Birth announcement: Zelie and Louis!

sanctanomina Birth announcement, , ,

A mama emailed me last fall with questions about the pronunciation of Zelie, as she wanted to name her boy/girl twins after our new Martin saints. She recently wrote to let me know that they arrived and have indeed been named after those great saints: Zelie Marigold Bélanger and Louis Patrick Loughlin!

She writes,

“Hello Kate!

I know this is very belated but I wanted to thank you for giving me peace of mind in our babies’ naming before our big day.

They were born on November 30, 2015. Their names are Zelie Marigold Bélanger and Louis Patrick Loughlin. Zelie rhyming with jelly, and Louis rhyming with gooey. When we would talk about their names before they were born, that is how we pronounced them and I’m so happy that they fit them perfectly. I guess we named them names that can have a bunch of different pronunciations but we are happy with the pronunciations that we picked.

Marigold is their great great grandmother’s name on my husband’s side and a name to honor Our Lady. (In my head, I think of the particular image of the coronation of Mary) And Bélanger is a family last name and the last name of Blessed Dina, who is an ancestor of my husband! Patrick is their great great grandfather’s name of my side and Loughlin is my mother’s maiden name.

We use second middle names in our family to honor and remember family surnames which I feel are so quickly forgotten.

They join their older brothers Fulton Lawrence Keene and Gilbert Gerard O’Hara. Their names are also full of meaning as well! I want when my children to ask me why I named them a particular name to have a story to tell them!

A quick note- You mentioned that accent marks on official forms were not recognized but when we wrote Bélanger down, we figured what’s not to lose if they didn’t add the accent mark for a second middle name. And when her birth certificate came the accent mark was present on the official document!

Thank you again so much! Reading your blog before our twins were born really helped broaden my horizon in how to name and honor family and saints. We need all the saints we can get on our family’s “team,” as I say, so finding ways to add them into our children’s names was fun!“

Can you believe the amazing naminess that’s included in this mama’s note??!! So! Many! Great! Names! And I’m really glad to include the bit about the accent marks — when this mom had asked me about them, I’d said with blustery confidence,

“My personal feeling about accents is that they cause more headaches than are necessary. Official forms in America don’t allow for them, and accents always confuse others as to where the accent goes and what it means.”

I’m really glad to have been proven wrong — how fun that accents are recognized on birth certificates! And I’m glad that the parents ignored me and went ahead with Bélanger — my personal feelings are are totally subjective and fickle, after all. (Despite what I said, I actually love me a good accented name — it always looks so regal!)

Thank you to these proud parents for letting me post such a fun birth announcement!  Congratulations to the whole family (including big brothers Fulton and Gilbert!), and happy birthday Babies Zelie and Louis!!

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Zelie Marigold Bélanger and Louis Patrick Loughlin

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23 thoughts on “Birth announcement: Zelie and Louis!”

  5. This is SO beautiful! Love ALL of their names, especially the significance of the second middle names. I whole-heartedly agree that our ancestors should be carried on through our children!

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  6. I just LOVE this!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍 What a terrific sibset and beautiful babies, too!

    I think it might be hit and miss regarding the accent marks on birth certificates. I have one friend who tried to do Thérèse for a middle name and was told they could do The’r’ese, but no actual accent marks, so she just went with Therese for the official form, but they spell it Thérèse the rest of the time. I’m really glad that the stars aligned for this mama to use Bélanger, though! I love it! And the meaning behind each of her children’s names, the preserving of family surnames…just awesome.

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  7. “Marigold is their great great grandmother’s name on my husband’s side and a name to honor Our Lady. (In my head, I think of the particular image of the coronation of Mary)”

    Perfect addition/suggestion for the Glorious Mystery names!

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  8. Oh my gosh!! That entire set is so amazingly cool!! I love that they used an accent mark! I tend to love names with accent marks, but get super worried about them being left off. It’s probably not as big of a deal though with middle names!!

    Sidenote: Zelie, Louis and I are birthday twins (or I guess maybe triplets?)!! It’s a wonderful birthday to have 🙂

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  9. Those are great twin names. And those babies are so cute, too.

    I love that Bl. Dina Bélanger is an ancestor. So cool. We have two different families we know who are related to Ven. Solanus Casey, which is small world because we know them separately and they initially didn’t know each other though they are related obviously. I need to check if anyone in their extended families have used the name (for some Casey is still the surname) as families we know haven’t used the name.

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    • Soooo cool!! Funny enough, we believe my sister to be one of Ven. Solanus’ miracles, and Casey’s a family name for us anyway … I’m sure one of us will use it as some point!

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  14. I’ve been reading the archives of this blog as my second pregnancy has me obsessed with all things baby, and I must say this is my fave sib set I have seen…my jaw literally dropped at how awesome the names are individually and together. Such beautiful and sweet names. Zelie is in our top three if it’s a girl this time.

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