Happy All Hallow’s Eve’s Eve, everyone!

Today’s consultation is for a little green bean (= gender unknown🌱) due on Holy Thursday — the family’s fifth baby. Before sharing big siblings’ names, you should know that Mama Tricia wrote, “We love all our children to have a family name, patron Saint, and title of Mary in their name” — I’m amazed at how well she and her hubby did especially with the title of Mary! Check out these beautiful names:

Noah Samuel William (“Our Lady Queen of Patriarchs is the Marian title, St. William is patron, Samuel is the family name“) 

Maria Joy (“Marie is heavy family name, Joy is a play on her dad’s name Roy. Patron Saint is Maria Goretti and Our Lady Cause of Our Joy“)

Adam James (“Adam was the middle name of my brother who died as an infant, patron St. James the greater. My husband proposed on his feast day and hiking the Camino was a really moving experience for me. Title of Mary is Our Lady Queen of Apostles“)

Martha Lily (“Martha is my grandmother’s name and confirmation Saint. Lily is a name I’ve always loved and St. Joseph is my husband’s confirmation Saint. Her patrons are St. Martha and St. Joseph, and Our Lady Most Pure“)

What do you think of these names?? Aren’t the Marian title just amazing?? I love them all!!

I also want to point out, in case it’s helpful to anyone who might be considering these names for their own babies, that Maria goes by Mia sometimes within the family, and Martha goes by Millie sometimes within the family, as a mashup of Martha and Lily. I love those!

Tricia continues,

“Holy Thursday is my favorite liturgy — I was so happy to hear it would be our new child’s due date. There are so many feasts around that time too! I am open to naming the child something related to the day they are born, if indeed they come on the Annunciation, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter!” 

Names they can’t use include:

• Aubrey 
• Clark
• Cecilia 
• Juliette 
• Miles 

Names they like for girls:

• Agnes (“esp for an Easter girl“)
• Dolores (“esp for a Good Friday girl, probably call her Della, but my husband doesn’t like it“)
• Anna 
• Monica 
• Catharine “Kate”
• Greta 
• “I love Matilda and Gloria, but my husband says no“
• “He likes Avila and Zelie, beautiful names but I’m worried about everyone always mispronouncing“

Girl middle names:

• Felicity 
• Sage (“seat of wisdom“) 
• Pieta (“esp for Good Friday“) 
• Ann (“my middle name“) 
• June (“my mom’s middle name, maybe Immaculate Heart as title of Mary“) 
• Fiat (“if bday is March 25?“) 

Names they like for boys:

• Gabriel (“esp for March 25 bday“) 
• John (“prob front runner, his dad’s name, lots of great Saints, James and John were brothers“) 
• Luke (“I have always loved Our Lady of Częstochowa“)
• Judah 
• David 
• Ambrose “Bo”
• Maybe Pascal “Cal” (“for a Holy Thursday boy“) 

Also, some family names that could work include:

• Theresa June (“my mom“)
• Krista Lynn (“his mom“)
• Gregory Michael (“my late father who I love so dearly, definitely think of honoring him but my brother is also a Greg and my nephew is Miles Gregory after him …”) 
• John Samuel (“his dad“)

Tricia also wrote,

“I’d love more ideas especially with possible holy day birthdays, maybe what your favorites are?” 

Just to reiterate, in case you didn’t catch my enthusiasm above (!), I am just really impressed with how Tricia and her hubby worked a family name, a patron Saint, and a title of Mary into each of their children’s names. I love “Queen of Patriarchs” for Noah; Adam James is very handsome, and I love the family connection to Tricia’s brother; I’m also kind of blown away by their girls’ names: Maria Joy and Martha Lily are unexpected combinations to me, and I LOVE them! So lovely!

