Author: sanctanomina

Baby name consultant: Baby #5 from across the world

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , ,

Though I’ve done consultations for parents living outside of America, today’s the first time I’ve gotten to post one on the blog! Today’s mama is Chelsea from New Zealand, editor of Restless Press (which posted an interview with me last week) and blogger at Grow the Roses.

She and her husband Joseph are expecting their fifth baby on earth, little brother or sister to:

Zelie Rose
Gianna Beryl
Theodore Ignatius Tutonga
Dominic Joseph John

All of which are so my taste, I love them all!

Chelsea writes,

“With all of them we have a modern saint (last hundred or two hundred or so years, relatively recent canonisation). Zelie is named for St Zelie, Gianna for St Gianna Beretta Molla, Theodore for Blessed Theodore Romzha and St Ignatius (husband loved the name, and wouldn’t let it go so he got two saints), and Dominic for St Dominic Savio and St John Houghton (whose feast day he was born on, so that got added in as we couldn’t let that slip for a Houghton baby!).

For middle names we have done a family connected name, but we both come from huge families, with ancestry from all around the world so no shortage of options. Joseph’s grandmother comes from the Cook Islands (hence Tutonga). But there are also Scottish, Irish, Jewish (all old testament prophets), English, Polish, French … in the family. So chances are we find a name and its somewhere in the family tree! Girls we have seem to have gone with more romantic old fashioned names and boys with strong saints.”

I asked Chelsea about Tutonga, as the Cook Islands are completely unfamiliar to me, and I loved her response:

“The Cook Islands are in the middle of the Pacific. My husband’s grandmother was born there, raised in the Rarotonga royal household, but descends from the King of Atiu, an island about an hours flight from Rarotonga (the capital and biggest of the many islands). His grandfather was sent over to Rarotonga in the 1950s as the postmaster, when there weren’t many non-islanders over there, married his grandmother and brought her back to New Zealand and they’ve lived here ever since. My husband and I went over to Rarotonga and Atiu with his grandparents in 2007 for a big family reunion and learnt much of the history of the area and family. Atiu is where he proposed.

Names are passed down or given in their culture. My husband was never given a Cook Island name as a child, and while we were there his grandmother looked for a name for him … He was given the name Tutonga (which we gave to Theodore), who was the scout on the war boats as the Atiuans went from island to island.”

How cool is that? I love learning about new cultures, and learning about them through the lens of names is my favorite.

These are the names/saints Chelsea and Joseph are considering for this baby:

Antonia nicked Annie, for Blessed Antonia Mesina
Chiara, for Chiara Badano
Elodie, for St Alodia (Chelsea loves “french names, but not sure if fits with others or not”)
Marietta

Gabriel
Kolbe (but her hubs doesn’t care for it)

First off, my thoughts about Chelsea and Joseph’s current ideas:

I’d not known about Bl. Antonia Mesina until their email — what a girl! Definitely a great patron, and Annie as a nickname is awesome.

Chiara is one I would have suggested for them if they didn’t already have it on their list, I love her.

I think Elodie’s a great name for this family! It’s French, as is Zelie, and Theodore has some French usage, so I think it fits in fine.

Marietta surprised me! It’s a pretty name, and a pretty rare Marian variant currently, as far as I know — at least here in the U.S. — but not it’s not unknown. It also made me think of Majella — I wonder what they’d think of that? It’s used a decent amount as a girl’s name, after St. Gerard Majella. The pronunciation I believe is most prominent is mah-JEL-la, and it’s an anglicization of the Italian Maiella (my-EL-lah), which is also a really pretty option (though less recognizable as connected to a saint I think?).

I love Gabriel, I think it’s a great fit for this family.

Kolbe is great too, but since Chelsea’s hubs doesn’t care for it, I wonder if they would be interested in Colman? It’s totally different from Kolbe in that it’s not related to St. Maximilian and it’s not a surname, but the Kol- reminded me of Colman, and St. Colman is an Irish saint. Maybe?

