Thank you all for your responses on FB to my earlier request for prayers for a mama in labor, and for all of you who prayed for her! You’re all wonderful! As soon as I have an update and am given the go-ahead to share it, I will.
As a special summer vacation treat for myself 😄 I’ve been reading through all of Swistle’s birth announcement posts. I’ve been doing it for weeks now and I’m on page 44 — going back to 2010 and 2011! As a side note, it’s really interesting to read which names were still considered kind of weird back then that are used regularly now (of course I’m blanking now on even one example … maybe Penelope?), but what I really wanted to post here were the couple that really jumped out to me as amazing or interesting. Like this sibset:
Baby Boy Finchlee, Brother to Wilhelmina, Calista, Zachariah, Theodore, and Philippa. They go by Willa and Calla (twins, love!), Zak, Ted, and Pippa. The name they ended up choosing for their little boy is PERFECT, beyond perfect, I’m dying over it! 👍👐👌 You just have to read the whole post to get the whole story and all the elements!
I love this one too, because of the first paragraph:
“Our son is named Giovanni Paolo. I know- Italian overload- but his name has significant meaning to us. He was named after Pope John Paul II who wrote extensively on marriages and families and really inspired my husband and I in our Catholic faith, which is really important to us. I am not tied to sticking with Italian names; we were just attracted to name his Giovanni Paolo instead of John Paul, since John Paul just seemed too ordinary to us. We absolutely love his name, and call him G for short.”
(They didn’t continue the Catholic theme though.)
I also liked the idea in this one of Caia as a nickname for Caterina. Kinda cool! (Swistle did not agree — she’s distinctly anti-unusual nicknames and even usual ones — she even fusses about Ellie not being a traditional nickname for Elizabeth!)
This is actually a good opportunity to tell you about yet another new page I’ve recently started, somewhat inspired by my reading of the old Swistle posts — it’s the Helpful naming tips and info tab up at the top, and I’ve been slowly adding in there comments from here and posts from here and elsewhere that I think are helpful when naming a baby in general, and a Catholic baby in particular. It’s definitely a long-term, ongoing project, and will hopefully be of use to you all!
I’m sure I’ll have more to share from Swistle’s archives as I keep working through, stay tuned! 😀
Sancta Nomina 
Oooh fun! I love reading Swistle posts! And can I just say, I love the name/nickname “Calla!” Gorgeous. I know a little GP in real life too.. a cool way to honor JP2.
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Me too, all around!
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The Swistle archives are fascinating especially to see how naming trends have changed.
The first link was an interesting read. I have a Zachariah as well and love the naming style of long elaborate names with kicky nicknames so I got a few ideas. I adore Willa, Calla and Pippa as sisters.
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So great!!
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Hard to see how your blog could get better…but you have done so with your new page!
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Thanks irishnannie 🙂
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[…] Also, I finally got through the 71 pages of Swistle birth announcements (going back to 2008!) and had a few more I wanted to share with you (I posted about the first batch here): […]
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Hey! This is my little Giovanni Paolo mentioned above, since I reached out to Swistle years ago when I was pregnant with my second, but before I heard of your blog.
We had two little girls since then: Eilin Maeva (Eilin is for St. Helen and it also means ‘light’ and that little girl is definitely the light of joy in our family, and Maeva is a tribute to Mary), and Vera Julia (my grandma’s name was Elvera, and Vera means ‘truth’ and we loved that. Julia is for Julia Greeley whose cause for canonization is on its way in Denver– she was a former slave who gave generously to the poor in Denver. Julia Greeley also died in the same hospital where our little Vera Julia was born).
I’m also pregnant with our 4th baby, a little boy named Pier Giorgio, for good ol’ Frassati! So, we have come full circle back to our Italian theme!! 🙂 Thanks for the shoutout above!! I love your blog!
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Ohmygosh I’m so excited you commented on this post!! How fun to hear from you and hear about your girls’ names — I guess you did continue the Catholic theme after all! I love all the names and all the meanings behind them! Congratulations too on expecting your little Pier Giorgio, how wonderful!!
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