Baby name consultant

Baby name consultant: No. 3 green bean needs Southern Catholic/biblical name

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It’s such a sad Monday morning after the shooting in Orlando this past weekend. So many people are grieving, what a tragedy — the loss of human life is always a devastation. I read through the list of the victims of the shooting and was struck by the amazing collection of patron saints represented by the names of the deceased — so many holy ones to implore for intercession. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, and please bring peace to our country. 🙏❤

As I felt in the wake of Paris, it seems almost inappropriate to continue on with this fun, joyful work of naming babies in the wake of death, but at the same time, it’s important work, and this wee one on the way might be the very person that brings the begged-for peace to our hearts, our country, and our world. Babies=hope, thank you Jesus. ❤ ❤ ❤

Babies=hope, and such joy! With gratitude for the gift of new life, I’m happy to post today’s consultation: Katie and her husband are expecting their third baby, a little green bean! 🌱 He or she will join big sibs:

Asher Henry
Margaret Elizabeth (Margo)

Such cool names, right? Asher and Margo is such an awesome sibset!

Katie writes,

“I have always loved names, but I’m at a loss with this one. We are team green for this baby … Asher was chosen because I liked that it was biblical, unique (in 2008), yet a “real” name. It also means “happy” which I love. Henry is in honor of my grandfather, Patrick Henry.

Margo was named in honor of my great aunt Margaret (Margie for short) who was an all-around awesome lady. I went back and forth between Greta and Margo, for the nickname to choose but eventually settled on Margo. Elizabeth is my middle name, my mom’s middle name, and in honor of my grandmother Betty.

I definitely struggle more with boy names than girl names …”

Katie and her hubs have some guidelines they’d like to follow:

-“I would prefer a name that can make a nickname especially for a girl. I’m just Katie. Not Katherine or Kathleen. I always kind of wished I had a “real” name.
-Bonus points for Southern
-Bonus points for Catholic/Biblical
-I’m not sure if it’s just me but I worry about names that end in the –en sound with our last name [which ends in -ins]. It feels too sing songy. Am I being neurotic?
-It has to pass the senator rule. If it doesn’t sound good with Senator in front of it, it doesn’t pass muster.”

Names that they’re considering include:

Girl
Camilla (Millie)
Cora
Eloise
Cecily
Blanche
Greer
Estella (Stella)

Boy
Edward (Teddy)
Grant
Lawson
Reid
Hayes
Joel
Seth
Sean
Blaise (“Not sure if I’m ‘brave’ enough for this one!“)

Great list of names! I love the names on their girl list—Greer and Stella are personal faves of mine, and the others are beautiful and feminine, and I can’t believe Blanche is on there! I’ve never seen it on anyone’s list ever! (Though this past winter I heard Fr. Gaitley talk about his book 33 Days to Morning Glory, and he told quite a bit of his personal story, which involved a former girlfriend from France named Blanche, except he pronounced it the French way, not rhyming with ranch (which is how I would say it) but like blah+sh with that almost unheard French between blah and sh. It was the first time I could picture Blanche on a young person!)

Anyway! They gave me a good sense of Katie and her hubs’ taste in girl’s names, and when I did a little research into Southern naming traditions, it all made sense, because I found Blanche and Greer on one particular list I found from Southern Living.

Their boy names are also very consistent with the Southern theme, and they’ve also got some good biblical names in there. By far my favorite name on the list is Blaise! I think it’s ah-MAZ-ing with Asher and Margo! I personally would consider Blanche to be the most daring name of them all, so if they’re good with Blanche they should totally be brave enough for Blaise!

Okay! On to my ideas. You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and like in the Baby Name Wizard, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Using that research, as well as my own mental files, and the research I did on Southern-type names, these are my suggestions:

Girl
(1) Annabel(le)
I didn’t do the research on Southern names until after I’d looked through the BNW and picked through my mind, so I was delighted to see that one of my top ideas for Katie and her hubs was listed in that same link to southern baby names! Annabel is a recent favorite of mine, as it can be considered a Marian name! It’s actually a form of Amabel, which comes from the Latin amabilis, meaning amiable/lovable, and is part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis. How cool is that! It’s got the great nickname option of Annie, which I love; the Annabelle spelling is particularly southern; it’s got the Catholic angle covered; it doesn’t end in –en; and I think it passes the Senator Rule just fine. All their requirements!

(2) Eve, Eva, Ava, Evelyn
Eve is a totally biblical name, obviously, but it strikes me as also having a really sophisticated, distinguished feel, kind of sparse and chic, very Senator-like. I like that it fits with Asher’s biblical-ness and Margo’s coolness; Evie is one of the sweetest nicknames ever imo; it can also be considered Marian because of Mary being the New Eve (I’m a sucker for a Marian name!); and while I don’t know if Eve comes across as particularly Southern, every time I see Evelyn I hear Jessica Tandy saying it in a Southern accent in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, which was set in Georgia, so I feel like Evelyn could be a good option that retains a lot of Eve’s charm. Eva and Ava were also variants that showed up in my BNW as being similar to names this family likes.

(3) Caroline
Caroline is a great style match for Margaret, and it’s got some great nickname options like Carrie, Caro, Lina, Lola, Callie. It passes the Senator Rule, and a lot of people have been using it recently in honor of St. John Paul II. And it’s on that list of Southern names!

(4) Mary+
I don’t know a huge amount about Southern names, but I do know that double names are pretty common, and that double names for girls often involve a normal-ish first name with a family lastname as a middle, and that going by both names together, or just the middle name, is a tradition. That fits in exactly with the Catholic tradition of naming girls with the first name Mary, to be used in conjunction with the middle, like Mary Kate, Mary Grace, Mary Ann, etc., or to go just by the middle. Those kinds of names—Mary Grace etc.—have a really Catholic feel, but I think putting Mary in front of any name makes the middle name very do-able for a girl, no matter what, and casts a Catholic shadow as well. I might encourage Katie and her hubs to look through their family tree and find some last names that might work, for a really southern feel. Looking through the BNW, one of the girl names that was similar in style to some of their boys’ lastname ideas was Tate—Mary Tate is sweet!

Boy
(1) Brooks
I kind of love the name Brooks! Asher and Margo have kind of a preppy feel to me—in the best way! I love them together!—and Brooks so much fits in with that. It’s similar in style to Grant, Lawson, Reid, and Hayes, and reminds me of Blaise as well because of being one syllable and starting with a B. It doesn’t have a Catholic or biblical feel, unfortunately, but I feel like a great middle name could fix that. Like Brooks Nathaniel or Brooks Benedict.

(2) Beau
Beau is such a Southern gentleman to me. I think immediately of Melanie Wilkes’ little Beau from Gone With the Wind, which is a sweet and obviously very Southern reference—and it’s on that list of southern names I linked to above! I did a consultation for my sister-in-law last year, and one of her favorite combos was Francis Beau called Beau—that combo also seems to have a particularly Southern flair to me! And Francis is so Catholic.

(3) Elliott or Emmett or Everett
I had both Elliott and Emmett on my list for this family before I read that southern-names article, and was excited to see they’re both on there! Elliott was originally an English last name derived from a medieval diminutive of Elias, which is the Greek form of Elijah, so it’s technically biblical. And Emmett was originally an English last name derived from a medieval diminutive of Emma! I love that they were both originally last names, which I assume is one of the reasons they were on the list of southern names, and I love that Elliott is biblical, as it ties in so nicely with Asher (though not obviously). If they didn’t care for either of these for a son, I would totally suggest considering them for a daughter! Especially as Mary Elliott or Mary Emmett, even if they called her Elliott or Emmett on a daily basis (and Ellie and Emmy are great nicknames) — doing so seems more in keeping with the Southern tradition of putting last names or masculine names in the middle spot, rather than the boys-names-for-girls trend. (I’d be interested to hear what Katie’s husband thinks of this line of thinking—in my experience, most men don’t care to consider names for their sons that might also be do-able for their daughters.)

I’m including Everett in this group because it’s got a similar sound and rhythm to Elliott and Emmett, though it wasn’t on the list of southern names. It was, however, listed in the BNW as similar to Cora and Estella. I also wouldn’t be as inclined to suggest it for a daughter, which Katie’s husband might like better.

(4) Ethan
I thought getting at least one explicitly biblical name on the list was important, and Ethan seemed like a great fit. At first I was thinking it had a specifically southern feel as well, but when I looked it up to see why I felt that way, I realized I’d been thinking of Ethan Allen, who was from Connecticut. Oops. But then the BNW said that Ethan’s been particularly popular in the heartland in recent years, which includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, so I guess I was right in feeling that it’s popular in the south. This is the only name that ends in the –en sound that I included in my suggestions for Katie and her hubs, but I’ve said Ethan out loud a bunch of times with their last name (Ethan Jenkins is a good stand-in) and I think it sounds pretty fab. I actually tried a bunch of –en names out loud with their last name, to see which ones might not work, but honestly I thought they all sounded fine!

