Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! He’s my very favorite Martin Luther. đ My favorite quote of his:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Amen!
Ashley and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little green bean! đ± (Although they only need help finding a boy name.) This wee one joins big sibs:
Micaela Ashley (“after St. Michael. Originally it was supposed to be Micaela Immaculata but as my husband was literally filling out the birth certificate he changed his mind and begged me to have my name as the middle name, I have regretted losing Immaculata ever since!“)
Dakota Grace (“We both always liked this name, it was a little outside the box, and named after my grandmother.”)
Kolbe James (“We have had a strong devotion to Maximilian Kolbe through our marriage and chose his surname as a first name.”)
What a fun set! I love all the faith connections intermingled with personal taste, great job! I’m also so interested in their change from Immaculata to Ashley as Micaela’s middle name — I’m all sweet on this couple over that! Ashley for being so sensitive to her husband’s preference, and her husband for so much wanting his wife’s name as part of his daughter’s. đ
Ashley writes,
“We tend to have different tastes in names and we can’t seem to agree on one this time around. We ‘think’ we have our girls name, but can’t seem to find a boys name we both like equally. My husband really likes Irish names, we want a Catholic Saint to be the inspiration for the name also.”
Names they’ve considered so far for boys:
Finn/Finian
Fulton
Ignatius (Nash)
Samuel
Nathaniel
Zeke
Jonathan
Blaise (“This was my favorite boys name but my husband veto’d it because he said a Firefighter can’t have a son named “Blaze” because all the guys at work would make fun of him âč “)
And for girls (for inspiration)
Charlotte (Charlie) (“so far #1“)
Avila
Keira
Felicity
Veronica
Zelie
Middle names: Rose, Anne, Quinn, Immaculata
And finally,
“Because I come from a large catholic family I should probably give you all the sibling names and their kids names that we can’t use”
Nicholas
Christina
Angela
Michael
Joseph
Maria
Theresa
Sarah
Christopher
Mark
Rachel
Quint
Colette
Rita
Jude
Joselynn (Josie)
What a great family!! Such wonderful names!!
So first off, Iâm so sorry Blaise is off the table! Iâd actually find Blaise simply perfect for a firefighterâs son! It sounds fiery AND itâs a saintâs nameâperfect! đ„
I do see the Irish feel Ashley’s hubs likes in Finn/Finian, Fulton, and Keira (and I actually think Fultonâs an amazing brother name for Kolbe in that itâs a surname [it was Fulton Sheenâs momâs maiden name] and specifically and strongly tied to one particular saint. I did a post recently on Fulton nicknames that might be helpful; be sure to read the comments too, they were awesome!), as well as a biblical feel (Samuel, Nathaniel, Zeke, Jonathan, Veronica), which has a bit of overlap with a country & western feel (Dakota, Nash, Zeke). I used all these feels when trying to come up with new ideas for Ashley and her hubs.
Even still, this was quite a challenging consultation! I love that their taste is so eclectic, but it does make me wonder if any of my ideas are good ones or if theyâre totally off the mark. I canât wait to hear what you all think and what your ideas are for this little one!
You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Using that research, and my own ideas, I came up with these ideas for Ashley and her hubs:
(1) Cashel
This was half inspired by her husbandâs love of Irish names and half inspired by Nash as a nickname for Ignatius. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, âCashel is offbeat and unusual but I love it so much for its meaning â âThe Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasionâ and itâs âreputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th centuryâ â and for its possible nickname of Cash. Swoon!!!â Cash also has a Johnny Cash feel, which taps into that country & western thing, and Cashel is a place name like Dakota and Avila. All in all, a fun pick!
(2) Ronan or Rohan
St. Ronan is a great Irish saint with a cool name, I love it for this family! A similar name is Rohan (you could say it RO-han or RO-wen), which isnât a saintâs name but it is an Irish surname, which ties it in with Kolbe and Fulton being surnames, and it can be a fun nod to Tolkienâs Lord of the Rings (Tolkienâs not a saint, but he was a great Catholic writer) where itâs a place name, which is a nice connection with Dakotaâs name, as well as Avila.
(3) Beau
I was interested in the names that were similar in style to Blaise, since Ashley loves Blaise but her husband feels itâs unusable. Beau was one that I thought they might likeâitâs got a country-western feel and also sounds sports-y like Bo Jackson. Itâs not a saintâs name as far as I can tell, unfortunately, but a great saint middle would make up for that nicelyâitâs a short name so it can take a longer middle name, like Beau Ignatius, Beau Nathaniel, or Beau Jonathan.
(4) Xavier
Xavier is also a style match for Blaise, and a saintly surname like Kolbe and Fulton, and itâs also got a great Z sound, like Blaise, Zeke, and Zelie. I also think it goes really well with Micaela and Dakota!
(5) Levi
Levi is biblical, certainly, but itâs also got a distinct country & western feel, and I really like that both of those styles converge in this one really cool name that also has a prominent Z sound.
(6) Isaac
Finally, Isaac, a nice style match for all the biblical names and super saintly as wellâI love St. Isaac Jogues. It also has a great Z sound like Blaise, Zeke, and Zelie, and Zac and Ike are both traditional nicknames for it that are really cute.
