Is THREE consultation posts in one week a new Sancta Nomina record?? Could be! Don’t forget to check on Monday’s and Wednesday’s, if you haven’t already!

Christine and her husband are expecting their seventh baby — their fourth girl! This little lady joins big sibs:

Sylvester George (“This entire name was dictated by a family tradition of my husband’s. The firstborn son gets named after his grandfather — first and middle name. What this effectively does is make two names — Thomas Louis, and Sylvester George — alternate every generation. My son is the 8th generation *that we know of* to receive his name via this tradition. I kind of like that our kids mostly have names with a tangible meaning, and a ‘symbol’ I can draw for them when I label their ‘stuff.’ Sylvester means, basically, woodsman (or, as we like to say ‘lumberjack’) — so I use a tree symbol for him. He goes by the nickname Sly.”)

Stella Maris (“We knew we wanted to honor Our Lady with our first daughter’s name. We loved the name Stella, and decided to just use the full Marian title, by giving her ‘Maris’ as the middle name. Since Stella means ‘star,’ this is the symbol I draw for her. She goes by her full name Stella.”)

Linus Joseph (“My husband wasn’t as crazy about the name Linus as I was, but I was able to use the fact that I had had no choice in our first son’s name to get him to let me have my choice on our second! We both have a devotion to St. Joseph, so this was a natural choice for the middle name. We liked the fact that both our sons had ‘Pope names.’  Linus means ‘flaxen (haired),’ so I draw a bundle of flax for him. He goes by his full name Linus.”)

Flora Therese (“We didn’t settle on her name until after she was born. We were toying with a lot of different Marian name options, as we thought it would be really nice to name all our girls for Our Lady (whether in their first or middle name). But there were just no other names we found that we loved as much as we had loved Stella Maris. We were also considering the name ‘Rose’ — the name of my husband’s grandmother, and also just a beautiful name. But we felt it didn’t fit well with the ‘Latin theme’ we had started to develop. We landed on Flora, which we both thought was pretty, and chose another favorite Saint, Therese, as her secondary patron. I really like that the two names go together, as Therese is known as ‘the Little Flower.’ I draw a flower symbol for her. She goes by her full name Flora [though occasionally gets called Flo or Flossie].”)

Felix Amadeus (“This was another one by husband wasn’t as wild about, but let me have my way on. I liked that Felix was another Pope name, and one of the rare Latin boy names that didn’t end in the typical ‘-us’ suffix. And really, I just loved the meaning of the two names: Felix (happy/fortunate) and Amadeus (love of God) — and his personality fits it well! I draw a happy face as his symbol. He goes by his full name Felix.”)

Anastasia Rose (“Again, we really deliberated over her name, and didn’t manage to pick it until hours after she was born. We kept mulling over ways we could use the name Rose, but have it “work” with our other kids’ names.  Our top contender when I went into labor was probably Rosalia, but neither of us loved it. While holding her later in the hospital room, my husband was reading choices off of a big list of possible names we had made. When he said ‘Anastasia,’ the name really struck me. I suggested making it Anastasia Rose, and calling her by the double name of ‘Annie Rose’ (definitely inspired by the Alfie and Annie Rose picture books!). Also, my husband’s mother is named Anne, and his grandmother, as I mentioned, is named Rose — so there were some good family connections there. We decided to go with it, and I only later found out that my husband had totally ad-libbed that name suggestion on the spot — it wasn’t one we had ever put on our list! While Anastasia is technically a Greek name, we felt like it had the same feel of our other name choices, and so fit well. Anastasia means resurrection, so I usually draw a cross symbol for her. Everybody calls her Annie Rose … except my husband! He later decided that while he loves the sound of her name, calling her by the full name ‘Anastasia’ was too many syllables and didn’t roll off the tongue well; and he also realized that he dislikes the idea of a double name. So he’s been trying out the nickname ‘Ressi’ [a local nickname used in my neighborhood for ‘Resurrection’] as his personal pet name for her, but I’m not sure if it will stick.”)

