and they’re all four letters, but they each have their own merits. And as long as they don’t use Ursula as the middle, I think the possibility of potentially embarrassing initials is low.

Ruth is, of course, Ruth from the bible, also known as Ruth the Matriarch (and yes the Old Testament holy ones are considered saints). Ruth is one of the very best women in my opinion, for her love of her husband and her mother-in-law, never mind that she was one of the only women named in the genealogy of Jesus. I’ve been seriously crushing on Ruth recently, mostly because of Ruthie. So sweet!

Rita I’m kind of excited about for Dwija and her hubs because they like Margaret but Margaret repeats the M of Mary, which violates one of The Rules. But Rita can be considered a form of Margaret! It’s a short form via variants like Margarita, which makes it a St. Margaret name, and St. Rita is also an awesomely amazing saint in her own right (I’m privy to some amazing intercessory action on her part — great namesake for a little girl).

Rose was actually one of the first names I thought of when I was musing over the list of the already born Borobia children, such a lovely, simple name! St. Rose of Lima’s one of my faves, and it can also be a Marian name. Rosa is a great variant too, and adds an extra syllable if one syllable is considered too short, and Rosie is another of those darling nicknames.

(2) Hildi
I’ve been pushing Hildi on lots of people recently! Haha! St. Hildegard of Bingen, new Doctor of the Church, is the inspiration here. Hildegard still feels a little … much, to me, for most people, but I’m swoony over Hildi! I definitely think it can stand on its own as a first name, but Hilde and Hilda are variants that can work too. I don’t think Hildi/Hilde/Hilda would qualify as the disallowed “quirky,” but I admit I’m not 100% sure … (it also knocks Helen out for potential future use because of the H).

(3) Alice
I actually didn’t know that Alice was a saint’s name until doing this consultation. It seemed such a great fit for this family, but of course I had to make sure it was a saint’s name, and lo — there’s more than one! (Don’t be put off by the fact that none of those are listed as St. Alice — if you click on their names you’ll see they’re also known as Alice.)

(4) Frances
Lastly, Frances, fairly uncommon for a first name for a girl as far as I can tell, though Francis is all over the Catholic name stats for boys. Frannie and Frankie are sweet nicknames, and the full Frances is serious and bookish in all the best ways. Frances can be a nod to any of the Sts. Francis, but of course there are loads of female namesakes.

Boy
(1) Andrew, Thomas, Luke
Here are my New Testament Boys suggestions, chosen as much for the fact that they don’t repeat initials already used as for being a good fit with the first names Dwija and her hubs have already used for their boys: Paul, Nicholas, and John. I love each of these names for different reasons.

Andrew seems a really handsome, friendly name to me, and Andy and Drew are both really cheerful nicknames. I also had the privilege of hearing Fr. Andrew Apostoli speak this past weekend, and he referred to Andrew as his patron saint, which of course is obvious, but it made me sit up and take notice of Andrew a little bit more.

Thomas is great as the full Thomas, and even better — I assume Mr. Borobia is Thomas since he’s referred to as Tommy on the blog, so it’s a family name and even a Junior if so desired! Or, I know a grown-up Thomas who has initials TAB and goes by Tab — this could also be a possibility. I realize that Dad being Thomas could also work against this idea, and though I assumed the no-repeating-first-initials thing only applied to the kids, I realize it might also encompass D and T because of Mom and Dad.

And Luke — I’ve always loved that Luke’s gospel is considered the most Marian — it mentions Mary more than any of the others; it’s the one which the prayer the Magnificat comes from; and it presents Jesus’ genealogy that some believe goes through Mary rather than Joseph. So Luke can really be considered a Marian name for a boy, which I think is incredibly cool.

(2) Stephen, David
Okay so yes, I know, Stephen is a New Testament name, but I’m grouping it here with the Old Testament David because I know a couple of Stephen & David brother pairs, both older men in my own family and boys in my boys’ school, so they just seem like they go together, peas-and-carrots. Both names are those of beloveds in my family (we have Stephens and Davids that are not brothers as well as those that are), and each name projects a sense of the regal to me, probably because they’re both king’s names as well as saint’s names.

