Author: sanctanomina

St. Anne giveaway #6, and some middle name questions

sanctanomina Housekeeping, Naming nitty gritty, Real-life naming , ,

I just posted a pic of today’s holy card giveaway — “Prayer to St. Anne — To Obtain Some Special Favor.” I have five, so the first five people who email me at sanctanomina@gmail.com will get them!

And some questions for you all: I’m wondering about people who weren’t given a middle name at birth. Specifically:

— Do you wish you’d been given one, or are you happy without?

— If you took a different Confirmation name, did you start to use it as your middle name?

— If you’re a married woman who took your husband’s last name, did you find it easier/less complicated to just move your maiden name into the middle spot legally (if you chose to do so) than if you’d had a middle name there as well?

— Of the people you know who weren’t given a middle name at birth (including yourself), how many are men and how many are women?

If these questions don’t pertain to you, but you know people without middle names, please share their experience/opinion also, if you know it!

Baby name consultant: Boy #3 needs a name!

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , ,

Anna emailed with a dilemma I’d not yet encountered here! First, her other boys are named:

Theodore Randell (called Teddy)
William Gerald (called William or Will)

Such handsome combos! Anna writes,

“We are drawn toward strong classic names that (hopefully) aren’t overly common and that have cute (but not cutesy) nicknames that can grow or evolve with the boys. Randell and Gerald are the first names of our fathers and fit with the strong classic name theme. We LOVE the names Charles Russell (Charlie) buuuuuut, we have a cat named Charlie. Try as we might, I don’t know that we can get past the association with our darn cat. 😉 “

Ack!

“I especially appreciate your ability to come up with alternate nicknames, as I am so NOT creative in that sense! … Russell is DH’s late grandfather’s name. At one point we considered it as a first name but were at a loss for suitable nicknames (Russ and Rusty are out and… that’s as far as my creativity goes with nicknames).”

My first thought was: Charles Russell is an amazing combination!! So handsome, and such a perfect match with brothers Theodore Randell and William Gerald. I’m so impressed!

Second, a cat named Charlie! Oof! That’s a really hard thing to work around! One possible way is to use a nickname for Charles that’s not Charlie. There was an Appellation Mountain post a while back with unusual nicknames for Charles — Cal is one of my favorites for it, and some other really offbeat ideas (I tend to love offbeat nicknames) like Chase or Huck (if Chuck, why not Huck?), which made me think Hutch might work too. I like all those, and I’ll also offer that one of my boys goes exclusively by a nickname for his middle name, so that’s a possibility too.

Which brings me to her question about Russell nicknames. I’m a little crazy about nicknames — I can almost always come up with some!! 🙂 A lot of times they’re just too out there for people, but … what about:

(1) Sully
This is hands down my favorite nickname idea for Russell! Sully is just taking the Russell letters and mixing them up a bit. Also, when I say Russell, the “ssell” ending sounds a lot like “sull” to my ear, so Sully seems a natural extension nickname for Russell. I love it!

(2) Rob(bie) or Rod(dy) or Rory
Another way I like to come up with nicknames is by combining elements of the first name with elements of the second. A combination like Russell Bernard or Russell Benedict might lend itself to a nickname like Rob or Robbie — the R from Russell and the B from the middle name. Or maybe something like Russell David or Russell Daniel? Which could lead to Rod or Roddy, both of which I think are really cute (like Roddy McDowell!). Or maybe Roddy’s too close to Teddy? I’m not sure what I think. I could also see Rory working as a nickname for Russell Bernard or Russell Robert, where there’s the R from the first name and R’s in the middle as well.

(3) Rudy or Ray
The idea of Russell David made me think of Rudy as well. It’s a more obvious nickname for Russell David (and really, I could see Rudy being a nickname for Russell anyway, regardless of middle name). Funny enough, I looked up Rudy in my Baby Name Wizard book, which I rely on a lot for inspiration in these consultations, and it said Teddy is similar in style and feel! So cool! And the movie Rudy would be so fun to show a little Rudy when he grew up. I also thought Ray could work — just because it seems like a short form of an R name. Ray could also be a firstname+middlename combo nickname, like from Russell Avery or Russell Aidan or similar.

So those are my thoughts for nicknames. As for other ideas for first names, I always shoot for three, and this is what I came up with:

(1) Louis
Going back to the Baby Name Wizard book, it has this awesome feature where it provides, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in style/feel/popularity. It’s often pretty spot-on for predicting other names parents might like, based on the names they’ve already used and/or are considering. Louis was shown to be similar to both Theodore and Charles, which I thought was amazing. Louis is distinguished and saintly, and the nickname Louie is adorable. I know a little Louis nicked Louie, and he’s a great kid, so I have only positive associations for this name. Louis Russell?

(2) Henry
Henry also did quite well for this family in the BNW book — similar to Theodore, William, and Charles! And Harry, which is a traditional nickname for Henry, was shown to be similar to Charlie. I also like the nickname Hank. Henry Russell sounds quite nice to me.