I’m always a little less confident when doing a consultation for someone who’s not from America, as I have no idea what’s popular/common/outdated/ugly in New Zealand, for example. Also, I rely pretty heavily on the Baby Name Wizard book for inspiration about what names are similar to others in terms of style/feel/popularity, but it’s all based on American stats. Fortunately though, Catholic saints belong to the whole world! So hopefully these ideas are helpful. I came up with five for each gender (besides Majella and Colman listed above):

Girl

(1) Kateri
I’ll start with the girl name that I think might be least interesting to Chelsea and Joseph, as St. Kateri Tekakwitha is a Native American saint. But it’s one of the first names I thought of for them because here, families who have girls named Zelie and Gianna often have Kateri on their lists. Despite it being a Native American name, I don’t know of any other usage than by Catholics. Additionally, Kateri chose it when she was baptized because it was a variant of Katherine/Catherine and St. Catherine of Siena was her patron. So lots of good stuff going on with the name Kateri! Pronunciation is always an issue — I don’t know if there’s one particular way New Zealanders might say it, but here there are a few different acceptable pronunciations; I wrote about them (and Zelie and Gianna too!) here.

(2) Jacinta
Jacinta also has the same feel to me as Zelie, Gianna, and Kateri — I don’t know many people in English-speaking countries besides Catholics who use it. It’s one of my personal favorites, and my Confirmation name, love it.

(3) Madeleine, or Sophie, or Madeleine Sophie, or Magdalen(e)
Madeline was listed as similar to Dominic in the Baby Name Wizard, as was Sophia, and Sophia was listed as similar to Gabriel as well, all of which made me think of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. I love both Madeleine and Sophie (I guess she went by Sophie, and her feast day in France is known as St. Sophie’s Day) and could see either/both working for this family. I like that it’s French, but not prohibitively so, if that makes any sense.

Madeleine made me think of Magdalen(e), as all the Madeline/leine names are variants of Magdalene. I think Magdalen(e) comes across as more obviously Catholic than does Madel(e)ine, and it allows for Maggie as a nickname, which is sweet, and reminds me of Chelsea’s idea of Annie for Antonia.

(4) Edith, Teresa, Benedicta
This was mostly inspired by the “relatively recent canonization” theme they have going on. St. Edith Stein is one of my favorites, and Edie is a really sweet nickname. If they didn’t care for Edith/Edie though, her religious name was Teresa Benedicta, so either Teresa or Benedicta would be great as well (and Teresa is also the spelling Mother Teresa used, which is great for a baby who will be born in the year she’s canonized; it’s also the spelling of St. Teresa of Avila. Lots of great Teresas!).

(5) Faustina (Faustine?)
Faustina is also inspired by the “recent canonization” idea. St. Faustina’s given name was actually Mary Faustina, which I also love for this family, especially since they don’t yet have a Marian first name for their girls. Since Chelsea likes French names, maybe they’d like to consider Faustine instead? The family in this post has a Faustine, so lovely!

Boy

(1) Xavier
As soon as I saw Kolbe on Chelsea’s list, I thought of Xavier. It’s a surname, and it’s Catholicky Catholic! Also, as a fun connection, after I’d already scribbled down Xavier as an idea for them, I looked up saints connected to New Zealand and discovered that St. Francis Xavier is its patron saint! I mean, come on. How cool and relevant!

(2) Edmund, Campion
I was particularly interested to find name ideas that went with the style/feel of Theodore, as I thought it struck me as just a little different than the other kids’ names, and I’m not even sure why. Edmund was listed in the BNW as a style match, and I thought it was a great suggestion because of St. Edmund Campion, such a great saint and patron! And he was canonized recently, in 1970.

St. Edmund, and Kolbe from their list, both made me also think of Campion as a first name idea. I’ve seen it used as a first name for boys, in honor of St. Edmund, and I’ve always liked the nickname Cam for a boy.