And those are my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for a little brother or sister for Asher and Margo?

 

Baby name consultant: Lillian or Marie, Noah or Jude?

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Theresa and her husband are expecting their third baby, gender unknown! This wee babe will join big sibs:

Abigail Rose nicked Abby
John Andrew nicked Jack

Which are just great names — biblical, traditional, can’t-go-wrong kind of names.

Theresa explained that she doesn’t love how popular Abby has become (though the meaning of “her father’s joy” for their firstborn seemed perfect), and that,

“My husband’s name is John … and his father was a John with a different middle name and his father, etc etc. So we kept with the tradition of naming him John with a different middle name. We picked Andrew because my maternal grandfather is John Andrew and always goes by Jack. So perfect all around.”

Names they’re considering include:

Girl
Marie: “My middle name is Marie named after my late paternal grandmother. I wanted to honor her by bringing the name to the front again because I don’t know any other Maries but it seems like everyone’s middle name is Marie. It’s difficult coming up with a middle name for a name I associate with being the middle. I prefer Marie Therese (pronounced ter-ez, the French way). My hubby doesn’t really like it. [Another possibility is] his sister’s name, Tamara. She passed away suddenly a few years ago at 38 years old and left behind 5 children.”

Lillian Marie: “Our short list when we were pregnant with Abby was Abigail, Evelyn, and Lillian. John loves the name Lillian Marie and would love to have Abby and Lily as sisters. He also thinks Abby and Marie is a cute pair. I can imagine Abby always having roses and Lily having lilies when we do gifts and crafts. Anyway, Lillian Marie is a very Marian name so I love it for that reason too. I just feel bad abandoning my initial goal of making Marie a first name. My other concern is how popular Lily has become. I can’t decide!!!”

Boy
William Michael nicked Liam or Will: “I’m not a fan of this name for many reasons. [My hubs] is hesitant because he hates other nicknames like Bill and Billy.”

Dominic Michael: “I like the saint but we are having a hard time shedding the Jersey Shore feel we get with this name. I imagine someone with more Italian traits and we are very pale people :/ Plus, we don’t like any of the nicknames.”

Elijah Michael: “[My hubs] likes Eli as a nickname but I don’t. I don’t really feel like Elijah fits our family.”

Jude Michael: “I think it would be cute to have John, Jack and Jude but Jude would have to grow on me. I’ve never known a Jude besides Jude Law and I wonder how manly it is. I hear lots of people are naming girls Jude now and that bothers me a little. But of all the boy names Jude is the top for both of us at this point.”

Also Noah, Logan, Tristan, “But I want the name to be Catholic and sound like those names. John doesn’t like any of those names except Noah, but it’s way too popular now.”

“I just wish there was a boy name that stood out as “that’s the one!” and we both liked it.”

Okay, first off, I love Theresa’s kiddos’ names! Abigail Rose and John Andrew, and Abby and Jack, are great sibling names, nice job Mom and Dad! I can see already that they’re worried about popularity—Theresa said she has a bit of name regret over the fact that Abby is so popular, and she’s concerned at how popular Lily and Noah are, even though it seems pretty clear that she loves all those names! This is where popularity statistics are harmful rather than helpful, in my opinion. I hate seeing parents moving away from names they really love because they’re worried about popularity. I feel like it will be extra hard for this couple, because so many of the names they’re considering are super popular right now:

Abigail: 7
Abby: 437
Abbie: 791
Abbey: 904

John: 26
Jack: 40
Jackson: 17

Marie: 564

Lillian: 26
Lily: 25
Lillie: 579

Evelyn: 15

William: 5
Liam: 2

Dominic: 68

Elijah: 11
Eli: 53

Jude (boys): 156
Jude (girls): not in top 1000

Noah: 1

Logan: 14

Tristan: 101

As you can see, Abigail is a top ten name, as is William, Liam, and Noah. Not far behind are Jackson (not a name they chose, but definitely contributing to the feeling that Jack is well used among little boys currently), Evelyn, Elijah, and Logan in the top twenty, and John, Jack, Lillian, and Lily in the top fifty.

So if their goal is to have a truly less popular name, then Marie, Dominic, Jude (boy), and Tristan are more aligned with their goal. But I’m not convinced that less popular is a good idea for them, because their favorite names are the more popular ones! So I’m going to implore them to not worry about popularity at all when making their choice—I think they’ll be much happier with a name they like, even if it’s a name a lot of other people like as well. And they have great names on their list! They have history and significance, and not a one of them is made up/invented.

One of the ways to “liven up” a name that feels otherwise overly popular is to pair it with an unusual middle name. Theresa loves Noah, but Noah Michael pairs the #1 name with the #9 name (which was previously the #1 name for generations)—but Noah Tristan is an unexpected, unusual combo, and very handsome. Or for Lillian, maybe Lillian Tamara? Or Lily Tamara?

Regarding Tamara, I wonder if Theresa’s husband would be okay with shortening it to Mara? Doing so makes it really similar to Theresa’s Marie, and might make a nice compromise between Theresa and her hubs, either as a first name or a middle. Lillian Mara is lovely, as is Mara Lillian (and they could even use Marie as a “nickname”!). Mara’s even less popular than Marie at #739.

Regarding Marie as a first name, it definitely seems like it should be their frontrunner, since (1) they love it, (2) it has family significance for Theresa, (3) Mr. thinks Abby and Marie are a cute pair, and (4) it’s the least popular of the options they’re considering. A little Marie would be quite a surprise, in a good way! And I think the best middle names to pair with it are names that flow well and/or that they wouldn’t otherwise use in the first spot. I love the combo Marie Tamara—it’s got family significance that Theresa’s husband seems really excited about, which is a nice balance for Theresa’s family-significance Marie, and Marie Tamara is a truly unexpected combo, which I find really exciting. If I heard that a little baby girl was named Marie Tamara, I’d be a little swoony over it! For real! And when I found out the family significance behind it, I’d be kind of blown away by it, honestly.

I looked into Tamara a bit to find out more, and it does have a date-stamped feel, as its peak of popularity was in 1974 at #64 (not even that popular back then) and its nickname of choice was usually Tammy, which peaked on its own at #8 (!) in the late 60s/early 70s, but the name Tamara itself is quite lovely and biblical! It’s the Russian form of the biblical Tamar, which was the name of the daughter-in-law of Judah and a daughter of King David—she’s included in Jesus’ lineage! How great is that?!

I also love Marie Therese as well—I knew a Marie-Therese growing up, and always thought it was such an elegant combo. That actually might be an interesting way to go—I wonder if they would consider Marie-Therese as a double first name? They could still call her Marie for her everyday name, and then they could add a middle name.

As for abandoning Marie in favor or Lillian/Lily, whichever they don’t use now they could reserve for a possible future daughter, which could be an argument in favor of not using Marie as a middle for Lillian, if they decided to use Lillian for this baby. That way they could revisit Marie as a first name if they ever have another daughter.

A couple thoughts on their boy names:

— I think it’s highly unlikely that a little William would be called Bill or Billy these days—Will and Liam are the two nicknames currently in use, I don’t think any of today’s parents or anyone younger would default to Bill or Billy. An older person might, not realizing that Will and Liam are preferable, but all they’d have to do is quickly, firmly, and consistently correct anyone who makes that mistake. One thing to note is that William and Lillian are the exact same name except for the first and last letters, and Lily and Will/Liam have a similar sound as well, so it seems to me that whichever they use for this baby (if any) would knock the other out of consideration for possible future use.

— A lot of people seem to be worried about Dominic being most appropriate for those of Italian extraction, and there certainly are Italian Dominics, but it’s a pan-European name that has usage in every culture. My dad knew a Dominic nicked Dommy growing up, which I think is so cute, and Nic and Nico are not terrible at all, but my real love is the full Dominic. I think it’s a great option! And if their hope is to have a Catholic-sounding name, Dominic is their man.

— Elijah and Eli kind of cracked me up, especially since Theresa said they don’t really feel like they fit her family—you all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and Elijah is a style match for Abigail and Eli for Noah so, at least on paper, it’s very much Theresa’s taste. But if she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like it! This is another time in which statistics might not be helpful—just because it seems like parents should like a name doesn’t mean they will, and feeling like a name doesn’t fit one’s family is a much better indicator.

— Jude is a great name, and another one that has that really Catholic feel that Dominic has (though the Jude Law association does dilute it a bit. But also makes it more familiar to others, which can be helpful). There is some usage by girls, but it’s important to know that, as I noted above, Jude as a given name for girls hasn’t ever been in the top 1000 names since the Social Security Administration started keeping track in the late 19th century. For reference, there were 135 girls named Jude in 2015, as compared to 2636 boys.