I absolutely love all these names! This family’s style is really fun — elegant and unusual and just as Christine said: “less-common but recognizable first names.” Her hubby’s family tradition of Sylvester George is intense! I can’t believe that there are eight generations *that they know of* of firstborn sons having the same first and middle of his grandfather! Thomas Louis is fairly easy to work with, but Sylvester George is certainly not to everyone’s taste — but it seems perfect for this family, which is fantastic! Stella Maris, Linus Joseph, Flora Therese, Felix Amadeus, and Anastasia Rose are each just really stunning combos. Nice job! And I love how Christine draws little symbols to represent each one, I definitely kept that in mind as I worked on this. I also love Anastasia’s name story — Annie Rose is a darling nickname (I love the literary and family significance!), and I’m so intrigued by Ressi as well!

Christine writes,

“So, we’ve gotten ourselves sort of stuck into a naming theme now! We have chosen mostly Latinate names for our kids. This is probably partially because we attend the Traditional Latin Mass and so have a strong appreciation for the Latin language, and also because my husband is a big Roman history buff. Additionally, we have the world’s most common and boring last name, so I feel like we need to give our kids less-common but recognizable first names. I don’t have strong feelings about middle names — I mostly think of it as a good place to add another Saint whose name we wouldn’t necessarily use as a first name.

Unfortunately, we have always struggled more with our girl names! I’m really just looking for a pretty and feminine name that fits well with the others. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Latin, but it should have the right sound/feel. I’m not totally tied to the idea of her name having a meaning which is easily conveyed by a drawn symbol, but that could be considered a bonus. I think I care more about the sound of the name than the meaning, though I do usually consider both. I’m happy to learn about and develop a devotion to her name Saint *after* choosing the name. In light of my husband’s difficulties with Anastasia’s lengthy name, it’s probably best to stick with names which are less than four syllables, or that have a pretty and short nickname we could use.

Some names we have considered in the past:

• Aurelia: I love this one, but my husband isn’t so sure. I think mostly because many people pronounce the ‘e’ differently.
• Camilla: I don’t really love the sound of the name, but ‘Millie’ is one of my favorites for a nickname.
• Cora: We love the sound, and the fact that it would evoke The Sacred Heart, which I have a devotion to. But it rhymes with Flora! I’m open to other names with a Sacred Heart meaning.
• Cordelia/Cornelia: My husband and I each have fairly strong feelings about which we prefer, and I’m not sure if we can compromise!
• Eucharistica: I don’t know if we’re brave enough to ever actually use this one, because it’s an intense name! We saw it once, years ago, on a gravestone and it’s stuck with us.
• Fidelia
• Gloria
• Julia
• Louisa: Another name I like more than my husband. Louis is his middle name, so I like this one especially.
• Leora: My great-grandmother’s name, which I just think is unique.”

When I read Christine’s older children’s names, I was immediately eager to see what names she and her hubby are considering for this baby, and I wasn’t disappointed — what a great group of names! I thought I’d start by offering my thoughts on each of them, in case they’re helpful:

• Aurelia: Such a beautiful name! But yes, I’ve heard it said different ways, and some people are really baffled about how it should be said. I wonder if Aurea or Aurora would appeal?
• Camilla: I totally latched onto the fact that the nickname Millie is what Christine loves about Camilla — I kept that in mind in my suggestions below!
• Cora: Rhyming with Flora definitely presents a problem for Cora! It’s a beautiful name, and I love that they’d use it for the Sacred Heart (I often see it used for the Immaculate Heart of Mary — both such wonderful intentions!). I wonder if the longer Corinna might appeal? According to Behind the Name, which I consider to be one of the most trustworthy sites for name meanings, Cora and Corinna are both Latinized forms of the Greek for “maiden” (kore), which can given an extra Marian layer on top of the nods to the Immaculate Heart or the Sacred Heart because of cor meaning “heart” in Latin. I like that Corinna has both Latin and Greek connections, since they’ve used both Latin and Greek names!
• Cordelia/Cornelia: How funny that Christine and her husband each prefer one of these and dislike the other! Perhaps my Corinna idea above would be a good alternative that they could both agree on?
• Eucharistica: WOW! I’ve seen some intense names used by families I’ve worked with, but never Eucharistica! I’m with Christine — I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to use it as a first name, but I would LOVE it as a middle! It makes me think of the name Charis — a family I worked with named their daughter Charis because of it being contained in the word eucharist, which I thought was a very cool and accessible way to get a heavy dose of the faith in their child’s name. Charissa and Carissa are elaborated forms of Charis — would either of those appeal?
• Fidelia: I love Fidelia! However, one thing that I noticed is that they have two kids with S names, two with F’s, and one each with L and A, so adding in a third F might be a bit much? Or not! It also reminded me of this birth announcement — I think Christine will like that family’s style!
• Gloria: Until I encountered a little Gloria somewhat recently, I thought it was such an old lady name, haha! But I’ve come to love its beauty and faith connection!
• Julia: Beautiful, timeless.
• Louisa: I too love Louisa as a nod to Dad’s middle name, bummer that he doesn’t like it as much as Christine does!
• Leora: How cool that Christine has Leora in her family tree! I would definitely agree that it’s a unique name — I haven’t ever seen it in real life — but something funny is that when I was doing research for this family (you all know that I start each consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard [affiliate link] as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity) and I looked up Leora (not even expecting to find it — the rarer names don’t tend to have their own entries in the BNW), not only did it indeed have its own entry, but Flora and Aurelia are style matches for it! Wow! Christine and her hubs have such consistent taste!