I wanted to offer some thoughts on the names they like, in case they find them helpful:

• Agnes: Considering Noah, Maria, and Adam, I wouldn’t have thought of Tricia as liking “old lady” names (said with the utmost respect), but then with Martha, Agnes makes sense to me! Because of the baby being due on Holy Thursday, I thought of how one of you readers once told me you like the combo “Agnes Daisy” because it sounds like “Agnus Dei” — I thought it might be the perfect idea for this family! Daisy is a traditional nickname for Margaret, which derives from the Latin word for “pearl” (margarita), but its French form, Marguerite, is the same as the French word for the daisy flower (hence the traditional nickname Daisy). So there are a few layers of meaning in the middle name Daisy! It could work as the “title of Mary” element: as I wrote in my book of Marian names,

“The common daisy flower (Bellis perennis) has also been known as Mary’s flower or Mary-Loves, and the oxeye daisy (chrysanthemum leucanthemum) has also been known as Mary’s Star.”

Additionally, since Daisy is connected to Margaret, and Margaret means “pearl,” Tricia might also like this bit from the “Pearl” entry in my book:

“Though Pearl is a variant of Margaret, since Margaret means “pearl” (Latin: margarita), Pearl can take its place as a Marian name through the fact that Our Lady is referred to as ‘Pearl of Virgins’ in the Litany of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.”

The connection to Our Lady of Sorrows can also be appropriate for this baby based on the due date, since the last four are connected to Jesus’ Passion and Death (The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross; the Crucifixion, where Mary stands at the foot of the cross; the Descent from the Cross, where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms; the Burial of Jesus).

• Dolores: this is in keeping with the older feel of Martha and Agnes, and Tricia’s planned nickname of Della is darling! That said, I’m a big fan of finding names that both mom and dad like, so my advice would be for them to shelve this one for now since her hubby doesn’t like it (though it is perfect for a Good Friday baby!)

• Anna: I love the name Anna! It’s one of my very favorites BUT — they already have Adam, and I’m going to propose some additional A names below that I like better for them than Anna, so my vote is to either cross Anna off the list entirely, or consider a related/soundalike/nickname-connected name like Susanna or Hannah. I have seven boys, and for all of them, if they’d been a girl, our chosen name was Susanna. We intended to use Anna for a nickname, which Tricia and her hubby might like as well! Hannah is another great option — it’s the same name as Anna etymologically-speaking, and gives them a different initial from Adam with nearly the same sound as Anna; it can also honor Tricia as an Ann name, since Ann is her middle name. I like that both Susanna and Hannah are Old Testament names like Noah and Adam, too.

• Monica: Monica also has that older feel, and I do love it, but I’m also thinking of their Maria and Martha and how adding Monica to the mix is really M-heavy.

• Catharine/Kate: How could I not love this name, with my own name being Katherine/Kate?! It’s a great option, and so timeless — it fits right in with the older names Tricia likes, and Kate is specifically a style match for Adam.

• Greta: This was one of the reasons I thought of Daisy as a middle name for Agnes! I love Greta — it’s one of my favorites of the Margaret names, and it, too, has that older feel. I gave a lot of thought to how Tricia could honor her dad, Gregory Michael, and I think she could consider Greta to be for him, given that they both begin with “Gre.” If she did something like Greta Michaela or Greta Michelle, that could really hammer home the point.

• Matilda and Gloria: Tricia’s style is so clear!

• Avila and Zelie: I see these names a lot with the families I work with — I think of them as “new favorites” among Catholic families, while still being traditional names with solid, saintly history and usage. If Tricia’s concern is solely related to pronunciation, I would be inclined to advise her not to worry too much about that — Zelie especially is becoming more and more common (I wrote about it several years ago; as an added data point, my 9yo has a girl in his class named Xaylie). It is true that the names Tricia likes are ones that generally won’t be mispronounced, so I can see why the possibility of mispronunciations might bother her. At the same time, so many “normal” names have the possibility of being mispronounced — Madeline and Caroline can be said to rhyme with “lynn” or “line”; I’ve seen some people think Sean is pronounced like “seen”; even Maria is said like Mariah sometimes in England — and I always tell parents to just be firm and consistent with correcting people and teach their children to be as well.

• The middle name ideas: I love all of these! I find it especially fun to discover that someone has a middle name that’s unexpected, which these parents have done with Joy and Lily, and their middle name list is similar! To me, unexpected middle names are the ones that don’t follow the traditional path of names like Marie, Rose, and Grace, which have been incredibly common for girls (for a reason — they’re incredibly beautiful!). I also like when currently popular first names are used as middle names, like they did with Martha Lily. That particular point made me think to suggest Sophie or Sophia as an addition to their middle name list, since, like Sage, they also mean “wisdom.”

