Baby name consultation: Patton Camper No. 6!

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Happppppy Easter Monday y’all!!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!! Doesn’t the world look extra sunny now that Lent is over and the tomb is empty? He is risen! Hallelujah!

I’m thrilled/delighted/dancing with joy 💃💃💃 to post today’s consultation! Funny enough, it was Easter Monday of 2015 when I posted the first consultation I did for this family (for Baby No. 5) — pretty cool that I get to post one for their newest little one on Easter Monday 2017!

So yes, as you’ve surely gleaned from the title, today’s consultation is for Grace over at Camp Patton — she’s one of my favorite favorite bloggers, not least because she posts lots of pictures of her beautiful children, and she are her husband have the BEST taste in names! Lest you’ve forgotten, this wee green bean (=gender unknown)  🌱 will join big sibs:

Julia Grace
Sebastian Xavier (Bash)
Theodore Augustine (Theo)
Phoebe Annika
Bosco Ignatius

(In calling this baby No. 6, I mean their sixth baby on earth — I don’t at all mean to forget their little Felipe, who’s surely interceding for them all, like so many of our babies.)

I’m ridiculously in love with the names Grace and her hubby Simon have chosen, and there’s not really a whole lot I feel like I can add — no matter what they end up naming their babe, I know it will be ah-mazing.

That said, when I asked Grace if she would mind if I offered some new suggestions, she said:

“Yes! We’d love that!

We are always so undecided until the last minute!

Thank you Kate!!!! SO excited!!!“

I know, right?? SO EXCITED!! 😍😍😍

She continued,

“For boys we’ve tossed around Dominic or Damian (I think we should avoid a name ending in “o” as we’ve got Theo, Bosco, and now Diego and I’m constantly confusing their names!) and for girls I kind of like Caroline or Felicity but I’m not sure if Felicity is too similar to Phoebe and if it’s too long a name not to have a nickname for? (I’m not a huge fan of “lissy”) — I suggested Simon for a boy but Simon said that ship has sailed since we didn’t name our first born Simon but I disagree — ha!!!“

As I’m sure you’re not surprised by, I have thoughts about this whole paragraph. First, I LOVE Dominic and Damian. Love! Dominic’s one of my very favorites (I spotlighted the name here), and I’m over the moon every time I see anyone considering Damian! (Here’s a little Damien I did a recent birth announcement for.) It’s such a great name with such a great saintly pedigree, I can’t say enough good things about it. (I’m not even going to acknowledge that movie. And I really hope you don’t know what I’m referring to.)

I also love Caroline and Felicity, both of which I included in my ideas in my first consultation post 😊. So let’s talk about Felicity. (1) Do I think it’s too similar to Phoebe? I do not. I considered this last time and decided it was perfect enough, even following immediately after Phoebe, to include it in my list of ideas. In a family with a bunch of kids, two of them sharing the same initial sound isn’t that big a deal at all, especially with having different first initials. Add in that, this time, there’s a Bosco in between Phoebe and this new baby, and I think it’s totally and completely fine. (2) What about nicknames? Nicknames! The nickname issue so often seems to be a sticking point in regards to choosing Felicity! But fear not — I did a spotlight on Felicity recently, and I included nickname ideas! A lot of the readers left great ideas too, including what they call their real-life little Felicitys, so be sure to check it out; some that I think could work well for the Pattons include:

  • Fliss(y)
  • Flick, Flicka (actress Felicity Huffman has a web site for women in general and moms in particular called What the Flicka)
  • Lily
  • Fin (especially maybe for something like Felicity Nora)
  • Zita is a Hungarian diminutive of the name, and Zyta a Polish short form
  • Felly
  • Cissy
  • Flitzi, Fitzi, Fitz
  • Cece
  • Liddy

So I would definitely keep Felicity on their list, and I know one little Felicity in real life who is always Felicity, so that’s an option too.

And what about Simon, after Dad? I’m glad brother Theodore isn’t interfering with Grace’s love of this idea, because Simon is a great name. But what about naming a non-firstborn son after dad? This could be the topic of a whole other post — in fact, I’ll plan to do that soon — but I’ll offer that though perhaps it’s more traditional to name a firstborn son after dad, if you’re going to do that kind of thing, it’s not UNtraditional nor unheard of to give Dad’s name to a subsequent son. I’ve got loads of personal examples: we named our firstborn after our two dads, and our second boy got my husband’s name as a middle, my brother’s second son is a Junior, my two brothers were named after my grandfathers, and if there was ever a third boy he would have gotten my dad’s name as a middle. There’s something really nice about naming a non-firstborn after Dad, actually — there are a lot of traditional firstborn “perks,” so saving Dad’s name for a second/third/fourth son could help even the playing field a bit. But if Simon can’t come around to the idea of Simon as a first name, I think it would make an amazing middle (for a boy or a girl! More on that below).