So those are my thoughts on the names on their list — now on to my new ideas! As noted above, I did my usual research in the BNW, and I also went through the lists on Behind the Name of Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman, and Late Roman names as well as names from Roman Mythology, and I had a couple ideas of my own for them as well:

(1) Caecilia, Caeli

Cecilia is much beloved by so many Catholic families that I feel like they must have already considered this one and decided they don’t like it, but it was the first one I thought of for them because of a family I worked with whose daughter’s name was spelled Caecilia, which is the “original Latin form of Cecilia,” according to Behind the Name. I love that! I don’t know how the family I worked with pronounces their daughter’s name, but Behind the Name says it’s pronounced kie-KEE-lee-a, which could be awesome, but I also think you could just use seh-SEE-lee-a. Or chay-CHEE-lee-a! Being into Latin and names, Christine probably knows that Cecilia means “blind,” which some parents who are particularly into name meanings really dislike (I addressed that here), but I would definitely focus on St. Cecilia’s connection to music, which would make a little musical note a perfect symbol for their baby!

Caecilia made me think of Caeli, which I see here and there in the families that I work with as a nod to Our Lady’s title Regina Caeli. Or they could spell it Coeli and really confuse everyone! On the one hand, I like that Caeli doesn’t end in A — I like how Christine noted that one of the things she liked about Felix was that it’s one of the few Latin boy names that doesn’t end in -us, and I thought similarly about Caeli. But then, all of her other girls have names that end in A, which makes me want them to continue it! Maybe Caeli could be a nickname for Caecilia? All sorts of layers of meaning in that!

(2) Regina

I mentioned Caeli, but what about the first part of that Marian title: Regina? Like with Cecilia, I feel like they must have considered Regina at some point and decided they don’t like it. But I was inspired to include it here because Christine said she’s “open to other names with a Sacred Heart meaning,” and I’d done a name spotlight a while ago on the name Ruby (which is a style match for Stella and Annie!) at the request of a reader who loved it and wanted to figure out some faith connections, and one of the main ones I made an argument for was in honor of the Sacred Heart! I think many people who might love the faith connections for Ruby might not love Ruby as a given name — which is my assumption about Christine and her hubby as well — so I’d offered several first+middle pairings in that post that I thought could nickname to Ruby, and Regina Kolbe was one, which Christine might like, but then I thought she might like Regina Beata even more! So that’s my suggestion here: Regina Beata, which translates as “blessed Queen” and is a clear reference to Our Lady, continuing the Marian nods they have in each of their girls’ names, with the nickname Ruby, which is for the Sacred Heart. Christine could draw a little crown for a symbol, or a little jewel, depending on her drawing skills!

(3) Aemilia, Emmelia, Emilia

Aemilia’s one of the first names on one of the lists of Latin names I looked through, which could be great — another A name, like Anastasia, which continues their pattern of having pairs of names with the same initial! One St. Amelia, also known as St. Amalburga of Mauberge, has her feast day on July 10, which is really close to Christine’s due date! Then I thought about Emmelia, which I think is said basically the same but I believe is Greek, so that could be nice for Anastasia — some of my readers with Eastern leanings (including this mama who’s actually Eastern Orthodox, and shared some more info about St. Emmelia in that post) often mention her as a Saint they love, and her feast day is May 30 — even closer to Christine’s due date! Or the spelling Emilia, which is the spelling of St. John Paul’s mom, whose cause for canonization is open. So many great options! (Though do know they apparently all have different etymologies: “rival” for Aemilia vs. “melodius” for Emmelia [according to the Eastern Orthodox mom, though Behind the Name didn’t offer a meaning] vs. “work” for Emilia.) But for all of them, the thing that excited me the most about including them for this baby is that they can all take Millie as a nickname! I couldn’t think of a little symbol for these names though — maybe it can come from the middle name?

