Today’s consultation is from a dad! I love when papas write to me! Mat and his wife are expecting their third earthly baby — and third daughter! She joins big sisters:

Gianna Marie (“after St. Gianna Beretta Molla and Mary“)
Charlotte Josephine (“after John Paul II and St. Joseph; also sometimes goes by Charley or Char“)

And two siblings in heaven:

Augustine Robert (“after St. Augustine and Robert after a friend who passed away around that time“)
Gabriel Mathew (“after St. Gabriel and his Dad“)

So lovely. So saintly. Just wonderful names all around!

Mat writes,

“We have discussed our name situation and here is what we have. It’s been much harder to even narrow down the name this time!

While we like the idea of something unique, we don’t want something that is too difficult to pronounce or is really unheard of. Mat has always wanted a baby named after someone who has yet to be canonized or who was a martyr. Ideally, we want a name that emphasizes female strength and empowerment as raising them to be bold, saintly women is something we really value and is a big part of our family culture. We got married on the feast of Maximilian Kolbe so maybe that could go into the consideration.”

(I just love that: “Ideally, we want a name that emphasizes female strength and empowerment as raising them to be bold, saintly women is something we really value and is a big part of our family culture.”)

“Names we like (asterisks are our favorites so far):
Cecilia* (Mat grew up in the Omaha, NE archdiocese so this name has always appealed to him)
Quinn
Lydia*
Felicity*
Lucia/Lucille/Lucy (would be called Lucy)*
Hope*
Elizabeth (seems really common right now)*
Madeline or Magdalene*
Elodie* (Kelly thinks this sounds pretty, though Mat isn’t the biggest fan)

Names we can’t do:
Chiara
Clare
Abby
Agnes
Elle
Adeline
Amelia
Emily
Brittany
Janet
Patricia
Harper
Danika
Nanette
Amy
Grace
Beth
Valerie
Suzanne
Edith/Edie
Dorothy
Zelie
Caeli

Thank you so much for helping us with such an eternal decision!“

I love how feminine and full of faith significance their girls’ names are, and I’m confident they’ll end up choosing a name just as perfect for this baby girl! Not least because they have a great list they’re working with already! I thought I’d start by offering thoughts on the names on their list, in case they’re helpful:

• Cecilia: Great name, obviously saintly, good nickname options. It goes well with both Gianna and Charlotte, nice option! I like the Omaha connection too, that’s a nice little story.
• Quinn: I love Ven. Edel Quinn and Quinn is a really fun way to nod to her. It’s not as feminine as Gianna and Charlotte, but it’s spunky and fits in with Charlotte’s nickname of Charley well.
• Lydia: I’ve always loved Lydia, and I love that a little Lydia would have her own color, as Lydia in the bible was a seller of purple cloth!
• Felicity: This name jumped right out to me as a name that checks all their boxes, including the female strength + empowerment + “bold, saintly women” emphasis they value. I also really like that it offers sort of a third style of feminine name to go with their girls; that is, Gianna is very Italian, Charlotte isn’t as obviously ethnic but is French, and Felicity is neither of those, which is quite nice I think.
• Lucia/Lucille/Lucy: The Lucy names are great! Lucia fits in well with Gianna’s Italian feel, Lucille is French like Charlotte, and Lucy is like Felicity to me — it’s neither French nor Italian and offers a nice third style option while fitting in well with both Gianna and Charlotte. (Do note that I’m not suggesting they avoid Italian name or French names! But sometimes having the characteristics of current children’s names and those on the list of possibilities pointed out can help parents clarify what’s important to them/what they want in a name.)
• Hope: I love the name Hope and wish it got more usage! It’s so simple and pretty, and Marian! (Our Lady of Hope.)
• Elizabeth: They’re right, it is common right now (no. 13 on the most recent SSA list [2018]), but Charlotte is no. 6 and Gianna is no. 80 so it’s not totally out of line with their older girls’ names (top 100 names are in the same general category, I’d say). Lydia, Lucy, and Madeline are also top 100 names (89, 51, and 100, respectively). Here are the others’ rankings:
  — Cecilia: 155
  — Quinn: not in top 1000 for girls; no. 384 for boys
  — Felicity: 354
  — Lucia/Lucille: 183/295
  — Hope: 255
  — Magdalene: not in top 1000
  — Elodie: not in top 1000

An option in regard to Elizabeth is to spell it Elisabeth, which is no. 789, and while a change in spelling only goes so far in making a name feel different, a nice bonus with the Elisabeth spelling is that it’s the spelling of Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur. Have you heard of her? I thought of her immediately when they said, “Mat has always wanted a baby named after someone who has yet to be canonized” — she’s an amazing woman with an amazing story!

• Madeline or Magdalene: I love both of these. Madeline is more mainstream, as its popularity shows (no. 100 in 2018), while Magdalene is more offbeat (it didn’t rank in the top 1000 in 2018).
• Elodie: It does sound pretty! Elizabeth/Elisabeth and Elodie can both take the Ellie/Ella nicknames.

I love Mat and Kelly’s focus on holy female strength, and I really tried to keep that in mind while I was compiling the list of ideas for them, as well as the “naming after someone who has yet to be canonized or who was a martyr” bit. And St. Maximilian Kolbe! It was fun to try to find ideas that could nod to him!