Really, I think Dominic, Damian, Simon, Caroline, and Felicity would all be amazing additions to the amazingly named Patton children, and I’d be thrilled if they named their baby any of them.

Despite the fact that the Patton Parents are expert namers and have some tremendous ideas, of course I can always come up with some more! First I just have to say, I still love all the ideas I suggested last time (for a girl: various ideas for backing into the nickname Lola, Elisabeth, Felicity, Stella; for a boy: Maximilian nicked Miles, Francis nicked Finn, Gregory nicked Rory or Gus [Gregory Simon=Gus so perfectly!]). And the arrival of Mr. Bosco opened up another whole area of possibilities with the last-name-as-first name thing, which really had already been there a little bit with Bash’s middle name being Xavier (I think Xavier’s mostly lost its last-naminess, but when there’s also a Bosco in the family, it comes to the fore a little more), so I was tempted to offer some more along those lines — Kolbe, Bennett, Becket, Siena, Serra — but I fought against it because I was feeling like following Bosco with another surname name might feel like a little too much. Do you agree? I did make two exceptions though, which I’ll explain below.

Okay! On to my ideas. You all know that I rely heavily on the Baby Name Wizard in my consultations, as it offers, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and I also used Nymbler and the Name Matchmaker this time around as well. I used both the names they’ve already used (first names only, except I also included Xavier and Annika, both of which Grace has said in the past that she sort of wished they’d saved for first names), and those they’re considering in my research. A lot of names spoke to me that didn’t last time, and I also took some chances and ventured farther afield. This is what I came up with:

Girl

(1) Emmeline
I started out feeling like the Pattons had a Brideshead Revisisted feel going on with Julia, Sebastian, and Theodore, and while I initially felt a little bit like Phoebe threw me for a loop, all I had to do was remember that my own family tree on my dad’s side — which has a direct line back to 1600s England — has a bunch of girls named Phebe in it (that spelling), especially the closer you get to the family’s emigration from England, to make me think I wasn’t that far off with Brideshead Revisited. Add in Caroline and Felicity to the names they’re considering, and I’m feeling pretty good about suggesting the lovely Emmeline. Behind the Name says it’s a variant of Amelia, which is where patron saints can be found, or you could think of it as an elaboration of Emma, in which case these saints would suit. It can be said emma-LINE, emma-LYNN, and emma-LEEN, and can be spelled Emmaline and Emmalyn. Emma and Emmy are sweet nicknames.

(2) Magdalene
This is the first surname name I allowed myself to suggest, both because it’s a girl’s name rather than a boy’s, and because it doesn’t feel surnamey and has a long history of use as a first name. I also like that it’s long, like Sebastian and Theodore — until now the girls’ names have been short, and until Bosco the boys’ names were long, so it’s kind of cool to switch it up with a longer girl’s name. There are lots of nickname possibilities: Maggie, Maddie, Molly, and Magda are some that I’d consider (Magda has that Brit feel to me).

(3) Verity
Ever since watching Poldark (which I happen to know Grace is a little bit into), I’ve loved the name Verity. Not only is it uncommon but familiar, which is sort of a sweet spot with naming, it’s got great faith significance in the sense that it means “truth.” It also has a little of that Puritan feeling that I get from Phoebe and Felicity, which is a feel I love.

(4) Audrey
I was surprised to find Audrey listed as style match for Dominic, so I looked it up in the BNW and a good number of the names listed as similar to it are ones I could see fitting in really well at Camp Patton, like Claire, Evelyn, Charlotte, Elliott, and Luke. I thought about it for a bit, and since Audrey Hepburn is its overwhelming association for me, and she herself was British (not to keep harping on the British thing), I started to really feel it. It’s classy, and literary (Shakespearean, no less: As You Like It), and saintly (though it took me a few minutes to find a version of her story that was uplifting).

