Spotlight on: Willow and Willa

sanctanomina Spotlight,

I’ve been planning for months to post this spotlight on the Friday before Palm Sunday, but being only a day late, and being before Palm Sunday, is, in this time, a real success on my end!

I read a charming piece at First Things a while ago by Brian Doyle called “Willow Sunday,” which was about a Palm Sunday during his growing up when his parish couldn’t afford palm fronds and used willow branches instead. Already my mind was clicking about the possibility of Willow for a Palm Sunday baby if I belonged to a parish that had a story like that when I read this bit in an article by Fr. Francis X. Reiser called “History of Palm Sunday”:

“The various names for the Sunday before Easter come from the plants used — palms (Palm Sunday) or branches in general (Branch Sunday; Domingo de Ramos; Dimanche des Rameaux). In most countries of Europe real palms are unobtainable, so in their place people use many other plants: olive branches (in Italy), box, yew, spruce, willows, and pussy willows. In fact, some plants have come to be called palms because of this usage, as the yew in Ireland, the willow in England (palm-willow) and in Germany (Palmkatzchen). From the use of willow branches Palm Sunday was called Willow Sunday in parts of England and Poland, and in Lithuania Verbu Sekmadienis (Willow-twig Sunday). The Greek Church uses the names Sunday of the Palm-carrying and Hosanna Sunday.” (my emphasis)

Willow Sunday is actually a name for Palm Sunday! (The Catholic Encyclopedia notes this as well.) I love the idea of Willow for a baby girl born on or near Palm Sunday!

Of course, I couldn’t do a spotlight on Willow and not include Willa, which at least one of you used in part as a nod to Willa Cather (which I swooned about when I first heard it and still do). Behind the Name has Willow as being from the Old English word welig, while Willa is a feminine form of William. I personally would consider both Willow and Willa if I wanted to name a baby girl after a William; similarly, I would consider both Willow and Willa if I wanted to name a baby girl after Palm Sunday. Do you agree? I love that both the holy Williams and Palm Sunday add some real Catholic oomph to these names!

What do you think of Willow and Willa? Have you named a daughter Willow or Willa, or would you? If so, is it because of Willa Cather or father/grandfather/uncle William, or did you already know about the Palm Sunday connection?

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 expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

8 thoughts on “Spotlight on: Willow and Willa”

  1. Willow is such a lovely name and indeed perfect for a Palm Sunday baby. 🙂 I like the sound of it, the nature connection, the Palm Sunday connection and its similarity to William which name I really like too, as well as many of its forms in different languages. Willa isn’t as much my thing but it is still lovely.
    I’ve been in love with the name Wilhelmina for a while now, and I think I’d use Wilhelmina to honour a William personally, first because it’s more practical and realistic for me as a Pole since Wilhelmina is a Polish name as well and would be easier to pronounce all that. Also it has a bigger nickname potential, and so many of WIlhelmina’s nicknames are just sooo cute. But I think if I was in an English-speaking country, maybe I would actually be more inclined to use Willow than Wilhelmina, because I guess Wilhelmina would feel clunky in English. Not that it wouldn’t in Polish, but in Polish there’s no less clunky alternative. On the other hand, wouldn’t a Wilhelmina nicknamed Willow be gorgeous? 🙂

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  2. I love these traditions from around the world! I grew up in Florida, and in grade school we would be sent out to the playground the week before Palm Sunday to gather palms for the church. It wasn’t until I moved up north as an adult that it occurred to me to wonder where other churches might get them that didn’t have them so readily available!

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  4. […] (5) Willa And here we go again with me breaking Megan’s rules! Willa isn’t Irish or Scottish (or Welsh or Cornish), BUT the mom of the family I linked to above with the Finnian and Bridget (their other daughter is Gemma! Initial G like Gr33r!) has said she loves the name Willa, and I keep thinking F!nni@n, Gr33r, and Willa sound amazing together! I spotlighted Willa here. […]

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  6. […] I looked through the Country/Western section of the BNW for inspiration, and was interested to see Willodean in there — because Zoey had mentioned Easter as a possible inspiration for this baby’s name because of her due date, I’d already been thinking of Easter-related names, and Willow and Willa are two of them! More specifically, they refer to Palm Sunday, but I think that’s close enough for what they’re thinking? I spotlighted them both and explained the connection here. […]

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