Whew! I had a lot of thoughts on everything! Haha! I do have some further ideas for this family, which are all based on my research and my own namey mind:

Girls
(1) Anna or Hannah
The most fun part of the Baby Name Wizard is finding names that are listed as matches for two or more of the names on the parents’ list—it’s such an indication of parents’ taste! Anna and Hannah are variants of the same name, and one or the other was listed as a match for Abigail, John, William, Jude, and Noah. Pretty cool right?

(2) Elizabeth
Lily is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth, though not used too much as such I don’t think, so even though Elizabeth is more popular than Lillian (it’s #13), using a more unexpected nickname like Lily makes the whole package seem a bit more unusual. If they like Elizabeth but not Lily as a nickname for it, there are loads of nicknames that are less common for it that might help them feel like they’re choosing something a little more offbeat. Some of my favorite less-used nicknames for Elizabeth are Liddy, Tess, Zelie (I’ve not actually seen this used for Elizabeth, but I totally think it can be, and a nod to St. Zelie at the same time), and Libbett (I know someone who goes by this). There are other ideas here, including Sabeth, which I’d never heard of before it was added in the comments but it has a great saintly connection.

(3) Molly
Molly’s a match for Abigail, Abby, Jack, and Noah, and its origin is as an Irish diminutive of Mary, so it’s Marian! It’s long been used as a given name in its own right, and I love it for this family, but it would knock out Marie as a first name for the future. They could do Marie as a given name with Molly as the nickname—a little unusual but totally legit.

(4) Sofia/Sophia/Sophie
These names are definitely popular—Sophia is down to #3 from having been #1 from 2011 to 2013 (Sophie’s #104 and Sofia’s #14)—but they’re such great matches for this family’s taste, and really faith-y! Sophia’s a match for Lillian and Dominic, Sophie for Lily, and Sofia for Elijah. It means “wisdom,” so it’s a biblical/faith concept, and there’s a St. Sophia as well as St. Madeleine Sophie Barat who’s referred to as St. Sophie (Sophie the Giraffe was named after her!).

(5) Natalia
Natalia might have a bit more of an exotic flair than they’d like, but it’s a gooorgeous name, and faithy on a couple different levels—it literally comes from the Latin for “birthday of the Lord,” so a nice connection there to Jesus, and there are two great Sts. Natalia. It’s also fairly uncommon at #118. Some sweet nickname options too: Natty, Talia, Lia.

(6) Fiona
Fiona’s such a dark horse here, it cracks me up that I’m including it in my suggestions for Theresa and her hubs! But it was listed as a style match for Liam, Jude, Logan, and Tristan! I think it’s a great name and not nearly used enough. If they didn’t care for it as a first name, it would make a great unexpected middle—Marie Fiona, Molly Fiona, and Lillian Fiona are all striking me as really pretty combos.

Boys
(1) Luke
I feel like Luke solves all their problems! I’ve often thought of it as the Jude more traveled (or rather, Jude is the Luke less traveled!), and since Jude is their frontrunner right now, maybe Luke has a chance of being high on their list as well. It’s saintly and Marian (in the sense that his gospel is the most Marian and includes Our Lady’s beautiful Magnificat), and a style match for Jack, Lily, and Jude. It doesn’t have the potential issue that Jude has regarding feminine usage—there aren’t any girls named Luke! And at #28 it’s not overly popular, being very comparable to John and Lillian (both #26).

(2) Gabriel
Gabriel’s a style match for Abigail and Elijah, and it has more of an obviously Catholic feel than Elijah has, so it might feel like a better fit for this family. Gabe’s a great nickname and feels a lot like Jack to me—a sturdy, masculine, one-syllable name. It’s #22 on the chart.

(3) Caleb
Theresa and her hubs do love their biblical names, what with Abigail, John, Elijah, Jude, and Noah! Caleb has a similar feel to Abigail, Elijah, and Noah especially, and I think it’s so sweet for a little boy and solid for a man. Cal is a possible nickname that’s really great too.

(4) Owen
It might seem like Owen takes their naming in a different direction—more Celtic than biblical—but it’s actually a style match for Abigail, Lily, Liam, Logan, Noah, and Evelyn. It’s #36, so a little less popular than some of their other favorites, but not a total mismatch either. St. Nicholas Owen is an amazing patron for a little Owen!

(5) Cole/Colin/Nicholas
Speaking of Nicholas, this family of names did well for Theresa and her hubs in my research as well. Cole and Nick are both style matches for Jack, Cole is a match for Jude, and Colin for Tristan—both Cole and Colin can be nicknames for Nicholas, or they can stand on their own with any of the Sts. Nicholas as their patron.

(6) Henry
My last idea is Henry. It’s a match for Jack, Lillian, Lily, William, and Evelyn, and its popularity is in what I’m thinking of as their sweet spot at #29. Such a great name, and lots of great saints.

And those are all my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Abby and Jack’s little brother or sister?

Baby name consultant: Green bean No. 5 needs an elegant, slightly offbeat name

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Happy Memorial Day everyone!! 🗽 Many many thanks to all those who died in defense of our country. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May then rest in peace. 💕 🙏

Colleen and her husband who are expecting their fifth baby, a little green bean! 🌱 He or she is joining big sibs:

Hanna Marie
Angele Therese nicked Angie
Nadia Renee
Leo Sebastian

Such gorgeous, elegant names!!

Colleen writes,

“We like some slightly offbeat, heavier French but some foreign-ness to them names that can be normalized if people flip out (such as Angie), but they do need to stem from saints or have a faithful meaning.”

This is such a fun “theme” to work with — there are so many delicious names to choose from!

Names they’re currently considering include:

Girl
— Margaret Alice
— Elizabeth Anne
— Azelie Colette/Catherine
— Rosemary Bernadette
— Gloria Mercy
— Annelise
— Bridgette (“this is the only name that [my hubs] has brainstormed to me, so I put weight on it. This was back when we were expecting Nadia, and he now doesn’t remember, but when I said it without saying its source, he swooned all over again“)
— Mireille (“I love these Marian-looking French names. One just as pretty but slightly easier to pronounce would be great. I understand this would be something like “meer-AY”“)
Ruth

Boy
— Louis Clement (frontrunner; “I have huge devotion to the famous saintly Martin family (Louis, Zelie, and their children), so Louis would be pronounced the French “Loo-ee.” Clement for the year of mercy“)
— Louis Jerome (further 2nd place; “Jerome meaning holy name, from what I can find, and obviously a saintly background“)
— Samuel Joseph (“it’s fading in both of our love for it, but we haven’t 100% nixed it“)
— Jeanluc Vianney (“love it, love the double 1st name, but I worry that it’s SO French“)
— Joachim Vianney (“I’d do a nickname of either Joah or Jovi … [Colleen’s hubs isn’t feeling it, but his] oldest brother’s full name is Jory Christopher, so that sound combo is already familiar, but unused. I also think Joachim Vianney ties together Hanna and Angie’s names with Hebrew & French“)

(Omgoodnessgracious you guys! Did you see that JOACHIM is on her list?! Hurrah!! 😍 🎉)

Colleen says,

“I feel like we have a lot of lovely options if this baby is a girl, but not a lot for a boy. We are pretty smitten with the idea of Leo & Louis bopping around being boys together, but we’re so used to girl options…it feels strange to have so few for boys!“

And an additional consideration in regards to girl names is that,

“[T]he frontrunners right now are either Rosemary Bernadette or Gloria Mercy. I have concerns about a Gloria coming next, though.

Our Angie is aptly named, and is our sensitive soul. If we have a Hanna, Nadia, and Gloria, and ANGIE…even though I think her full name is the most elegant of them all, Angie will hear and FEEL that she’s the only “ee” girl. She would love a girl named Gracie or Rosie. I love the name Rosie as well. Gracie/Grace is lovely, but [my hubs] doesn’t go for (English language, clearly Nadia means Hope, but he wouldn’t consider Hope itself) virtue first names. But he’ll accept Rosemary. Win-win there.”

Finally, names they like but can’t use for various reasons include:

Ellis
Wilson
Michael
Anthony
Kolbe
Thomas
Nathan
Andrew
David
Lincoln
Martin

Alrighty! So first, some thoughts about the names on their list of considerations:

I think it’s so sweet they’re worried about Angie and her sweet sensitivity! It played a big role in the names I came up with for girls for Colleen and her hubs (below). Rosemary certainly takes care of that, and I also wondered if they’d consider nicknaming Gloria “Glory,” or just using Glory as the full name? Or Mercy as the first name? Or Mercedes nicked Mercy? I love Mercedes for them! (Spotlight on it here.) Also Bernadette as a first name could go by Bernie or Birdie or Benny … but is the –nadette part too similar to Nadia?