(5) Mary/Maria + _____
I mentioned the possibility of a Mary+ name in my last consultation, and it’s on the list again! I’m a big fan of balance in baby naming, which I realize works better on storybook families than those in the real world, and it’s so totally not a big deal whether sibling names have that aesthetic composition that makes me sigh with contentment, but as many of you know I do often find myself trying to come up with names that “bridge” different styles in the names of the already-born children. With Bosco’s name having a different feel than his big sibs, I wanted to offer an idea that might make sense of it beyond the [very real and awesome] “Catholic names all go together by virtue of them being Catholic names” idea (which I myself have happily employed in the naming of my own children). To that end, I thought a Mary+ double would be just the thing, as putting Mary in front of virtually any name makes it (1) totally doable for a girl and (2) gives it a Catholic oomph, and (3) there’s the added layer of a double first name being unusual enough that it can fit in with all sorts of unusual names. There were a few ideas I liked for this idea (and I liked Maria as much as or better than Mary in some examples):

  • Mary Simone or Maria Simone: I mentioned above that if Dad Patton can’t get on board with Simon for a boy’s first, maybe he wouldn’t mind it as a middle for a boy OR a girl. I really love the idea of Mary Simone or Maria Simone, *especially* if a nickname like Maisie is used! You know I’m a fan of those firstname+middlename mashup nicknames! I think Mary/Maria Simone nicked Maisie would be amazing. (And they could even go with the old English pronunciation of Maria if they wanted, which is like Mariah — I know a little girl who has Maria-pronounced-like-Mariah for a middle name.)
  • Mary Tess or Maria Tess: I like Tess for them anyway, but I don’t feel like Therese/T(h)eresa is exactly their style. But Mary Tess or Maria Tess are sweet! She could go by the double name, or just Tess on the day-to-day.
  • Mary Elliott, or Mary Emmett, or Mary Bennett: One of my favorite things to do with a Mary+ double is to pair it with a boy name or a surname (this is my second surname suggestion). It feminizes the second name without making it seem like a girl name, if that makes any sense, and gives the very Catholic & traditional Mary+ construction a little whimsy and unexpectedness while still staying grounded. Elliott, Emmett, and Bennett are all names I liked for them for a boy, but ultimately cut them from my final list — this would be a neat way to work them in in a different way. (Elliott is a variant of Elijah, Emmett is actually from a surname deriving from Emma, and Bennett is a medieval variant of Benedict, so lots of patron saint options here.)

A last note about girl names: There were several that I considered last time that didn’t make the cut then or now, including Penelope, Imogen(e), Genevieve, Iris or Ivy, Lydia, Corinne, and Liv. This time around, the ones that I considered but ultimately decided not to include on this girl list include Alice, Zara, Lydia (for the second time … hmmm), and Natalia.

Boy

(1) Oliver
I honestly don’t know why I didn’t suggest Oliver last time — I love it for the Pattons!! It did tremendously well in my research, being similar to Julia, Sebastian, Phoebe, Felicity, and Simon. Wow! In this consultation from a couple months ago, a family (who already has a Dominic and a Kolbe — like Dominic on the Pattons’ list and Kolbe has a similar feel to Bosco to me) who was considering Oliver explained, “We like Oliver Plunkett’s story because in today’s culture it is hard to be a faithful Catholic. We’d like any name-sake to be an example of how to live out the faith when facing persecution or other challenges” — I love that! Additionally, though it seems that Oliver is not etymologically related to “olive,” it’s close enough that it could be a nod to Our Lady of the Olives, and you all know what a sucker I am for a Marian boy name! A reader also pointed this out to me from Psalm 128:

“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your home,
Your children like young olive plants
around your table.”

Um, pretty accurate I’d say (in the very very best way!). 😉 In that same consultation, I also suggested middle names for Oliver and I thought some of the combos might appeal to the Pattons as well: Oliver Nathaniel, Oliver James, Oliver Matthias.

(2) Isaac
Isaac has been on my own list for a long time, I love it! I love that it’s biblical, which I’m sure it’s why it was listed as a style match for Julia and Phoebe, and I love that it’s saintly — St. Isaac Jogues is one of the North American Martyrs (their shrine is near me and a local church is named after him, so the name really has taken on more of a saintly feel than biblical for me). It’s got great nickname options in Ike and Zac.

(3) Gabriel
Gabriel is a fantastic name for a little boy. It’s biblical, saintly, angelic, and Marian, which covers all the bases! It’s a style match for Xavier, Simon, Dominic, and has great nickname options: Gabe is friendly and boyish; Gil is bookish and dreamy in a Gilbert Blythe sort of way.

