Year: 2016

Birth announcement: Cillian Rory!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , ,

The mama whose consultation I had scheduled to post today had her baby early! I’m delighted to share that her little wee man has been given the amazing name … Cillian Rory!

And this mama needs PRAYERS! She writes,

“Hi Kate, Wanted to let you know that our fifth son, Cillian Rory, was born on November 16th. His arrival was dramatic as I broke my pelvis the Saturday before he was born and then induced because I had lost the ability to walk. They discovered the break yesterday, and I am working with physical therapy to find a way to get around. Thanks again for our name consult. We loved your middle name suggestion and went with it.”

A broken pelvis! While so very pregnant! And now with a newborn! I know you’ll join me in storming heaven for this mama and her family during such a difficult time!

Little Cillian joins his equally amazingly named big sibs:

Hannah Rain
Liam Ruff
Finnegan Ryan (goes by Finn)
Reilly Patrick
Dylan Rhys

Such a wonderful Irishy set! Congratulations to Mom and Dad and the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Cillian!!

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Cillian Rory

New articles up at CatholicMom and Nameberry

sanctanomina CatholicMom.com writer, Nameberry writer , , , ,

My recent post about the alleged lack of naming after women and moms inspired me to write two different articles on different aspects of the conversation — one for Catholic Mom and one for Nameberry. Both are now up! Check out Gender inequality in naming? at Catholic Mom and Why So Few Girl Juniors? at Nameberry. I’d love to hear your thoughts on both articles!

 

 

 

Gift ideas & marketplace

sanctanomina Resources and recommendations, Sancta Nomina community

You’ll see I put together a new tab at the top called Gift ideas & marketplace. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and with Christmas coming, now’s the perfect time!

Several of the people and families I’ve profiled or mentioned on the blog through consultations, birth announcements, and other posts have shops that help them contribute to their family income. I just wanted to compile them all in one user-friendly place, for myself as much as for all of you (if I missed anyone please let me know!). I’ve also done posts in the past with gift ideas, so I included them as well. Hopefully this makes your Christmas shopping easier, and blesses our little community!

Celebrity guest: Sharon from Baby My Love

sanctanomina Personal stories, Real-life naming , , , ,

I attended the Syracuse Catholic Women’s Conference at the end of October and had the very great pleasure of meeting someone I’d only known by her handle — mommashaunie (and how hilarious is it when you’re meeting someone in real life that you’d previously only known online and you whisper self consciously, “Are you mommashaunie?” 😂) — who turns out is actually named Sharon, and she was selling the gorgeous wares from her Etsy shop Baby My Love (“Knit bonnets and hats, leather moccasins, diapers, wool covers, blankets, lovey’s, burp cloths, wipes, bibs, nursing covers, boppy covers, headbands, knit animals, and everything in between”) (on Facebook and Instagram as well) which, if I could have, I would have bought all of because they were all.so.beautiful.

We also had a little chat about, um, names, and I loved her kiddos’ names so much I had to share them here! Fortunately she was game — I think you’re going to love all these!

“Names…Names have definitely been something that Zeb and I enjoy when a new baby comes along. I truly believe that God has a name chosen for each soul He creates, and it’s our job to discover it. I take this job VERY seriously. 😉 

Our first, is Miss Gemma Agnes. I was determined to name my first girl after my grandmother, who was my world! Her name was Agnes Emma, but she despised her first name. So naturally I was going to go with Emma Agnes, BUT, one of my sister and Brother-in-law’s [named their baby] Emma 5 months before our baby was born. Zebulon suggested just switching to Gemma Agnes, and once I read St. Gemma’s story, I was hooked.

Our next girl was “going” to be Bernadette Marie, but I had a dream about a little blonde swinging at the park, and she did NOT look like a Bernadette, she looked like a Felicity (I ALWAYS loved the story of St. Felicity and Perpetua), so we went with Felicity Anne, and low and behold, she is a brunette. LOL!

My husband had requested the name, Nicodemus, for his first son, from almost the moment that we first met. Our next conception was a 13 week miscarriage, though we didn’t know the gender, we chose Baby Nic to be for either girls or boy (Nicholas or Nicole).