The rest of their girl ideas are great, and I only had a couple thoughts, like: What about Marguerite instead of Margaret, to up the French aspect? What about Elisabeth instead of Elizabeth? (Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur is a favorite of mine.) Annelise seems a bit much with Hanna, but it made me think they might like just Elise instead of the full Eliz/sabeth.

Mireille is gorgeous! I wondered if the variants Mireia or Mireya might be easier? And Bridgette is beautiful, and I agree with Colleen — any time my husband tells me he likes a name I try to figure out how to make it work, because he rarely offers ideas. I also love Ruth, especially Ruthie — that could be Angie’s “ee” name! Though they didn’t ask for middle name ideas, I’m really digging the first+middle combo Ruth Azelie, swoon!

For boys, Louis Clement and Louis Jerome are fab, no quibbles here.

Samuel Joseph is so handsome, and Jeanluc Vianney! Wow! I had a couple thoughts about Jeanluc — first, if they did JohnLuke or John Luke or Johnluke or John-Luke (which I think is my favorite) they could still have the French feel and the double first name without all the Jeanluc-ness of it, you know? John-Luke Vianney is so handsome! (It made me wonder if they’d considered Vianney as a first name for a girl? It’s got that “ee” ending, like Angie, and the family at the blog My Child I Love You has a little girl named Vianney. They also have a Clairvaux, who goes by Clair sometimes, and I thought that was a great suggestion for this family as well.)

And of course I love that Colleen loves Joachim! A girl after my own heart! I was thinking … if she really wanted to try to convince her hubs … would pairing Joachim with a middle name like Robert or Gregory or Gerard or Jerome and using the nickname Jory appeal to him? Using his brother’s name Jory as a nickname as a nickname for Joachim + [something with R in the middle] makes it feel more familiar and connected to family …

As for new ideas for Colleen and her hubs, I struggled a bit, mostly because I rely so heavily on the Baby Name Wizard to point me in the right direction (it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity), and so many of their names weren’t in it (like Angele … there’s Angela, but I don’t think Stephanie, Tamara, and Melissa are style matches for Angele like they are for Angela). And I was really feeling the French vibe, but then Nadia brings in a Slavic element … So I just went ahead and made a list of names I *thought* might work, with some help from the BNW as well as my own mental files.

Girls
(1) Domitille
Back in November I posted a pseudo consultation for a family who likely won’t have any more babies, but wanted to have some fun thinking of ideas in the slight possibility that they might. The mom is from France and the dad is Irish-American and they decided the mom would name the girls and the dad would name the boys. So the girls all have French names, and the boys all have Irish! Haha! Anyway, the French girls’ names are super French, being that the mom is French, and I thought of them right away when working on this for Colleen and her hubs. One of the girls is Domitille, and she sometimes goes by Domi (DO-mee), which I thought fit right in with Angie (and Domitille ends in –le like Angele!). (Their other girls have beautiful names as well, and I suggested a bunch more French names to them, so I think it’s definitely worth a look!)

(2) Sylvie
I was definitely on an “ee” kick (you’ll see it in my next two suggestions as well!), and French was my main inspiration, so Sylvie was a natural fit. A mom told me recently that she named her daughter Sylvie Regina and I almost died with happiness, what a great combo! I love how it sounds so much like Salve Regina.

(3) Lucie
Lucy was listed as a style match for Leo and Alice, and I thought it really went with the sweetness of their other girls’ names, but I loved the idea of changing the spelling to the French Lucie. I think they could also think of Lucie as a nod to St. Louis Martin, because of its similarity in sound, or I’ve often thought Lucy/Lucie could be a natural nickname for Louisa, so maybe they’d like to consider that?

(4) Felicity
I know, Felicity is neither French nor any kind of exotic, but I love it, and it’s a style match for Annelise, which is pretty cool (I do love Annelise). I waffled about whether or not to include it here, and ultimately decided to because I love seeing Hanna, Angele, Nadia, Leo, and Felicity listed together. It’s a totally subjective gut-reaction kind of thing.

Boys
(1) Maximilian
Even though I found it harder to come up with ideas for boys, I tried to come up with a few more than girls’ names, because they seem so set with girls’ names. Maxim is a style match for Nadia, Max for Leo, Maximilian for Sebastian, and Maxwell for Annelise. So Max- names seemed like they’d be the kind this family would like, and if I had to guess, I think Maximilian would be their favorite out of all of them. And it’s St. Maximilian Kolbe without the Kolbe that’s on their no-go list!

(2) Gerard
I always think of Gerard and Jerome together, so seeing that they’re considering Jerome for a middle name made me think of Gerard. Then I saw that it’s a match for Therese and Colette—voila! Certainly Gerry/Jerry’s a natural nickname, but I also like the idea of Ged/Jed.

(3) Gregory
Gregory is 100% inspired by Leo. Leo, to me, is always Pope St. Leo the Great, and Gregory is Pope St. Gregory the Great. Two Pope St. the Greats have to be brothers! Rory and Gus are two nicknames I think are a bit more current than Greg (Gus could come from something like Gregory Stephen, ohhh my).

(4) Xavier
My brother has a Leo and I suggested incorporating Xavier for their second son, because for some reason I always think of them as going together. I think Xavier has some good use in France, and it’s certainly got the saintly cred.

(5) Blaise
Blaise is one of my favorite names for a boy, because its fiery sound totally reminds me of my own little boys whizzing around the house/yard/you name it. And it’s French!

(6) Dominic/k
Finally, Dominic or Dominik. I kept trying to find names that ventured a little bit from French into maybe Slavic territory, a la Nadia, and Dominik seemed like a really good fit. The “k” ending makes it seem just a little more Nadia-esque, but the Dominic spelling is fine too, and in fact my father-in-law’s dad was from Poland and spelled his name Dominic, so either one could be great. I love Dominic/k as a brother to Leo and to their girls.

And those are my ideas for Colleen and her hubs! What do you think? What names would you suggest for a little brother or sister for Hanna, Angele, Nadia, and Leo?

Name ideas for imaginary Baby No. 10

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One of you lovely readers sent me the link to this article about John Clark of Seton Magazine, because he lists the full names of his nine children:

Athanasius Chrysostom
Veronica Marie
Demetrius Innocent
Tarcisius Bellarmine
Philomena Guadalupe
Dominica Rose
Bonaventure Duns Scotus
Immaculata Faustyna
Mary Katherine

After I stopped absolutely dead-faint swooning over those names (!!!), I was excited to read this bit:

“I am open to suggestions for the next child, if by the generosity of God there is a tenth. Maybe Lisa and I should initiate a naming contest—submit ideas for the name and the winner gets a free dinner for four at Jack in the Box. If you are inclined to do so, be sure that the name is: 1) at least four syllables, 2) the name of a doctor of the Church, and/or 3) someone who directly conversed with Jesus.”

And I know he was being cheeky but I also had to see how recent the article was, just in case, but alas it’s from 2010 and I did a tiny bit of research and he’s still listed as a dad of nine so I don’t think there were any more babies. But I couldn’t let such a fun opportunity go by! I gave it some thought and came up with these ideas:

Girl

(1) Archangela

Reader Lisa let me know about Bl. Archangela Girlani not that long ago and I’ve been loving her name ever since. It’s four syllables and while her profile doesn’t say she conversed with Jesus she did have the gifts of ecstasy, levitation, and miracles. So there’s that.

(2) Apollonia

Five syllables! Also not a Doctor or conversed with Jesus, but “After her teeth were broken with pincers, she was given the choice of renouncing Christ or being burned alive; she lept onto the fire herself.” A nice twofer here too for any Godfather fans. 😉

(3) Christiana

I just looove the name Christiana. And why name after a saint who conversed with Jesus when you can name after Jesus Himself?!

(4) Maristella

I think we all got swoony over this name when this mama used it for her lovely little lady! A beautiful name to honor Our Lady, who did indeed converse with Jesus.

Boy

(1) Theophilus

The book of Luke and the book of Acts are addressed to Theophilus, meaning “friend of God.” A nice little twist on Theodore!

(2) Nicodemus

Nicodemus is another of my favorite fantasy names! I’ll never be able to convince my husband of it, but it sounds like John Clark could be convinced! Nicodemus in the bible helped Joseph of Arimathea prepare the body of Jesus for burial. ❤ (Also … Arimathea? Hmmm….)

(3) Stanislaus

I posted a little recently about St. John Paul’s devotion to St. Stanislaus of Cracow. Every time I see his name I think of JP2 and the fall of Communism. Awesome awesome associations. Stanislaus is a rule-breaker at only three syllables, but it’s so long — it just looks like a four-syllable name, doesn’t it?

