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

Samuel Albert (Sam) “Samuel was born a few months after my husband became Catholic, and about nine months later I converted as well. We landed on his name quite easily. We knew we wanted a name that had spiritual significance for us and connected to our faith tradition. At the time that was biblical names. We loved the meaning of Samuel ‘God hears’. As a bonus, we  loved the literary connection of of Samwise from Lord of the Rings and that character’s loyalty and friendship.

Albert is a family name on my husband’s side. It is both my husband’s middle name, and his father’s middle name, and was his grandfather’s first name. In naming our first child, we realized connecting our children’s names to those that came before them was significant to us.”

Phoebe Grace “Phoebe checked all the previous boxes for us: faith connection with being a New Testament biblical name and not overly popular, unique but not unheard of. We loved the meaning “bright, or radiant” and the poetic connection to the moon, something that reflects light in the dark. (What a metaphor for Christian life, the moon reflecting the light of the sun.) Phoebe seemed like a bit of a risk. I thought people’s feelings would probably be polarizing, but I loved it and I thought it was charming and we went for it!

Grace is my mother’s name, and it was such a privilege to honour her when naming my first daughter.”

Anna Frances “Anna was named because of the biblical connection to the Prophetess Anna, who was one of the first people to recognize Jesus as the Saviour. How nice that it means, ‘Grace’ which gave her a connection to her sister’s name and my mother’s name again. We loved it because it was timeless and not overly popular. My husband’s mother’s middle name is Ann, so it was also a nice way to honour her. I’m also a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, so I liked the little connection to that name as well. 

Frances was chosen mostly because my husband wanted to honour St. Francis de Sales, and I also liked the connection to Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi. Also quite conveniently, Frances is a family name on my mother’s side of the family for many generations, and so it fits quite perfectly into place.”

Such wonderful names!! I love them all!!

Maria writes,

“For all our children we wanted to steer clear of names that were very popular or trendy, but wanted names that were both somewhat unique and had a ‘timeless’ quality. I definitely consulted Baby Name Wizard’s 100 year rule. 

We have landed on a first name for our baby girl: Her first name will be Mary. (Considering nicknames like Mae or Mair).

My husband has wanted to use the name Mary for awhile, and it has certainly grown on me as my connection to Mary has grown after my conversion from a Protestant to a Catholic. Although the name is, of course, very common in Catholic circles we are the only Catholics in our family and it’s not extremely popular overall on the charts so that works for us! Having done three biblical names so far, it is nice to do one for the fourth although that wasn’t a deal breaker for us. 

Also given my name is Maria, It is a nice connection to my third daughter in that way. I was also accidently named after my paternal grandmother.  Her name is Mary but she always went by a nickname so my Dad didn’t actually know this till after I was born and named! That is the one side of the family we’ve not honoured yet in our baby naming, so how perfect is that! My grandmother is in her 90s, and I recently traveled across the country to see her and attend my grandfather’s funeral. I told her that we were naming the baby Mary at that time, which was special.”

I don’t usually get consultation requests from parents who have already chosen a first name! But Maria’s “dilemma” is right up my alley! She continues,

“We are stumped for a middle name! 

Here’s a few of our thoughts:

– We checked all our boxes on the first name, and things are wide open! Mary has the faith connection and the family connection all in one. That being said, I love for a name (even a middle name) to have some significance and meaning behind it. A good ‘story’. 

– Because Mary is extremely traditional, I really wanted to find a middle name that was a bit unexpected and ‘fresh’ feeling. My husband liked names like Elizabeth and Catherine, but I really want to avoid anything that feels like it normally ‘goes with’ Mary or has that traditional double name feel. Rather uncharacteristically I had names like, ‘Wilder’, ‘Lark’, and ‘Gray’ on my ‘there’s no bad ideas in brainstorming’ long list. 

– I’m not sure how I feel about names that end in the same sound as Mary. Lucy was on our short list before for both girls, but I *think* I’m drawn to names that end in other sounds. 

Names that got to the short list: 

– A name with an ‘Elizabeth’ connection. My name is made of names derived from both Mary and Elizabeth (Maria Elyse). If her first name is Mary, I thought a version of Elizabeth might be a nice connection. It’s like having ‘the visitation’ captured in a name. I also love Pride and Prejudice and am secretly hunting for a ‘literary’ connection for this babe. The closest I got was: Elle, Ella, Isabel, Lise. None have so far really settled into being ‘the one’. 

