Baby name consultant: Name needed for no. 6, a boy!

sanctanomina Baby name consultant, ,

Amanda and her husband are expecting their sixth baby — a little boy! Little Mister joins big sibs:

Faith Cecilia
Bennett Luke
Maya Evangeline (“Maija is the Finnish form of ‘Mary’ but we Americanized it since our last name gets mispronounced All. The. Time.”)
Catherine Felicity (“Cate”) (twin of Jude)
Jude Xavier (twin of Cate)

I just love these names, each one and each combo, as well as the whole feel of these names together — Amanda and her husband have done such a great job!

Amanda writes,

“We’re due with #6 and were hoping you could help us find ‘the name’. We seem to have partially exhausted our naming mojo… 😀 We love classic, Saintly, and somewhat uncommon (though not unheard of) … Hubby is crazy picky and vetoes almost everything right off the bat but once it has time to percolate, there usually emerges a frontrunner or at least an avenue worth pursuing. 🙂 Last name rhymes with ‘yellow’ and we have Finnish, Italian, and French heritage that we sometimes try to incorporate (but not a must). We have some particular devotions (St. Francis Xavier, St. Cecilia, and St. Maximilian Kolbe, also my hubby, a convert, LOVES St. Eliz. Anne Seton) but those are not a must either.”

Names they’ve considered for this little guy include:

John (“paired with something more out-there like Augustine or Ignatius“)
Maximilian
Simon
Dominic (“middle name only“)

And this worry regarding using John:

“At this point, I think [John Augustine is our frontrunner] … having a Jude and a possible John (or a Jack, depending) right in succession sort of tweaks my name senses, especially since we haven’t had a pattern thus far.”

Okay, so first off, my heartiest support is for their frontrunner of John Augustine, with the strong suggestion to nickname him Gus! That way they’d have the incredible John+[something-out-there] combo (I think John+ is SO handsome!!), but they don’t have to worry about John/Jack following Jude. I knew a little boy growing up named John who went exclusively by Gus (just because his parents liked it—he didn’t have a Gus middle name or anything), so a John that goes by Gus isn’t crazy to me, especially with his middle name being the origin of Gus. Or really, any John+ name with a nickname for the middle name being the everyday name. John Ignatius could be Iggy or Nate; John Maximilian could be Max or Miles … I love this idea!

Regarding the devotion Amanda and her husband have to St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Elizabeth Anne Seton (ignoring Sts. F.X. and Cecilia for the moment, since they’ve already used their names), Kolbe and Seton could both be really great first name or middle name options as well. I like John Kolbe. And John Maximilian for that matter. Simon Kolbe. Dominic Seton. Or even Bailey, since that was St. Elizabeth’s maiden name.

I looked up the names Amanda and her hubs have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard for some new ideas, as the BNW lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and came up with the following ideas:

(1) Owen 
You all know I love the name Owen, and the saint Nicholas Owen! So I was excited to see that Owen’s a match for Faith, Jude, and Simon!

(2) Cole or Colin (or Kolbe?)
Like with Owen, Cole and Colin point to St. Nicholas for me, as they can both be considered variants of Nicholas — could be St. Nicholas Owen, or jolly St. Nick, or whoever! Cole’s a match for Jude and Colin for Simon. (Cole also reminds me of Kolbe … I wonder if they would be interested in Kolbe as a first name?)

(3) Gabriel
Gabriel’s a match for Faith, Xavier, and Dominic, and while I was initially hesitant because of the -el of Gabriel running into the el- sound at the beginning of their last name, I’ve said it over and over a few times and I think it’s 1000% fine and no need to fuss about it at all. I love the name Gabriel!

(4) Miles
Miles is actually a match for Bennett, and you all know how I’ve been pushing it on people for a long time! Haha! I discovered that Miles is used as the anglicized form of the Old Irish name Maolmhuire, which means “devotee of the Virgin Mary”—a totally legit Marian name for a boy!