(3) Sebastian
Sebastian has a really gentlemanly feel to me, which reminds me of Theodore (Grace totally nailed it with naming two of her boys Sebastian and Theodore!), and of course it’s super saintly. The original St. Sebastian is definitely a favorite with the boys I know — they are all delightedly horrified by the images of St. Sebastian pierced by arrows. 😀 But he’s a pretty old saint, so I looked to see if there were any of more recent canonization, and discovered Bl. Sebastian Obeso Alario, beatified by Pope Benedict in 2012 — he was martyred during the Spanish Civil War.

(4) Blaise
St. Blaise is pretty old, but I think it’s a great name for a boy, since it sounds so fiery and speedy. Apparently, it’s also a French name, which I hadn’t realized, though Blaise Pascal makes sense of that. All of which means I had to suggest it, despite it not fitting into the “modern saint (last hundred or two hundred or so years, relatively recent canonisation)” parameters!

(5) Jasper, K/Casper/Caspar, Gaspar
Jasper was a surprise for me — apparently it’s a style match for Theodore and Edmund, which I wouldn’t have thought. I do love it — it’s the name traditionally associated with one of the Three Wise Men. K/Casper/Caspar and Gaspar are variants of it, so sometimes you’ll see those names given as the Wise Man instead of Jasper. Either way, I think they’re all great names! There are some recent Blesseds and Saints Gaspar/Caspar.

And those are all my ideas for Chelsea and Joseph’s littlest one! What do you all think? If any of you are from New Zealand or are familiar with the names in common use there, I’d be particularly interested in knowing if your impressions of the names are different from mine — are there any here that make you say, “Absolutely not!”?

Birth announcement: Beatrice Catherine!

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I did a consultation for Liz and Kevin not too long ago, which would have been a public post if the baby had come a little late, but instead she came a little early! Liz emailed me today to let me know her baby girl has arrived, and she’s been given the gorgeous name … Beatrice Catherine!

Liz writes,

“She’s here! Based on all your suggestions and inspiration, we went with a name that  kind of found us!

Beatrice Catherine was born Jan. 14, 2016 at 6:16pm (8 days early!!!)
7 lbs. 1 oz, 19 in. long!

Her middle name is the namesake of her maternal grandmother, and her first name of course to honor the Saint of the same name and is inspired by the character, Beatrice, in Dante’s Paradiso, part of the Divine Comedy. Beatrice shows Dante heaven 🙂 The name also means ‘bringer of joy’ and with the 2015 we had last year, she truly has brought so much joy to us!!

Thank you so much for everything you do, you helped us so much!!“

Isn’t that just an amazing name?? I see Beatrice talked about, but I rarely see it chosen — I love seeing it! Beatrice joins big sisters:

Ava Elizabeth
Gwendolyn Marie

I just love this sister set! Ava, Gwendolyn, and Beatrice … *sigh* !!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Beatrice!!

beatrice_catherine

Beatrice Catherine

and her amazing-looking can’t-possibly-have-just-given-birth mama (!)

Spotlight on: Ruby

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Julie asked me to do a spotlight on Ruby, which I’ve been really loving in the last couple of years, so I’m delighted to do so! She was specifically hoping for faith-based references beyond the mentions in Proverbs in some translations referring to the value of Wisdom (3:15; 8:11; 20:15) and a good wife (31:10) as being greater than rubies (other translations say “corals,” “jewels,” and even “pearls” instead of rubies — this is a pretty good explanation of why).

This web site said, “The ruby has long been seen as the gem of passion, love, and courage for its vibrant red tone” and this site said rubies signify “friendship, fire, love, royalty, happiness, the opening of the heart,” all of which got me thinking about the courage and blood of Jesus and the courage and blood of the martyrs, and the Passion of Christ and His love for us, and His Sacred Heart, so I did a little research down that path and discovered several products with actual rubies used for Jesus’ heart (e.g., Sacred Heart medal; Sacred Heart with Ruby pendant), and several instances of “ruby” being used instead of “red” to describe the color of an object having to do with the Sacred Heart (e.g., Sacred Heart of Jesus Rosary with Ruby Crystal Beads; Sacred Heart Ruby Chaplet).

