(I just wanted to let you all know that yesterday’s book signing was such a wonderful event! My editor and a videographer from Marian Press came to interview me on camera and take some photos — once they’re available I’ll be sure to share them! In the meantime, here are two I shared on Instagram:

Such an awesome display as you first walked into the shop! My dear friend Jan, who owns my local Catholic shop, The Giver of Life Gift Shoppe, had it all set up for me and the bebe to stay nice and cool while chatting with customers and signing books. ❤ You can buy my book on The Giver of Life Gift Shoppe’s web site, if you’d like to support their efforts.)

I’ve had the great privilege of posting two consultations (here and here) and two birth announcements (here and here) for today’s family since I started the blog — so fun to be able to do another consultation for this growing family!

Josh and Mari are expecting their eighth baby — their third boy! He joins big sibs:

Ariana Camille
Audrey Caroline
Caleb Daniel
Amelia Clare (“Millie”)
Anne-Catherine Gianna (“Gianna” or “Gigi”)
Charles Michael (“Charlie”)
Anessa Corinne

I just love all the names they’ve chosen, such a handsomely named bunch of kids!

Josh writes,

“As we’ve discussed before, we have an A-C theme going with our girls, and the boys have C first names with family middle names (Caleb Daniel with my middle name, Charles Michael with Mari’s brother’s middle name).

We also like to pick names with a saintly connection in the birth month, although this is not a requirement.

Some thoughts we’ve had, some of which we previously considered with Charles:

First:
Christopher
Christian
Clement
Kolbe

Middle:
Gabriel
Emmanuel

Our kids have expressed a liking for Christian Gabriel, which we also like, but want to think on it.”

Of course I love the names they’re considering — Christopher and Christian are both great names for a Christmastime baby, and Christian Gabriel is an amazing combination, I really really like it. I also love that they’re considering Emmanuel for a middle name — not only does it follow the middle name theme they have with their other boys (and Gabriel) in that it ends in -el, but it’s obviously very Christmasy as well. Josh said they’d like to have a connection to a saint in the month of birth if possible, but with the month being December, it would be so neat to have a Christmas connection as well! (There’s also a St. Christian of Perugia with a feast day on Dec. 1.)

Clement and Kolbe are both wonderful also, and there are two Sts. Clement with feasts during December that I could find: St. Clement of Alexandria on Dec. 4 and St. Clemente Marchisio on Dec. 16. I know that St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast is in August, but something like Kolbe Emmanuel would tie into December/Christmas nicely.

Since they have an ends-in-el theme going with their boys’ middle names, and they’ve already used Daniel and Michael and are considering Gabriel and Emmanuel, I just wanted to add the following to their list for the future, in case they’re helpful:

• Samuel
• Nathaniel
• Raphael
• Joel
• Axel
• Abel
• Ezekiel
• Reuel (like Tolkien — his name was John Ronald Reuel [J.R.R.] Tolkien)
• Noel (for another Christmas option)

I know they’ve drawn from family names for their older boys’ middle names, so maybe ends-in-el isn’t something they care about continuing, but I thought it might be helpful to offer these ideas anyway.

In terms of first names, I turned to the Baby Name Wizard, as I always do, looking up all their older kiddos’ names and the names they’re considering to see if there are any other C names that are similar to their style. Then I went to CatholicSaints.info, and looked up each day in December to see which saints have December feast days, looking for those that begin with C. Based on all that, these are my additional suggestions for this family beyond their already excellent list of Christopher, Christian, Clement, and Kolbe:

(1) Cassian
I really like the name Cassian and the nickname Cash, so cool! St. Cassian of Rome’s feast day is Dec. 1, and St. Cassian of Tangiers’ feast is Dec. 3.

(2) Colman
I like Colman since it’s got that same “kole” beginning sound as Kolbe, but begins with a C. St. Colman of Clonard and St. Colman of Glendalough both celebrate their feasts on Dec. 12.

(3) Cormac
Cormac’s an Irish name like Colman, and St. Cormac celebrates his feast day on the same day as the Sts. Colman mentioned above (Dec. 12)! I like that Cormac allows for the nickname Mac.

(4) Cyril
I’m not sure if going with a soft C sound is something Josh and Mari would like to consider, and there aren’t any Cyrils with feast days during December, but I wrote an article on names drawn from the O Antiphons — the antiphons said during Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours in the week before Christmas — and one of the names I included was Cyril, as it means “Lord,” which connects with the O Adonai (O Lord) antiphon.

(5) Colin or Cole
Both Colin and Cole can be nicknames for or variants of Nicholas — a pretty sneaky-cool way of honoring St. Nicholas (feast: Dec. 6) with a C name!

(6) Cooper (Cupertino?)
This is 100% inspired by my research in the BNW — I didn’t find the BNW to be terribly helpful for this family, but I did like the idea of Cooper, which is a style match for Colby (Kolbe doesn’t have its own entry, and I thought the matches for Colby could be helpful). I’ve seen at least two devout families use Cooper — one as a given name, and one as a nickname for Cupertino, both in honor of St. Joseph of Cupertino. I thought that was such a neat and unexpected idea! Since it doesn’t have a connection to December, the December connection could come through the middle name, like Cupertino Noel or Cooper Emmanuel.

Those are my new ideas for Josh and Mari’s little boy, but I wanted to repeat some from past consultations as well, specifically:

• Conrad: St. Conrad of Offida’s feast day is Dec. 12.
• Casper: Casper’s traditionally assigned to one of the Three Wise Men (or its variants Jasper and Gaspar, depending on where you’re looking), and the Wise Men’s feast is January 6 — this might be a good option if the baby is overdue and comes in early January. Even if the baby comes in December, if they liked the idea of a Christmas name, Casper might still suit, since their feast is during the season of Christmas (which ends on the feast of the Epiphany, which was Jan. 6 in the old calendar but has since changed in many places to the Sunday following, I believe.)

Speaking of early January, I also looked up the feast days through Jan. 6, just in case the baby comes past his due date, and would add that Sts. Colman mac Ronan and Colman Muillin of Derrykeighan also have their feast on Jan. 1.

There were also a few C names for saints in December that I didn’t think were really their style, but I thought I’d list them here just in case:

• St. Crispin of Africa, Dec. 3
• St. Cyran of Brenne, Dec. 4
• St. Cyprian of Perigueux, Dec. 9 (I kind of like Cyprian actually …)
• St. Peter Canisius, Dec. 21 (maybe Canisius as a first name?)

And those are all my thoughts/ideas/suggestions for Josh and Mari’s little guy! What do you all think? What other ideas would you offer them?

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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! 🙂).