Are you all as much a fan of St. Rita as I am? Like St. Jude, she’s a patroness of desperate and impossible causes (among other things), and I’ve seen her intercession bring about some pretty amazing, nearly miraculous things, both for myself and for others.
In this consultation from July, the mama said she had a special devotion to St. Rita, to whom she attributed the conception of the baby the consultation was for. If the baby had been a girl, she intended to give her the middle name Pearl, as a nod to St. Rita, whose given name was actually Margherita — the Italian form of Margaret, which means “pearl.” I had another conversation more recently over email with a reader who was looking for ways to honor St. Rita for both girls and boys. So I thought doing a post with some ideas of how to do so would be fun! This is what I came up with for girls
Rita
Rita would be the most obvious way of honoring St. Rita — if you gave your daughter the name Rita for either a first or a middle, people who know about saints would think, “She must be named for St. Rita!”
Margaret, Magdalene
Since St. Rita’s given name was Margherita, and Rita a nickname for it, then any of the Margaret names can honor her. And after her husband and sons died, St. Rita joined the Augustinian nuns of St. Mary Magdalene Monastery, so Magdalene could work too.
Pearl
Like the mama in the July consultation I mentioned above, you could certainly use the name Pearl, since that’s what Margherita means.
Daisy
In addition to meaning “pearl,” the Italian Margaret variant Margherita is the name for the daisy flower in Italian, and the French Margaret variant Marguerite is the name for the daisy flower in Italian.
Cascia
St. Rita’s known as St. Rita of Cascia, and I think Cascia would be a pretty cool way to name a little girl after her. I say it KA-shuh, which is similar to established first names Kasia and Cassia.
Lotti
St. Rita’s full given name was Margherita Lotti, so Lotti could make a cute nod to her, especially since Lottie is a traditional nickname for Charlotte …
Charlotte
… which makes me think that even Charlotte itself could be an unexpected honor name for St. Rita.
For boys, I had a few ideas that I thought could work:
Garrett
I have loved and shared many times the story julianamama told of the family she knew who named their son Garrett after St. Margaret, and that would work for St. Rita as well.
John, James, Jacob
One of St. Rita’s sons was named Giangiacomo, which is a combination of two names—Gian (a short form of Giovanni=John) and Giacomo (James, Jacob). St. John the Baptist was one of her three patron saints, and when her cause for canonization was being pursued, her story was compiled by an Augustinian priest named Fr. Jacob Carelicci.
Paul
Her other son was Paolo, which makes Paul a good option.
Anthony
When I’m looking to honor a woman in a boy’s name, I often look to her dad’s name for inspiration. St. Rita’s dad was Antonio, so Anthony and its variants could work.
Urban
For those looking for something unusual, Pope Urban VIII beatified Rita — one of our regular readers has an Urban!
Leo
Pope Leo XIII canonized St. Rita, so a great idea there as well!
Augustine, Nicholas
Not only did St. Rita join the Augustinian nuns, but St. Augustine was one of her three patron saints, so Augustine would be a great possibility. St. Nicholas of Tolentino joined St. John the Baptist and St. Augustine as her third patron saint, so Nicholas works as well.
And those are my ideas! What about all of you? Can you think of any other names that could honor St. Rita?
Sancta Nomina 
I just had my baby girl yesterday, and we named her Rita May. Rita after St. Rita and my husband’s grandma. May was my grandma’s middle name and it is also Marian. We lost both of our grandmas last year. They lived devout lives and lived into their 90s!
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That is so lovely! Congratulations.
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This is so sweet! Thanks for sharing, Carly.
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Congratulations Carly!!!!!!!!!!!! What wonderful news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE your little girl’s name, and the significance behind it — so wonderful!!!
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I was just thinking of the name Rita because it’s one of the Spanish nicknames for Margaret (and I’d been thinking about Margaret and my husband is Spanish).
But then it actually came up in conversation with my husband as we were talking about names we can’t use for our future babies based on hurricane names!! Obviously Harvey is out for many reasons as both of our hometowns are under fire right now, but Hurricane Rita devastated my husband’s hometown in 2005 and he said it was off the table. Sad day!
To ME, it doesn’t seem like a big issue — especially because of St. Rita and her powerful patronage. I feel like she can redeem the hurricane name in ways that others can’t be reclaimed, you know?
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Oh wow, yes I was thinking recently how hurricane names are just ruined for so many people, and I totally get it. I love how you said though that “she can redeem the hurricane name in ways that others can’t be reclaimed”!
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I think it’s true! Hurricanes are pretty impossible causes. But maybe I’m more open to reclaiming the name because *I* didn’t have to evacuate home for a month during my senior year of high school, haha.
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That’s true, I’m sure that colors one’s perspective!
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Also, Rose is a possibility. There are rose miracle stories associated with her and she is often depicted with a rose.
How about Rosarita? Then Rita could be the nickname, too. It is a beautiful Spanish name, but makes me now only think of the Mexican food company. LOL
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Oh wow, I love the idea of Rosarita!! But I’m not familiar with the food company, haha! And Rose is a great addition to the list!
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And meant to say, I think you covered the possibilities really well – so many options.
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It was fun to think of them all!
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[…] by making known thy favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever.” This article (informed by this post) is my little way of trying to do […]
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[…] In the novena to St. Rita I frequently say (almost exactly the same as this one), there’s a part that says, “We promise, if our petition is granted, to glorify, thee by making known thy favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever.” One of the ways I’ve tried to do that is through writing about her, so I thought I’d share here again the two pieces I did for CatholicMom.com, the second of which is a fuller version of this blog post: […]
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[…] through her in amazing ways! I wrote more about St. Rita here and how to honor her in baby naming here. St. Rita, pray for […]
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