Year: 2016

Number names

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[I apologize to all the people waiting for an email back from me! This is the first week of school and I’m just now starting to catch my breath. Soon!]

Happy Birthday Mother Mary!! My bishop tweeted the greatest thought today: “Mary’s birth is the dawn of hope, humanity’s second chance.” A perfect thought not only for Our Lady’s birthday, but also for the Year of Mercy! ❤

Ages ago (like, back in January) Krista asked for a post about number names, and it’s been on my mind ever since. I’d had a rough idea of doing so around the first day of school — you know, ‘rithmetic and all — and then Abby at Appellation Mountain and I tweeted a bit the past few days (in response to a Haley Stewart tweet) about number names, so it’s definitely time to do this.

I was thinking of all the number-named people I know of and came up with a good few (both real and fictional):

I pretty much love all of these! As I told Abby, I like number names, and really, as soon as they’re used as a name, they become really namey to me. It reminds me of something name expert Cleveland Kent Evans was quoted as saying in Joal Ryan’s 1999 book (one of my favorite favorites) Puffy, Xena, Quentin, Uma:

“Science fiction likes to tell the grim tale of a world so dehumanized that names are eschewed with numbers and serial codes [Stranger Things y’all!]. Cody, say hello to your new classmate: THX 1138.

Well, the future is here and the question is: Do baby names really stand a chance of becoming obsolete? 

No, says Bellevue University psychology professor Cleveland Evans, a longtime student and chronicler of the history and trends of American given names.

‘People are never going to use their social security number as their name,’ Evans says. ‘I’m sure there may be some numbers that become names — I wouldn’t be surprised if I started hearing of Seven of Nines (after the Star Trek: Voyager TV character). But once you do that, it’s not a number — it becomes a name.'” (pp. 367-368)

“But once you do that, it’s not a number — it becomes a name.” Right! Like, in our world, Sixtus — popes and saints! (Actually, funny enough, apparently it doesn’t even mean “sixth”! Except that it does, through usage and intention.)

So what other number names/nicknames are there? This is a selection of what I found (I searched by meaning on Behind the Name — lots of names in unfamiliar languages that mean “seventh son” and so forth, so if you want something really unusual be sure to search!) or have heard/came up with:

One/First
Mona, Primo/Primus, Primrose, Proteus, Winona; Onesimus could also maybe work (because of “one” contained within, though it doesn’t mean one/first), or Una (also doesn’t mean one), any “I” name

Two/Second
Duet (my own idea — sounds pretty, right? Like any of the -ette names? Do you think it works?), Secundus/a

Three/Third
Hirune (Basque for trinity!), Tercero, Tertia (I like this one — reminds me a bit of Teresa), Tertius, Treasa (used as an Irish form of Teresa), Tri, Trey, Trip, Tripper, Trinity

Four/Fourth
Cuatro, Four (a la Divergent), Quattro, Ivy (because of IV)

Five/Fifth
Pompey/Pompeius, Pontius (yikes), Quint, Quintus, Quintella, Quinten, Quentin, Quincy, Quintillian, and other Quin- names that don’t actually have anything to do with five/fifth except in appearance: Quin(n), Quinlan, and V names (or the name Vee)

Six/Sixth
Six, Sixt, Sextus/Sixtus (I definitely think Sixtus is more wearable), and those that contain “six” but don’t mean six: Sixte, Sixten, Sixtine (I really love Sixten!), and VI initials

Seven/Seventh
September (yes! a sneaky seven, that!), Septimus/a, Seven

Eight/Eighth
Keightlyn/KVIIIlyn (!), Octavia/Tavia, Octavius, Octavian, Tavian

Nine/Ninth
Nona, Nonus, Nuno/a, November (see September!), and unrelated to nine: Nonie, Nonna

Ten/Tenth
December, Dixie, Declan (because of the dec- — I saw this somewhere once and thought it was so clever), Tennyson (because of the ten-), Decimus/a, any X- name (Xavier, Xenia)

Eleven/Eleventh
Eleven/El/Elle, XI initials

What do you all think of these? What else can you add? I’m especially interested to hear what else you’ve heard in real life!

Baby name consultant: Song-themed boy name needed

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Happy Labor Day everyone!! And happy feast day of our new St. Teresa of Calcutta!! 😍😍😍 (I also discovered her religious name was actually Mary Teresa, and she was named for St. Therese!)