(5) Roman
I never would have thought of Roman for this family, but it showed up in my research as a match for Maximilian and Dominic. I love that it calls to mind (for me anyway) the Pope, the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church … I posted a birth announcement for a little Roman here, and Cate Blanchett (who also has an Ignatius!) has a Roman.

And those are my ideas for this little guy! What do you all think? What would you suggest for the little brother of Faith, Bennett, Maya, Cate, and Jude?

24 thoughts on “Baby name consultant: Name needed for no. 6, a boy!”

  1. My grandfather was Finnish American. If they wanted to use a Finnish name, there are several that would work. My great grandfather was called Emil, a name that us currently quite popular in Finland for little boys. Another of my ancestors was Matti (the Finnish version of Matthew.) Matthias is also a classic. I went to school with a Finn called Hannu, which is a form of John. Either Johannes or Johan would also work. Also Jonas or Tobias or Leo or Levi.

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  2. Simon Kolbe! I can’t think of anything better! Simon is a great name for a brother of Jude, and Kolbe is a nice addition to Bennett and Xavier (saintly last names!) I actually think Kolbe fits better than Maximilian.

    I wouldn’t choose Seton because Elizabeth Anne (or Anne Elizabeth, or Eliza, or something like that) sounds lovely for a future daughter, so I’d like to save that patron.

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  3. Love these! I wonder if the family would like Simeon? Close to Simon but a little different and unusual. We named our son (lost during pregnancy) John Simeon and although I said I’d never choose something as common as John, it just goes so perfect with Simeon! We always say his full name because I just love it so!

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  4. I totally vote Simon. Makes a great brother to Jude. It is such an underused classic. It is all over the New Testament. I vote Peter as a middle. We were going to name our last baby Simon Peter, but she was a she.

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  5. oh gosh, their names are so perfect!! I love all your suggestions as well 🙂

    I love the idea of John with an uncommon middle name. John Augustine nn Gus would be perfect with their set.

    I thought Henry would sound really nice with this set as well. Henry Maximilian would be SO handsome to me! Also Henry Simon would be adorable.

    Branching off of Simon, maybe Silas would appeal to them too. Silas Kolbe would be super cool, and I do think Silas goes with their other names.

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  6. I like the Cole/Kolbe suggestion. They are both handsome and short. Michael would be a nice middle for either and Dominic (the middle name that they like) goes well with Kolbe.

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  7. I love their naming style! Such beautiful choices already! I too love the John+ concept (not least because I have a little John and love hearing about Johns out there…it seems to be a name a lot of Catholics have been ignoring in favor of more popular saints, maybe a lot of Catholics think it’s boring or kind of too WASP-y? That was kind of what I’d heard over the years.) I love the suggestion above for John Dominic especially, this is such a handsome combo!

    Because this is a 6th child and 4th brother, I don’t think they need to worry about two J brothers in a row! Jack + “rhymes with yellow” surname seems to have a nice ring to it!

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  8. Good gravy, readers, you’re awesome. 🙂 This is Amanda from the post – thanks a million for your input!! Until recently, I would have said John Augustine (Gus) was for sure still tops, but now Simon Kolbe is making a huge dent in our Gus confidence. 😀 Andrea up top, Matthias is my favorite (favorite FAVORITE!) boy name ever but I have yet to approach winning that battle with the better half… 😉 Good taste!!!

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  9. So, this: ” Hubby is crazy picky and vetoes almost everything right off the bat but once it has time to percolate, there usually emerges a frontrunner or at least an avenue worth pursuing.” describes my situation exactly and I have 3 of your names in my mix of kids, so I’d say we’re probably kindred naming spirits. 😉

    Some boy names we’ve considered/used: James (brother to Jude in the scriptures!), Ambrose, Benedict, Edmund, Basil, Crispin.

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  10. Simon and Dominic make me giggle because there’s a rapper from South Korea named Simon Dominic. Just a thought if you want to be name twinsies with someone else 🙂

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