– A name with an ‘Eve’ connection. I love the idea of Mary being the new Eve, and the connections between Mary and Eve. Ideas were: Eve, Eva, Ava, and maybe Evelyn (although I don’t think Evelyn is actually technically related to the name Eve…)

– Aveline – In my search for a more unusual middle name I stumbled across Aveline. Connection to the city of Avila, and therefore St. Theresa of Avila. I like that it is unusual and unexpected, and I think it sounds lovely with Mary. 

– I am drawn to some alliterative middle names – contenders were Mae, and Magnolia. These were the first ones that really made me feel excited like I did with our previous children’s names.  I think Mae is really a short form of Mary, so wasn’t sure that would fly. I thought maybe Magnolia could honour Mary Magdalene. Also worried it’s a little too quirky.  I’m not sure! Our other kids names have quite a depth of meaning, and I’m just not sure this fits the bill in the same way.

– Other names we’ve considered but didn’t quite sparkle for us: Charlotte, Lucia, Cecelia. 

Names we can’t use due to pets: Penelope, Eloise, Pia.”

I love that Maria and her husband have chosen Mary for the first name for their new baby!! It’s such a simply beautiful name. I love, too, that Maria and her baby will share a variant of Mary as first names! And that story about Maria’s paternal grandmother being Mary but her Dad not knowing is amazing. Wow!! Maria mentioned Mae and Mair as nicknames they’re considering; I also wanted to offer that Molly and Polly are both traditional nicknames for it.

One of the things Maria said is exactly what I would think as well: that since they “checked all [their] boxes on the first name … things are wide open” for the middle! And also, I would totally do what they’re thinking of in terms of finding an unexpected middle name. I’ve often said that Mary as a first name makes any first+middle combo sound Catholicky Catholic, and I myself would be leaning toward Wilder/Lark/Gray-type names instead of the beautiful but well used Elizabeth and Catherine. This is such a fun challenge!

Before I get on to new ideas, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on the names they’re already considering, in case they’re helpful:

• A name with an “Elizabeth” connection: I absolutely love this idea for all the reasons Maria mentioned — finding an Elizabeth connection was one of my first priorities when I was trying to come up with ideas!

• A name with an “Eve” connection: This is also a great idea, but I admit it pales in comparison to an Elizabeth name in my mind — I just love the Elizabeth idea! But it did inspire some of my ideas below!

• Aveline: This, too, is beautiful, and Mary Aveline is stunning. Funny enough, Maria mentioned Evelyn in the “Eve” section, noting that it’s not actually etymologically related to Eve — but it is to Aveline! It was derived from Aveline! I’m not sure how that helps this family in any way, but it’s a fun thing to know!

• Alliterative middle names: I, too, love alliterative combos! Maria’s right about Mae being a short form of Mary … I can also see what she means about Magnolia maybe being too quirky … it made me think of Marigold right away, but Mary Marigold wouldn’t work … I absolutely don’t want to steer them away from Mary as a first name, but I did wonder if Marigold as a first name might appeal to them? Mary/Mari could be her nickname, and I have a few readers (here, here, here) who named their babies Marigold with Our Lady, Queen as patron and the feast day of the Queenship of Mary (August 22 — same month as Maria’s due date!) as her name day. Even though Marigold and Magnolia are similar, I kind of feel like Marigold is the tiniest bit more grounded? Probably because of knowing a few little ones named Marigold, and Edith on “Downton Abbey” named her baby Marigold. All that said, I think Mary as a first name is the absolute perfect first name for an unexpected and even bold middle name, so I wouldn’t cross Mary Magnolia off their list! If they intend to call the baby Mary plus a nickname of her middle, then the full middle name can be as crazy as they want because very few people will ever really know what it is. Mary Mae is a fine nickname for Mary Magnolia; they could also do something like Mary Nola or Mary Lia as nicknames. I like Maria’s thought that Magnolia could honor St. Mary Magdalene; if she’s special to her, maybe a variant of her name might also appeal? Madeline/Madeleine and Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn/Magdalena would be lovely with Mary.

• Names that end in the same sound as Mary: With Mary as the first name, I agree that I would lean away from a middle name that ends in the same sound — Mary Lucy sounds almost comical (though I know someone with a double name similar to Mary Lucy and it’s been fine for her. Anything can work if you want it to!). Maria said they’ve considered Lucia and didn’t care for it; I wonder if a different variant like Luz/Luce, Lucille, Lucinda, or Lux might work? Mary Luz and Mary Lux might especially touch on the Wilder/Lark/Gray feel that Maria was thinking of.