Ella and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown) 🌱! They have a really fun theme going that they’d like to continue with, which is where their dilemma comes in. Ella writes,

“I’m in need of baby name help! We didn’t really mean to name our kids after songs, but after the first two we had to keep going. Naming our third, a boy, was hard, but I love his name and it did come from a song. Now we’re having number four and can’t think of a boy name. We hope to be surprised, so we need a name for both genders. We have a girl name picked out … I’m not due till October, but I’ve never been this far without names. I’m even considering having the song part in the middle name.”

I LOVE themey naming! It’s so fun to come up with ideas that can fit in! Their other children are:

Daniel Thomas (“Oh Danny Boy,” also named after our dads and older brothers)
Layla Beverly (“Layla,” her middle name is my grandma’s name)
Carson Michael (“Runaway Car,” middle name after St. Michael the Archangel because my husband is a cop)

Such great names, right?? And very cool way the way they worked family names in with the song theme as well! I will say that I don’t think it’s so obvious to everyone else that their kids are named after songs—I know “Danny Boy” and “Layla,” but they’re such different kinds of music that I wouldn’t automatically think, “Huh. They’re doing a song theme.” And Carson coming from “Runaway Car” is kind of a stretch—a cool one for sure! But I kind of feel like if they  wanted to break the song theme, the only ones who will really know are Ella and her husband and anyone else they’ve  talked about this with.

All that said, there are a million songs with boys’ names in the titles! I perused this site for inspiration, and I also looked Daniel, Layla, and Carson up in the Baby Name Wizard book, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. So I really just tried to figure out what boys’ names I thought Ella and her hubs would like, and then see if there were any songs with that name in the title. I also looked at song titles and added names to the list of possibilities when I came across ones I thought they’d like. (I should also add that while I love music and know a lot of songs, I’m really bad at knowing artists, and a lot of the songs on this site were totally unfamiliar to me, so I haven’t screened any of them for objectionable lyrics or artists that might be horrifying, etc.)

So! All that said, these are my ideas for this wee babe if a boy (in alphabetical order, not in order of favorites):

(1) Adam
Adam’s biblical like Daniel, but I think holds up really well with Layla and Carson too. There are several songs I found with Adam in the title, including “Adam Raised a Cain” (Bruce Springsteen), “Adam’s Apple” (Aerosmith), and “Adam’s Song” (blink-182).

(2) Xander (Alexander)
I feel like the nickname Xander is more this family’s speed, and it can stand on its own as a given name if they prefer, but Alexander would be the patron saint and the patron song. 😄 “Alexander and His Clarinet” (Irving Berlin); “Alexander the Great” (Iron Maiden).

(3) Benjamin or Bennett
Ben was my inspiration here—I think Ben is easily a brother to Daniel, Layla, and Carson, and there’s “Ben’s Song” by Sarah MacLachlin. The biblical Benjamin’s a match for Daniel, while I feel like Bennett might be closer to the style of Layla and Carson (and it’s a medieval variant of Benedict, so they get their saint there too!). Either one’s great!

(4) Elias
Elias was actually listed in the BNW as a style match for Layla! It’s a variant of Elijah, so there’s the biblical connection, and Eli’s a great nickname. “Elias” (Dispatch).

(5) Evan
Evan was listed as a style match in the BNW for both Layla and Carson, so I was excited to find “Ballad of Tim Evans” by Ewan MacColl. Evan is a form of John, so any of the Sts. John can be patron.

(6) Jack
Jack is such a sturdy, studly name. It’s perfect as Daniel’s brother, and totally holds its own with Layla and Carson. It can work as a nickname for John, or it can stand on its own as a given name. Either way, John would be the patron, and there are the songs “Book of John” (Tim McGraw); “Captain Jack” (Billy Joel); “Hit the Road Jack” (Ray Charles).

(7) James or Dean
I like both James and Dean for them! “James Dean” (Eagles).

(8) Jesse
“Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield was actually the first song that came to mind when I first read Ella’s “dilemma.” I would definitely use the spelling Jesse, and I love it—it’s got the Old Testament vibe and a cowboy vibe as well, really cool.

(9) Joshua
I love Joshua—it’s biblical, and traditional but current, and Josh is a great nickname. “Song for Josh” (Frank Turner).

(6) Jude
I actually can’t decide if I think Ella and her hubs will like Jude or not. “Hey Jude” by the Beatles is the song reference, and St. Jude Thaddeus is the saint. I do think this name evokes thoughts of the song to many people, especially secularly, so if they really like the song theme, Jude’s a good one to pick.