St. Stephen was the first martyr, which is a pretty great credential (and if Dwija and Mr. like the idea of Stephen, I’ve been digging the first-middle combo that Danielle Bean and her husband used: Stephen Matthias). St. Stephen of Hungary was a king, and also known as St. Stephen the Great. I love that! There were also a few Pope Stephens. It’s got some major Catholic cred.

David is King David, of course. I mean, come on. King David. There’s also a bunch of Sts. David too. (But D-Dwija and D-David?)

(3) William
Just kidding. 😀

(4) Henry
I suggested Hildi above and I’m suggesting Henry here and Dwija already said they’re mostly likely settled on Helen so maybe H isn’t the right direction for me to go, but I really love Henry. It’s a sweet name for a boy without being unmasculine, and I think Henry brings out my (admittedly fairly small but existing) contrarian streak because I really hate that some people say, “Henry is too Protestant.” This is totally one of those names that needs to be reclaimed because there are lots of holy Henrys! (And Hank’s a traditional nickname for Henry, and it’s been killing me with cuteness recently, can’t you picture a tiny Hank?!)

(5) Victor, Gregory
This is my Pope category. Victor is a papal name, and also a saint name (besides Pope Bl. Victor III), but my favorite way to think of it is as a Jesus name. We talk a lot about Marian names, but I haven’t heard much about Jesus names, and Victor can totally be considered one, because, as I told a mom in a consultation just recently, He wins! Victor! Victory!

Gregory is one of the Pope St. the Greats, and, as I’ve quoted here before, the Baby Name Wizard says, “Popes, saints, and Gregory Peck! Can a name get any more distinguished?”” I love that! “Greg” tends to be the problem with Gregory, if people have a problem with Gregory, but I’ve suggested both Rory and Gus (perhaps for Gregory Stephen?) as possible avoiding-Greg nicknames. I’m guessing Rory Borobia isn’t going to be a big hit, but Gus Borobia is suuuuper cute. 🙂

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? Do you think they’re hitting the right notes, or totally off key? What would you suggest for the new Borobia baby? (Remember the rules! Must not repeat initials, must not suggest B names, must not suggest quirky saints’ names, and absolutely no William!)

Hobnobbing with some cool (Catholic) cats

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I spent today at the Syracuse Catholic Women’s Conference and it was ahhhhmazing! Not only did I get to wear this fun distressed-type textured shirt that I can’t wear in my daily mom life because the baby likes to pick at the seams, but I got to hear the amazing Simcha Fisher speak (and see her beautiful baby Corrie!), as well as Sr. Miriam James Heidland, who is one of the most amazing women I’ve ever heard, and Fr. Andrew Apostoli, who spoke about Fatima, which, as you may remember, was a big turning point in my faith life. Extra great was that I got to go to the conference with my childhood best friend, the one who I went to Fatima with. Great great day. I posted some pictures on Instagram, which don’t nearly do justice to how very cool the whole thing was.

I also prayed for all of you during the beautiful Mass. ❤

And guess what? I have a really really fun consultation lined up for Monday! A tiny hint: it may or may not have to do with an unseen house and an unscripted life … 😉

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend!!

Birth announcement: Caroline Mary!

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A mama who emailed me not too long ago with some last-minute name questions for her first baby just let me know her baby has arrived — the beautifully named Caroline Mary! Shannon writes,

“We had our precious baby girl on September 8th (4 days early, so our correspondence was right on time!) and named her Caroline Mary. We loved your Caroline suggestion!! Such a unique and special way to honor Saint Pope John Paul II. She was born on Our Lady’s birthday, so Mary was the perfect middle name.”

