Spotlight on: Faustina (and another announcement!)

sanctanomina Spotlight, , , ,

These past few weeks have been so exciting for me, being able to share with you all the news of my baby and my book! So many of you immediately asked about names we’re considering for the baby, and some of you even offered to help! You’re all wonderful. ❤ I’d had the same thought myself — about seeking ideas and suggestions, including from all of you — and had reached out to the amazing Abby from Appellation Mountain to see if she had room to do a consultation for me! Abby offers name help at Nameberry as the Name Sage, and weekly on her blog with her Name Help posts, and I’ve long been completely impressed by her name knowledge and her thoughtful suggestions for expectant parents. (She’s also been a wonderful mentor to me as a name writer, and gave me an amazing endorsement for my book!)

I’m thrilled to share that Abby has indeed put together some ideas for me, and will post it on her blog tomorrow! Eek! I’m so excited! I’ll definitely post the link here once she has it up, and I hope you all weigh in with your ideas/thoughts/suggestions! Many of you also asked if we’d be finding out the gender ahead of time — we never have, and aren’t planning to do so with this baby, but even so we only need help with boy names (our girl name has been the same throughout). It’ll be a little tricky since, as you know, my husband feels strongly about not sharing our boys’ names online, so you’ll just have to give me your best and favorite ideas. 🙂 I’ve given Abby some details and clues about our style that we’re okay with her sharing in her post — I know she’ll lay it all out nicely and will give you good direction for your suggestions.

If all that isn’t exciting enough, I’m extra excited that Abby’s posting it on Divine Mercy weekend! The Divine Mercy devotion is such a special one, both because of its power and because of our beloved St. John Paul’s connection to it. And also, the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception are the ones who are publishing my book, and they’ve been given the gift and task of spreading devotion to the Divine Mercy — they run the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, they are *the* publishers of St. Faustina’s diary, and one of their Fathers was the vice-postulator for the cause for canonization of St. Faustina.

So I thought today was the perfect day to post a spotlight on Faustina!

Many of those who I’ve done consultations for have shared that they’ve considered Faustina as a first or middle name for their daughters, and I had the privilege of posting birth announcements for two little girls given Faustina as a first name (here, here), and one with Faustina as a middle. Two of my best friends took Faustina as their Confirmation names, and one gave Faustina to her daughter as her middle name. I love seeing it!

Behind the Name says Faustina is the feminine form of Faustinus, which was the name of several saints, and derives from Faustus meaning “auspicious, lucky” in Latin; Faustus itself is the name of several saints as well. (I think he’s well known enough that I can’t not mention Faust, renamed Doctor Faustus in at least one of the story’s reinterpretations — a literary character who makes a deal with the devil — but I don’t personally think Faustina is [or should be] at all tainted by this association.) Faustine is the French variant of Faustina, which I think is lovely as well. There are actually several Sts. Faustina, and the St. Faustina we’re familiar with (St. Faustina Kowalska) took the name as her religious name (Sr. Maria Faustina) — I’d love to know why! Was it after one of those other Sts. Faustina? Or perhaps because of its meaning?

Faustina strikes me as similar to Christina, with its “stina” ending, and it can take Tina as a nickname as well. I’ve heard it said FAW-stina, rhyming with “paw,” and I’ve heard it said FOW-stina, rhyming with “cow,” so that could be a turn off for those who prefer one straightforward pronunciation, though a minor one I think. I’ve never seen anyone use a nickname for it — other than Tina, perhaps Fia and Fina could work? If you did Maria Faustina, that opens up some more nickname options like Mia, Mina, and even something like Muffy.

I love that Faustina is, like Kolbe, Kateri, Gianna, Jacinta, John Paul, and others, a modern-day Catholicky Catholic name — its certainly got roots, but St. Faustina is a saint of and for our times.

What do you all think of Faustina? Would you use it for a daughter, or have you? Do you know anyone named Faustina, and if so, does she like her name? Does she go by a nickname?

(Find out more about Divine Mercy Sunday here, and here‘s how to say the Divine Mercy Chaplet.) (And don’t forget to check in tomorrow to offer your name ideas for my littlest one! 🙂 )

18 thoughts on “Spotlight on: Faustina (and another announcement!)”

  2. WHAT IS THE GIRL NAME? 🙂 Please have a girl so we can know the name! :):) It’s funny, because with each surprise we have had one girl name and one boy name picked out prior to arriving at the hospital but then we never used the un-used name for a future baby. It’s amazing you’ve been sitting on a girl name through that many pregnancies! So fun!

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    • After hubby and I have a chance to talk more about names, I’ll see if I can share the girl name! I know others who don’t keep the unused name on the list for the future — I don’t think we’d be so wedded to a name if it was just one we liked, but it has a lot of family significance.

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    • Does anyone else think that it is totally ridiculous that she won’t share her own children’s names? I’m all for child safety and privacy online- it’s one reason I haven’t done a name consult, but she posts first and middle names of other people’s children, detailed family history, Mother’s maiden names, etc. I know those parents give permission and I LOVE to read this blog and all the posts, but it is odd to me that she cares so much about the safety/privacy of her own children and so little for those of her clients.

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      • So sorry you feel that way! It’s not true that I care “so little” for the safety/privacy of others’ children — I only post information that I’ve been given full permission to post — and I absolutely don’t require anyone to share anything they feel uncomfortable sharing. In fact, I don’t require that anyone share anything at all! I do many many private consultations for families that have similar concerns as I do.

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  3. Fia as a nickname gave me the idea of Fiat. We considered Faustina for our girl as a first or middle too. I liked it more than my husband did.

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  4. I know several Faustine/a children. One (Faustine) is in a family that you highlighted in the past. Then I know two 4-year-olds in our local group who have it as a middle (one Faustine and one Faustina).

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  8. Hi my name is Faustina… I was named after my late paternal grandmother who died when my dad was in the US army, that is why he was not there when she died. Honestly, I spent my childhood hating my name.. I am the sole owner of this name in my hometown, there was also an old lady with the same name when I was in the elementary. When then she passed away, then I am the only one. My father was very proud of that name, but not me because as a young girl I was ridiculed and compared to my younger sisters’ name which all sound beautiful in my ears…Arabella, Wanda, Verna and Hannelore. My father even challenged me to go to a lawyer and change my name. I think I deeply hurt my father because of that.. she loved her mother so well and to honor her she named her first daughter after her..

    At home they call me Ina, but in college I tried to change it to Tina. I am now proud of my name because of sister Faustina. I love to pray her 3 o’clock prayer!

    And by the way, before my father died I made sure my father knew that I am already happy with my name and told him about the divine mercy saint.

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