(7) Sean or Flynn
As with James and Dean, I actually like both the first and last names of the title guy! Sean is a variant of John, so they can pick a St. John as patron; Flynn is kind of fun and Irishy and fits in well with their other kids in my opinion. “Sean Flynn” (The Clash).

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What boys names would you suggest that fit in with Daniel, Layla, and Carson’s song-themed names?

The name of Mother Teresa

sanctanomina Sibling Project

Mother Teresa’s being canonized tomorrow!!! 🎉🎉🎉 In honor of her, here’s a link to one of my favorite things of all time — her address at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast in which she said, in front of then-President Clinton and his First Lady — who, as we all know, is currently running for the same office — that abortion is wrong wrong wrong. Such a lot of courage in such a tiny lady. ❤ (Updated to add: Her bit starts at the 48 minute mark.) (Also, I heard them say “ter-AY-sah” more than once!)

In honor of her big day, I knew I had to get the T(h)eresa entry added to the Sibling Project page, and I just finished it — I’ll be interested to hear what you all think of my conclusions! And if you know any bloggers with a Theresa or a Teresa, please let me know so I can link to them!

Happy day to all of Mother Teresa’s namesakes!!

Birth announcement: Kolbe Christopher!

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I posted a consultation for B is for Bissonnette blogger Laura and her husband in July, and I’m over-the-moon excited to share that she’s had her baby — a little boy named Kolbe Christopher!

Laura writes,

“We finally got to use our boy name (after roughly 9 years — we talked about it when we were just engaged!) Kolbe Christopher Bissonnette was born early (38 weeks) and is just perfection.  In case you happen to be interested in that sort of thing here’s his birth story.

As you know, we have love St. Maximilian Kolbe.  Chris and I met in Europe during our study abroad semester with the Franciscan University and began dating there about mid-semester.  During our semester we visited many beautiful sites in Europe.  The trip to Poland was one that deeply touched both of us.  We visited the Divine Mercy shrine and St. John Paul II’s birthplace and Auschwitz.  We were both familiar with Fr. Kolbe, but the trip included much more information about his story as well as a visit to the site where he was killed and the cell where he was imprisoned there.  His sacrifice, his incredible love of Our Lady and his work to spread Christ’s love imprinted themselves on our hearts forever and now we have a little man to entrust to his patronage.  And you know all about the significance of the middle name.  Thank you for your wonderful name selections.  I now have a wonderful store for the future as well should we be blessed with more little babes!“

I just love how she’s all “in case you happen to be interested in that sort of thing” about Kolbe’s birth story — I LOVE birth stories!! I will read anyone’s anywhere and I’m guaranteed to cry. Birth is such a miracle every.single.time.

A fun tidbit is that when Laura asked me for the consultation she told me they’d had a particular name in mind for a boy since they were engaged, but she didn’t want to tell what it was, as she wanted all fresh suggestions. What a fun challenge! I didn’t guess it on my first go-round, but I did on my second 🙌 and I’m just delighted for Laura and Chris that they finally got to use their so handsome and super saintly boy name.

If you remember, Kolbe joins his beautifully named big sisters:

Kayla Cecilia
Elise Marianna
Ava Chantal
Sophie Rose

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

Kolbe Christopher and his big sisters

Birth announcement: Faustina Marie!

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I did a private consultation a while ago for fashion maven Andrea from Momma in Flip Flops (web site and Instagram), and I was delighted to see on her Instagram that she had her baby — a little girl! — and gave her the beautiful name … Faustina Marie!

Little Miss joins big sibs:

Landen Joseph

Amelia Noelle

Brennan Andrew

Henrik Anthony

And is just as fashionable as her beautiful mama! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Faustina!!

Prayers for a family in mourning

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One of our dear readers wrote and asked me to ask you all to pray for a terribly sad situation:

“I just found out that my cousin’s baby passed away today. She was 6 years old. Her name is Jazzy. If you could pray for her and for her parents and family, I’d appreciate it. I can hardly comprehend it, it’s devastating. The one comforting thing of course is that she’s in Heaven – and her uncle, my cousin who passed away a few years ago (that was horrible to comprehend, too – we were friends and close in age) is there to take care of her.”