(4) Maolmhuire

I’ve suggested Miles a million times because it’s used as an anglicization of Maolmhuire, an old Irish name meaning, “servant of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” But I’m thinking that for the Clark family, Maolmhuire might be the preferred version! I *think* it’s said male-MWEE-rah, which is only three syllables, but I could be wrong, both about the pronunciation and the number of syllables. Maelmarius is given as the Latin variant — maybe that’s a better bet?

And those are my ideas for imaginary Clark Baby No. 10! What about y’all? Can you think of names that would follow John Clark’s “rules”?

Baby name consultant: Biblical and/or French/German-ish name for No. 4 green bean

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Monica and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, gender unknown! This wee babe will join big sibs:

Cora Marie (“after the heart of Mary“)
Levi Alphonsus (with Jesus) (“St. Alphonsus Ligouri is my husband’s favorite saint“)
Regina Marie (“Queen Mary“)

How great are those names!! You know I love Marian names, and Levi’s so handsome.

Monica writes,

“We are expecting in August and I’d love to hear your ideas on names for us. This is our 4th. We don’t find out the gender ahead of time, so we are looking to pick out a boy and a girl name. I feel like we are going to have a harder time choosing a boy name … I like nicknames but my husband does not. He says he could possibly be convinced, so I guess there is a chance. Cora and Regina don’t really have nicknames, but I’m not opposed to something that can be shortened … We are open to, but not stuck on Marie as a middle name even though the oldest two girls have that. We didn’t plan to do it that way, but once we decided on Regina it seemed weird to pick any other middle name … We don’t really have name rules and are really excited to hear your thoughts.”

Names they like/have considered include:

Girls
Agnes (“At the top of the list so far [we’ve considered it each pregnancy]. There is something about it and St. Agnes, but I can’t decide if it’s too old school“)
Margaret
Bernadette (“We’ve ruled it out because Bernadette … is such a mouthful” with their last name)
Gertrude (“It would be challenging if [hubby] won’t give in to a nickname“)
Catherine (Monica’s hubs’ “#1 choice, but a little to common for me“)
Hilda (“after [hubby’s] saintly granny“)
Leona

Boys
Elijah (“would have been Cora’s name if she were a boy) — it’s been ruled out as we have a godson named Elijah now“)
Fulton or Victor (“one of them would have been Regina’s name, we were leaning towards Fulton“)
Gerard
Gregory
Jerome

Such a great and somewhat unexpected bunch of names! I particularly loved considering the style of names like Agnes, Gertrude, Hilda, and Leona — they have that fusty feel that’s really great, and I think it’s a bit ahead of curve — I think names like that will be hot soon (I already know of a celeb baby named Agnes — actress Elisabeth Shue named her daughter Agnes Charles) — so Monica and her hubs are trendsetters!

I agree with Monica that Gertrude will be challenging, as she puts it, if her husband isn’t open to a nickname! It’s just a really big, clunky name for a little girl to deal with. Of course, if they named your daughter Gertrude and called her Gertrude, then she would just be Gertrude and it’d be fine. It does have the darlingest nicknames though — Gertie and Trudy are so sweet.

If they’re seriously considering Gertrude, then I’d say there isn’t any name that’s too “old school” — Agnes seems tame compared to Gertrude to me! Agnes is a great name, and the little Agnes in the movie Despicable Me gives it a nice familiarity (and she was adorable).

Margaret is lovely and saintly, I don’t have much more to say about it than that!

Bernadette is great, and it gave me a good sense of their taste, even though they’ve ruled it out (bummer).

I feel about Catherine similar to how I feel about Margaret — it’s lovely and saintly, but it definitely is more common than some of your other ideas.

Hilda I love for this family, I think it’s awesome! I love that it’s a family name, and for a saintly family member — how nice! I would have suggested it — or some form of it, like Hilde or Hildi — if it wasn’t already on their list. I’ve seen St. Hildegard of Bingen being considered by people like us here on the blog — Hildegard’s a big name, like Gertrude, but shorter names that are related, like Hilda, are a great way to work with it.

Leona’s interesting! I see Leonie from time to time, because of St. Therese’s sister, but not Leona too much, so again — trendsetter!

As for the boy names, I feel like Fulton, Victor, Gerard, Gregory, and Jerome all have a certain feel, which I think Cora and Regina and the girl names on their list fit in with well, and then they have their biblical Elijah, which is a great match for Levi. It was fun trying to come up with ideas that fit one or the other — either Victor/Jerome or Levi/Elijah — and, even better, ideas that fit both.

As you all know, I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and the names they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I did so here, and added in some other ideas of my own, and came up with seven ideas for each gender:

Girls
(1) Helen(a)
Helen was actually the first name I thought of for this family, before I even started doing my research as it’s got a little of that “old lady” feel. Helena is a lovely variant as well.

(2) Edith
Helen was quickly followed by Edith in my mind for Monica and her hubs, for St. Edith Stein. I admit one of my favorite things about Edith is the nickname Edie, but the full Edith is lovely too, and I love St. Edith Stein.

(3) Hope, Faith (Mercy?)
Hope is a style match for Victor and Faith’s a style match for Levi, so I thought maybe a virtue-esque name like that could be a nice bridge between the two styles they like. I also really like that Hope can be considered Marian, for Our Lady of Hope. Neither Hope nor Faith nickname well, which is probably a good thing for this family. They both also made me think of Mercy, which doesn’t seem quite like their style, but I thought it was worth mentioning, especially since their baby will be born during the Year of Mercy.

(4) Anne, Anna, Anita, Annette
These were all matches for their styles, and Monica’s Confirmation name is actually Anne, so I thought it might be a nice nod to her to use an Anne name. Anna fits the feel of their biblical theme; Anne is more the Catherine/Margaret part of their list; Anita and Annette fit in with Victor, Gerard, and Jerome.

(5) Yvonne
I’m so interested to see what they think of Yvonne! It’s never been on my radar at all, but it was listed as a match for Gerard, Jerome, and Bernadette! I didn’t even know if it was saintly, but indeed it is — there’s a St. Ivo, who’s also known as St. Ives or St. Yves, and Yvonne’s a feminine form of those names. When I saw Yvie listed as a nickname, I was sold — Evie’s a pretty hot nickname right now, for Evangeline, Evelyn/Evelina, and Genevieve, and Yvie’s a cool twist on that. (Yvie!) (Monica’s hubs has got to be on board with that! I’m dying over how visually edgy and audially popular it is — what a cool nickname!)

(6) Greta
Greta seems to me a pretty great option for this family. It’s a variant of Margaret, which they have on their list, but certainly less common than Margaret. It’s one of my favorites of the Margaret names.

(7) Magdalen(e)/a
Finally, Magdalen/Magdalene or Magdalena seemed like a great idea for Monica and her hubs. I think of it as kind of like “the biblical Margaret” because it can take the nickname Maggie, like Margaret, but it’s so biblical, and it goes well with Levi.

Boys
(1) Leo
Leo is a style match for Cora, and as soon as I saw it I loved it as an idea for this baby. It’s not very uncommon right now, but it’s saintly and papal, a great name.

(2) Hugh/Hugo
Hugh was also a style match for Cora, but I wasn’t sure if I thought Monica and her Mr. would be interested in Hugh or more so in the variant Hugo. I think they definitely have a somewhat German/Dutch/French sensibility with the names they like, and Hugo fits right in with that. One of the Sts. Hugo was a spiritual student of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

(3) Edward or Edmund
Both of these names were listed as similar to their style, and I couldn’t tell which I thought they’d prefer (if any)? They’re both great and saintly in their own rights — I feel like I’ve been recommending them a lot lately, but St. Edward the Confessor and St. Edmund Campion are both amazing.

(4) Clement
St. Clement Mary Hofbauer is the patron of my parish (a Redemptorist parish) and when I read that St. Alphonsus Liguori is Monica’s husband’s favorite saint I thought Clement might be the perfect suggestion. It’s similar in style to a number of the names on their list, and has the added awesomeness of meaning “merciful” — a perfect name for the Year of Mercy!

(5) Alois/Aloys or Aloysius
This is probably the name that I’m most unsure about for my boy suggestions for Monica and her hubs, but Alois was in the list of German and Dutch names in the BNW, as so many of their favorites are, and one of my good friends (who’s a wonderful young priest) has Aloys as his middle name, which I always think is really cool, and then Alphonsus made me think of Aloysius, so put all that together and I thought I definitely needed to suggest it.

(6) Conrad
I love the name Conrad, and it’s similar to a bunch of names on their list. There are a bunch of Sts. and Bls. Conrad, and it can be spelled Konrad as well.