As for “ruby” and “red” being interchangeable, I found that “ruby” comes from the Latin ruber, meaning “red,” I loved this description of the reason behind red vestments:

“Red has a dual imagery: On one hand, red symbolizes the shedding of blood and is therefore used on Palm Sunday (when Christ entered Jerusalem to prepare for His death), Good Friday, any other commemoration of the Lord’s passion, the votive Mass of the Precious Blood, the days marking the martyrdom of the apostles (except St. John), and the feasts of other martyrs who offered their lives for the faith.

On the other hand, red also signifies the burning fire of God’s love. For this reason, red vestments are won on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and tongues of fire rested on their heads; for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation; and for the votive Masses of the Holy Spirit.” (source)

I really wanted to find the significance of rubies in art, but couldn’t find anything — do any of you know?

So I’m totally loving the idea of Ruby for the Sacred Heart or for Jesus’ Passion and Death or for the martyrs, and I like that Ruby could also be sort of a Holy Spirit name, based on the red of the tongues of fire that descended upon the Apostles … using Ruby in these ways feels similar to the usage of Cora for the Sacred Heart, and Halle as part of Hallelujah: they require a little explanation but the intention behind the name is impeccable (and you know how I feel about intentions).

As I’ve mentioned before (here and here), I once saw Ruby used as a nickname for Rebecca and I fell head-over-heels for that first name/nickname combo! I thought of other ways of getting to Ruby as a nickname and came up with ideas like:

Rosa Beatrice
Ruth Abigail (although why you wouldn’t go with Ruthie is beyond me)
Roma Benedicta
Regina Kolbe

But I definitely think “just Ruby” could work with the beautiful connections I mentioned above.

What do you think of Ruby? Would you use it on its own as a given name, or would you prefer it as a nickname? Do you know any little girls named Ruby?

Professional athletes’ names

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

I know you guys are sick to death of hearing about my love for Joachim, but I have a new question regarding it: As you all know, my husband refuses to budge on the name, and one of the reasons is the NBA player Joakim Noah. My brother, when he discovered that I liked the name, wrinkled his nose and also pointed to Joakim Noah as the reason he doesn’t like it. This is despite the fact that there are a million and one Joachims who play professional hockey and (European) football — those aren’t sports we follow, so they’re off the radar and do nothing to help my cause.

But then, my husband has jokingly (but maybe not?) suggested Donovan about a thousand times because Donovan McNabb used to be his team’s quarterback, and when I told my hubs I was going to suggest Tristan to my other brother and his wife for their little boy on the way, he told me he “doesn’t hate it” and that “Tristan Thompson is pretty well known right now as a basketball player.” So. Apparently that makes a previously not-okay name now okay. When I told my sister-in-law that, she said my brother agreed.

I know the men in my family are not the only ones who are like this — which professional athletes have impacted your baby naming either positively or negatively? I want to hear about them all, but I’m having a particularly hard time coming up with female athletes that have potential to interfere with a couple’s baby naming (other than Anastasia “Nastia” Liukin, who was the topic of quite a few name convos in my family of origin during her Olympics. I’m not pointing any fingers, but you know who you are).

 

 

Company name consultation

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Whoever found the blog today using the search term “catholic suggestions for company names” — if you’re still reading, email me! (sanctanomina (at) gmail (dot) com) I did a consultation a few months ago for a Catholic non-profit looking for a name, it was a lot of fun! I’d love to work on another one, if you’re interested!

“To give witness with joy and simplicity…”

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Chelsea is a reader from New Zealand (!) and also the editor of Restless Press, which has the amazing “vision to be a modern design, magazine inspired, Australasian based website, containing real life and popular culture from a Catholic Christian perspective, across the spectrum of charisms.” She also gave this great little snippet about it on her blog Grow the Roses, including this quote from Pope Francis, which she said summed up the Restless Press mission quite well:

“To give witness with joy and simplicity to who we are and what we believe in.”