• Gabriel: Because Tricia doesn’t like the possibility of mispronounced names, I feel like I have to share that I know a Gabriel who frequently has to deal with people (doctor offices, for example) thinking his name is pronounced like “Gabrielle” (which I know is legit as the Spanish pronunciation, but he uses the English pronunciation and lives in a predominantly English-speaking area). I’m always surprised by that — I would never have thought that Gabriel was a difficult or unfamiliar name, given that it’s biblical and all! I would imagine this would be a dealbreaker for Tricia, so my suggestion is to make it a middle name. I particularly like it with John — John Gabriel is so handsome! Especially for a March 25 baby, like she said.

• John: I think of John as one of those names that can take a bigger/more unusual/out-there middle name, which, as I’ve mentioned a few times already, I love! Johnny and Jack are great nickname options, too.

• Luke: I love how Marian Luke is, not only his connection to the various images of Our Lady with the Child Jesus (Our Lady of Częstochowa as Tricia mentioned; Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a particular devotion of the Redemptorist Order, which founded my parish; etc.), but also that his gospel is the most Marian and contains her beautiful Magnificat.

• Judah: I do love Judah — the sound, the “h” on the end, all of it — BUT I do think that its similarity to Judas might be a little too much for a Holy Week baby? Especially Holy Thursday?

• David: I loved discovering that “Tower of David” is one of Our Lady’s titles! David also fits in really nicely with the Old Testament-ness of Noah and Adam. My older boys have a friend who has always gone by Davy, even now as a high school junior — I love, love Davy! So sweet!

• Ambrose/Bo: You are speaking my language! We had Ambrose on our list of possibilities, and coming up with nickname ideas was one of my favorite things. Bo was definitely one of them! I also thought of Sam, Bram, and Brody (especially if paired with a “D” middle name, like Ambrose David). However, Tricia and her husband have a definitely style going on with their older kids, and the more unusual names on their list seem better suited to middle names I think. Again, I’ll go back to John: John Ambrose is incredible! They could even still do Bo as a nickname if they want (one of my boys goes exclusively by a nickname of his middle name and it hasn’t been a problem at all).

• Pascal/Cal: Another awesome name that was on my own list! And I LOVE Cal! John Pascal (or similar) would be my preference for this family for the reasons I mentioned above, and would be really great for an Easter baby.

Tricia also gave a list of family members they’d like to honor if possible — I had a couple thoughts that I thought might be helpful:

• Theresa June: I love both Theresa and June! They’d both be lovely for a girl. Junia is a biblical name — I wonder if that would appeal to Tricia in honor of her mom?

• Krista Lynn: I was thinking that Kristopher could be a great middle name to honor Tricia’s mother-in-law! Maybe John Kristopher?

• Gregory Michael: I had mentioned Greta above as a possible way to nod to Tricia’s dad; I also wanted to point out that the name Greer is derived from Gregory. I don’t think Greer is this family’s style, but maybe as a middle name?

• John Samuel: John as a first or middle is great!

Okay, on to new ideas! I did my usual research, looking up in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) the names they’ve already used and those they like as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I also considered details of Holy Thursday that might offer some inspiration. Based on all that, these are my ideas:

Girl

(1) Abigail

Abigail is a style match for this family according to the BNW, but what originally inspired me to add it to the list was that Holy Thursday is when Jesus instituted the priesthood, and Abby is similar to Abbey and Abbott, which can be considered priest-y!

(2) Olive

Olive has that “older” feel of so many of the names Tricia likes, and was also inspired by Jesus going to the Mount of Olives on Holy Thursday night.

(3) Carmel or Carmen

These names were my attempt at finding a name similar to Avila and Zelie but without the pronunciation issues that Tricia’s worried about. Carmel is a holy place name like Avila, and has, to me, an “older generation” feel (I know an older lady named Carmel); Carmen is a variant of Carmel, if they prefer that form more. A bonus is that these names can be related to Holy Thursday, too! They mean “garden,” which calls to mind Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. I really like this idea for them.