Next, we were blessed with a son, and he is our Nicodemus Joseph.

Our next conception was our dear, sweet, earth side saint. This little one was a sweet princess and at 30 weeks, I had still NOT pinned down a name, I was thinking Gwendolyn for a while, but it just wasn’t sticking. I had gone through the Butler’s Saint books, and still, nothing felt right. I kept badgering my husband and telling him that I NEEDED a name for the sweet little one growing within me. One night, when he had had enough of my nagging, he told me to grab the Bible, he kept perusing and mentioning different names, about 5 mins in, he said, ” Miriam” and I jumped on it! It was PERFECT! I was in love with it. We chose, Rose, as the middle name because her two sisters wanted it desperately. On Valentine’s Day, 2009, my water broke at 36 weeks. I delivered our sweet, Miriam Rose, unfortunately, she was only on this earth for 11 hours before God called her home. Her death was caused by septis, Strep Pnuemo that was not from me. She was baptized before passing, so, our sweet St. Miriam Rose has won the prize!

Next, our little Maximus Michael Patrick. He too was named with the help of a dream. We had planned on Francis, but I had a dream at 12 weeks that I was holding a little boy named Maximus, and that is how we rolled. 

Our next little one was an early miscarriage that we named Joy, we actually had already started calling the baby Joy when we found our about her/his coming.

Now, the next was our sweet, little Quintus Edmund. I was stuck on Edmund ( I loved the name AND the saint), but being that he was #5 here, and the fact I had once mentioned the name to my husband, he said it was too ironic that such a name fall on #5 (Quintus), SO….that is how we came to choose that one. 

Our next was Francis Fulton. Again, we loved the name Fulton, but since we had started the “-us” trend [for boys], we felt bound to it. 😉 Francis is a family name, one of our favorite saints, and since it’s also the name of the Holy Father, we felt it perfect. 

Evangeline Marie. For the life of me, even though she is the most recent, I can’t remember what moment or instance we received the prompting for her name. I had been wanting our next girl to be “Eden Marie”, but Evangeline Marie it was, and fitting as well, as Evangelist means, “Bearer of good news”. And being the first girl, since our Miriam Rose, her coming was definitely welcome news. 

Each child’s patron is the saint they are named after, (Francis is St. Francis of Assisi) (Evangeline, John the Evangelist).”

What beautiful names!! And such a beautiful family:

On the left: Sharon and Zeb with Gemma, Felicity, Nicodemus, Maximus, Quintus, Francis, and Evangeline. On the right: Sharon and Zeb with Miriam Rose.

Thank you to Sharon for sharing her babies’ beautiful names with us!! And with Christmas coming, please consider visiting her shop! She’s got a coupon code running right now: ZelieChristmas will get you 10% off your total purchase.

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Baby name consultant: “Geek Catholics” need help naming No. 3

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , ,

It’s always fun for me when I’m able to post a consultation for a frequent commenter, and today is such a day! Julia (whose handle here is ethelfritha!) and her husband Ben are expecting their third baby — a little boy! He joins big sibs:

Petra Jeanne
Corwin Matthias

Can you believe those names?! So great!!

Julia writes,

“I’ve been a longtime reader and now I am so excited to ask you for advice myself! My name is Julia, but you may recognize me as commenter Ethelfritha, which is my internet alias for reasons that are very silly. Anyway, my husband Ben and I are hoping you (and your readers!) can help us out with names for our baby [boy], due in mid-January.

Ben and I have relatively similar naming tastes, or at any rate, we’ve come to understand each other’s tastes and have worked out a mutual style. First of all, we are HYUUUUUGE geeks. While I would love to say that we named Petra after one of the many wonderful St. Peters, that would not be 100% accurate in the sense of being true. In fact, we actually named her after Petra Arkanian from the sci-fi novel Ender’s Game (although of course we are thrilled that she has so many saintly patrons as well!). Her middle name, Jeanne, is for St. Joan of Arc, both mine and Ben’s confirmation saint.