Amazing mission, right? She asked me a few weeks ago if I would mind doing a little interview about Sancta Nomina, why and how I got started doing it, and I’m really humbled and overjoyed that she would think I fit in with her mission, how beautiful and wholesome.

The interview posted on Sunday — here it is for your reading pleasure! 🙂

Naming Catholic Babies: Kate from Sancta Nomina

So cool, right?! And get this — she called me “a baby name guru”!! Seriously guys, my life is made. Never in a million years have I ever thought others would think my obsession with love for names would get me anywhere. 😀 Nor did I think I’d get to connect with people from all over the world who love the names of our faith as I do! My heart swells, “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” God is so good. ❤

 

Baby name consultant: Time keeps flying for Ana Hahn

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When I met my husband he was a devout Evangelical, and not long after we started spending time together, I asked him to read Scott and Kimberly Hahn’s Rome Sweet Home, and when he decided to seriously investigate the teachings of the Church, he handed me a list of books he wanted to read and asked if I would order them for him and they were, almost all of them, books by Dr. Scott Hahn. I will be forever grateful for the role the Hahns played in the life I’ve been blessed with.

So when I discovered Ana Hahn’s blog Time Flies When You’re Having Babies a few years ago, I was initially really starstruck that this is Scott and Kimberly Hahn’s daughter-in-law! And her husband Mike is *the* Michael from the (really well-named) Hahn kids mentioned in the books!

But of course, as I read Ana’s blog, she became Ana of Time Flies When You’re Having Babies! and I became starry-eyed over herself, a young, faithful, Catholic wife and mom and writer who’s funny and very honest and I’ve loved reading about her and Mike’s romance and marriage and her kids’ births (I posted when her son was born) and her recipes (I’ve been meaning forever to try The Mostly Coffee Smoothie) and homemaking (basement reno!) and I felt compelled to email her almost a year ago about this post, which I so identified with. Also the photos/grams/whatever the younguns are calling them (did I see “IG’s” recently?).

When I discovered that she was expecting another baby, I was so excited (as always!) to consider what names she and Mike might like, and I was delighted (as always!) when she agreed to let me do a consultation post. Ana also hasn’t been feeling well, so I’m hopeful this will be a fun diversion for her (it would be so for me!).

Ana and Mike’s other babies have the amazing names:

Naomi Therese
Bernadette Martha
Ignatius John* (home with Jesus)
Lucy Josephine
Joseph Pio

I love them all, each one. Wonderful wonderful names. I also love how they’re kind of eclectic — Old Testament, New Testament, Church Father, French, Super Saintly — I’m guessing that Ana and Mike just go with the name that feels right, which is a great way to do it. It makes it a little harder to predict other names they might like, since the only theme I can really see is “Catholic,” which is the BEST! But also, as we know, really really huge. But! I’m never not up for a good challenge! And so I present you with my ideas for Baby Hahn:

Girl

(1) Judith
I was sure to post the spotlight on Judith last week because I had it in mind for Ana and I wanted to be able to refer to it in my consultation post for her. Naomi really inspired the idea of Judith, and I loved the connections to Mother Mary and St. Anne that I found when I was researching it.

(2) Miriam, Mary Clare, Mary Jane, Rosemary
I could make each of my Mary Names ideas their own number, but then this would be a very long list, so I thought I’d group them together. I love Miriam for the Hahns — like Judith, it was also inspired by Naomi. I’d thought of Clare/Clara and Jane and Rose as ideas on their own, but pairing them with Mary seemed a better fit for some gut-instinct reason (which means nothing, really — my gut’s not always right!). I love Mary Clare, Mary Jane, and Rosemary — each lovely, feminine, saintly, and Marian.