Okay! On to new ideas! They range from more “normal” to very bold, so hopefully something here will excite Maria and her husband! I normally look up the names the parents have already used and like in the Baby Name Wizard but in this case, since they’ve already chosen a first name, I focused instead on going through the M section of the BNW to see if there were any other alliterative options that jumped out at me, going through my own book of Marian names with the same goal in mind and to look for others that might appeal to Maria and her hubby, and jotting down ideas I had as I went about my day with their dilemma in mind. Based on all that, these are my ideas:

(1) Mary Bennet(t)

This is my favorite idea! I think it checks almost all Maria’s boxes if she’s open to thinking that it does. It has a connection to the Visitation in that Bennett is a medieval diminutive of Benedict, which is the word that’s used to translate Elizabeth’s words to Mary into Latin (“blessed are you among women” is benedicta tu in mulieribus in Latin). That also gives it a connection to Elizabeth (not as explicit as using a variant of Elizabeth, but still a connection if she wants it to be). And it has a literary reference, specifically to Pride and Prejudice! They spell it Bennet, of course, but it’s all the same name. And the fact that it’s predominantly a masculine first name and a surname gives it that unexpected/bold quality that Maria might be looking for.

(2) Mary Eliot/Elliot/Elliott/Eliette

Another name that might be perfect is Elliott (in whatever spelling!). Like Bennett is derived from Benedict, Elliott is derived from Elijah, giving it a nice faith connection (I included Elijah and its variants in my book of Marian names because of Elijah’s connection to Our Lady of Mount Carmel). Spelled Eliot, it can have a literary connection to T.S. Eliot. One of my readers has a daughter named Eliette, which is a feminine variant derived from Elijah. And Maria can think of it as having a connection to her name as well in that Eli- are the first three letters of Elizabeth.

(3) Mary Bessette

Bessette isn’t actually related to Elizabeth — it’s a surname derived from a French word “designating a small wood of birches” — but Bess is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth, so I don’t think it’s crazy that Maria and her husband could choose it based on the idea of “little Bess/little Elizabeth.” It comes with a saintly connection, too, in St. Andre Bessette — he’s great!

(4) Mary Evett(e)

My first few ideas were inspired by Maria’s desire for an Elizabeth connection; this one is inspired by her love of an Eve connection. Evett is a medieval diminutive of Eve that I included in the boy section of my Mary names book because it’s a surname and it reminded me so much of Evan and Everett, but it can also be feminine, as is probably most obviously seen in its variant spelling Evette (like Yvette, but Yvette derives from a different name). Other spellings/variants of the surname are Evatt, Evatts, Evetts, Evitt, and Evitts.

(5) Mary Majella/Maiella

I wanted to offer some alliterative options that Maria might like. The first is Mary Majella — Majella is the surname of St. Gerard Majella, patron of expectant mothers and a name that has some decent usage among Catholic girls especially of the older generations. I like the ending of “ella” could be considered a nod to Elizabeth. Majella is how St. Gerard is traditionally know, but that’s the English spelling and pronunciation — in Italian he’s St. Gerardo Maiella, and Maiella is a viable option too and so pretty! It’s said may-EL-la or my-EL-la as opposed to Majella’s ma-JEL-la.

(6) Mary Margo(t)

I thought Mary Margaret was too traditional for Maria, similar to Mary Catherine and Mary Elizabeth, but maybe a less common variant of Margaret would work? I like Margo/Margot — Mary Margo(t) is a cool combo.

(7) Mary Maeve

Since Maria was drawn to Mary Mae but knows that wouldn’t quite work since they’re the same name, what about Mary Maeve? Maeve is an Irish name said the same way as Mae but ending with the “v” sound (MAYV). If either Maria or her husband have Irish heritage, this could be really nice! A lot of people are intimidated by Irish names, but since Maeve is said just like it looks and it’s also currently no. 104, it’s one of the easiest Irish names to work with.

(8) Mary Amata

Finally, I’m including Amata simply because I love how it sounds with Mary. It’s in my book because it means “beloved,” which is such a great meaning, and Mary is called Mater amata (“beloved Mother”) in the hymn O Sanctissima.

Other names I thought about for Maria include Liesse, Quinn, Peyton, Cruz, Campion, Fulton, and Kolbe.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest as pairing well with the first name Mary?

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

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!