Corwin is an old English name (in the same family as Edwin and Godwin), but Ben actually found it in the fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber. I haven’t read it, so we can’t really say we named him AFTER that character, but it was certainly the inspiration. Matthias is from the Redwall character (and the 13th apostle.)“

I have to admit I read Julia’s email with a big ol’ grin on my face — what a cool couple, I love that they just own their geekiness! 😎

Names that they’re considering for their little guy include:

Victor (“our top for a boy, but we’re only meh about it“)
Theo (“we don’t like Theodore and do like Theo, but are hesitant to give a nickname as a given name. We don’t really like Leo, which otherwise might be a good alternative“)
Christian (“we like this so I included it, but we probably won’t go this route since Corwin has a very similar sound“)

BUT

“We definitely need more boy name ideas! We’re just not crazy about any of the ones we’ve come up with.

In general we like shorter names with strong consonants, and usually prefer a harsher (for lack of a better word) sound (Ruth, Victor, Sigrid) over a softer, more Latin-inspired sound (Isabella, Sophie, Francis).

We don’t typically go for traditional Irish names (Liam, Patrick, etc.) Not that we don’t like those names, they’re just not really our style.

The names don’t have to be saints’ names, but we’d like at least one of the names (either first or middle) to be connected to the faith in some way.

Names with a geeky connotation are a plus, but hardly necessary!

We are willing to go pretty far out there with middle names.

No names beginning with a J, please.”

Also, it’s worth noting for inspiration purposes that some of the girl names they like are Ruth, Sigrid, and Ada (for the first computer programmer Ada Lovelace).

So first off, how great is it that St. Joan of Arc is the confirmation saint for both Julia and Ben!! I love that!!

Second, I had a total blast working on this—looking up “geek names” was so fun! I love the Catholicky Catholic names—obviously!—but I started the blog because there was a hole in regards to Catholic names, not because I don’t love other names—I looooove other names too! And Julia and Ben are great examples of one of things I think is so great about blogging about Catholic names—people who think “I hate the names Mary and Joseph and will never give those kinds of names to my kids so that’s one more thing about the Catholic Church that’s irrelevant and outdated and uncool and one more reason for me to turn my back on the faith” are shown that actually, that’s one impediment that doesn’t exist! Names of ALL kinds can have saintly connections! And if your favorite name doesn’t, that’s what middle names are for!

Okay! Rant over! Haha! 😀

I do just have to say that as much as I love names of all kinds, I don’t feel as confident in coming up with names outside of the names connected to the faith, so I’m not sure my ideas will be quite right!

That said, based on the names Julia and Ben have used and like and their science fiction, fantasy, and computer programming connections, I did lots of research on names having to do with those areas and found some amazing sites! Between A History of Computer Programming Languages, An Overview of Computer Programming, and A Brief History of Computer Programming Languages (#Infographic), I gave myself a quick education on the people involved with the history of computer programming and Ada’s confreres and came up with what I thought were some great ideas. Then I looked up fantasy names (being familiar with some—LOTR, A Wrinkle in Time, e.g.—but not sure which works Julia and Ben consider appealing [is Star Wars too mainstream? Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? Too recent? Comic books/superheroes? Video games? Are they a fan of Big Bang?]) and found some brilliant resources!! Like:

Fantasy Name Generators (this site is ah-MAZ-ing!! So! Many! Names! And all sorts of ways to search for just what you’re looking for! I actually found it really overwhelming, especially since I wasn’t totally sure what I was looking for)

What’s in a name? A lot when it comes to fantasy

Sci-Fi Names (another that requires a lot of time to sift through, but otherwise seems great!)

Geek Names (I love this one too and have used in the past. Great resource!)

Geek and fandom mamas!!!

Geek Chic Names for Boys (there’s also Geek Chic Names for Girls)

Geeky Baby Names That Won’t Scar Your Kid for Life

Uncommon Baby Names: Classic And Quirky Ideas For Geeky Parents

Fairytale/Fantasy Names

So if my thoughts aren’t quite right, Julia and Ben have a lot of good resources for their own hunting! The last one there is a post on the babynamewizard discussion forums, which would also be a great resource for Julia and Ben — I think the readers there would know exactly the right names to suggest for them—the only reason I know Ender’s Game, for example, is because I see it pop up in the comments over there from time to time. There are computer scientists there too and scientists of all kinds really—they happily think of themselves as geeks, which I just love! (But they’re not so great with the faith connections.)