St. Anne, please intercede for this grieving family — please pray for peace and comfort for Jazzy’s parents and family. Dear Jesus and Mother Mary, please keep little Jazzy close to you. ❤🙏

Flowers for Mary, part II

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I posted a Flowers for Mary post ages ago, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve referred to it since then in consultations and my own research for other things. And — breaking news! — I just now clicked on the link I refer to in the post, in order to give some examples of the great names there, and it says Forbidden! What! I’ll have to dig deeper on this, but in the meantime, the actual reason I started writing the post (providential timing!) was to direct your attention to this infographic:

MaryGarden

from Catholic Extension (infographic used with permission).

How great is this resource?? I’ve suggested Lily, Rose, and Violet a million times as Marian names, and I love the descriptions of their Marian connections here.

And I was so excited to see Daisy as being a Marian flower — I hadn’t ever seen that, and I’m forever going on about how Daisy is such a great nickname for Margaret — I LOVE the idea of a Margaret nicked Daisy being able to claim St. Margaret and Our Lady as patrons!! (I’ve already made a Marian connection with the name Pearl, which is what Margaret means, and the Irish Margaret — Mairead — is so similar to the Irish Mary — Maire … I’m leaning really close to calling Margaret a Marian name!)

I’ve also seen Marigold connected to the Crowning of Our Lady (Mary’s Gold), and of course I love all these ideas for an actual garden of flowers and other plants (not just a garden of blooms of the baby variety ☺).

What’s your favorite floral Marian name?

Birth announcement: Brendan Joseph!

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You all remember the consultation I posted for Colleen at the Martin Family Moments blog  on St. Paddy’s Day? She’s gone and had her baby, her sixth boy 🎉💃🙌 , and she and her husband gave him the so-handsome name … Brendan Joseph!

She announced the wee man’s birth on Instagram the day he was born, but they didn’t announce the name until two days later (not that I was obsessively refreshing my Instagram feed and then being sure I missed it anyway and rushing over to Colleen’s feed to be sure or anything), and I’m just delighted — they have an Irish sensibility and, as she’d pointed out in her consultation, all their other boys have an N in their names so they kind of liked the idea of continuing that, so Brendan seems perfect, all in all.

The birth story’s up on her blog, which I just read and loved and cried over (as I do, every.time. I read a birth story), and lots of pictures of her littlest guy.

Congratulations to Colleen and her husband and big sibs John-Paul, Andrew, Eamon, Maggie, Xander, and Declan, and happy birthday Baby Brendan!!

Baby name consultant: Slightly unusual+longer first name with easy nickname

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Today’s consultation is for a family expecting their fourth baby — third girl! — and they have a very cool theme going — they like to choose “slightly unusual, slightly longer full names that trim down to an easy nickname.” Right up my alley, right?! Except I didn’t get it quite right this time, so you all really need to bring the great ideas and suggestions (no pressure!). 😀

Their older kiddos are:

J@cks0n Ar+hur/Jack (“we didn’t realize how popular J@cks0n was at the time!“)
El0d!e M@rie/Ellie
Av!ana Th3r3s3/Ava

Such a handsome group, and I’m such a big fan of going all out with given names and using a friendly, accessible nickname for every day. The mama writes,

“We’d like to continue this trend, but so far [my hubs] says all my suggestions are ‘weird’ — which isn’t unusual … The first time around I was in love with Magnolia (Maggie) for a girl — now I wonder what I was thinking! This time around, Bronwyn and Anwyn (shortened to Winnie) have both been rejected and I’m feeling stuck — not even my Baby Name Wizard book is inspiring much, though Sophronia (Sophie) just popped out at me this morning.”

So you all know that I had a lot of fun working on this—I’m all about nicknames, and I love this family’s theme.

I personally love Magnolia, and I love both Maggie and Nola, both of which I’ve seen as nicknames for it. It also made me think of Marigold, which isn’t all that different from Magnolia (and probably the Mister would think it’s just as weird), but is little more mainstream because of the Downton Abbey character by that name, and Marigold’s a Marian name! A Marigold could be Mari or Goldie, and I think Maggie could also work … I think Molly could work as well, but maybe sisters Ellie and Molly are too similar?

Bronwyn and Anwyn nicknamed Winnie made me think of the consultation I posted recently in which the parents are considering Maewyn, which was St. Patrick’s birth name! Though it started as a male name, it’s got such a pretty feminine sound, and one of the readers suggested Winnie as a nickname for it, and I totally thought of this family! Maewyn nicked Winnie is sweet!

Sophronia nicked Sophie is adorable, I love it! Along that same line of thinking, I totally think Sophie could work for Seraphina (as could Sera, Phina/Fina, Phia/Fia), and Josephine as well (I love the idea of Sophie for Josephine! Though Josie is also adorable, and I’ve seen Posy too, which I loooove, and is similar to Magnolia flower-wise).