(3) Magdalen(e)
I was reminded the other day that Marlene Dietrich’s given name was Maria Magdalena (Marlene is a contraction of it, and was said “mar-LAY-nuh”), which was reminding me that Magdalen(e) has as much a European flavor to me as biblical, which fits in with the Frenchiness of Therese, Bernadette, and Josephine and the biblical-ness of Martha, John, and Joseph. And of course it’s Super Saintly like all of them, including Ignatius, Lucy, and Pio. And Maggie is the sweetest nickname! Lena could also work, as could Magda, both of which I really like. (My suggestion of (Mary) Clare above and Magdalen(e) here is reminding me of Philip Rivers’ baby girl Clare Magdalen(e), which is a gorgeous combo too.)

(4) Frances
I’ve been crushing on Frances recently — a little girl named Frances is more unexpected to me than a little boy named Francis, and it’s got the cutest nicknames: Francie, Frankie, Frannie. If the Hahns don’t like it for a first name, I would really love to see it in the middle spot — I think it works so well with so many names!

Boy

(1) Martin
Martin is overwhelmingly my strongest suggestion for a little boy. Again, it’s just a gut-feeling kind of thing — I love Martin as a brother to the older Hahn kids! And Martin Hahn sounds very handsome. St. Martin de Porres is a personal fave, but I also love that it could honor our new Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin. Marty’s super cute too!

(2) Gerard or Jerome
I really would love to see Gerard get more love. St. Gerard Majella is so amazing! And such a blessing to mamas during pregnancy and labor and delivery. Jerry might be a problem, feeling dated as it does, or it could be vintage cool! If Jerry’s a problem, I think Jed could totally work as a nickname. How cool is that? And Jed could so easily become … Jedi! Ahh! That’s probably crazy. Right? (Maybe Gerard Isaac –> Jedi … so cute!!! And crazy. Yes. Crazy.) (But I’m kind of digging it! 😀 )

(Also, Majella would be a pretty idea for a girl!)

Like Martin, Jerome is just a gut feeling for me for the Hahns. It’s saintly and sophisticated and traditional. Like Gerard, Jerry’s a natural nickname, but I also think they could do a Jed/Jedi kind of thing if it was paired with a middle name like David or Daniel.

(3) Gregory
I know you’re all thinking, “Gregory again?” I do feel like I’ve suggested it a lot! Including to Grace Patton, who’s friends with Ana in real life. But it’s a great name! I’d suggested the nickname Rory to Grace, and I’ve thought Grey and even Gregor could work as nicknames, but I don’t feel like any of those are Ana and Mike’s style. I kind of like Greg for them! Greg Hahn. That’s solid! And Gregory is just so impeccable — don’t forget what the Baby Name Wizard says about it: “Popes, saints, and Gregory Peck! Can a name get any more distinguished?” Love it!

(4) Benedict
I love Pope Emeritus Benedict dearly, and think naming a boy Benedict is such a nice homage to him. Ben and Benny are just great nicknames too. But maybe Benedict’s too close to Bernadette? If so, I would love it in the middle spot. Martin Benedict Hahn has a particularly handsome ring to it … 🙂

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Baby Hahn? A very big thank you to Ana for letting me post this, and I know you’ll all join me in praying that she feels better soon!

*I hope it’s not inappropriate to keep inserting my own stories in here (so sorry Ana!), but there are a lot of connections that are making me feel like God is extra close to me today, through Ana and this consultation. Like Ana, the baby I miscarried was my third baby as well; like Ana, I feel strongly that it was a boy; like Ana, we named our baby Ignatius. She mentions in her miscarriage post that her brother-in-law had done a report on St. Ignatius of Antioch the day she felt like she was sure the baby was a boy — St. Ignatius of Antioch is who we named our baby after, as it’s my husband’s Confirmation name, chosen because St. Ignatius of Antioch’s writings on the Eucharist were the final and biggest reason he decided to convert.

 

Birth announcement: Avila Rose!

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It’s a two-birth-announcement day! Hooray! 😀

Tanya’s consultation posted at the end of September, and she emailed me today to let me know the baby arrived this past week! They gave her the beautiful name … Avila Rose!

