One of you darling readers emailed me yesterday with this fabulous bit:
“Today is the feast of Bl. Clemens August von Galen, “The Lion of Munster”. He might already be on your radar, but just in case, I thought I’d share it.
I’m thinking that there are lots of great naming possibilities here… Especially Galen. Sounds modern (short, long a sound, ends in a n) … If anyone is looking for a “fresh” Catholic name, this could be it. And imagine how fun it would be for a little boy to have a patron called “the lion of Munster”!!“
First of all: Clemens. And August. And Galen! What amazing names this guy has! And to be called “The Lion of Munster”! Of course I had to look him up, and of course I loved what I found:
“Born to one of the oldest German noble families. Ordained on 28 May 1904 at Münster, Germany. Chosen bishop of Münster on 5 September 1933. Fiercely anti-Communist, and an outspoken opponent of the Stalinist regime. A strong nationalist who loved his homeland, his was known for his opposition to the Nazis, their programs and policies. He was a key opponent in the fight to end the Nazi program of “euthanasia“, the murder of the old, the crippled, the ill. Created Cardinal–Priest of San Bernardo alle Terme on 18 February 1946.”
I love him already. ❤ There’s more great stuff at that link, including homilies against the Nazis and euthanasia, if you want to read more.
What do you all think? Would you consider Clemens/Clement or August in his honor? And I’m particularly interested in your thoughts on Galen — like the reader said in her email, “If anyone is looking for a ‘fresh’ Catholic name, this could be it.”
Also, “the Lion of Munster”! 🦁😍
Sancta Nomina 
I was just thinking about the name Clement today – and what a patron!!
Galen is not my style, but I could see the appeal
LikeLiked by 1 person
Galen sounds kind of similar to Irishy names like Aiden 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! I can totally see it appealing to parents who love that sound. 🙂
LikeLike
Galen seems like one of those deceptively easy to pronounce names. Oh look, five letters, no double consonants! Then half the people you meet call him “gallon” and the other half call him “gaylynn.” It’s not insurmountable, but it wouldn’t be on my list. It’s in the Sawyer/Soy-yer category of names, where a potential pronunciation bothers me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very true! “gallon” and Sawyer/Soy-yer made me laugh!
LikeLike
How would you pronounce Sawyer other than Soy-yer?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I say Soy-yer too, but I’ve heard other people really enunciate the Saw- part, like the tool: SAW-yer. Similarly with lawyer: some say LAW-yer, others say LOY-yer.
LikeLike
I wonder if that is the Southern or the East Coast accent. I ran into that a few years ago when I interviewed a girl named Laurel. Her mother was quite bothered because no one in North Dakota pronounced her name the way the mother wanted it. We say Lore-ul. I think the mother pronounced it with an ah sound on the first syllable. The family was a transplant from another state.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love hearing about geographic pronunciation differences! I’m on the east coast (upstate NY) and say loy-yer, soy-yer, and lore-ul, but I can picture someone from New York City/Long Island saying something more like LAH-rul.
LikeLike
I do think this is an awesome blessed that brings lots of “new” Catholic naming ideas into the mix – for those who are looking for something different. I really like August as an Augustine variant. I would also think that Galen could be a really popular option – what with “len” ending names being quite popular these days (Drew Brees has 3 kids with “len” endings – the other is just “en”). Interesting to see that Galen really only has been used much mid-century and even then not really popular (never breaking higher that a ranking in the top 300s).
Love his story – I had heard of him before, but not thought about names – thanks for bringing him to my attention again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My husband wanted to point out that Galen is the name of the friendly ape in Planet of the Apes. I would not have known this reference.
From our pronunciation debate above, hubs say ‘Gail-en’ when he says this name. He likes it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I didn’t know that either!
LikeLike