Shannon and her husband really wanted to honor St. John Paul II, and I just love that Caroline hit the right note for them! I love love it paired with Mary, and so amazing that she was born on Our Lady’s birthday! What a blessed baby!

Congratulations to Shannon and her husband, and happy birthday Baby Caroline!!
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Caroline Mary

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Caroline with her Mama!

Yesterday’s Design Mom kids’ names

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Do any of you read Design Mom? I’d like to say I do because it looks really chic and big-window-sunshiney and sheer-white-curtains gorgeous, like one of those magazines where each page has a whole lot of what my house needs, but better!, because it focuses on moms and so they know about trying to figure it out with dirty messy house-wrecking children. But alas, as is my way, despite the fact that it’s “praised as a Website of the Year by Time Magazine, and a top parenting blog by the Wall Street Journal, Parents Magazine and Better Homes & Gardens,” I didn’t even know about it until yesterday when one of you dear readers pointed out the names of the children of the mama whose house and design talents were featured yesterday. I’m going to take a really wild (=not so wild) guess that that family is a Catholic family because check out these names:

Flavia
Lucas
Bosco
Siena
Hugo

Ohmygoodness.

So if I saw Flavia, Lucas, and Hugo in a sibset, I wouldn’t think much of it. Maybe I’d think they sound really international. Siena is familiar and I feel like it could go two ways: St. Catherine/St. Bernardine (mostly St. Catherine) or (as the Baby Name Wizard says) Savannah/Willow/Dahlia/Shiloh/Luna/Sierra. But if I ever see Bosco? Catholic. And if Bosco is paired with Siena? Catholiccccc. And with Lucas and Hugo? Catholicky Catholicky Catholic. (Also, there’s a crucifix on the table in the third photo, so …) (Also the mom, Celia, is Spanish. From Spain.)

Flavia I had to look into, but I shouldn’t have doubted — not only is there St. Flavia Domitilla of Terracina, but St. Helena’s full name was apparently Flavia Julia Helena Augusta! In my head I was saying FLAY-via, which was a little too much flavors-of-ice-cream (or Flavor Flav, who’s surely on his own journey like the rest of us, but maybe not what you want people thinking of when you introduce your sweet rosebud baby girl?) for me, but when I read that Celia’s Spanish I immediately switched to FLAH-via and oh my, that’s really pretty.

I had to poke around just a tiny bit, just to get a better feel of the site, and discovered that the impossibly stylish founder/designer/mother of six has some pretty awesome name taste herself. Her kiddos are:

Ralph
Maude
Olive
Oscar
Betty
Flora June

They’re not all my taste, but I love boldness in naming, and I love these particular names all together. (I also love that they used to live “in the French countryside, in a farmhouse with a name instead of an address.” I guess you’d have to if you were a famous designer and gave your kids those names. It’s like a movie, no?)

In the spirit of Design Mom, I’ll leave you with this picture, which is probably the only one of my house I would share with the world. I took it last winter because I loved that you could see the brown basket and the Irish vase flanking the toaster behind the glowing candlefire. Also the clean counter. (!) But the real star of the shot is the cheesecake and homemade caramel latte-type thing. Food&coffee’s my jam. Happy Wednesday! 😀

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Birth announcement: Ronan James Eugene!

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Yes! It’s a two-birth-announcement day!!

I posted the consultation for Theresa and her husband back in May, and it was particularly fun because, as she’d said, “Boy names are so much harder! … I don’t really know what boy names [my husband] likes. I don’t know if he knows … He doesn’t like names that are super specific to any ethnicity (Seamus, Carlos, Giovanni) or most Old Testament names (Noah, Elijah, Isaac) or names that are gender neutral or feminine sounding. If you can find a boy name we both like, I will be amazed!”