Tanya writes,

“We had so much fun ( and a little stress) trying to find a name for her.  We enjoyed sorting through all your advice and suggestions. In the end we couldn’t agree so we decided to just wait till she was born. We ended up going with Avila Rose. Although we did break the double vowel pattern of our other kids names we feel that Avila still goes well with all the sibling names. Whether we have any more kiddos or not naming trends continue to fascinate me and I will def keep following your blog.

She was 8 lbs 10 oz and born at 4:28 on the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 6th). We all adore her already.”

I loooove the name Avila, and I’m so excited to see it used for this beautiful baby! And paired with Rose is so lovely! Tanya posted her birth story, if you’re into that kind of thing. (I am! I so am.)

Congratulations to Tanya and Mike and big sibs Keira, Israel, Nairi, and Samuel, and happy birthday Baby Avila!!

Avila Rose

Birth announcement: Zita Fidela!

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A mama I did a private consultation for last spring emailed me to let me know what they ended up naming their daughter: Zita Fidela!

She writes,

“… we named her Zita Fidela (fee-DAY-lah). She was born April 24th, 2015 at 11:38am after a five hour labor, my first daytime baby. She weighed 7lbs9oz at birth. She’s a big girl now though, crawling all over and starting to eat food. Time flies. Zita is a super sweet baby and very much adored by our whole family. She is nearly always joyful and smiling.

How did we choose? My husband really wanted to name her Annalise. I think Annalise is a lovely name, but I didn’t like it with our last name, and Zita’s next oldest sister, only 18 months older, is Anastasia, which I felt was too similar to Annalise. We do call Anastasia, Tacy, but still…I was just not comfortable with Annalise. I had had Stella, Cecilia, Zita and Salette as top contenders, but I didn’t feel “right” about any of them. I wanted the name we chose to be just “right” as soon as I saw it. I wanted to be feel really comfortable and in love with the name, and I just wasn’t feeling it for any of those names. Then I was checking their popularity, and I found that Stella was in the top 100 last year. That killed it for me. I don’t like to do popular. (Yes, I know I have a kid named Sam…which I am okay with…but….). Then I remembered how we’d chosen our son Henry’s middle name, Gerard, as Henry was born on St Gerard’s feast day. I looked up the saint for the day, April 24, and it was St Fidelis of Sigmaringen. Read about him, he’s very cool. Remember how I wanted a name saint who was a strong champion for the faith? St Fidelis is your man. Fidelis for a girl would be Fidela, right, and then suddenly it came together. Zita Fidela. I had said whispered quite a few names to my little girl over the past few hours, listening to myself say them and wondering if they fit. When I said that one, I had that knowing feeling I had been waiting and hoping for. I texted it to my husband (at home with the other kids), hoping so hard, because I knew it was the one. And he liked it. We still had the “Are you sure? You’re really sure?” conversation the next morning when we filled out her birth certificate, but that was just because neither of us wanted to insist on a name the other didn’t want.

We are hopeless nicknamers, it seems, so we call her Little Z a lot. Also Zezu (zee-zoo) and most recently, Henry, age 5, christened her Tooch and it’s stuck a little.”

What a beautiful story!! Zita’s big sibs have the amazing names:

Maria Antonia
Henry Gerard Marie
Vincent Alexander Marie (Vinnie, Vin, Vince, Vincie)
Anastasia Evamarie (Tacy)
Samuel Quentin Marie (Sam, Sammy)

Beautiful, right? I haven’t heard Zita at all on today’s babies — Zita’s parents seem to have done the seemingly impossible in finding a truly unique but still saintly name! And Marie in each of the boys’ names! I love that so much!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Zita!!

Spotlight on: Judith

sanctanomina Spotlight , , ,

Kerri and skimac both recently asked for a spotlight on Judith, which surprised me at first, and then as I thought about it I got a little excited about it — I’m a big fan of underused or undiscovered biblical names, and while Judith is certainly not undiscovered, I feel like these days it’s definitely underused.