So I think they’re swirling around some really great ideas, even if they don’t think they’ve hit upon “the one” yet!

As I do, I looked up the names they’ve used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard, which I know this mama’s also done, which is probably one of the reasons my ideas didn’t resonate — in addition to Marigold, Maewyn, Seraphina, and Josephine that I mentioned above, I also suggested:

(1) Rosemary nicked Romy (or Rory)
Rosie is the most common nickname for Rosemary I think, and I love it with sibs Jack, Ellie, and Ava, but Romy is also a traditional nickname for it, and it makes Rosemary—which is “slightly longer” but not really “slightly unusual”—have a more unusual edge, which might be a nice thing for this family moving forward, as it breaks them out of the “need to stick with longer unusual name with common nickname” pattern into “longer given name with shorter nickname, and one of those is ‘slightly unusual,’” which is a bit more freeing/offers more options. Rory is a nickname possibility that takes Rosemary even farther down the “slightly unusual” line—it’s spunky and tomboyish—but I’m not convinced that’s what they’re going for. I wanted to mention it anyway though, just in case (and here’s a sweet Rosemary nicked Rory.)

(2) Louisa nicked Lucy or Lulu
As with Rosemary, Louisa’s not terribly unusual, but I really like the idea of Lucy as a nickname for it, and that gives it a nice unusual twist, as well as two saints! If they didn’t care for Lucy for it, I’m totally loving Lulu recently—it’s a little bit hipster and a lot of chic, and so darling.

(3) Caroline nicked Caddy or Cassie (or Catherine)
Yes, another not-so-unusual given name idea, but I saw Caddy as a nickname for Caroline a while ago and thought it was brilliant. I love Callie too, but thought it was too close to Ellie. And Cassie’s one of my favorite nicknames for a girl, and I think it could work as a mashup nickname for Caroline and the right middle name, like … Caroline Sabeth (Sabeth is so cool! It’s an Elizabeth variant with a cool new patron), or Caroline Sabine, Caroline Sophia, Caroline Seton (for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) … I’ve also seen Cass(ie) as a nickname for Catherine, which I thought was sort of brilliant. If they went with something like Caroline or Catherine for a first name (or Louisa or Rosemary or any other name that might be a bit more “normal” than they’d prefer), an unusual middle is another awesome way (besides an unusual nickname) to jazz it up.

(4) Cassia or Cascia nicked Cass(ie)
The previous idea of Cass(ie) reminded me of Cassia, which is just so cool and pretty. You can say it CASS-ee-ah, or CASH-ah, and it’s a spice name! It’s a form of cinnamon! It’s also a form of Keziah, which is a biblical name—one of Job’s daughters. If they like the CASH-ah pronunciation, they might also be interested in Cascia, which is the name of the town in Italy St. Rita of Cascia came from, and I would consider it an honor name for her.

(5) Bernadette nicked Betsy
I have a friend who considered Bernadette nicked Betsy for her baby, and I thought it was so inspired! She ended up having a boy, but I’ve never forgotten her idea for a girl. St. Bernadette’s a great patron for a girl!

(6) Nickname Sadie (Mercedes, Sara-[something])
Sadie has a similar feel to me as Jack and Ellie especially, and it’s a style match for Maggie and Sophie, and I thought it could be great for this family as a nickname for the right formal name. Mercedes is one—I’ve seen Sadie as a nickname for it spelled S-a-d-i-e, but also Cede, which is pronounced the same way, but is far less obvious. I’d heartily suggest the Sadie spelling to this family, and Mercedes is a great name for a baby born during the Year of Mercy! If they didn’t care for Mercedes, Sadie is also a traditional nickname for Sara(h), and while I thought Sara(h) on its own would be a little too commonplace for them, I thought a hyphenated double might be awesome. Sara-Kate/Sara-Cate is my favorite (and one I’ve had on my list for a long time), but I also love Sara-Mae (or Sara-Maeve, if they’re into Irish names), Sara-Beth, Sara-Claire, Sara-Grace … I used the Sara spelling in these examples because I prefer it to Sarah, but of course Sarah is beautiful and the “h” points to its biblical roots; also, they could do a non-hyphenated double name, like Sara Kate (I prefer the hyphen because it makes it more obvious it’s one name and not a first and middle, but it’s totally a personal preference kind of thing). I think a double first name can make two otherwise “normal” names really sparkle—those two normal names become something unusual when put together.