Though I wasn’t able to come up with a name her husband would go for, Theresa herself discovered the elusive name, and just emailed me to let me know their son arrived last week — Ronan James Eugene! She writes,

“If you remember, we were having a particularly hard time with boy names, so of course, in early June, we found out we were having a boy. We had a difficult time deciding. We eventually landed on Ronan James. I saw Ronan somewhere on a list of names for people who like Patrick (got that idea from you), and I liked it. Once I found out that there have been several St. Ronans — I was sold. My husband took a little more convincing and time but eventually agreed. James was because we both like it, and I feel like it goes with everything, but mostly because my husband’s Great Uncle Jimmy died this year and we thought it would be a nice tribute. So we were all set … then in September, my father passed away after a very long battle with MS. His name was Patrick Eugene. Since I already had a Patch (Roy Patrick III) for my husband and father-in-law, we decided to add Eugene to Ronan’s name for my dad. Ronan James Eugene was born on October 30. Thank you for all your help, and I love reading your blog.”

What a perfect name! I particularly like that one of Theresa’s favorites had been Finnian, and Ronan seems really similar to me, and one of her husband’s favorites had been James, so putting the two together, and then adding in Theresa’s dad’s name, just ties everything up in a handsome little package.

Congratulations to Theresa and her husband and the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Ronan!!

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Ronan James Eugene

Birth announcement: Teresa Catherine (Tessa)!

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Back in June I posted the consultation for the wee one whose mama just let me know has arrived: Teresa Catherine, called Tessa! Mama Beth writes,

“We named her Teresa Catherine after Mother Teresa and St Catherine of Siena ❤ And so far we are calling her Tessa … She was born 10-10, 7 lbs 11 oz 21 inches 🙂 “

The name decision has a beautiful story too:

“I was infertile for 4 years. I ended up having stage 4 endometriosis and I’ve had 3 surgeries to remove it. The last one was this past December. I used to go on a mission trip to Mexico every summer until my oldest daughter was born. The last summer I went, I went with our priest to the missionaries of Charity and attended mass with them. Afterwards I asked the sisters to pray that I could have a baby. (We had been married and trying to conceive for 3 years at this point.) The sisters literally started laughing and jumping up and down and said, “this is Mother Teresa’s specialty!” They gave me a medal and a card with a piece of her sari in it and promised to pray. Exactly one year later (to the day) we found out we were pregnant with Madeleine. 🙂

So a few months ago, I was cleaning my drawers and found the Mother Teresa medal and put it on. I had never considered the name Teresa. One evening I asked my husband what he thought of Teresa and call her Tessa. He immediately said “I think that is it!” We visited St Maria Goretti’s relics a few weeks ago and I touched the medal to the glass so now it’s a 3rd class relic too!

We actually didn’t know her middle name for sure until I was in labor. Ken really liked Catherine, but we considered saving it for a first name. But we decided we wanted it for her. My aunt’s middle name was Catherine, she died of cancer when I was 10. And my husband is a convert and right after he converted he went to Europe for 5 weeks and visited Catherine of Siena’s church over there.

So Tessa is named after 2 great saints! 🙂 “

Stories like these are one of the many reasons I love this blog — how wonderful to hear the powerful and amazingly personal ways in which God works in our lives, often through the intercession of the Saints! And hearing things like, “I had never considered the name Teresa” gets me all excited too — it’s so fun to discover what’s hiding in our hearts!

Congratulations to Beth and her husband and their older children, and happy birthday Baby Tessa!!

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Teresa Catherine

Baby name consultant: Baby #5 (boy #4): John Paul? Augustine? Matthew? Or … ?

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Keri and her husband are expecting their fifth baby, a boy! Their other kiddos are:

Keegan Thomas
Emma Claire (called “Emma Claire”; “I am thinking of officially adding “Therese” as her middle name and changing her first name to “Emma Claire” instead of just “Emma.” It was always our intent to call her Emma Claire, I just used Claire as a middle to give her flexibility which I now sort of regret. Seeing as how St. Therese is one of her special saints and she died on Emma Claire’s birthday, it seems fitting to add it to her name.”)
Evan Jacob
Andrew Paul

Great names, right? Strong, handsome names for the boys, and I love Emma Claire as a double first name.

