Happy feast of Sts. Anne and Joachim!! As you all know, St. Anne is the patroness of my blog and I’ve asked for her intercession many many times over the past few years, for all of your intentions and for my own. In fact, I just finished another novena to her, in which I included all of you. ❤ Such a great saint, and such a great day!

You guys had so many good ideas when I asked in last month’s giveaway for possible ways of honoring St. Anne in a boy’s name! Several of you asked for the results, which I’d planned to compile into one post anyway, and her feast day seemed the best day to do it! Here they are, culled from the comments left on the blog post and those left in the entries on Rafflecopter — you guys had so many great ideas!

Names starting with An-

This is generally where my mind goes as well, when trying to think of boy names that could honor St. Anne. These are the ones you all suggested (the quotes in parentheses are comments left by the commenter):

Ananias

Andrew, Andre, Anselm, Anthony, Antonio, Antonin, Anton

Anders and Anderson (“from Anne-dear’s and Anne-dear’s-son“)

Anne (Dutch boy’s name)

Anno (“It’s got a hip feel with the “-o” at the end (like Milo or Hugo). And easy to spell“)

Anson (“Our son is named in her honor. Anson means son of Anne. We credit him to her direct intercession“)

Antioch

 

Names containing “Stan” (St. An-) or that mean St. Anne

Santana (“(used for both boys or girls) but is in the top 1000 for boys. Literally St. Ann meaning name“)

Stanislaus, Stanley

 

Names containing “an” or “han” (from Hannah, which is a cognate of Anne)

Amantius (“Latin for loving“)

Ambrose (not technically An-, but sounds like it!)

Athanasius

Daniel, Danny

Ferdinand

Francis

Grant (“another one with “an” in it, and as a word could reference all the graces and blessings one would hope to be granted through such a wonderful patron’s intercession!“)

Hanan (“masc. form of Hannah*“) (*my note: Hanan means “gracious” and is the name of some minor Old Testament characters)

Giovanni, Hans, Ian, Johannes (“Etymologically related,* plus contains “Anne” right in there“) (*my note: the John names ARE etymologically related! Anne means “favor, grace” and the John names mean “Yahweh is gracious.” I would add in Evan here as well.)

Julian

Manuel, Manny

Marian

Nathan

Roman

Rowan

Santiago

Sebastian

Stefan

Xander

 

Names whose meanings (etymological and otherwise) are connected to St. Anne

Armo (“It shares some sounds with Anne (the initial a, the nasal n/m), fits in with the popular ‘two-syllable, ends in ‘o” trend for boys and, while rare, it’s easy to spell and pronounce … According to behindthename.com (and Google Translate), Armo means ‘grace’ (or perhaps ‘mercy’) in Finnish, which links it through meaning to the name Anne … For an added St Anne connection, Armo is also the name of a commune in Italy. The parish church of Armo is dedicated to the Natività di Maria – the birth of Mary … One possible drawback – a google search of ‘Armo’ seems to indicate that it is sometimes used as slang referring to Armenian people. I’ve never heard of that term where I live, but it would be something to consider and research to ensure it’s not an offensive term where the parents live“)

Augustine (“great, venerable”)

Chariton (“grace, kindness”)

Esmond (“grace” + “protection”)

Gracen/Grayson/Greyson, Gratian (“because of the first syllable being “grace” – the name meaning of Ann/Anne“) (my note: I have Gratian in my book as it’s basically the male version of grace — works perfectly for St. Anne!)

Graham (“I’m taking this as a name-ization of “Gram” short for grandmother names, since St Anne was Jesus’s grandma. My sisters and I call our grandma Grammy and often shorten it to Gram, and graham crackers have been referenced jokingly over the years too. (: “)

Porter, Durward (“Porter means “gatekeeper,” and I first learned of this name from the porter character in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I think it is perfect for honoring St. Anne, St. Joachim, and Mary. A famous wood etching called Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate depicts St. Joachim and pregnant St. Anne meeting at the Golden Gate of Israel upon both learning that St. Anne has finally conceived. (This account is not in the Gospel but is in the Protoevangelium of James.) Thus, tying in the “gate” theme and honoring St. Anne. I think it has cute nickname potential of Port or Ports“) (“drawing on Anne’s iconography, perhaps Porter or Durward (‘door guard’) would work as a reference to Anne’s association with doors“)

Sulo (“apparently means ‘grace’ (in the sense of charm) in Finnish“)

Valentine (“as a nod to her role as ‘health of the sick’“)

 

Names of people important to St. Anne

Joachim (husband)

Mary and all Marian variants (daughter)

 

Can you believe this amazing bunch of names?? You guys did great! I’d love to know which of these is your favorite way to honor St. Anne, and if you’d ever consider any of them for a son in her honor. Have a wonderful feast day!

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My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady, is now available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon! It’s a perfect for expectant mamas, baby showers, and just because. Click here to read reviews and endorsements (and if you feel moved to leave a review on Amazon, it would be greatly appreciated! 🙂).