I also did my usual research in the Baby Name Wizard book to see what suggestions it had for siblings of Petra and Corwin, taking Ruth, Ada, Sigrid, Victor, Theo, Christian, Jeanne, and Matthias into consideration. That’s where it became clear to me that Julia and Ben definitely seem to love Scandinavian-type names! Some that were suggested as good matches for them that I didn’t think were quite right included Astrid, Casper, Elsa, Gunnar, Ingrid, Lisbeth, Konrad, and Pim. Great names all! But too similar to Corwin or Petra/too soft/too weapon-y, etc.

But I came up with a bunch of other ideas that might work — like, a lot of other ideas. I maybe went a little crazy. But it was so fun to find each new name that I thought might be perfect, and my list just kept getting longer … and since it was just for boys and not for both girls and boys I’m just going to go ahead and include them all here!

(1) Theoden, Theodred
They love Theo but don’t care for Theodore … Theo can stand on its own, but Julia and Ben might be interested in Theoden or Theodred? From LOTR? I really wanted to suggest Theon too—I was reading about Sr. Thea Bowman recently and discovered she chose her religious name after her dad, Theon. It was the first time I saw Theon as a name outside of Game of Thrones, and I love its meaning (related to “God,” as is the Theo- in Theodore); when I looked it up I discovered it’s also the name of a second-century Greek philosopher and mathematician, as well as a saint. Very cool! But I do think the GOT character has irreversibly tainted it, at least for now.

(2) Charles
I know Charles is probably really plain and maybe even boring to Julia and Ben, but I was thinking of mathematician and pre-computer programmer Charles Babbage, and Charles Wallace from A Wrinkle in Time, and Charles Xavier from X-Men (looove this one!), and I just had to suggest it. I thought maybe Karl was more their speed, but it’s probably too similar to Corwin, right?

(3) Hollerith
I was really intrigued by inventor (“widely regarded as the father of modern automatic computation”) Herman Hollerith’s last name because it reminds me so much of Julia’s handle ethelfritha! I don’t know what to do with that except it might be fun as a middle name nodding to both Herman and, in a funny way, Julia.

(4) Murray, Hopper
I was sorry that computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper’s first name is so common—so cool to see another woman in the mix! But I thought her second and third names would be great for a boy’s first or middle, or a girl’s middle. Actors Sean Penn and Robin Wright (Princess Bride!) have a son named Hopper.

(5) Pascal
I wonder if Julia and Ben have ever considered Pascal?? It’s one of my very favorite ideas for them!! It’s the name of a programming language, which was named after Blaise Pascal, which is also a really cool reference, and Pascal means “Easter” and there’s also a St. Pascal Baylon … I’m totally loving Pascal!!

(6) Linus/x
Is it too weird to consider the name of computer operating system Linux? Because otherwise I LOVE it! Linus to me is all papal (the Peanuts connotation has long faded for me, but I know I’m in a naming bubble), and I totally think Linux could work as a nod to St. Linus as well as the language. (Also, in case any of you are cringing every time I say “programming language” or “language,” I don’t actually know what I’m talking about, so I apologize!) The name Sixtus is translated into Italian as Sisto, so I would take that as a precedent for X’s and S’s sometimes being interchangeable.

(7) Sander
Speaking of X’s and S’s being interchangeable … the Dutch and Scandinavian Alexander short form Sander seemed to me one that Julia and Ben would like. I didn’t actually find it in any other research than my normal BNW research, so I don’t know if there’s any geeky connection, but it just sounds to me like it would fit in with all those names! And of course there are loads of Sts. Alexander.

(8) Lando
My oldest boy said to me recently, “Did you know there was a Pope Lando?” And I was like, “There was not!” and of course then he went and proved me wrong—Pope Lando was also known as Landus or Landon and was pope from 913–914. There isn’t much known about him except he had a Star Wars name centuries ahead of its time!! 😀

(9) Monty
Monty Python is a whole geekiness in and of itself—and maybe not quite Julia and Ben’s taste? But I saw that the Python language was named for Monty Python, and Monty’s a really cute nickname. Montgomery’s the normal long form, but I think Monty can also stand on its own.