(7) Tobias
Finally, Tobias is one of the suggestions I’m most excited about for this little one. It’s super biblical like Levi and Elijah, and it’s in the “Antique Charm” and “German and Dutch” lists in the BNW — a great bridge for their styles!

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little sister or brother of Cora, Levi, and Regina?

Baby name consultant: Green bean twins with an Irish last name

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A bonus consultation for you all today! Yesterday was St. John Paul the Great’s birthday, and also my sister Molly’s birthday (she of the miraculous life, thanks to Ven. Solanus Casey) (she turned 32!), and this family with an Irish last name is expecting twins (!), and I’m just all around feeling happy to post this today. 😀

Yes, Erin and her husband are expecting twins! They’ve given these amazing combos to their older children:

Bridget Maureen
Mara Bernadette
Patrick James
Declan Brian
Michael Gregory

SUCH a great bunch of names!!

Erin writes,

“We are having twins! So it makes it double difficult. And, to make things even harder, we aren’t finding out the gender! (For some reason, I have a feeling it is a boy/girl, but I’ve been wrong before!) They are due June 12, but most likely will be end of May. This will be our 6th and 7th in the family. We’d love to have some great saint or unique Catholic names, and names that go together as twins. And In the past we have done more of the Irish saints … but we are open to anything at this point.”

(“open to anything” — so exciting! 😀 Also, “green bean”=gender unknown. I know, I’m so weird, but I find it so adorable to call babies of unknown gender green beans! There’s also that adorable emoji, x2 for these babies 🌱🌱)

Names they’re currently considering for girls include:

Mary (“we would call her ‘Molly’ — the Irish version of Mary“)
Clara (“Thought it went well with Molly if twin girls“)
Nora (“Our favorite so far. For St. Honoratus, also means ‘honor’“)
Maeve (“we like the name, but our hesitation is it’s not a saints name“)
Margaret ‘Maggie’ (“St. Margaret — it’s my mom’s name also“)

Names they’re considering for boys include:

Finn (“for St. Finnian … My husband loves it, and I’m not sure if it’s a little strange?“)
Brice (“St. Brice“)
Aiden (“St. Aiden“)
Blaise (“for the great St. Blaise … Husband loves it, but I’m a little unsure if it’s too unusual“)
Brogan (“after St. Brogan … my husband isn’t overly fond of this one“)

And names that can’t be used for one reason or another:

Felicity
Emily
Tighe
Malachi
Liam
Kieran

What a task it is to name twins, right?! I’ve thought about what I would name twins if I were to have them, but thinking about them for someone else is difficult! I know some people like to be sort of matchy, whether that means same first letter, or kind of rhymey, or in this case maybe both super Irish names, but of course I don’t know if “matchy” is what Erin and her hubs want, so my goal here was just to suggest a bunch of names that I think fit their style, and suggest some pairings that I think sound good together.

First though, I wanted to comment on the names they’re considering. I love Mary nicked Molly — two of my favorite names! But I really think it’s too much having sisters Mara and Mary, even with Mary going by Molly. So I’d suggest just using Molly! My sister is Molly (the miracle girl mentioned above) and my sister-in-law is Molly — both of them “just Molly” — it’s a great Irish Marian name! It brings to mind the mom in this consultation, who wanted an “easy Irish name” and ended up naming her baby Molly Roisin, which I just die over, sooo beautiful.

I also love Clara, such a gorgeous name, and I just posted a birth announcement for a little Clara the other day! But if they say Mara and Clara to rhyme, I would recommend against Clara. If not though, I think it’s okay, even though the spelling is the same but for the first letters.

Nora would be one of my top suggestions for Erin and her hubs if they didn’t already have it on their list, except that I think it’s too close to Mara as well! Gah! It’s very clear what sounds they like for girls, since they have a Mara and have Mary, Clara, and Nora on their list! What do you all think? Do you think Mara and Mary/Clara/Nora are too close?

Maeve is such a lovely name, and I found a somewhat saintly connection recently — I posted a birth announcement a while ago for a little Cara Maeve, and when I looked it up to see what it meant, I found that it can mean “cause of great joy,” which is of course so similar to the Marian title Causa Nostrae Laetitiae, Cause of Our Joy. So it’s a bit of a stretch, but I think you could make the argument that it’s a nod to Our Lady.

Margaret/Maggie seems great for this family’s style: classic and used in Ireland. I also love the traditional nickname Maisie both as a given name, or Margaret nicknamed Maisie, so sweet!

I don’t think Finn is too strange at all! It’s racing up the popularity charts, coming in at #209 in 2015, up from #234 in 2014, up from #835 in 2000 — it’s climbed pretty quickly, and I don’t think it’s going to slow down! Especially not with the new Star Wars coming out last year (Finn is one of the main good guys). And its popularity is even more than what the charts show, because Finn is also used as a nickname for Fin(n)ian, Finnegan, Finley, Phineas, and Griffin. I’ve actually been suggesting it on the blog for a while as a nickname for Francis! I feel like that would be a good suggestion for this family: Francis nicknamed Finn.

Brice and Brogan are cool and Irishy, no complaints here. Aiden is great, but super duper popular — #13 in 2015, down from a high of #9 in 2010 and 2011; the spelling Aidan is at #185. But maybe popularity doesn’t bother Erin and her hubs! And that’s great too, it’s just good to be aware of the naming landscape.

I also think Blaise is great, and Erin described the saint as “the great St. Blaise,” which says to me that they really have a connection with the name. If I had to guess, if they have a boy twin he’ll end up as Blaise. It’s not that different from Mara in terms of popularity (Blaise was #805 in 2015, and Mara was #739), and among Catholic families I often see it considered — I know a couple little Blaises. Such a great name for a boy because of the awesome saint and because it sounds like “blaze” — so super-hero-ish!

Okay! So on to the suggestions of names that I think Erin and her hubs might like. I almost always start a consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard book the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity — it’s often uncannily accurate! So based on my research there and my own mental files, my ideas for this family are:

Girls
(1) Kate
I know it’s sort of weird to start with my own name! But I feel like it’s one of the quintessential Irish names in the sense that, in movies and books, when there’s an Irish girl, it’s not unusual that she’s named Kate. If they wanted a Kate, they could do just Kate as her first name, or C/Katherine, or Kathleen, which of course is so Irish. Or Caitlin, like the big sisters of both the Molly Roisin and the Cara Maeve I mentioned above. Kate and Molly are a great pairing I think (like me and my sister), and Kate and Maggie are too (and Katherine/Margaret or Kathleen/Margaret are really well matched).

(2) Abigail
I was inspired to add Abigail to the list when I saw it listed as a style match for Mara and Molly, and Abby has Molly and Katy as style matches. My only hesitation is that Abigail used to (nineteenth century) have the connotation of a servant — particularly an Irish servant I believe, and it was meant to be derogatory — and while that wouldn’t really bother me at all, having it as a sister to Bridget — which is a name that I also think used to have that connotation — might be too much? I’m not sure, and I love Abigail enough that I’m going ahead and listing it here.

(3) Helen(a) or Eily/Eilidh/Eileen or Eilis(h)/Ailis or Elizabeth
In a weird roundabout sort of way, Nora led me to suggest this grouping of names! I was thinking about how I’d seen in an old genealogical record Irish twins named Honora and Helena (or Helen? I can’t remember now) and they were nicknamed Nora and Nellie, so cute! I’m really feeling like Nora’s too close to Mara, but Nell/Nellie made me think of Helen or Helena (Dwija from the House Unseen Life Unscripted blog recently named her little one Helen and they call her Nellie). Then I was thinking about Eilis(h), which is usually the Irish Elizabeth, but sometimes Alice, which made me think of Ailis, which is Alice (I recently saw the Irish movie Brooklyn and the main character was Eilis but said like Ailis), and the spelling of Eilis made me think of Eileen and I remembered that Eileen is sometimes used as the Irish for Helen, and then I remembered the name Eily, which, it turns out is really Scottish, and is a variant of Eilidh which is a diminutive of Eilionoir which looks like Eleanor and which they say is a Scottish form of Helen.

Whew!

I’m not sure what it all means except that I think Nell and Eily would be sweet nicknames if one of the twins was a little girl, and they can both point back to Helen(a). (Or Eily/Aily to Elizabeth/Alice, if they wish, just as a matter of being a natural nickname for Eilis/Ailis. Or for Elizabeth itself. Which makes me think — Elizabeth would be a great idea for this fam! I’ve often thought of Elizabeth nicknamed Eily for my own daughter [ha! I have six boys, no girls], and I think Elizabeth and Margaret/Eily and Maggie or Maisie go wonderfully together, as do Elizabeth and Katherine or Kathleen/Eily and Kate.)

(4) Anne
My Irish great-grandmother was Annie — I love it. It’s sweet and wholesome and I think it can also be kind of sassy! Also — our dear St. Anne!