(4) Helena

Speaking of holy mothers, I like Helena for this baby! I like that it, like Cora, is a Latinized form of a Greek name, which is a nice connection between Stella/Flora and Anastasia. I admit I was caught up in Christine’sa little symbols and so I love that Helena is thought to mean “torch” or related to the Greek for “moon,” both of which lend themselves nicely to little symbols!

(5) Perpetua, Pia

Perpetua’s probably pushing it in terms of length, but when I saw it in one of the Latin lists, my heart leapt. Perpetua! Such a great, Catholicky Catholic name that can nod to both Our Lady under title Our Lady of Perpetual Help and also the wonderful St. Perpetua! I’ve thought of Pep/Peppie, Pippa/Pippi, and Poppy as nicknames for Perpetua (probably not Peppa though, right? Because of Peppa the Pig? I’ve never seen it though, maybe that’s a fun association for a little girl?), and I also have a friend who named her daughter Perpetua and calls her Tua. AND Perpetua’s symbol could be the sign for infinity (sideways 8)! So easy and fun!

I’ve also thought Pia could work as a nickname for Perpetua, which is great, but it made me think that maybe they’d like to consider Pia as a given name! It seems like perfect balance to Anastasia’s length, being only three letters, but at the same time it’s two syllables like Stella and Flora, and it’s Marian as well — Our Lady is referred to as pia in the Salve Regina. I’m starting to see Pia here and there on parents’ lists of names, and the actor David Henrie and his wife, who are devout Catholics, named their daughter Pia! (Pia Philomena Francesca, to be exact. What a name! I love it!) (I’m assuming Christine’s not interested in Philomena, right? Too long, right? But if she could be swayed … Millie could work as a nickname for Philomena!)

(6) Lucia

This is another of those names that I feel like Christine and her hubby must have discussed and moved on from, since I feel like it’s a sort of obvious addition to a list of feminine Latin names, but not only do I love the name and its meaning (a Lucia’s symbol could be a light bulb or a flame or a torch like Helena), and also that it can be Marian via the title Our Lady of Light, and also that you could really go Latin and use Lux as a nickname, but also that Lucia starts with L like Linus! Continuing their pairs-of-same-initials pattern!

(7) Maria, Mariae

My last suggestion is another that I’m sure they’ve discussed, but hear me out. Maria is, I believe, both the Latin and Greek form of Mary, which is awesome, and it’s classic, straightforward, and ends in A like the other girls. Because of its familiarity, it can balance a more adventurous middle name nicely — maybe Maria Eucharistica? OR! Ooh! Maria Laetitia nicknamed Millie!!

If they’d like a Mary name but Maria’s a little too tame, a name that *feels* even more Latin is Mariae, which is the genitive form of Maria — it literally means “of/belonging to Mary,” which is such an incredible meaning! In fact, Mariae was a frontrunner for us for a middle name if we ever had a girl (seven boys and no girls!). I admit that, as much as I love Mariae, I don’t love that it doesn’t end in A like their other girls, but maybe that’s okay with them? For both Maria and Mariae, maybe Christine could do the Auspice Maria (AM intertwined) or another of the Marian monograms (this is the one on my book’s cover) for her symbol?

Those are my “official” suggestions, but there were some other names that were in the Roman/Latin lists of names that intrigued me, so I thought I’d include them here just in case:

• Benedicta
• Clara
• Dominica
• Donata
• Justina
• Katerina
• Margarita
• Matrona
• Maura
• Petronilla
• Silvia
• Veronica
• Viviana

And I also thought about Zoe, too — a super-short-feeling name like Pia that’s Greek like Anastasia.

Those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Sylvester, Stella, Linus, Flora, Felix, and Anastasia?

---

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 (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life! (And check out my buy-the-book-get-a-consultation deal!)