(10) Rossum, Rasmus
Rossum is for programmer Guido Van Rossum—it struck me as similar enough to Ross that it could work as an unusual first name. Rasmus is for programmer Rasmus Lerdorb, and it’s actually a name my husband and I considered a time or two, as his mom’s maiden name was Rasmussen. Rasmus is the Scandi version of Erasmus, which is the name of several saints.

(11) Ged (Gerard)
I saw Ged in a listing of fantasy+sci-fi writer Ursula LeGuin names, and while I know she’s supposed to be amazing, I’ve never read anything by her and I’m totally unfamiliar with her characters. So I have no idea if Ged’s a good guy or not, but I’ve seen it suggested as a nickname for Gerard, so I love the idea of Gerard nn Ged or Ged on its own with St. Gerard Majella as patron.

(12) Hugo
Hugo’s got lots of great geek cred! It’s the name of Ron and Hermione’s son in the last Harry Potter book, and the annual awards for sci-fi writing are called Hugos! It’s also the name of a couple of saints … do be warned though that it’s increasingly in popularity across Europe.

(13) Rupert
Rupert is a form of Robert, and St. Robert Bellarmine’s a great patron! I didn’t find any connection to any geeky thing except that Rupert Grint plays Ron in the Harry Potter movies, but it still struck me as the kind of name Julia and Ben would like.

(14) Arthur
How about Arthur? It’s from Camelot of course and A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and has that old British-y feel I get from Corwin.

(15) Tycho
Tycho is for astronomer Tycho Brahe, and I see it regularly pop up in name discussions by science nuts. I love the sound and look of it, and there’s also St. Tycho of Amathus!

(16) Remy
I really really really like Remy for a boy (though I do know sometimes it’s used for girls …  maybe Julia and Ben would like to consider it for a possible future girl?). It’s X-Men character Gambit’s “real” name, and a variant of Remigius, of which there are several so-named saints.

(17) Tobias, Tobit
Tobias was a big winner for Julia and Ben in the BNW, but I don’t know … maybe it’s striking me as softer than they would like? It’s also the “real” name of the Divergent character Four, which I’ve found tends to annoy people rather than appeal to them. Tobit is similar and said to be a form of Tobias, but it’s got a harsher, more abrupt sound, which I suspect they’d prefer. It’s biblical (Book of Tobit) and I consider it Catholicky Catholic since the Book of Tobit isn’t included in Protestant bibles.

(18) Wolf
Wolf was actually suggested a bunch of times for this family in the BNW! It’s so cool and edgy, kind of Wolverine but also Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It can be spelled Wolfe or Wulf, and I’ve also seen it as a nickname for Wilfred. I could see Wilfred and Corwin being smashing brother names! There’s also a St. Wilfred of York.

(19) Bram, Ambrose
Finally, Bram is one of my own personal favorite names. I saw a name dilemma on BabyCenter ages ago (like ten years ago!) for a family who had three boys already: Jack, Finn, and Bram. I fell in love with that brother set! Of course we’ve seen Jack and Finn both surge in popularity, so maybe Bram will too, but I don’t see it discussed that much, and I still think it’s awesome. It’s a Dutch short form of Abraham, and also the name of Dracula author Bram Stoker (though I think his name is said BROM, rhymes with bomb, while I prefer BRAM, rhymes with lamb). If Julia and Ben don’t like Bram on its own—or if they don’t like it at all—Ambrose was a style match for them, and of course it’s super saintly, and I’ve often thought Bram could be a nickname for it.

(20) Boethius
This one doesn’t fit the science/fantasy/computer geek vibe, but it does for anyone who geeks out on philosophy and the faith. And I die over the nickname Bo! This post and its follow-up provide good arguments in favor of Boethius.

I also think this post on theologian+science/nature names might be inspiring, just in general.

Whew!! That might be one of the longest consultations I’ve ever done! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of Petra and Corwin, born to parents who are self-professed “HYUUUUUGE geeks”? 😀

Birth announcement: Aur0r@ M3rcede$!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , ,

I posted a consultation for this beautiful family back in August, and they’ve let me know their little girl has arrived and been given the gorrrgeous name … Aur0r@ M3rcede$!