(4) Alexander
Alexander is a long name name like Sebastian and Theodore; it’s papal and saintly and pan-European; but what really encouraged me to put it on the list was the nickname Xander. Grace lamented once that they didn’t save Xavier for a first name, and in my experience people who like Xavier often like Xander. BUT, if she and Simon don’t care for Xander but like Alexander, Sander’s my recent favorite nickname for it. There’s Alex too, of course, which is such a classic.

(5) Nathaniel
Finally, Nathaniel, a style match for Sebastian, Simon, Caroline, and Julia according to my research, but also having some of that Puritan/Pilgrim feel of Phoebe and Felicity. It’s such a handsome, serious name with the great nickname Nate.

The boy names that I considered but ultimately cut from my final list included Tobias (I really loved this one for them, but I just kept thinking that the long O and the B, especially if they used the nickname Toby, was too much with Bosco and Theo and Diego), Tristan (a name moms tend to like and dads tend to not, in my experience), Benedict/Bennett and Benjamin, Matthias (I’m trying to remember why I didn’t include it?), Samuel, Joseph, Henry, Elliott, Emmett, and Jude.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother or sister of Julia, Sebastian, Theodore, Phoebe, and Bosco?

191 thoughts on “Baby name consultation: Patton Camper No. 6!”

  3. Love your suggestions of Emmaline and Isaac for the Pattons. I love the name Dominic too and that would be a great fit for them! For Mary+ … Mary Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) and Mary (Elliot) Musgrove (Persuasion) came to mind immediately for me but I know those aren’t the most famous characters so it might not be a deal breaker for someone else 😊

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  4. bosco really, REALLY surprised me back in the day. I do like your suggestion of having a long name for a girl to balance out the sibset. maybe another short boy name could also do that? lucas (like that family in england who had a bosco and a siena), felix (also a nod to felipe), jasper? I love oliver for them, and miles. I would use simon as a middle name but not so much as a first name since they already have a sebastian.

    for a girl as you mentioned, definitely a longer name to match theodore and sebastian. i love emmeline and felicity. how about matilda, eleonor, genevieve, clementine, adeline/adelaide, evangeline?

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  5. For boys, I’m liking:
    – Alfred Crispin – nicknames Freddie or Alfie are great.
    – Aquinas with the nickname Quinn.
    Unfortunately (or fortunately) I can’t find a saint Dashiell. How cool (or not cool) would a Bash and a Dash sib set be?

    For girls:
    Beatrice Simone – so many good nickname options, but I think Bess could be used for this combo.
    Siena Josephine
    Matilda Simone

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  7. Totally digging the recommendation of Simeon. A great way to give a nod to dad, without a junior. It is longer to balance some of the other names. Sim would be a cool nickname.

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  10. Oh my gosh, Verity Patton is perfect! I love it. I think I am in the minority but I do think Phoebe and Felicity are too close, but of course, that won’t matter in the long run. Simone is pretty awesome too. I think they have a lot of good girl name options but boys are harder. Bosco (which I love!) Is so unusual that it would be nice to have another more unusual name. Dominic does seem like it would be a good fit. Felix from above is perfect too! Ambrose? Cyrus? Silas? Judah? Adrian? Abram? Raphael?

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  11. For a boy, I think Dominic or Abram would be great. Abe Patton brings a particular smile to my face.

    For a girl, I think Felicity is a good option. It’s not too close to Phoebe and the different letter helps. But I also think Lydia would be awesome as well.

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  14. Oh man, I love this! We are in the same boat…5 weeks out…still no name. We have a Shepherd Gerald (Shep), and a Becket George (Beck…but we actually call him Becket more than I thought we would). I love a name you can shorten. I am loving Fisher (St. John Fisher) for this next boy, but worried there is no good nickname for it…anyway, looks like I might need to do one of these consultations now! For a girl, I love double names with Mary being the first name. That was our plan, but of course, we have only been blessed with boys!

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  15. I really love Cissy as nickname for Felicity! Or, like you said, just keep the full Felicity. I don’t think it’s one that necessarily NEEDS a nickname. It’s always been one of my favorite names.

    But, GOSH, I love Verity too! Not one I’ve ever heard, but yet so approachable and sweet!

    I agree that both Dominic and Simon would be fantastic choices, but love Oliver (Ollie?) as well.

