Mandi from A Blog About Miscarriage has been a cheerleader for Sancta Nomina from the beginning, and I have turned to her and her blog again and again for help with ministering to moms who have miscarried, including helping to name the babies. Since her own many losses were the catalyst for her blog and ministry, I’m extra happy every time I can share her baby news! I had the great privilege of doing a consultation for her second living baby (and birth announcement) as well as one for her third living baby (and birth announcement), and now I’m excited to share that she’s had her fourth — a baby girl given the so-beautiful name … Maria Therese nicknamed Maite!

Mandi writes,

“Maria Therese was born on November 26 in the midst of a snowstorm that left 19.8” of snow! She is named after the Mother of God and David’s two grandmothers, who were both named Mary, and St. Therese of Lisieux. I call her Maite (pronounced my-tay), a traditional Spanish nickname for girls named Maria Teresa. Her biggest sister and my parents have been calling her Mimi and big brother calls her “fluffy”.

Her name was really easy to choose and we knew we would name our next girl (if we were so blessed) Maria Therese long before we were even pregnant with her. Maria continues our trend of girls names that end in “ia” and it was about time to name a little lady after Our Lady. We started saying a daily rosary as a family earlier this year and both my husband and I have strong devotions to the Blessed Mother (David to Our Lady of Fatima and I to Our Lady of Guadalupe). We chose her name day to be January 1st, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, which is a Holy Day of Obligation and our oldest’s baptism day. I love that Therese has a connection to my middle name and my oldest’s middle name, Rose, since St Therese of Lisieux is the “Little Flower” and often associated with roses.

Interestingly, we didn’t find out the sex before birth and our chosen boy’s name was Joseph. I always felt a bit silly when asked about names saying the baby was either Joseph or Maria- the two most quintessential Catholic names! We often got little chuckles when we told people. It just lined up that way this time, Joseph has been our planned boys name for our last two pregnancies (and if we have another baby will be the boy’s name again, we always carry name choices forward to the next baby).”

What an awesome name story!! You know I’m crazy for Marian names, and Maite has long been a favorite of mine (I love Mimi too, but Fluffy is definitely a contender for my favorite here! 😂). I love that they chose a name day for Maite as well! This is just perfection, all around!

Congratulations to Mandi and her husband and big sibs Lucia, David (Davey), and Cecilia (Cici), and happy birthday Baby Maria Therese!!

Maria Therese “Maite” with her big siblings ❤

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 — a perfect🎄Christmas gift🎄 for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!