The mama writes,

“Wanted to let you know that we FINALLY got to meet our baby girl – she was 13 days overdue and 10 lbs, 14 oz!

We were still deliberating over names more than 24 hours after her birth.  I think we had settled on Mercedes being her middle name in honor of the Year of Mercy, and were trying to decide between Rosalia, Leocadia and Seraphina for first names.  Both Rosalia and Leocadia would have been Lea for short (we have a cow named Rosie and an Aunt Katie…) and as much as we loved Seraphina, she just didn’t look like it fit her somehow.  Before the consultation posted, we’d been thinking Annora Mercedes, but over time, it just didn’t settle as THE name.  And as my husband was heading home to help Grandma and Grandpa with our older children that second night in the hospital, he threw Aur0r@ M3rcede$ out there.  We’d considered Aur0r@ for our two older girls as well, but I could never get past the mythological origins.  Then I discovered you had done a name spotlight on Aur0r@ as was absolutely delighted to find a Marian connection!!!

So… on October 12th, after a lightning-fast induction, we welcomed Aur0r@ M3rcede$ (R0ry for short) to our family!“

What a great name!! I LOVE Aur0r@ nicked R0ry, and M3rcede$ for the Year of Mercy! 😍😍😍 And I love the name story! If you remember, these parents specifically wanted a “slightly unusual, slightly longer full names that trim down to an easy nickname” — they totally nailed it! And I’m so delighted the Marian connection to Aur0r@ was just the encouragement they needed!

Congratulations Mom and Dad and big sibs J@cks0n/Jack, El0d!e/Ellie, and Av!ana/Ava, and happy birthday Baby R0ry!!

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Aur0r@ M3rcede$

Birth announcement: Theodore Augustine Joseph!

sanctanomina Birth announcement ,

I posted a consultation for Stephanie and her husband back in September, and they were also the family I posted this anonymous prayer request for, as their little guy was born with a heart defect. I’m delighted to now be able to share with you his name: Theodore Augustine Joseph!

Stephanie writes,

“After a night of pondering and staring at him, we named him Theodore Augustine Joseph.  We were heavily leaning toward Silas but I just couldn’t see it!  My husband has loved the name “Theo” for months, and I really wanted to name him Augustine and have the option to call him Gus or Auggie.  I realize “Theo” isn’t one syllable, but we thought it went nicely with big sister Caeli!  And we really wanted to honor St. Joseph as well, so we gave him three big, beautiful names.”

 

“Three big, beautiful names” indeed! And perfectly perfect for a little one with health concerns to have extra patrons! Please also continue to pray for little Theo, as his parents’ very special intention is that the hole in his heart will heal and he won’t need surgery.

Congratulations to the whole family, including big sibs Bethany, Luke, Jackson, and Caeli, and happy birthday Baby Theo!!

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Theodore Augustine Joseph

All Saints, All Souls, war, and the election

sanctanomina Sancta Nomina community

Our wonderful reader skimac (Mary) emailed me last week with an awesome little story:

“Just thought you might like to see a picture of our morning visit to the Catholic cemetery in Denver. [Another reader] Grace and I did it as a name searching ‘field trip’.

I have been making it a point to visit the cemetery on All Souls Day for many years. As Catholics it is a beautiful and pious gesture to remember the souls in need or our prayers. We have done the visit many times with our homeschool group, but last year I decided to also go on my own a few times later during the All Saints/Souls octave which lasts through Nov. 8. Last year during those individual visits I specifically thought it would be interesting to do some name observations and searches. It was really interesting and I compiled some lists of names I was seeing by birth year and compared it to SS records. Also compared the Catholic to a Protestant cemetery for differences in common names. I thoroughly enjoyed it and want you to know it was encouraged by name discussions at Sancta Nomina.

This year I asked Grace if she would like to come along (we invited a few other Denver Sancta Nomina readers but none could join us). It was a beautiful morning of praying, visiting graves of a few famous folks here, discussing local history, reading/discussing/comparing names, gravestone rubbings, and laying marigolds (Day of the Dead flowers). Grace’s kids came along.”

