Year: 2016

Birth announcement: Brinley Josephine!

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I did a private consultation for a boy name for a mama who was expecting a little green bean 🌱 but was set on a girl’s name. She let me know she’ll have to save the boy ideas for the future, because she had a baby girl (!) who was given the sweet name of … Brinley Josephine!

She writes,

“IT’S A GIRL!!

Brinley Josephine

I will be saving all of your boy name suggestions for the next one because I LOVED SO MANY OF THEM!!”

I happen to know that one of the points in favor of Brinley Josephine was that Dad wanted to call her Brinley Jo, so I asked the mama if that had come to pass, and she said,

“We are calling her Brinley Jo (and Brina, baby Bee🐝, Brinnie-Minnie, etc… We love nicknames)!“

SO cute!! Brinley joins big brother:

Everett Gabriel

Such a great sibling set!! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Brinley!!

Brinley Josephine

The Saintly Heart boys

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I follow Maggie from Saintly Heart on Instagram (she’s also on FB, and this is her web site), and she was recently telling me about her boys’ names, which I just love, so I asked her if I could share them with all of you and she said yes! Woo!

Her handsome boys are named:

Blaise Emil (after St. Blaise and Servant of God Emil Kapaun)
Savio Michael (after St. Dominic Savio and St. Michael)

Sooo handsome, right?! I’ve never seen Savio used as a first name before, but I like it!! Maggie writes,

“My husband and I are huge Saint lovers … We love sharing the faith when people ask us where’d we come up with those names. Most people think ‘Blaze’ as in fire so we get to catechize there and then our little Savio gets the most unique questioning and we get to share about the sweet St. Dominic Savio then!“

I love love love the idea of evangelizing through names — I think it’s one of the most fun and easy ways to do so, and it can really make a difference to those who hear the stores of how the names were chosen and to whom they refer.

Thanks to Maggie for sharing!!

Savio Michael (left) and Blaise Emil (right)

Birth announcement: Joel Edward Scott!

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A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know her little guy has arrived and been given the handsome and meaningful name … Joel Edward Scott!

She writes,

“We were so sure that boy name would be Joseph Samuel Scott, and then he was born and wouldn’t you know that he looked us in the eyes and was a Joel Edward Scott. He missed the feast day of St. Joel (I JUST found out – wasn’t even tracking feast day!) by 2 hours. (TWO HOURS!) but as my mom pointed out, God is rocking the boat for this little one, so all we must do is trust! [The mama later added: ‘And I just received clarification from my friend who told me about the feast day that it’s the 13th (I’m sitting here in the hospital stuck on the 14th but it’s the 15th) and she said it’s not the first thing you find when you Google but it’s the French name day for St. Joel.’]

I’m printing out your baby name consultation for his keepsake box, because I want baby Joel to know how much love and thought and consideration went into his name. Thank you for all your thoughtfulness! I have loved reading and re-reading your consultation!“

Guys! How COOL is is that little Joel was given the name of a saint practically on his feast day — all unbeknownst to his parents?! SO great! I LOVE that kind of thing! And isn’t Joel Edward Scott such a handsome combo?

Little Joel joins his big sibs:

Liam Byron
Logan Kurt
Pio Julian (with Jesus)
Amelie Maria Margarete

Just a wonderfully wonderful family of names!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Joel!!

IMG_20160719_080801913

Joel Edward Scott

 

July CatholicMom column!

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My July column posted yesterday at CatholicMom! In honor of our new feast day: the name of Magdalene.

You’ll see that I wrote about different ways the name of Magdalene has permeated the naming landscape (and words in general!) (I know you all probably know them already), but two examples that I didn’t know of until ScottishReader pointed them out the other day are Oxford’s Magdalen College and Cambridge’s Magdalene College. I looked them up, and indeed, re: Oxford’s Magdalen College:

“Magdalen College was founded by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England, on the site of the Hospital of St. John. In this charter, dated 12 Jun 1458, Waynflete formally inaugurates his new foundation. It will have a President and Scholars (i.e. Fellows) who will study theology and philosophy, and he nominates William Tybard as its first President. The College was named after St. Mary Magdalene, Waynflete’s patron saint, and is dedicated to her, the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, and the Apostles Peter and Paul.”