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      • Haha that’s true! I think that’s mostly for boys though? Sissy for girls is pretty common — I know a bunch of girls nicknamed that because of being a “sister” (including myself! My brother called me that when we were little and my mom still calls my sisters and I Sis), and there’s actress Sissy Spacek too …

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  18. For whatever reason, I really like Elias for a Patton boy. It’s saintly, normal but still not common and I love that it is three syllables but not a long name. (And I love long names!) It can be nicknamed but totally stands by itself too. It feels like Tobias and Matthias to me but while I agree those aren’t right, I kind of love the idea of an Elias.

    Julia, Phoebe and Sebastian are very Shakespearean in my brain. So thinking Shakespeare meets Saints I get: Edmund, Frederick, Mariana, Bianca as options I think work together well with the group they’ve got.

    My husband’s grandmother is a Magdalene who everyone calls Meg. I do love that name truly.

    From your list I love Oliver. Perfectly Patton.

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    • Elias is our number one boy’s name to be paired with Joseph – EJ for short as I am not a fan of Eli. I love it for the Patton’s as well as Dominic or Abraham (Abram). For girls Emmelie is too close to Anna Liesmeyer’s new daughter. I think Lydia, Violet or Beatrice, even being right next to Bosco…

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    • I have an Elias and I LOVE his name! Took 5 days in the hospital to name him and Elias wasn’t even on the long list. But when my husband suggested it, it just fit. Then our nurse walks in 5 mins later and we asked her what her sons name was and she said Elias. We then decided that was his name. We call him Eli and EJ since his middle name is Joseph after his dad and grandfather.

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  19. My 4-month-old is Verity Ann and would have been Xavier or Dominic if she’d been a boy. Verity is very unusual here in the states and requires a bit of an explanation sometimes … “Verity … like veritas in Latin.” Most people get that it means truth though. I am so happy we chose it! Since you used Xavier for a middle name already, I’d go Dominic for a boy. I do LOVE Simeon, too, though, and that’s a nod to Simon without doing the Jr. thing. My husband is funny about that, too. We would have considered Simeon, Damien or Kilian more if we hadn’t just had a Vivian before. Love this, Kate, and can’t wait to hear, Grace!

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  20. Emmaline is beautiful!

    As for boy names, we’ve done the surname thing, actually one of our kids has three last names. We joke he is his own law firm already. He is Kolbe, with my maiden name as his middle (Miller) plus our actual last name. I love it!

    We also have a Fulton, for Fulton Sheen, but Fulton was actually his grandparents last name so it has that same feel. And we most recently named a son Xavier (Bl. Francis Xavier Swells) so maybe I am biased but I totally think the last name/saint name thing works. (And just for the record, we have four boys and the oldest is John Paul, with a separate middle name…Just for those curious 🙂

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    • I love all this! I remember you telling us about your Kolbe and Fulton before Sarah, but I didn’t know Fulton’s an actual family name for you — so cool!! Love John Paul too, and I love that you did a separate middle name. And congratulations on your Xavier!!

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  21. I love all of the Patton names! We even considered Theodore for a boy name until my mom used it for her new puppy. My favorite girl names you listed are Felicity and Verity. I’ve never actually heard of Verity before but I love it and it would fit so well with the siblings! For boy names my favorites are Gabriel and Nathaniel. I think both are strong, classic names but have easy nicknames.

    We’ve chosen to name our August baby Evangeline Grace. I’m posting this comment without my username because we haven’t announced the name yet. Obviously Grace has already been used, but I think Evangeline would fit in the Patton family wonderfully! I love the faith reference (evangelical) without it being too common in our church. I also like the French-Cajun connection since I was raised near New Orleans, and my mom’s name is Angela so it’s a little nod to her. We will pronounce is E-van-ja-leen and call her Eve or Evie for short.

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    • That’s a beautiful name! I love it when people are so excited to share names with virtual strangers because they haven’t told family yet, but they just have to tell someone.

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    • Whomever you are we have the same taste in names!! My eldest is Nathanael –
      Hebrew spelling, same pronunciation – wanted it to look like the beloved passage in my Bible! Hubby won’t do Gabriel but a fave of mine. Baby 4 due in June and Evangeline is on the list w those nicknames in mind, and I would use Grace as a middle name for almost any girl –
      Felicity Grace is the name we gave our little one inHeaven whom we lost early on. Names are such a beautiful gift! Blessings on your baby and birth!