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What a beautiful picture! And how great does this day sound?! In fact, as I told Mary, she and Grace totally inspired me because I meant to visit the graves of my mother-in-law and grandparents on the feast of All Souls and wasn’t able to and was feeling bummed about it — but thinking of going during the octave makes so much sense! And it seemed especially apt today, on election day, as seeing the graves of those who have gone before — those who have finished the race — really helped me realize how every age goes through times when it surely seems as though the world is ending — or at the very least, getting much darker.

I particularly felt that at the first cemetery I visited today. I didn’t intend to visit more than one — my husband had the day off (yay!) and he and I and our two littlest made a morning of it while the big boys were at school, during which we intended to visit my mother-in-law’s and grandparents’ graves. Before that though, we wanted to take a drive on this beautiful fall day and find a place for the boys to run around a little. We decided on a local Revolutionary War monument that we occasionally visit (it’s right near the apple orchard we stopped at for cider donuts and coffee mmmmm), and I only remembered as we were parking that it has an accompanying cemetery, which has both very very old graves and newer ones. So we walked on the winding paths through the cemetery, and I marveled at how some of the old graves were so old you couldn’t make out their names:

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I really loved this sign posted on the site:

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It was this part I loved the most:

“You are standing upon land that witnessed a momentous event — an outcome considered unimaginable at the time. What happened here forever altered human history … an army of amateurs had defeated a world power.”

Isn’t that so appropriate for today? It reinforced for me that God can make this election come out any way He wants … even momentous, unimaginable ways! And even if the election just runs its course, at least we’re not involved in a Revolutionary War, or a Civil War (as many of the people in the graves I could decipher lived through), or any of the other terrible things humanity has endured. Many of us might feel that we’re in a dark hour, but things could be much worse. It honestly cheers me to think this way!

I actually didn’t find too many interesting namey things at that first cemetery, but I did feel moved to take these photos:

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“Our Katie,” died 1871, 21 years old. How her parents must have grieved!

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“My Mother.” What a sweet boy he must have been, who erected this.

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Mr. Telfair was born in the 1700s!

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Okay, one namey headstone: I was intrigued by Mayte. It looks like a variant of the Spanish Maite, which is a contraction of Maria and Teresa (and behindthename says that’s what Mayte is), but given that she lived in 19th century upstate New York and her maiden name was Wood, I’m wondering if this particular Mayte might have different origins. Any guesses?

We prayed for the residents of this cemetery — it’s not a Catholic cemetery, and it was sort of enormous to me to think we might be the only people who have ever prayed specifically for those particular souls. We then visited our second cemetery of the day, saying prayers for my mother-in-law and grandparents and all the residents of that cemetery as well. (I didn’t do any name sleuthing there though — see this post for more on the names I’ve discovered there in the past.)

All in all, it was an election day well spent, praying for those who have gone before, considering the times they lived through, and being reminded of the everlasting power of God.

We haven’t voted yet — we will tonight after dinner — and if you still haven’t voted and would like some prayers and/or patron saints to ask for intercession for wisdom and peace, this post might be helpful. It’s certainly also helpful for anyone who wants to keep praying until this thing is done! God bless America!

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?

Birth announcement: Damien Edmund!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , ,

I posted a consultation for Kara and her husband at the end of September, and I’m thrilled to share that she’s let me know her little one has arrived — a little boy who’s been given the amazing name … Damien Edmund!

Kara writes,

“After your consult I realised how much I really love St Damien of Molokai and it seemed like the right name. My husband was hesitant because of THAT movie, but right after he was born my husband said a little prayer and felt it was the right name. And we added Edmund for Edmund Campion and Edmund Arrowsmith. So far, all our Catholic friends love the name Damien, and non Catholics haven’t said anything negative. Reclaim the name!“

You guys! I’m SO excited that Kara and her husband went ahead with Damien — such a great saint, such a great name, and I love that Dad went along with it after praying about it. And also! “Reclaim the name!” 😍💕💕💕 I guarantee it won’t take long until the people in Kara’s circle associate Damien primarily with her beautiful little boy!

Congratulations to Mom and Dad and big sibs Rosamond, Matthias, and Simeon, and happy birthday Baby Damien!!

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Damien Edmund