(3) Edward
I was reluctant to suggest this, since Anna calls her Theodore “Teddy,” but Edward was shown to be similar to William and Charles (and Edmund to Theodore). It’s totally workable I think — Edward could go by the nickname Ward (which I’ve seen), or — and this is crazy! — my dad once worked with a man named Edward who went by Zeb! I like Edward Russell a lot.

So those are my ideas for this new little boy! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Theodore/Teddy and William/Will’s little brother?

I love to do name consultations! If you’d like me to give your name dilemma a go, check out my Baby name consultant tab.

St. Anne giveaway #5

sanctanomina Housekeeping

It occurred to me late yesterday that I maybe should have have popped on to clarify that I wouldn’t be posting anything yesterday giveaway-wise (since I don’t blog on Sundays unless there’s a special reason), but I wasn’t able to so here I am bright and early on a Monday morning with the next holy card for you all!

I just posted the picture of it — I have five, so the first five people who email me at sanctanomina@gmail.com will get them! Hope you all had a great weekend! (I’ll have today’s consultation up by noon. 🙂 )

Best introduction to the names of our faith

sanctanomina Resources and recommendations , ,

You all know I frequently link to Amazon using affiliate links — mostly (and I’m totally honest here) because they have all the books that I really highly recommend for any name enthusiast (I LOVE sharing with you the books that I love!), but certainly also because I earn a little money each time you click over using one of my links (so yes, as with my Father’s Day post, sometimes I’ll post other things I think will be of interest. I always try to have them connect to the themes of this blog though — names and faith). (As an aside — how do you all feel about affiliate links? Do you hate them? Not mind them? Are you okay with this?)

Certainly Amazon is the best for heavy duty name books, but there are so many name-related items that I think would be great as gift ideas (or “just because”) that I want to share with you, and a lot of them are available on Amazon, but every time I look on Amazon I feel a twinge that a Catholic company isn’t getting the business (and surely any Catholic companies need the patronage more than Amazon). So I’m thrilled thrilled thrilled to tell you that I recently signed up with The Catholic Company (Catholic Books and Gifts from The Catholic Company – The World’s #1 Catholic Store) to be an affiliate (like with the Amazon links).

Woo! I LOVE The Catholic Company!! No joke, I use it allllll the time for gifts for others, things for my kids, things for me 🙂 , etc., and they have SO MANY great things that fit so many occasions!!

So for my very first Catholic Company affiliate-linky post, I thought I’d list some of the kinds of books that fired up my love of the names of our faith (sancta nomina), all those years ago, when I was a wee girl.

It was all about the saints.

Oh my I loved the books of saints my mom had! And she had a lot — most of them were the same size, and fit in a brown cardboard shoebox-type box, and when I was teaching sixth grade Religious Ed the year I was pregnant with my oldest, I brought that box in with me for my students to use and the other mom who helped me out (bless her, she tried hard, but clearly hadn’t had a great formation in the faith), her eyes just about popped out of her head. “Where did you get those?” she wanted to know — she was so unfamiliar, and so hungry! You know?

These ones, the “Miniature Stories of the Saints,” are ones I actually owned. In fact, I came across one of them in my nightstand the other night! They’re small, with a quick profile of the saint on each page. And they’re very budget friendly — all less than $3.00!

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book One

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book Two)

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book Three)

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book Four)

Though I haven’t read this one, I liked the look of it, since it contains all six volumes of the “Little Book of Saints” series in one: My First Book of Saints.

This one too, which comes in two volumes: Saints for Young Readers for Every Day – Vol. I (January – June) and Saints for Young Readers – Vol. II (July to December).

And of course I have to include my boys’ particular favorite, which they have loved to literal pieces: Picture Book of Saints by Fr. Lovasik. (I love Fr. Lovasik. Anything by him is good by me.)

These books are amazing as gifts for baby showers (especially when they ask you to bring a book! I always bring books of saints), baptisms, birthdays for the younger set (maybe age 10 and younger?), and First Holy Communion, as well as Christmas (there’s always a big stack of new books under our Christmas tree, and books of our faith are always well represented).

So! I hope this is all helpful! It’s the kind of post I’d find useful, so I hope you all agree. Happy shopping! 🙂

St. Anne giveaway #4

sanctanomina Housekeeping

There’s a lot more traffic on the site today than I expected! I was on the fence about posting a giveaway for today, since it’s a holiday and the weekend, but I’m going for it. 🙂 (Thanks too for your thoughtful responses to my earlier post! I loved them all!)

I just posted the pic of today’s holy card — I have five, so the first five people who email me at sanctanomina@gmail.com get it!

Happy Independence Day!! And a question

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty , ,

I know no one’s reading today, so I’ll probably reblog this later this week, but just in case someone’s looking for something namey to read on this great day and some questions of life-altering import to consider (ha!), here ya go. 🙂

We all have strong opinions regarding names, yes? We all have our tastes and styles, we like what we like. All of which is totally fine, since, as long as we’re not talking about Lucifer or Eva-Braun (hyphenated double first name thankyouverymuch), names are not a moral issue. We’re free to disagree! You can like John and you can like Hezekiah and you can like Kayden and none of it has a lick to do with your worth as a person or how much you love your child or whether you’re a good parent or not or your status before God.