Really interesting is this added tidbit:

“People are regularly surprised at why Magdalen College is pronounced “Maudlin”. This charter offers a reason why. Waynflete decreed that his College should be known as “Collegium beatae Mariae Magdalenae” in Latin and “Maudelayne College” in English. In the 15th century, English speakers called St. Mary Magdalene “St. Mary Maudelayne” (or “Mawdelayne”), without the “g” – like “Madeleine” in French. It was only later that we put the “g” back. Magdalen College, however, like Magdalene College, Cambridge, has preserved the old pronunciation of her name.”

That pronunciation ties back to something I mentioned in my article as well. And re: Cambridge’s Magdalene College:

“One of the questions we are asked most commonly is about the pronunciation of the name of the College! Though nowadays spelt in the biblical and continental way, ‘Magdalene’, the College name is customarily pronounced ‘Maudlyn’.

The College at its refoundation by Lord Audley in 1542, was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. The choice of the name of Mary Magdalene appears to have had a touch of vanity. In many early documents, the name is clearly spelt as pronounced: ‘Maudleyn’, containing within it the name of Audley himself! The final ‘e’ on Magdalene was an attempt, with the advent of the postal service in the mid nineteenth-century, to distinguish us from our sister College, Magdalen Oxford.”

Also this, which I’m more interested in because of the fact that Cambridge was named after the River Cam! I never even knew there was a River Cam! I love the name Cam, but have always thought of it as a nickname for Cameron, Campion, Camilla, etc., but I’m kind of really intrigued at “just Cam”!:

“The College of St Mary Magdalene is located in the centre of Cambridge beside the bridge on the River Cam, from which the city takes its name. The College has its origins in the year 1428 when King Henry VI approved the establishment of a hostel on the site for Benedictine monks coming from their abbey monasteries in the Fenland to study Canon Law at the University.” (source)

St. Mary Magdalene has been really important to a lot of people for a really long time!

I’d love to know what you all think of the article, and any other instances of Magdalene in language/culture, etc!

 

Birth announcement: Owen Francis!

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I posted a consultation for Katie and her husband back in June, and she’s let me know that her little green bean has arrived — a handsome little boy named … Owen Francis!

Katie writes,

“Hi Kate!

I wanted to let you know our sweet baby boy was born June 28 at 12:58 pm via repeat c-section. He was 8lbs 7 oz. and 20.5 inches long. He is just the sweetest baby and we are all completely in love. He is my calmest, sleepiest baby by far. I guess he knows his role as #3. He’s simply going to have to be able to go with the flow.

As for names, we never could decide prior to his birth. I had a list and once we got back to my room we pulled out the list and started talking. We ended up deciding on Owen Francis for his name. I had been drawn to Francis as a middle name for a while. I have always loved the prayer of St. Francis Assisi and my hope is that Owen will be an instrument of peace in our family, because he is joining two wild and crazy older siblings! So far he is living up to his name.

As for Owen, you had mentioned St. Nicholas Owen several times recently and it was sticking with me. I’ve always liked it and even though it is more popular than I normally like, I don’t actually know any little Owens and have only taught 1 in 10 years! We also thought Owen was a good fit with Asher and Margo.

So, I want to thank you for your help, even though we didn’t use your specific suggestions for us, you inspired us all the same!“

Yaaassssssss for St. Nicholas Owen!! Wooo!! And the combo Owen Francis is so great, I just love it!!

Congratulations to Katie and her husband and big sibs Asher and Margot, and happy birthday Baby Owen!!

Owen Francis

Birth announcement: Margaret Anne Sonia!

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A mama I did a private consultation let me know her little girl has arrived and been given the beautifully significant name … Margaret Anne Sonia!

She writes,

“Just thought I would let you know that our baby was born on the 16th of July (Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel).

We decided to name her Margaret Anne Sonia and her eight siblings are thrilled to have another little sister.”