Keri writes,

“We are Catholic converts. Through the years, as we have waded more deeply into the Church and its teachings, we have become more and more “Catholic” in our naming practices. I wish I had given Keegan a more “Catholic” name. St. Thomas the Apostle is his patron. St. Clare (along with St. Therese) is Emma Claire’s. Since “Evan” is a form of “John,” St. John the Baptist is his patron. Andrew has St. Andrew has a patron. Given that his birthday was close-ish to St. Andrew’s feast day and it was on our short list, it seemed like a winner.”

I just have to insert here that, though I know what Keri means about Keegan, I wanted to reassure her — behindthename.com says Keegan is “From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Aodhagáin, which means “descendant of Aodhagán”. The given name Aodhagán is a double diminutive of AODH.” So I looked up Aodh, and it said Aodh has been traditionally anglicized as Hugh — and Hugh is a saint’s name! The saints with that name are often in the form of Hugo, but Hugh and Hugo are the same name, and New Advent even has an entry for St. Hugh the Great. So her Keegan Thomas can claim two wonderful saints for his own. ❤

Keri continues,

“My husband has lobbied for “John Paul” for every single boy and for some unknown reason, I have always rejected it. John Paul is now on our short list. We have also seriously considered “Augustine” (nn — “Gus”) but I am not quiiiiite sure I am so bold … If we go with John Paul, middle name would likely be “Augustine.” These are two very important saints to us, both heavy influences on my husband, in particular, in his conversion. In fact, John Paul is his confirmation name.”

Other names on their list include:

Benjamin
Alexander (“Alexander has been a runner-up for every boy we have. I really like “Alex” as a shortened version”)
Matthew (“just not sure it has that “zing” to it”)

And those they like but can’t use:

Nicholas
Thomas
Patrick

So my thoughts regarding their ideas: John Paul is a great name, a great saint, a great patron for a boy, and so awesome to have the connection to Keri’s husband through his Confirmation name! But I do feel I have to point out that they already have a John (Evan) and a Paul (Andrew’s middle name), and while those certainly aren’t deal breakers by any means — if they want to name their unborn son John Paul they should go right ahead and do so! With my full blessing! 😀 — it might also soothe them that they’ve already used John Paul, in a sense. It might help them feel freer to move on to a different choice for this little boy on the way, you know? (It’s worth noting that there’s certainly precedent for naming more than one baby after the same saint — Jenny Uebbing‘s got two little ones named for St. Maximilian Kolbe! And it works! And it’s totally fine and the sky didn’t come crashing down! Also, as Keri did note in a later email, “my friends convinced me that because they have two totally different patrons it was ok. 🙂 ” Yes indeed, I 100% agree.)

There are also other ways of working St. John Paul into a name, like by using a form of his pre-papal name Karol. I’ve seen a lot of families use Charles, Karl and Carl, Karol, Charlotte, Caroline and Karoline/a in honor of JP2 — Charles for a boy seems especially relevant right now.

Augustine is also an awesome name, but it does seem a little different in style than the other kids’ names — much heavier. John Paul can fit in I think without raising eyebrows, but Augustine would be a little more baffling. So I really like it in the middle name spot for this baby. However, if they were open to considering August, I think it fits in their naming style a bit more, and they could still use the nickname Gus. But I think what seems like it might fit even better is Austin — Austin is an old form of Augustine, a “medieval contracted form” of it, according to behindthename. A little Austin would legitimately be able to claim St. Augustine as his patron, and it’s certainly a less bold choice than Augustine. I quite like August John Paul, August Charles, Austin John Paul, or Austin Charles for this family (especially Austin), I love how both options allow them to honor both of the heavy influences on Keri’s husband’s conversion.