I’ve found that the more conversations I have in which I find out why parents chose the name(s) they did for their child(ren), the more and more obvious it is to me that parents in general choose names for their little ones that they love. Names that really sing for them, that make them light up with joy that yes! This is the name for my child, my beloved.

Now I do think sometimes it’s a kindness to point out to parents trying to decide on a name for their unborn baby if there’s a glaring issue with a name. Like, if you knew parents were considering “Tiger” and you knew there was a chance they didn’t know about Tiger Woods as a celebrity personality, nor as a person with some negative associations due to unsavory information about his private life that was made public, I would think it important to find a quiet moment to gently point it out. Then, once it’s pointed out, you’ve done your job! No need to harp on.

Criticisms of a child’s name after he or she’s already been named? So uncool. So unkind.

I was thinking of all this because I received my very first negative comment!! Not here (as if! You all are so wonderful ❤ ) — over on my Nameberry post. In one few-sentence comment, (1) choosing names like the ones I’d written about was declared “tacky” and “chavvy” and (2) I’m pretty sure our country was one of the “certain countries” said to be “on the decline” intelligence-wise because of, I assume, some of the names American parents have chosen for their children. Ha!

I honestly truly do not care about disagreements in names. I do find it very sad that anyone would feel the need to throw parents and entire countries under the bus because of disagreements in names. I don’t have any interest in engaging in conversation with people who have such opinions, because I would imagine there’s some hurt there, and I don’t want to be the (even inadvertent) stick that pokes at a sore spot. Like when my kids are just totally beyond keeping it together, they often need extra softness from me. But it did make me want to ask you all:

What do you do when you know someone’s considering a name for their child that you think is unfortunate? If there’s a real issue with the name (like some obvious negative connotation), do you point it out? If it’s just a name that’s not your taste, do you tell them? Do you have real-life experiences like this, and how did you handle it? OR — have you been on the receiving end?

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone!!

“Land where my fathers died! Land of the pilgrims’ pride! From every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

New Nameberry post!

sanctanomina Nameberry writer, Naming nitty gritty ,

I have a new article up at Nameberry today!: Baby Names Backwards and Inside Out.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Some of your comments on my original post about this topic were helpful in filling it out for Nameberry, and I included a couple in the article — thanks for always being so inspiring and knowledgeable!

(Today’s giveaway will go up in a little while. 🙂 )

nameberry_article-07.03.15

St. Anne giveaway #2

sanctanomina Uncategorized

I just posted the picture of the second holy card I’m giving away — it’s a four-page holy card of St. Anne. I have five of them, so the first give people who email me at sanctanomina@gmail.com will get them!

I’m having company in a minute, so I won’t be able to respond immediately to emails, nor let you know as soon as I have five winners — so sorry! I’ll be back online this evening. Happy Thursday!!

Catholic royals

sanctanomina Famous Catholics , , , ,

LOOK at these goooooorgeous (!!!!!!) names from Bree over at The Beauty of Names:

“Maria Josepha, of Saxony, Dauphine of France, also known as Marie Josèphe, was born Maria Josepha Karolina Eleonore Franziska Xaveria to Augustus III of Poland and Maria Josepha of Austria. She married Louis, Dauphin of France, who was born Louis Ferdinand.
Their children were:

Marie Zéphyrine, “Marie Zéphyrine of France“, “Madame Royale”, or “la Petite Madame” (Died at age 5)

Louis Joseph Xavier, “Louis, Duke of Burgundy” (Died at age 9)

Xavier Marie Joseph, “Xavier, Duke of Aquitaine” (Died at 6 months)

Louis-Auguste, “Louis-Auguste, Duke of Berry“, later “Louis XVI of France“

Louis Stanislas Xavier, “Louis, Count of Provence“, later “Louis XVIII of France“

Charles Philippe, “Charles, Count of Artois“, later “Charles X“

Marie Adélaïde Clotilde Xavière, “Marie Clotilde of France“, “Gros-Madame”, or “Madame Clotilde”

Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène, “Princess Élisabeth of France“, or “Madame Élisabeth”“

I’m in love! They’re so beautiful! And so very very Catholic! THREE Xaviers! And one Xavière! And the first name-middle name(s) combinations! I think I would be completely content if someone told me I had to name my children using only these names.

I looked up Maria Josepha/Marie Josèphe on Wikipedia, and loved this: “Politically reserved, she exerted herself only once, in 1762, in vain, for the preservation of the Society of Jesus in France. The Society had been dissolved by order of the Parlement of Paris, inspired by Jansenist magistrates, against the will of the King.”

What do you think of these names? Any that jump out at you as particularly appealing? Or are they too over-the-top for your taste?