(7) Beatrix or Beatrice nicked Bea, Trixie, Tris, Betty
Beatrice is a style match for Winnie, and when I saw it I thought I had to add it to my list of suggestions. Both Beatrice and Beatrix are lovely and underused, and I think Bea is an adorable nickname (and lends itself to honeybee decorations, which is so cute!), but there’s also Trixie for Beatrix, and Tris for Beatrice (though be warned that Tris is the name of the main character in the Divergent series [books and movies], and likely pretty associated with just her, since I’d never heard of Tris as a nickname for Beatrice until those books), and even Betty could work and be really cute and retro.

(8) Juniper nicked Junie (or Junia nicked Junie?)
St. Junipero Serra is newly canonized and long beloved, and though he was a man, the English variant of his name totally works for a girl. Juniper is a similar style to Magnolia and Marigold, and has the a-dorable nickname option of Junie, which I just die over. Junie makes me also think of Junia, which is a biblical name, so pretty.

(9) Nickname Pippa or Poppy (Josephine, Perpetua, Philippa)
Pippa and Poppy were striking me as a really cute addition to the other kiddos, and there are several ways to get to them that might appeal. The Posy-for-Josephine idea I suggested above made me think that something like Josephine Petra could totally take the nickname Poppy. How cute and floral! I’ve also seen Poppy for Perpetua, which totally fits their “longer and more unusual” criteria, and it’s super saintly. I’ve also seen Pippa for Perpetua, but more commonly for Philippa, which I also really like.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I received feedback from the mom that my suggestions weren’t quite right for them, and indeed, as I reviewed, I see that I offered a lot of unusual nicknames for “normal” names, which is the exact opposite of what they wanted! Some were okay — I still like Cascia, Mercedes, and Juniper (Cass, Sadie, and Junie) — but I took a quick look again at my notes and thought these might be worth mentioning, as they’re on the more unusual end with easy nicknames:

(1) Amelie
Amelie’s a style match for El0d!e, a French name that’s said AH-mel-lee. Amy could definitely work as a nickname, or Mel/Melly.

(2) Salome
Also a match for El0d!e, and Sally is a natural nickname for it.

(3) Ariadne
Ariadne was, surprisingly, a match for Bronwyn (via Rhiannon, which I also would have suggested if I could think of a good nickname for it … Ree maybe? Annie?), and I think something like Addy could work really well.

(4) Philomena
This one’s a match for Sophronia, and there are a lot of possible nicknames: Fia, Fila, Fina, Finn, Finna, Lola, Mena, Minnie, Pia, Pim, Pina, and Pippa. For the purposes of this consultation, I think maybe Lola, Mena, and Minnie might be the most appealing.

(5) Leocadia
Finally, going really far out, what about Leocadia? It’s another match for Sophronia and a saint’s name, and Cady is the greatest nickname for it! I wouldn’t be surprised if Leocadia is just too far out … but maybe not?

And those are my ideas! I’m dying to hear what you all think — please share your ideas for “slightly unusual, slightly longer full names that trim down to an easy nickname” for this baby girl!

Names for things

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My 4-year-old declared the other day that his two “blankies” now have names: Leo and Isaac. Not only do I love hearing what my boys name their loveys (usually only stuffed animals — this was my first experience with blankets!), but I particularly loved Leo and Isaac! What a distinguished and saintly pair! My third boy’s stuffed seahorse from when he was tiny was the similarly sophisticated Baby Harold and my oldest’s stuffed pup was appropriately named Biscuit, but it has not always been so: my second boy’s pretty notorious for naming his un-alive friends funny things like Bandaids (yes, plural) and Primary (which I thought was sort of brilliant), and the same boy who named Isaac and Leo has always called his stuffed lamb D2.

Just today, Barb from CatholicMom told me that her car’s name is Maxine as a “nod to “Uncle Max” St. Kolbe” — I loved that! It reminded me of my idea that Ratzinger would be a great name for a cat and one of you said it would be great for a German Shepherd as well! Ahhhh I love both of those ideas!! 😄 Those comments were actually in response to a post that included ideas for saintly/faithy names for a puppy, and I’ve talked a very wee bit about naming houses with Kendra in response to her comment here on her post about her new house with it’s awesome name, and today I’d love to hear what you and/or your kiddos are naming your things — from stuffed animals to other loveys to cars to houses to …? Computers? What else? Bonus points for faith connections, but I’d love to hear them all regardless!