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      • Thank you! And congratulations on baby 4! Choosing a name for our first has been so hard, I can’t imagine how long it will take with our future babies. I should bookmark this post for future reference. Also, my sister is named Gabrielle after the angel Gabriel. She goes by Gabi. Maybe you could sneak Gabriel into a girl’s name!

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  22. I absolutely LOVE-E-E Oliver! That would fit beautifully with all of other Patton kiddos. Can’t wait to hear what baby boy/girl Patton is and what you and Simon choose!!

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  25. My first daughter’s name is Felicity Kate (she’s 2.5) and baby girl #2 is Phoebe Jean. Grace, if you’re worried about Felicity being too long – don’t be, we haven’t nicknamed her past calling her FK (or Kate, sometimes). Felicity and Phoebe sound nice together! So in summary, pick a short middle name you can use in a pinch and revel in the long, pretty name that we always get compliments on.

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  27. I like the Lydia suggestions for a girl. Maybe Lydia Simone?

    Damian sounds great for a boy. I think it is a nice bridge between Bosco and the more traditional names, especially since Damian could be for St. Damian of Molokai or St. Peter Damian so it could also be considered a surname.

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  28. I’m partial to Caroline for a girl, as that’s what I went with for my second (Caroline Anne). Of the girl names suggested, I think Emmeline is lovely. For the boy names suggested, I like both Alexander and Nathaniel (Nate for short). Happy naming!

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  29. I think for a boy FELIX would be nice for the pattons. It is similar to Felipe but the meaning is completely different.
    For a girl I suggest my name to them LEIRE it’s after the Virgin Mary of Leire.
    Good luck pattons! You rock!

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  30. In the spirit of Felicity and Verity, I have a little Mercy Stella running around my kitchen right now. We hadn’t even considered Mercy as a name for our other kids, but it’s such a sweet, simple virtue name and we love it for her.

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  32. On the junior topic… Has anyone seen the movie Gattaca (Uma Thurman)? In that movie, a couple has a child who is going to be a junior until the parents find out that he has genetic imperfections, so they save the name for their next son. Obviously, nothing like that is going on here, but I do know a set of brothers (grown men in their 60’s – not ones that I mentioned before) and the older brother somehow feels that the parents saved the junior name for the younger brother and feels hurt by it – to the point where the whole family cautions against using junior for a younger brother. It kind of reminded me of the movie Gattaca, even though I’m sure that his parents had no intention of communicating anything of the sort.

    So, if a family wants to use a junior name on a younger son, it might be a good idea to check with the older brothers and make sure that they wouldn’t feel jealous/hurt/unworthy, etc. Or at least they could kind of feel the situation out without tipping their hand too much if they think that they don’t want to burden a kid with making that kind of decision.

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    • Oh that’s interesting!! I’ve never seen Gattaca, but how sad! Your real-life example is a great one to know about, thank you! I’ll include it when I post about this topic later this week or next.

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    • I agree. I never gave much thought to the importance of name order until I met my husband. He’s the oldest and he and his younger brother have the same middle name, but their parents called the younger brother by his (their) middle name. The name was their paternal grandfather’s name and their deceased uncle’s name. So, it’s a family name and was given to my husband first as his middle name, then repeated and “chosen” for his younger brother. It has been an issue between them and their parents for their whole life. We chose to never use a family name because of it. I think a family name can be an honor, but it has the potential to cause hurt feelings when not used traditionally.

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  33. My given name is Carly, and I think because of that, I’m always partial to something a little unusual but easy to pronounce and spell. (Of course, now with the addition of soap opera characters named Carly and the tv show iCarly, it’s not as uncommon as it was.) That said, I really love Verity, but I’m also partial to Mary Simon(e) or Maria Simon(e) because I love Maisie as a nickname.

    I also really love the way Emmeline fits with the rest of the girl Patton’s names. A friend nicknamed their Emmeline with Emme, pronounced Emmy.

    I’ve always loved Clara, and Evelyn is another favourite of mine, with Evie as the nickname.

    For boys I love Alexander (Zander or Xander) and I’m also really partial to Gabriel. I wasn’t a fan of Oliver until you tied it in scripturally and to Mary and I think Ollie is such a great nickname for Oliver. :o) I really love Dominic as well and think it too fits so well with Sebastian, Theo and Bosco.