(5) Lucy
Lucy doesn’t really have the Irish flavor (though I do believe it’s fairly well used there), but it’s so similar in style to Molly, Clara, and Nora that I thought Erin and her hubs might like it. If it was paired with an Irish name, it would fit in really well. Maybe Lucy Kathleen? Or Lucy Mairead (the Irish Margaret, rhymes with parade)?

(6) Rosemary
Rosemary is so sweet and Marian and lovely, and I had an Irish friend once (grew up in the Gaeltacht — the Irish-speaking part of Ireland) named Rosemarie, so it’s totally legit! It’s a nice way to get Mary in there without it being too similar to Mara, and Rosie and Romy (both traditional nicknames for it) are nice options.

(7) Therese/Theresa/Teresa
I know a big Irish family with some of the same names Erin and her hubs have used or like, and one of them is Theresa, so I thought they might like it! I particularly love the nickname Tess, and I could see it pairing really well with Clara, Kate, Lucy, Abby, Nell, Rosie, Annie, or Eily.

Boys
(1) Thomas
Thomas means twin. I mean, wow! I have nothing more to say!

(2) Colman, Cormac, Cashel
Colman and Cormac are both saints’ names with cool nickname possibilities: Cole and Mac. Cashel is one I’ve been crushing on recently — I suggested it in a consultation for Colleen of Martin Family Moments who loves Irish names: “Cashel is offbeat and unusual but I love it so much for its meaning — “The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion” and it’s “reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century” — and for its possible nickname of Cash.”

(2) Sean, Jack, Ian, John
Any of these John variants would be a good fit for this family I think!

(3) Timothy
Tighe — often anglicized as Timothy — is on their no-go list (Erin’s husband likes it but it’s too “out there” for her), but then I wondered if they’d like Timothy itself. I totally think it fits with this family! I know a lot of Irish families who have a Timothy; I’ve also seen Ty used as a nickname for Timothy, which is a fun update and it’s said just like Tighe, so a nice way to work it in?

(4) Daniel
Two words: Danny Boy! I’m actually kind of surprised they don’t have Daniel in there somewhere already!

(5) Owen
I love Owen for St. Nicholas Owen, who built hidey holes for priests in England, to protect them, and was tortured (and died from his wounds) for not turning in the hidden priests. I also love it for this family as a name for a boy — it’s a style match for Mara, Nora, Finn, and Aiden.

(6) Xavier
I’ll be interested to see what you think of Xavier! It’s a style match for Blaise, and it was also my Irish grandfather’s middle name (and no, he wasn’t Francis Xavier!), so I consider it to be used by the Irish. It’s also got that long A sound that Erin and her hubs seem to like (Maeve, Aiden, Blaise). I love the idea of twin boys Blaise and Xavier!

(7) Aidric
This might be a little offbeat for them, but I know two families with boys named Declan who have considered Aidric for subsequent boys. It’s not Irish, though it sounds that way, right? Like a mashup of Aiden and Patrick? St. Aidric was actually French, but that ties in with Blaise.

Those are all my ideas for first names just on their own, and then I had a few twin pairings I thought might be helpful:

Therese and Aurora: I read about twin girls with these names years ago, and they were nicknamed Reese and Rory! I’ve always loved that!

Linus and Ambrose: I did a consultation for Arwen Mosher from abc family and she has twin boys named Linus and Ambrose (brothers of Blaise and Camilla)!

Leo and Luke: One of my favorite twin boy ideas

Benedict and Scholastica: the famous boy/girl twin saints

Zelie and Louis: I posted a birth announcement recently for boy/girl twins named after our new saints!

I read an article on another blog once on naming twins, and I loved it. Some of the ideas the author offers are:

Edmund and Henry, after St. Edmund Campion and St. Henry Walpole. Erin and her hubs might especially like the idea of changing to the Irish form of Edmund, Eamon — I like the idea of Eamon and Henry!

Francis and Clare, after St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi, who were good friends. I like Clare quite a bit better for this family because it doesn’t have the potential to rhyme with Mara, and it’s also the name of an Irish County. And I’d also suggested Francis with the nickname of Finn! I love Francis/Finn and Clare together!

Teresa and John, for St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross who “reformed the Carmelites together.” Tess and Jack? Love!

Catherine and Teresa, for St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Avila, both Doctors of the Church — I love Kate/Cate and Tess together, and also I love the idea of Avila and Siena as girls’ names. Or Cate and Avila?

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for these wee twins on the way?

Baby name consultant: 20s/30s and/or Brit/European-inspired names needed for fifth boy

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Liz and her husband are expecting their fifth baby — and fifth boy! She writes,

“In general I would say that my husband and I both prefer first names that are old fashioned (popular in the 1920s and 30s) and currently uncommon. We also tend to like names with a British (or otherwise European) flare. Also, there’s got to be a saint in there somewhere (first or middle name).

We don’t like “made up” names or weirdly spelled names. I don’t prefer common/traditional names as first names, but I am fine with them as middle names (Michael, Sam, Katherine, Rose, etc).”

(I love that: “a British (or otherwise European) flare.”)

Their older boys are:

John-Paul Joseph (“I realize that John-Paul is common in Catholic circles and I specifically said uncommon, but we love St. John Paul so much that we were set on this name before we were even married. Outside of Catholic circles it is pleasantly uncommon and often people think we’re just big Beetles fans. Haha! Joseph is in honor of my grandpa as well as St. Joseph“)

William David (“I like that William is strong and it’s got a British sense to me… Prince William and all that. It is, however a bit too common. That bugs me. He was almost Oliver but I think we just chickened out. Oliver was still weird in 2008 and we didn’t have the guts to be weird, I guess. I’m over that now. 😉 Or maybe it was just intended to be saved for the next kid. David is [a family name]“)

Oliver Francis (“This is probably my favorite of all of the names we’ve chosen. I just love it. Refined, (was) uncommon, old fashioned, a touch Brit. Oliver was not quite so common as it is now when he was born in 2010. I kind of hate that it’s more popular now, but what can I say, we must be trend setters. 🙂 Francis is after Francis of Assisi“)

Theodore Anthony (“We always call him Teddy. We actually named him Theodore specifically to use Teddy. Teddy seems uncommon and old fashioned. Anthony is after St. Anthony with whom I am tight“)

(“Anthony is after St. Anthony with whom I am tight”!!!! I love it!!! 😂❤)

Names they’re currently considering include:

August
Beau
Otto (“Husband is on the fence about this one but he hasn’t vetoed it completely“)
George
Edward
Louis (“French pronunciation“)
Atticus (“I actually haven’t ran this one past the husband yet, but I really like it“)

And names that they like but can’t use for one reason or another include:

Max
Arthur
Kolbe
Henry

Additionally,

“I am fine with very common/traditional middle names, I’d prefer to avoid them as first names. We don’t have any middle names in mind yet! … We like nicknames, so feel free to suggest those if a good one strikes you.”

Alrighty, so I found this consultation to be somewhat of a challenge, which I love! It’s so fun to have to dig deep to find names that seem to fit. But it also means that I’m not as confident that I’ve done a good job here – some of my ideas are spot on I think, but others require explanation because I think otherwise Liz and her hubs might dismiss them right away.

First, I love their boys’ names! I think their taste and mine have a good deal of overlap—William, Oliver, John Paul, and Theodore are all names I love and have considered!

Second, reading Liz’s email made me feel like I was chatting with my sister-in-law—I think they’re name twins! My SIL loves Oliver, Beau, George, Henry, and Arthur—how funny is that? It might be worthwhile to check out the consultation I did for her and my brother, and the name they ended up choosing.

Okay! As you all know, I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Based on that research and my own namey head, these are my ideas:

(1) Bennet(t) or Elliot(t)
I was really excited to suggest Bennet(t) to this family! I was trying to think of names that I think of as similar to John-Paul (it doesn’t have its own entry in the BNW), and Benedict is always one, but even though Mr. Cumberbatch has made it so fabulous and British, I suspected brothers John-Paul and Benedict would be a bit much. Which is when I thought of Bennet(t)! It’s a medieval variant of Benedict, so it retains the saintly and papal panache, but in a more hidden way, and it’s got oodles of Brit awesomeness because of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice!

I’m listing Bennet(t) and Elliot(t) together because they’re pretty similar to me—both medieval variants of holy names (in Elliot(t)’s case, it’s Elijah), both with literary last-name connections (T.S. Eliot). Elliot(t)’s also a style match for Oliver.

(2) Walter
Liz listed several old-man names that she and her hubs like (Otto, George, Louis, Arthur), and they made me think of Walter, which is also a favorite of my sister-in-law, so I thought they might like it! Wally, Walt, and Wat(t) are all traditional nicknames for it—so fusty-fresh!