And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What would you suggest for the little brother of Micaela, Dakota, and Kolbe?
Just right off hand I would suggest something with a K sound in it, as all the other siblings seem to have it in a subtle way. I think it ties them all together. I like how it is all different (placement of the sound in the middle for the girls, but first for the boy or that one is made with a C rather than a K) and not blatantly obvious (like Kelly, Karen, Katie would be).
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I agree, Amy. All the names have a strong K sound, and it makes them go well togheter without being obvious. A few names that would fit in very well are Patrick, Lucas, Zachary and Beckett.
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*go well together (sorry)
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Great ideas! They all fit in really well with the others I think.
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Yes! I was thinking last night about this very thing and kicking myself that I hadn’t realized it sooner! I think Isaac from my suggestions would fit this nicely.
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That would put the K sound at the end (a different spot) and it is another C one that Micaela wouldn’t be the odd one out
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I like their style! I was thinking of adding Bosco or Jesse to the list.
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I love both of them! And Bosco would stick with the K sound their other kids have.
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Xavier and Levi are great choices! Justin would go well too.
Another, more unusual option, would be Tolton, after Servant of God, Fr. Augustine Tolton. It isn’t Irish and he isn’t a saint yet, but it sounds kind of cool, and I bet that he would pray for the baby.
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Ooh I’ve never heard of Fr. Augustine Tolton! I’ll have to look him up. I do love his names (first and last)!
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Yes, very cool story. First recognized black American priest. He went by Augustus.
http://www.toltoncanonization.org/
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I love this!
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Love your suggestions, Kate. I think Cashel is my very favorite. Another idea is Declan (so Irish and saintly!), although I don’t know if they mind repeating a first initial or not.
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Declan’s great! And a great fit if they want to continue having a hard K sound in all their kids’ names.
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For an inarticulable reason, Sebastian is in the same-feel category as Blaise to me, maybe because they share many letters. I like the sound of Xavier or Isaac at the end of this set from your suggestions.
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I agree with you! Sebastian and Blaise are both super saintly and not terribly common, I def get a similar vibe from them.
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Duncan.
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Duncan! Interesting! I do like Duncan and hardly ever think of it!
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Also Bryce/Brice. I think it is Gaelic. Has a “C” sound. I believe there is a saint with the “I” spelling.
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I think you’re right! I like it!
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I just love all of your suggestions for this family, Kate! Very eclectic and super awesome!
All I can say is, I hope they use one of these! Cashel! Swoon! Ronan! My favorite Irish name! Beau! I only know one Beau, an adult in a similarly eclectic and saintly set of 6 siblings, so it seems like a perfect fit for this family, too! Xavier! Gorgeous choiceâfor some reason I feel like it matches so well with both Dakota and Kolbe! Levi and Isaac! Two really rad Old Testament names that really aren’t overused (like some OT names). Wow, I think you hit it out of the park with these ideas! â€â€â€
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Wow! I’m so glad you think so!!
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I love their choice of Finn, but when I saw your suggestion for Isaac, I knew it had to be! Maybe Isaac Samuel. And its a bit of a stretch, but maybe use nickname Zeke for it? Isaac is a fav of mine all on its own though!
I really like Cashel, but not sure about an immediate sib set of Kolbe and Cash. And the suggestion for Sebastian in place of Blaise was really great!
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I loooooove the idea of Zeke as a nickname for Isaac!!!!
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Love these names! Just a note on the girls’ names, though: Charlotte Anne can sound like charlatan, although maybe that’s just my weird mind!
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Ohhhh wow that’s a good thing to be aware of! I think since middle names are not usually said with the first, it’s probably fine, but if they intended to do “Charlotte Anne” as a double first name I would want them to be aware of that possibility!
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I really like Luke for them (or Lucas). They could also do Lucian if they wanted a more Irish feel. I also like Kevin, although I don’t know if they care about shared initials. Also Patrick, Atticus, Clement, Casper, Crispin, Victor, Rocco, and Joachim. All saintly and with the K sound they seem to like.
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This is a great list! Attics, Victor, and Joachim jump out at me right away, but they’re all great!
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I laughed when I saw that Blaise was off the table for a firefighter’s son. I think it would be cute – lol. I have a friend that can’t/won’t use it because their last name is Burns.
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Blaise Burns! Hahaha!
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Aquinas
Neri
Sutton
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I like Aquinas a lot! I love St. Philip Neri too, I’ll have to think about Neri on its own … does Sutton have a saintly connection? It’s a cool name!
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Yes indeed, Blessed Robert Sutton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sutton_(martyr)
In my opinion, Neri is intriguing… I think it’s a variation of Nero and Rainier, but I read somewhere it can derive from Neriah.
http://www.behindthename.com/name/nero-2
http://nameberry.com/babyname/Neriah/boy
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Ooh Bl. Robert Sutton, I’ve never heard of him! Thanks for this! My only hold-up with Neri is that it reminds me of Emperor Nero … is that weird? Does anyone else think of that? Otherwise it’s a great name and I love St. Philip Neri!
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