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A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know her little girl has arrived and been given the a-MAZ-ing name … Sunday Josephine!

She writes,

“When we went to the hospital, our top choice was Sunny — it was a name we both liked early on, and our both of our kids liked it, too — but it honestly did not feel like “the one” to me. My reservation was that it felt very nickname-y.

The middle name, Josephine, just came to me one day. We wanted something on the serious side to balance out Sunny, that would flow well, and that was not a noun (“Sunny Clementine”). As you know, Joseph was a top choice on our boy list. The name is really special to me since it honors my dad, who passed away on the Feast of St. Joseph, and my surrogate grandfather, whose name was Joseph. I noticed that Joseph is listed in your book as a Marian name, so I feel like Josephine can be Marian also. My husband agreed that we both love the name, and we have plenty of other boy names if we have a son in the future, so we decided to use it.

As I mentioned, I did not feel like Sunny was THE name. So we were sitting in the hospital room on the day she was born, and my husband was reassuring me that Sunny was the name. He said something like, “We have to name her Sunny, it’s such a sunny Sunday.” I had a light bulb moment and asked him, “What if we name her Sunday and use Sunny as a nickname?” He did not jump on it, which did not surprise me. What did surprise me was when he brought it up again a few hours later because he liked it too!

So that’s the story — Sunday Josephine, but we usually call her Sunny. It’s completely different than where I thought we would end up, but we love it.”

How great is this story and this NAME?!! Sunday Josephine called Sunny?? I die! As I told the mama, it’s not often that I’m surprised by a name choice, I LOVE being surprised! And Sunny is just the best, sweetest nickname, I love everything about this. Kudos to these parents for a bold yet traditional, faith-filled choice with such a great, friendly nickname! (Fun fact: Notre Dame du Dimanche means “Our Lady of Sunday” in French [feast day June 8], and as a result Dimanche and Sunday are included in my book of Marian names. ❤ )

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Sunday!!

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My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!