(4) Mandy

This is inspired by Holy Thursday’s alternate and old name of Maundy Thursday; “Maundy” derives from the word mandatum and refers to Jesus’ words from Holy Thursday: “I give you a new commandment.” Mandy can be a reasonable nod to it, right? Mandy is one of those sweet nicknames that always feels so affectionate to me! I have a friend named Mary Angeline who goes by Mandy — I would love to suggest that here, except that they have a Maria already! Amanda is the most familiar way to get Mandy, and means “beloved,” which is fantastic; it also doesn’t start with M, which is something I’m trying to stay away from because of Maria and Martha. In the style of Mary Angeline, maybe something like … Amata Nadine? Angela Madeline? (Or Madelynn, incorporating Tricia’s mother-in-law’s name?) This could be fun to work with!

(5) Elizabeth

I love that Elizabeth has the biblical connection that the other kids have, and the Visitation is one of my favorite Marian feasts. I also thought Tricia might like the nickname Ella, since she has Della as a nickname idea for Dolores (which I love!).

Boy

(1) Andrew

Andrew is a style match per the BNW, but I also consider it (and other An- names, like Anson and Anthony) to be a possible way of honoring an Ann (St. Ann, and/or, in this case, Tricia because it’s her middle name), which I think makes this a really strong choice for them!

(2) Benjamin

I was very influenced by the fact that Noah and Adam have Old Testament names, so when I saw Benjamin listed as a style match, I thought it was a great choice! I think Ben is one of the friendliest nicknames.

(3) Nathan or Nathanael/Nathaniel

Nate was the inspiration here — it was listed as a style match for this family — and I like both Nathan and Nathaniel as the formal name for it. Using Nate as a nickname would probably knock Catharine/Kate out of the running for the future, but maybe that’s a chance they’d like to take? Nathan is shorter like Noah and Adam, and I love what I consider to be the Old Testament feel of Nathanael/Nathaniel (it feels weighty like Abraham and Melchizedek and Solomon). Nathanael has the added benefit of being an alternate name of the apostle Bartholomew, who of course was at the Last Supper — a nice Holy Thursday connection.

(4) Caleb

Caleb sounds like a natural brother for Noah and Adam, and it can take the nickname Cal, which they already have on their list for Pascal!

(5) Oliver

Finally, Oliver, which I’m including for the same reasons as Olive above. It’s one of the sweetest names, and I love that it can have a Holy Thursday connection via the Mount of Olives.

Tricia said she’d “love more ideas especially with possible holy day birthdays, maybe what [my] favorites are,” so I went through the feast days from two weeks before her due date to two weeks after, and these jumped out as me as possible ideas, either as a first or a middle:

March 14: Eve, for Bl. Eve of Liège and Our Lady (the “New Eve”)

March 15: Clement or Clementine for St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (my parish’s patron and one of my favorites) and Our Lady (“O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary”); Peter or Pascal for Bl. Peter Pasquale

March 17: Patrick, for St. Patrick

March 18: Clement, Clementine, or Mercy for Our Lady of Mercy

March 19: Joseph, for St. Joseph

March 20: Lucy for St. Photina of Rome, the name traditionally given to the Samaritan woman (Photina means “light” and so does Lucy)

March 28: Kristopher for Bl. Christopher Wharton and Tricia’s mother-in-law

March 29: Agnes for Bl. Agnes of Chatillon (she’s also celebrated the day before by the Cistercians)

March 30: Irene for St. Irene of Rome

March 31: Benjamin for St. Benjamin the Deacon

April 1: Sofia or Zofia for Bl. Zofia Czeska-Maciejowska

April 7: John for St. John Baptist de La Salle

April 8: Julia for St. Julia Billiart

April 11: Helen for Bl. Elena Guerra

This is not an exhaustive list of holy ones with feast days during that four-week period, just ones that jumped out at me. If you’d like to look through them yourself, start here and go forward day by day.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little sister or brother of Noah, Maria, Adam, and Martha?

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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!