Benjamin, Alexander, Nicholas, Thomas, and Matthew are all really great, solid, biblical names — I’m particularly interested that Alexander was the runner up for every boy! That definitely says something … I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they have an Alexander some day, even if it’s not this particular boy. And Patrick echoes the Irishness of Keegan, so I can definitely see the appeal there. Overall, a great, solid list. I wonder, instead of Matthew, since Keri said she wasn’t sure if it has enough “zing,” if they might consider Matthias? It’s a more international form of Matthew and has a heavier biblical feel.

So those are my thoughts on the names Keri and her husband have been batting around, but I had a few other ideas that I thought might be worth considering:

(1) Kolbe or Bennett (et al.)
As a name nut (or “namiac,” as my mom calls me!), I really like to see sibling sets that have a balanced feel name-wise. This certainly is much less important than a lot of other factors, but when I first looked at Keri’s kids’ names, I really wanted to loop Keegan in somehow. Emma Claire, Evan, and Andrew can really hang together style-wise, while Keegan looks to be a little on the outside. It’s totally understandable that as they’ve grown in their faith they’ve drawn closer to the names of our faith (santa nomina), which is so great, and I really wanted to come up with a suggestion or two that would have more of the feeling that Keegan has, while being really Catholicky Catholic. Kolbe was the very first one that came to mind: It’s a last name, like Keegan started out as; it starts with K, which is aesthetically pleasing to me — just that alone makes Keegan make more sense within the context of his siblings’ names; and it has a really current sound — like Colby and Cody and Kobe — which Keegan also has. At the same time, St. Maximilian Kolbe is of course an amazing patron, and I’ve seen Kolbe used a lot by the heavy-duty Catholic families I know. I think Kolbe John Paul works fine, or Kolbe Augustine (wow that is a heavy hitting name!), or Kolbe Charles.

Another name in this vein that also seemed like it might work is Bennett. It too is a medieval form of a saint’s name — Benedict! And given that they’re considering Benjamin, Bennett is a really great option, since it allows for the nickname Ben.

Otherwise, it might be worth their while to look at lists of saints’ last names to see if any strike their fancy for a first name — there are two posts in particular here that have a lot of great ideas, both in my post and (mostly) in the comments: Last names as first names  and Baby name consultant: Not-so-normal Catholic names. I think this is a really great pool of names to draw from if Keri and her husband want to find a name that is more like Keegan stylistically.

(2) Luke (or Lucas) (nicknamed Lolek?)
Luke has the same great, solid, biblical pedigree that so many of Keri’s other favorites have. I’ve always loved that it’s a really Marian name for a boy — the gospel of Luke mentions Mary more than any of the others; it’s the one which the prayer the Magnificat comes from; and it presents Jesus’ genealogy that some believe goes through Mary rather than Joseph. Additionally, in the consultation I did for Jenny, because of her love of JP2 someone suggested Lolek as a nickname for Luke, which I thought was just inspired — Lolek was JP2’s childhood nickname! (That same commenter also said she knew of a little boy with Lolek as his middle name, so that’s an option too, for honoring JP2.)

There is the consideration that Keri’s last name is one syllable, and if that were problematic for her with a one-syllable first name, I’ll change my suggestion to Lucas. Lucas Karl and Lucas Augustine are striking me as particularly handsome.

(3) Jonathan or Justin (with a P middle name? For JP initials)
As you all know, I almost always start a consultation by looking up all the names — already-named kids and names on the list of considerations — in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, names that are similar in style/feel/popularity. When I looked up all of Keri’s names, it was amazing to me how much overlap there was in her style — Alexander, Benjamin, Nicholas, Andrew, and Thomas routinely showed up — so I started noticing what other names were often linked with theirs. Jonathan was one of the names, and I immediately thought it might be a great option. I love that Jonathan has the John sound of John Paul, but it’s not actually a John name, so it doesn’t compete with Evan. Additionally, I thought if Keri and her husband paired it with a P middle name — Jonathan Patrick maybe? — they could call him JP, which of course are John Paul’s initials; of course, he’s routinely referred to as JP or JP2 or JPII, so it would be both obvious and subtle at the same time.