What a beautiful day to be born, and what a beautiful name!! (I happen to know that Sonia is for the mama’s late beloved grandmother). This sweet girl joins big sibs:

Elizabeth Rose
Zachariah Thomas
Heather Gianna
Peter Michael (twin)
John Paul Joseph (twin)
Samuel Lewis
Mary Jo (Mary Georgina)
Sarah Joy

Such a wonderfully named family!! Nice job, Mom and Dad!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Margaret!! (Look at these great pictures!!)

Margaret Anne Sonia with her family

Birth announcement: Anastasia Therese!

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A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know her little girl has arrived and been given the beautiful name … Anastasia Therese!

She writes,

“Hi Kate! I wanted to update you that we had a GIRL! We decided to name her Anastasia Therese. As soon as she was born, she looked just like an Anastasia to both of us. We’re pronouncing it ah na sta SEE uh. Thanks for your help!! :)”

I love love love the combo Anastasia Therese, so lovely and full of significance!! She joins some equally amazingly named big siblings, who are pictured with her in the photo below (their names are in the caption). Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Anastasia!!

DSCN1456

Anastasia Therese and her brothers and sisters. Left to right: Lucia Agnese, Antonio Diego, Caterina Maria (holding Anastasia), Ignacio Jose, and Perpetua Beatriz

Birth announcement: Lucie Christine!

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Buckle up guys, I have a bunch of birth announcements to share this week! 😍🎉😍🎉😍🎉

First up, I posted a consultation for Colleen and her husband back in May, and Colleen’s let me know that their wee one has arrived — a sweet little girl with the beautiful name … Lucie Christine!

Colleen writes,

“Wanted to send over that our little girl was born yesterday afternoon! … Lucie Christine!

As pregnancy got closer and closer to the end, hubby and I both really felt grandmotherly pulls, so he was thinking of Margaret Alice a lot for his grandma Alice, while my Grannie, Evelyn Ruth, had me pulling for Lucie Ruth.

Since we weren’t settled on a name til we got time with her, we narrowed down to Lucie after a little while, but couldn’t settle for a middle name until we had a clearer picture of her whole arrival story and she stabilized.
 
My mom, Christine, has a history of super fast births and not feeling birth pain (I know, be jealous, of 4 kids her longest labor was 2 hours). I arrived at the hospital at 3pm thinking i was in for a long evening and …Lucie was here by 4:15pm. And she was a whopping 8lbs 12oz at 37 weeks!
 
My mom also has a lovely singing voice and miss Lucie’s breathing, while not exactly a good thing, kept being called “singing” by every nurse, doc, and us.
 
So. Lucie Christine. A grandmotherly pull because of HER grandmother, not either of OURS. We’re over the moon!“

SUCH a great story!! And SO exciting they used one of the names I’d suggested!! 😀 And her sensitive little Angie won’t have to feel left out because she has a new little sister with a name ending in the “ee” sound! And I love Christine, both for its family significance and for it’s French-ness, just beautiful all around. (Also, totally jealous of Grandma Christine. “Super fast births and not feeling birth pain” — wha??)

Colleen has asked for prayers for her little Lucie,

“It was a very fast birth and our green bean little girl turned out to need some interventions for low blood sugar and some slight trouble breathing. She didn’t get to room with me last night, and I’m hoping for the next nursery report to be one that she can be with me soon, even if we have some extra rules to follow.”

And another update,

“Lucie is still in the NICU, very steady but docs won’t let her go unless her body keeps her sugar levels up, so prayers for continued good tests would be great! She’s the sweetest thing :)”

And finally, a cuh-RAZY+awesome twist to the story:

“Also, a friend just sent me this…I got goosebumps. We don’t subscribe to the Magnificat, but apparently the communion reflection for yesterday (when we named Lucie) was right on target.

She asked if that’s where we got the name. Crazy!“

Screenshot_20160718-151459

Amazing right?!!

Congratulations to Colleen and her husband and big sibs Hanna, Angele, Nadia, and Leo, and happy birthday Baby Lucie!! (And please don’t forget to pray for her!)