Judith reminds me of Ruth, being biblical and with the -th ending that’s an uncommon ending for a girl’s name, and I’ve been loving Ruth lately, so that association automatically makes me warm to Judith. Kerri called it a “sturdy” name, and I do think it has that feel — it definitely holds up to any variation of the Supreme Court test (i.e., you can definitely picture a woman named Judith as a judge, Judge Judy notwithstanding). (And really, I think Judith is better for a judge than Judy.) (Actually, now that I think about it, and in a weird coincidence, former New York State Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye has been on my mind because she died yesterday, yet I’d scheduled this post for today earlier this week and wasn’t even thinking of her when I started writing this, nor when I mentioned the “Supreme Court test.” She’s actually a great example of what I think of when I think of Judith — she was “the first woman named to the highest court in New York and the first to serve as the state’s chief judge — a job she held longer than any of her 21 male predecessors.” Successful, professional, perhaps a little bit stern.)

Judge Kaye was also Jewish, and I think that’s an association many have with the name Judith as well (in fact, the name’s meaning is given as “a woman from Judea” or “a Jewess”), though it’s certainly not inappropriate for those who are not Jewish — I also know Catholic and non-Catholic Christians named Judith. But the ones I know are grown-up women “of a certain age” — I don’t know any little girls! According to the SSA, it was most popular (in the top 100) from 1934 to 1964, peaking at #4 in 1940, which make it a popularity contemporary of names like Carol and Barbara — both of which we’ve talked about before as perhaps ready for a comeback. (Carol: here and here and here; Barbara: here and read subsequent comments too.) It’s been on a downward trend for years, coming in at #952 in 2014. So it can truly be considered an unusual and fairly rare choice, which is pretty exciting.

The Book of Judith in the Bible provides us with a pretty great role model in Judith — as one of my bibles says in its intro to the Book of Judith:

“The Book of Judith is a vivid story relating how, in a grave crisis, God delivered the Jewish people through the instrumentality of a woman … The beautiful hymn of the people honoring Judith (15, 9-10) is often applied to Mary in the liturgy.”

This is the hymn:

“When they had visited her, all with one accord blessed her, saying:

‘You are the glory of Jerusalem,
the surpassing joy of Israel;
You are the splendid boast of our people.

With your own hand you have done all this;
You have done good to Israel,
and God is pleased with what you have wrought.

May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty forever and ever!’

And all the people answered, ‘Amen!’“

I’m not sure I could go so far as to saying Judith is a Marian name, but the ties of the name Judith to Our Lady as revealed in this passage are beautiful — I could easily see someone choosing Judith as an offbeat homage to Mary.

There are also several Sts. and Blesseds Judith, several European royal women (including an empress and several queen consorts), and another association that I came across recently is that in the Protoevangelium of James, which is not canonical, but is nevertheless considered authoritative enough to give us the names by which we remember and honor Mother Mary’s parents, Judith was given as the name of St. Anne’s maid-servant. How cool!

Behind the Name gives several variants of Judith (Jutta, Judyta, et al.), but you know it’s the nicknames I get most excited by! Judy is super cute, but maybe still feels a little dated? It has its own history as a given name, peaking a few years later than Judith but dropping out of sight quicker, so it might have a little more of a date-stamped feel, but it’s not the only option: Jody/Jodie are possibilities, according to behindthename, which makes me also think of Jo and Josie (especially, maybe, with an S middle name? Judith Siena, for example, could easily be Josie) … or maybe pair it with an N middle name for Junie or Juno? Maybe Judith Noelle? Even Julie for something like Judith Louisa? Am I scaring you yet? Haha!

What do you all think of Judith? Would you consider it for your daughter, or have you? Do you know any little Judiths? Do they go by a nickname, and if so, what? Or older Judiths as well — I’d love to hear of non-Judy nicknames.

Updated to add: Howwww could I forget Jude as a nickname?? The spotlight I did on Jude was really the impetus for this spotlight! Thanks to Mary-Agnes for the reminder! Jude as a nickname definitely modernizes Judith I think, do you agree?