Do you all remember Julia’s fun “geeky” consultation from last fall? She (who you might recognize better by her handle, ethelfritha) has let me know her little guy has arrived and been given the fantastic name … Theo Peregrin!

Julia writes,

“I wanted to let you know that Theo Peregrin was born on Jan. 21. He was 10 lbs 5 oz and is as healthy as a horse, in addition to being almost as big as one. Everything with labor and delivery went great. He ended up being induced, as he was a week late and I tend to have big babies (obviously!) and everything went right according to plan. Now he alternates between eating, sleeping, eating while sleeping, and generally being squishy and cute.

We still didn’t have a name nailed down when we went into the hospital. Nothing like leaving it til the last second, right? However, we had been throwing Peregrin around for a middle name recently and got really attached to it. We considered several first names to go with it and in the end decided we were OK with Theo not being short for anything. Basically, he can choose his own patron saint from the dozens of holy Theodores, Theodosiuses, Theobalds, and Theodoras out there!

As for Peregrin, I have two sorts of conversations with people about it. The first conversation goes like this:

Other person: Peregrin, that’s so interesting. Where did you get it?
Me: Well, there is a Saint Peregrine.
Other person: Oh, and a falcon, right?
Me: Right!

The second conversation goes like this:

Other person: Did you leave the “e” off the end on purpose?
Me: YES
Other person: ….is it a Lord of the Rings reference?
Me: LET’S BE FRIENDS

Yes, we named our son after Peregrin Took. But also Saint Peregrine, who is awesome!

Also I thought you might be interested in a little anecdotal data I learned from the hospital registrar. When she came by to get Theo’s birth certificate info, she said she didn’t get too many Theos. I asked her what name she did get a lot of, and her answer was immediate: Oliver. And for girls? Evelyn!“

Don’t you just love this announcement? I was dying over Julia’s rendition of people asking her about Peregrin! 🤣🤣🤣 Love it!! I also love that they went with “just Theo” — a name they’d liked from the very beginning. And it’s so perfect paired with Peregrin!

Congratulations to Julia and Ben and big sibs Petra and Corwin, and happy birthday Baby Theo!!

Theo Peregrin