I’ve had the great privilege of posting two previous birth announcements for Elizabeth (here and here), and I’m delighted to share yet another! Elizabeth and her husband named their new baby boy the amazing … Paschal Joseph!

Elizabeth writes,

“[Y]ou’ve posted birth/name announcements for my babies in the past, and I just had another in December, so I wanted to share, especially because his name came up as an extra/bonus suggestion in one of your recent consultations! I was like  lol!

I am pleased to introduce baby Paschal Joseph, born on December 8th. Pronounced “Pass-Cal” with cal as in calorie; the same as the chameleon in Tangled.

You can read his birth story if you feel inclined (: “

(I AM so inclined! I LOVE birth stories!!)

“And of course I know you want to know the name story!

I’d had Paschal on my list for years, after having scoured lists of saints names for anything I liked the sound of. There is a Pope St Paschal, which was my intro. It was in our top 2-3 boy names when I was pregnant with Cecily, so we were researching more about each name, and found St Paschal Baylon, who had a great devotion to the Eucharist, and according to some sources is a patron of vocations to the priesthood (although he was a lay Franciscan brother himself). We would absolutely LOVE for God to call any or all of our sons to the priesthood, so finding this particular saint sealed the deal on this name for us, had Cecily been a boy. Then this time around, I took the positive pregnancy test Easter weekend, and since “paschal” (rhymes with rascal here) as an adjective means relating to Easter, that sealed the deal that it was still the right name — if it was a boy — this time. We chose the spelling Paschal to associate it more with Easter and less with math (ie. Blaise Pascal / Pascal’s triangle), although we also don’t mind the math reference: Justin (my husband) is an engineer, and I, “just for fun,” added a math minor to my English and Spanish majors in college.

Joseph had been the plan for a second boy’s middle name basically forever. My grandpa was Joseph (“Joe”), and my husband’s grandpa was Bobby Joe, and we lost both these grandpas before having any kids, so we liked the idea of honoring both of them. Plus, Miryam’s middle name is after me, Luke’s is after Justin, Cecily’s is after Justin’s confirmation saint, and my confirmation saint is St Josephine, so Joseph for a boy fits right in. Additionally, I had unofficially taken St Joseph as a patron of our family years ago, and then officially did a consecration to him just before this baby was born. It was only too perfect that our little Paschal Joseph came on the final day of the year of St Joseph, since his name had been picked out since 2019.

I’d been hoping this baby would be a boy (we waited until birth to find out) especially so that my Luke would have a brother, but also because I had become so attached to this name!“

I love all of these details!! Paschal Joseph absolutely seems to be the perfect name for this handsome little guy!!

Congratulations to Elizabeth and her hubby and big sibs Miryam, Luke, and Cecily, and happy birthday Baby Paschal!!

Paschal Joseph

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I’m not currently doing consultations, but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!