Lucie Christine with her mom and dad

 

Baby name consultant: Boy and girl names needed for Baby No. 4

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Kate and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown)! 🌱😄

Their older kiddos are:

Nicholas Augustine
Dominic Gregory (nicked Dommie)
Magdalen Philippa (“I love Philippa, but [hubs] did not like it as a first name“)

Faaaabulous names, right?? I love how heavy hitting each one is — serious saintliness going on with each one! I also love how they’re all similar length — longish first names, longish middle names.

Kate writes,

“[Regarding Dominic’s name] I basically had my heart set on this name … In order to reach a compromise on this name, I had to promise my husband that if there is another Thomas/Tomas would be somewhere in the name … As you can see, we have a bit of a 3-syllable pattern … I am at a loss for names for this baby. I really love our kids’ names and nothing is sticking out for me.”

Names her husband likes that she doesn’t care for include:

Ambrose
Nathaniel
Amanda
Jennifer
Isidora

Name that Kate likes (but is alliterative with their last name, so she’s not sure about it):

Rita

Names that they can’t use for one reason or another:

Gabriel/la
Isabella
Christopher
Emily
Joseph
Jacob
Theresa

Okay, before I get to my ideas/suggestions, I just want to say that since they have a Dominic nicked Dommie, I’d be careful of using T(h)omas as a first name (unless they don’t mind brothers Dommie and Tommy) (I love the nickname Dommie btw, so cute!). I do love T(h)omas as a middle name for them, very handsome and goes with so many names!

Re: Rita R___, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Some people really like alliteration, and it’s certainly memorable, while others worry that it sounds too comic bookish, but in both instances I think it’s the parents that worry — I don’t think others would bat an eyelash at it. I really wanted to suggest to Margaret with Rita as a nickname, since Rita is originally a diminutive of Margaret/Margarita, but I think Margaret and Magdalen are too similar.

Okay! So I came up with a few ideas for each gender, using my trusty Baby Name Wizard (as you all know it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity) and my own mental files:

Girl
(1) Zita
Zita was originally inspired by the fact that Kate likes Rita but isn’t sure about the alliteration of Rita R___ (I scribbled it down for her when I was first reading her email), and then I discovered that it’s a style match for Philippa! Zita rhymes with Rita but has the spunky Z for an initial. I’ve long been familiar with St. Zita of Lucca, who’s a great patron for a little girl, but I’ve more recently learned about Servant of God, Empress Zita, who was an amazing lady! She was recent enough that there are photos of her (I posted one on IG not too long ago), and her husband is Bl. Karl, Emperor. So cool!

(2) Caroline
Caroline is a style match for Nicholas, and I love it for this family. It can call to mind loads of saints (my favorite is St. John Paul II; I also love St. Charles Borromeo and Bl. Karl above; others here), and it’s got all sorts of feminine sophistication.

(3) Gemma
I was really interested by how Kate said she loves Philippa (I do too) but her hubs wouldn’t go for it for a first name (mine wouldn’t either), so I paid a lot of attention to the names that were listed as similar to it (Philippa’s not actually included in the BNW so I went to Nymbler — you plug in up to six names and it offers boy and girl names that are similar; it’s by the same lady who wrote the BNW). Gemma was one of them, and I think it’s a great option for this family — St. Gemma Galgani is a beautiful saint!

(4) Veronica
Veronica is a style match for Nicholas, Magdalen, and Philippa — how great is that?! I love that it’s got biblical ties like Magdalen, and is similarly long and feminine, such a gorgeous name.

(5) Seraphina or Serafina et al.
Isidora on Kate’s hubby’s list struck me as so different from the other names he likes, and when I looked it up I discovered Isadora is listed as a match for Magdalen! Another match they share is Seraphina/Serafina, which is a personal favorite of mine. It refers to the angels, so it can be an angelic name (which is great) or I think it can also be considered a Marian name (after Our Lady Queen of the Angels).

I have “et al.” after Serafina because there are a few names that are really similar in style to Magdalen and Seraph/fina that Kate and her hubs might like … I chose Seraph/fina because it was explicitly listed as also similar to Isidora (and I love finding names both husband and wife can agree on), but these are also names I think they might like: Christiana, Evangeline, Genevieve, Vivienne, Philomena.