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  37. Love all of the suggestions! But especially, Caroline, Emmaline and Felicity for girls and Gregory (really like the nickname of Rory! My brother’s name in Gregory and never even thought of that!) and Oliver. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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    • That’s true, I hadn’t thought of Oliver Patton and Oliver Plunkett sounding similar, I like it! Also, of course you know you’re the reader who shared the Psalm 128 passage with me. 🙂 And your Fin is in my list of Felicity nicknames! You’ve been a great inspiration!!

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  39. Magda is a German name and Audrey Hepburn was born in Belgium to a Dutch mother and an Austro-British father.
    I like Linus, Cassius or Caspar for boys, and Nadine, Petronella (Petra) or Lucia

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  40. What wonderful suggestions! My name was originally going to be Lydia, but my parents ended up choosing Cecily. In the same vain, a Lydia suggestion could match up with Cecilia (patron saint of music!). Cecilia Simone or Cecilia Claire?

    Love, love, love your suggestions though!

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  42. I really like Dominic and Xavier but what about Matthew Simon Patton. Could call him Matt. Nicholas Simon call him Nichol. Must confess very partial to Matthew and Nicholas as my two oldest are Thomas Matthew and Nicholas Nolen called Matt and Nick.
    For a girl I love Emmeline/Emma or Ivy Maria. Partial to Ivy as it is my oldest sisters name and she was named after our grandmother Iva.
    I tried to give each of mine their own name and a family name. Which the family name was usually the Saint name with the exception of Nick. He got my maiden name (Nolen) as his family name.
    I am sure no matter what you choose it will be beautiful and fit your family perfectly m

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  43. I love the idea of Mary + _________. My name is Mary Dolores (I also have a relative in Spain named Maria Dolores) but I have been called Maddie for my entire life. It gives you the freedom to experiment with nicknames while still having a classic, catholic name set.

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  44. Gosh, I’ve absolutely loved the name choices from the Pattons since the first time I read a blog post a few years ago. Honestly might be one of my favorite sibsets ever. I love literally EVERY name mentioned here, from the names they’ve considered to each of your suggestions, Kate.

    I totally adore Felicity and I don’t think it’s too close to Phoebe at all (especially with Bosco between the two). As for the nickname – Felicity nicknamed Tilly is actually on my list for future babies. I think Felicity is great on its own, but Tilly sounds especially sweet to me, too. Also love Audrey – it’s one of my favorites. And your suggestion of Emmeline and mention of Amelia reminds me of Amalia (pronounced with the emphasis on “mah” sound). I LOVE the name Amalia and I think it hits the right notes for the Pattons – it’s a name that fits with Julia and other classy/elegant names and yet is kinda juuuust different enough that it’s got a very cool vibe that fits in with Phoebe or Bosco. I think both the saints for Amelia could work as patrons for Amalia, too. (Though I’d probably pair it with another saintly name – maybe Amalia Elizabeth or Amalia Therese or probably my favorite – Amalia Louise for St. Louise de Marillac.) Also wanted to throw support for Stella – and suggest Della as another option. I especially love Della Marie. (And love a comment above that suggested Beatrix. Bee Patton? Amazing. Trix Patton? Amazing. (Ha! Especially with a Bash Patton – both sound kinda fun and daring.)

    Annnd sorry for the novella. 😉 I’m sure whatever they choose will be perfect.

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  45. Mary Simon for a girl and Mark David for a boy and call them by their full name unless a nickname evolves naturally. Plan B…Cecelia Grace for a girl Victor Francis for a boy.

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  46. What about Hawthorne or Henry nicknamed Huck for a boy? Theo, Bash, Bosco, and Huck for the boys.
    Have you condidered Odette for a girl?
    Julia, Phoebe, and Odette for the girls.

    Good luck, Grace! Can’t wait to here what you choose!

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  47. We have a daughter named Magdalena and use Minnie and Lena as nicknames, though Maggie and Mimi are also options if she likes them when she’s older. Our son is named Dominic, with Dom and Nico as nicknames though I use the full name because I love it so much.

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  48. I don’t love Mary as an option because she will forever think of her name as the “boring” one with all of the other creative names. But Verity is super cute and at first I didn’t love Magdalene but now I think it’s awesome!

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  50. We have an Isaac, and intended to use Ike as a nickname, but then somehow Isy (sounds like wise-ee, without the w) stuck. He’s 18 now and only immediate family and close family friends call him Isy occasionally. A bit partial, but I put in my vote for Isaac. 🙂

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