You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I start there because figuring out a couple’s style is a huge part of coming up with name ideas that I think they might like; within that universe is where I try to find/make saint/faith connections. I don’t stick exclusively to the BNW results, but they’re so helpful! Anyway, based on the BNW research and the parameters Mat and his wife offered, these are the ideas I came up with for this baby:

(1) Julia or Juliet
Several of my readers are devoted to Servant of God Julia Greeley, so, like Elisabeth Leseur, she came right to mind when I read that they might like to name a baby after someone who isn’t yet canonized. And then Julia did well for them in my research! It’s a style match for Lydia, Elizabeth, and Madeline. Juliet, which started as a diminutive of Julia and can take all the holy Julias as patron, is a little more offbeat, a little more “something unique” as they said they like, AND it’s a style match for Felicity and Hope! I spotlighted Juliet here, which includes a discussion of patron saints; Julia Greeley isn’t included (I don’t think I was aware of her yet when I wrote it), but you can read more about her here. My only hesitation with Julia/Juliet is that it starts with the same sound as Gianna, and I don’t know if they’d want to avoid that? Otherwise, I love them for them.

(2) Isabel
They have Elizabeth on their list already, and Isabel’s a variant of it, which might make it seem weird that I’m suggesting it here, but Isabelle is a match for Charlotte, Isabella is a match for Gabriel, and Isabel is a match for Madeline, and I chose Isabel as the variant to suggest because I like that it’s neither Italian nor French (like what I said about Felicity and Lucy above).

(3) Eloise or Louisa
Eloise is only a match for Madeline, but it immediately struck me as maybe a combination of or compromise between Lucia and Elodie. Unfortunately its saintly connection isn’t quite so great — it’s a variant of Heloise, and while there’s this blessed, most of what I found when I tried to find whether there was a St. Eloise was the story of Peter Abelard and his wife, which is pretty tragic and not very holy. Eloise made me think of Louisa, which is also very similar to Lucia — and, I think, can also take the nickname Lucy — but it has a different feel, more English or German. I like Louisa with Gianna and Charlotte.

(4) Clara or Cora
They said Chiara and Clare are both names they can’t do, so I would have assumed that Clara is included in that too, BUT they have Elle and Beth on that same list, which didn’t prevent them from having Elizabeth on their list, so I’m taking a chance that Clara’s okay! It’s a style match for Lydia and Lucia, and like Louisa, Clara has an English or German feel, which I like with the Italian Gianna and the French Charlotte. Clara made me think of Cora — a similar sound/rhythm but without the Clare connection. I’ve had several readers name daughters Cora for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and/or the Sacred Heart of Jesus because of cor meaning “heart” in Latin.

(5) Rose, Rosa
I thought the female Doctors of the Church would be a great place to look for name inspiration for this family, and while I’m swoony over the nickname Hildi and would recommend Hildegard for that reason, I didn’t think it was quite their style. But Rosa is a match for Lucia and I thought of how roses are so connected to St. Therese, and I love the sweet, spare feel of both Rose and Rosa, so I thought they deserved a mention. There are some other holy Roses too, and of course Our Lady: Mystical Rose, the rosary, golden roses on her feet at Lourdes and roses in the tilma at Guadalupe, etc.

(6) Catherine or Siena
St. Catherine of Siena, another Doctor of the Church, always strikes me as the definition of holy female strength, and since Catherine is a style match for Cecilia and Elizabeth, I thought it would be a great option for Mat and his wife. I didn’t want to leave out Siena as an option, though — being a place name, it has a surname feel, like Quinn, that they might like (though is it too similar to Gianna?).

(7) Avila
Speaking of place names, what about Avila, for Doctor of the Church Teresa of Avila? I quite like that it’s Spanish, which is cool that they’d have an Italian name, a French name, and a Spanish name.

(8) Mary Kolbe or Maria Kolbe or Maria Immaculata
I spent a bit of time reading about St. Maximilian Kolbe for ideas to suggest. I love that Mat and his wife were married on his feast day! Both Mary/Maria and Immaculata rose to the surface immediately as feminine names that are so heavily connected to him. For one thing, he took Maria as a second religious name, which is pretty cool. Another is that St. Max named his group Militia Immaculatae — I’m a huge fan of Immaculata as a middle name! I like both Mary Immaculata and Maria Immaculata, and can see Mim being a really sweet nickname for them. They could also do Mary Kolbe or Maria Kolbe, which could be really cool as a double first name maybe? Or a first+middle, of course.

(9) Frances/Francesca/Franciszka or Faustina
My last idea has a bunch of connections for what Mat and his wife are looking for, I think. Both St. Maximilian Kolbe and Servant of God Julia Greeley were Franciscans (Conventual and Secular, respectively), so I liked the idea of Frances or Francesca as a way to nod to either of them. I also liked it for St. (Mother) Frances Xavier Cabrini — the first American citizen to be canonized. Francesca is the Italian variant, which I love (Mother Cabrini’s also known as Francesca), and then I thought to look up the Polish variant too: Franciszka is lovely! Still on the Polish kick because of St. Max, I wondered if a well-known, female Polish saint might be a good nod to him and immediately thought of Faustina. I often see Faustina used by families who have daughters with names like Gianna and Charlotte. (I’m also now wondering if they might like to consider Cabrini as a first name?)

And those are my ideas for Mat and Kelly’s baby girl! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Gianna and Charlotte?

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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!