Justin isn’t tied to too much other than my gut feeling. My suggestion of Austin is what made me initially think of it — both the similar sound and feel they share, as well as the fact they’re both sort of “underground Catholic” — few people seem to know that Austin comes from Augustine, and few people seem to know that Justin Martyr was a heavy duty Church Father and therefore Justin is a heavy duty Catholic name. Justin feels similar to Evan to me, and it’s listed as similar to Matthew, so I thought it might hit the right notes. Similar to Jonathan, if it was paired with a P middle name, Keri’s little boy would have JP initials. I like Justin Patrick a lot.

(4) Christopher or Samuel
Christopher and Samuel were others that kept popping up as similar to other names Keri and her hubs like, especially Emma, Alexander, and Benjamin (Samuel), and Andrew, Nicholas, and Matthew (Christopher), so they definitely needed a mention. Chris and Sam are great boy nicknames.

(5) Nathaniel or Gabriel
Both Nathaniel and Gabriel were two others that had lots of overlap in the Baby Name Wizard for this family’s style, and they always kind of remind me of each other — their style is so similar, the big difference being (to me) that if you like longer names, Nathaniel fits the bill, and if you prefer shorter, Gabriel. Nathaniel was listed as similar to Benjamin, Nicholas, Alexander, and my idea for them of Samuel; Gabriel was listed as similar to Benjamin, Nathaniel, and my idea for them of Luke. Gabriel especially is often included in the Catholicky Catholic category, with his ties to Mary in the Annunciation.

So those are my ideas for Keri and her husband! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Keegan, Emma Claire, Evan, and Andrew’s little brother?

Birth announcement: Philip Rivers’ baby has arrived!

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Chargers’ QB Philip Rivers, favorite football player of Sancta Nomina 🙂 , and his wife Tiffany welcomed their eighth baby and sixth daughter, Clare, this past Wednesday!

Despite the fact that I was googling every couple of days to be sure I didn’t miss the announcement, I didn’t see it until earlier today, hence the belated birth announcement. But better late than never! You can read more here (awesome article. I’m constantly blown away by how he and his wife are loud and proud about their faith and marriage. Catholic courage, baby!) and here.

It was so fun being given a sneak peek into the Rivers’ baby naming, and knowing ahead of time what little Miss Clare’s name would be! Thank you all for keeping Tiffany and Baby Clare in your prayers, and congratulations to the Rivers family!!

Updated to add: I assume the little one’s full name is Clare Magdalen(e) but I haven’t seen any report to confirm that, nor to confirm the spelling.

The Marshall Kids

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Okay, so I made a huge name blunder by not digging around to find Taylor Marshall’s other kids’ names after I shared that he and his wife had welcomed their eighth baby … and then eclare said they were named in a video in the actual post that I’d linked to … and I didn’t even remember there being a video, but indeed I clicked over and there it was … but only six of the eight were named so I did my due diligence and dug a little deeper and yes, I now know the eight Marshall children’s names. Whew! It’s hard work staying on top of the Catholic baby naming world! 😉

They are, all of them, most wonderfully well named:

Gabriel
Mary and Rose (twins) (I believe)
Jude
Becket
Blaise
Elizabeth called Lizzie
Margaret Grace Carol (Maggie? I don’t think he’s said so …)

*Sigh.* I love each one. A great great bunch of names (and a great bunch of kids, if they’re anything like they were on this video. So cute!)

Also, when Taylor announced Miss Margaret was on her way, he asked for name ideas. What. Where was I. I don’t know, I think I was still feeling scattered and overwhelmed with awe that people were actually reading my blog (who am I kidding, I’m STILL in awe!). So sorry to have dropped the ball! Maybe I’ll have it together better when Marshall Baby #9 is on the way! 😉 (No pressure Taylor and Joy! We all get it! God’s will be done! Enjoy this babyswoon with your darling newborn! ❤ )