Boy
(1) Matthew, Matthias, or Mat(t)eo
Matthew is a style match for Nicholas and Jennifer, and Matthias is a match for Magdalen and Philippa, so I love the idea of a Matthew name for them. Mat(t)eo’s another great one.

(2) Benjamin
Benjamin! Such a great name! It’s a match for Nicholas, Nathaniel, Philippa, and Matthew, and it’s biblical like Magdalen, I loooove Benjamin! And can you beat the amazing nickname Ben?

(3) Sebastian
Sebastian is totally the style of Augustine, Dominic, Gregory, and Magdalen — super heavy hitting, ultra Catholicky Catholic. It’s got great nickname options (Seb/Sebby, Bash, Baz) and every boy I know loves the image of him with the arrows sticking out of him! Haha! He’s also the patron saint of athletes, and my athlete brothers love him for that.

(4) C(h)ristian
I love the name Christian — I love how explicit it is, but also how normal at the same time … Christian’s also always struck me as a cool guy name, in a good way! I love the Spanish spelling Cristian as well. I personally think of it as different enough from Christopher that even though Christopher is on the “no list” I wouldn’t consider C(h)ristian off limits, but I’d understand if Kate disagrees.

(5) Alexander
Finally, the big daddy of them all: Alexander. It’s saintly and papal, and a style match for Nicholas, Dominic, Gregory, Thomas and Tomas both, Nathaniel, Benjamin, Matthew and Matthias both, Christian, Sebastian, Magdalen, Caroline, Veronica, Seraphina, Evangeline, Genevieve … wow. Wow! It has some great nickname options too: Alex, Xander, Sander, among others. A great name!

And those are all my ideas for Kate and her husband! What do you all think? What would you suggest for a little brother or sister to Nicholas, Dominic, and Magdalen? I think Kate and her hubs might be particularly interested in more three-syllable names, as I didn’t focus on that as much.

Sibling Project: T(h)eresa

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I’m really really enjoying working on the Sibling Project, and I hope you’re all finding it interesting and/or helpful! We’ve done Kateri and John Paul so far, and today’s post is thanks to Laura’s suggestion of Theresa, which she explains so well:

“The [Baby Name Wizard] books suggestions tend to miss the Catholic rationale behind some of my favorite names. I was always horrified by the sibling suggestions for Theresa which I think is such a great name. I think a family using Theresa now is more likely to be a Catholic family rather than one that likes the names from mid-century.”

I actually think there’s an added problem as well — in the BNW, there’s only an entry for Teresa, with Theresa listed as an alternate spelling (which it is, of course, but I *think* people pick one spelling over the other for reasons that are related to favorite saints as well as stylistic preference and sometimes cultural/language considerations, which makes a difference).

The following names are listed as style matches for Teresa:

Girls: Cynthia, Pamela, Suzanne, Deborah, Colleen, Anita, Nina, Kathryn

Boys: Allen, Douglas, Russell, Mark, Paul, Stephen, Gregory, Philip

Just like Laura said, there’s a lot of mid-century going on there. I don’t disagree with Kathryn, Mark, Paul, Stephen, Gregory, and Philip because of the saintliness, but I do think T(h)eresa’s style/feel from our perspective is more well rounded.

What do you all think? Do you see a difference between Teresa and Theresa? Which do you prefer and why? Do you know any T(h)eresas (especially little ones, like younger than … 15?), and if so, what are their siblings’ names? Do they go by a nickname? Do you know why their parents chose the spelling they did? Do you hear different pronunciations (ter-EE-sah vs. ter-AY-sah, for example)?

I’m not totally sure how I’ll handle this entry on the SibPro page, being that it’s really for two names that I think might have different feels — maybe two different entries? We’ll see how it goes … if I have to post an addendum or follow-up questions next week I will. (I considered adding Therese in here too, but I don’t think the entry in the Baby Name Wizard is that far off, so I may not do an entry for it.)