(3) Edmund
Edmund’s peak of popularity was in 1914, and it’s Brit as Brit can be. Like Edward on Liz’s list, it can take the nicknames Ed(die) and Ned (I suspect they might really like Ned). St. Edmund Campion’s an awesome patron for a little boy. Buuutttt … I’m just thinking now that Eddie and even Ned are probably too close to Teddy right? Drat! But wait! JP2’s brother’s name was Edmund and he went by Mundek! Ooh I love that!

(4) Jasper
I loooove Jasper! It’s the name traditionally given to one of the Wise Men (you might also see its variants Casper and Gaspar instead—they’re all the same name). It’s a style match for Oliver, and it reads really Brit to me.

(5) Robert
Robert was big in the 20s and 30s and I’ve been loving the idea of Rory as a nickname for it, which leans toward Liz’s affinity for Brit/European names. Another possibility is Bo, which nods to the Beau on her list. (Relatedly, this sweet little girl was going to be Robert Boethius nicked Bo if she had been a boy! Swoon!) Robert is also St. Robert Bellarmine, which ties in nicely with the heavy-hitting John-Paul.

(6) Stephen
When I saw Stephen listed as a style match for William, it felt right as a suggestion for Liz and her hubs right away. It’s super classic and of course biblical and saintly. I think using the full Stephen rather than Steve will help it seem more 20s/30s. I’m sure they have their own way of choosing middle names, but if they’re looking for ideas, Catholic Digest Editor Danielle Bean has a son named Stephen Matthias, which I think is ah-MAZ-ing!

(7) Patrick
Finally, Patrick. It’s got a similar popularity arc to Stephen I think, and it’s got the European flavor if they want to think of it that way (Ireland), but as with so many of my other suggestions here, it was the offbeat nicknames that clinched it for me as a suggestion for them. Pat and Paddy are certainly common and solid, but I’ve recently been hearing Packy and Patch, which I think are adorable!

And those are all my suggestions! What do you all think? Am I close? Or totally off? I’m worried especially that Robert, Stephen, and Patrick are too “common/traditional,” even though they’re otherwise good style matches … I’d love to hear your suggestions for the little brother of John-Paul, William, Oliver, and Theodore!

Baby name consultant: Warrior Saints

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I hope you all got to see the three (three!) birth announcements I posted yesterday — three beautiful little ladies with three gorgeous names! Be sure to check them out if you haven’t yet seen them: one, two, three. (I have a couple more coming this week, wheeee!! 😀 )

Today’s consultation is a bit more private than usual, and a whole lotta awesome: Parents with a military background recently asked for ideas for names for the warrior saints theme they’ve already started with their kiddos and hope to continue for both boys and girls. I love that!! I mean really. How cool.

I came up with a bunch of ideas (there are a lot of saints who were soldiers!), and I’m really hoping you all can round out these lists with your own ideas!

Girls

First off, there’s St. Joan of Arc, the girl soldier who helped bring victory to France and died for her faith. Such a great patron for a little girl! I did a spotlight of her name not too long ago.

Then there are three biblical women who I see routinely referred to as “warriors”: Deborah, Jael, and Judith. In the intro to the book Women Warriors in Romantic Drama by Wendy C. Nielsen is this sentence (the link takes you right to it): “Women warriors such as Joan of Arc, and Judith, Deborah, and Jael in the Bible, fight openly with honor for justice and freedom,” which is pretty awesome. You can read more about Deborah and Jael here (their story is linked), and Judith here; I also spotlighted Judith recently here, including a Marian link to the name.

Then there’s St. Quiteria, who has a pretty amazing story. I actually posted a birth announcement recently for a little girl named after St. Quiteria (her parents decided to go with the spelling Kyteria).

Otherwise, there are loads and loads of Saints who were soldiers—all men as far as I can tell, except St. Joan, but some pretty great female variants include:

Adrianne or Adrienne, for St. Adrian of Nicomedia (you could even use Adrian for a girl)

Alexandra et al., for the Sts. Alexander

Andrea, for Bl. Andrea Bordino or Bl. Andrea Gallerani (a pretty great option, since you’d use the Saint’s exact name)

Caroline or Charlotte or Carla for any of the Sts. Charles that were soldiers (lots!)

Irene for St. Irenaeus

Hyacinth or Jacinta, for St. Hyacinth (Jacinta is the Spanish and Portuguese feminine version of Hyacinth, and Hyacinth on its own can be a girl’s name as well)

Lucy for St. Lucius

Marian, for Bl. Marian Górecki (this Bl. Marian was a man, but how great is it that you could use his exact name of Marian?!)

Kostka, for Bl. Stanislaw Kostka Starowieyski (Kostka struck me as really do-able for a girl; I’ve seen a priest take it as part of his religious name but in his case, and in the Bl. Stanislaw who was a soldier, it was in honor of St. Stanislaus Kostka, who’s a different guy and not a soldier)

Victoria, for the several Sts. Victor who were soldiers (I also love the tie-in to Our Lady of Victory and Jesus Himself as The Victor)

Boys

There are loads on that list I linked to above, but I just picked a few of my favorites to include here:

Adrian (Bl. Adrian Fortescue and St. Adrian of Nicomedia)

Alexander (there are a bunch of Sts. Alexander on the list of soldiers, and Alexander the Great is a common enough warrior reference)

Andrew (Bl. Andrew Dotti and St. Andrew the Tribune)

Bruno (Bl. Bruno of Rommersdorf and St. Bruno of Ebsdorf; doesn’t Bruno just seem like a warrior name?!)

Charles (several)

David (Bl. David Carlos-Marañon, St. David of Scotland, and King David himself)

Dominic (Bl. Dominic Collins and Bl. Dominic Dosso)

Edward (Bl. Edward Joannes Maria Poppe)

Gerard (Bl. Gerard of Clairvaux)

Ignatius (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Leo (several)

Marco (Bl. Marco of Jativa)

Peter (several)

Raymond (Bl. Raymond de Blanes and St. Raymond of Fitero)

Simon (Bl. Simon Ballachi)

William (Bl. William of Andleby, Bl. William of Maleval, St. William of Gellone)

There are several whose names are actually given as “St. So-and-So the Soldier,” which is really cool:

St. Andreas the Soldier (Andrew)
St. Lucius the Soldier (Luke could work for this one, or Lucas)
St. Mark the Soldier
St. Maximianus the Soldier (Max)
St. Peter the Soldier

(There are others but I thought these were the most user friendly.)

Finally, the patron saints of soldiers include:

St. Adrian of Nicomedia
St. Faith
St. George
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. James the Greater
St. Louis IX
St. Martin of Tours
St. Nicholas

(Full list of patron saints of soldiers here.)

So there are a lot to choose from! What others can you all add?

Baby name consultant: Sole Searching Mama’s Baby No. 7

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Happy Feast of the Ascension y’all!! 😀 I’m delighted to mark this holy day with a consultation for a mama who, like me, has six boys!

Susan, from the blog Sole Searching Mama (so clever!), and her husband Steve expect their seventh baby any day (she’s taking prayer requests to offer during her labor and delivery, so be sure to send her your special intentions!). They don’t know if the baby’s a boy or a girl, and I know she feels similarly to me in that another boy would be as happily welcomed as a baby girl, but of course it’s so fun to wonder if a Little Miss is about to make her debut after allllll those brothers!

Those brothers are the handsomely named:

Benedict Steven Robert
Andrew Simon Joseph
George Patrick Thomas
Henry James Augustine
Charles Gabriel Francis
Joseph William Karol

I love each combo — so saintly! So masculine!

Susan writes,

“Our “method” for choosing names is usually the same. We begin tossing around names of saints we love, and family names are also considered. Then, we pray about it, discuss, discuss, discuss, and then eventually a name comes together that we both mutually KNOW is the one.”

I love how she articulated their process — it’s similar to my own, and I’m sure a lot of you do this too!

They’re pretty well set on boy name ideas (though they’re open to hearing more, so I included a few ideas below) — it’s the girl name that’s a stumper! Susan says,

“I’m probably hyper-fixated on the girl name, and need not be, since given our present circumstances, the likelihood of us having a girl is slim. But, the Lord may surprise us yet!“

Names they’ve considered include:

Magdalene
Zelie
Ave
Maris
Therese
Clare

And names they like but can’t use include:

Elizabeth
Katherine
Gianna
Emma

I had so much fun working on this! With big families, it can sometimes feel like all the new ground has been long broken, but coming up with names for a girl after having all and many boys (or vice versa) is so new and different.

I wanted to comment quickly on the names Susan and her hubs like/have considered:

Gianna, Magdalene, Zelie, Ave, and Therese all have, to me, that Catholicky Catholic feel of Benedict’s first name and the middles Maximilian, Kolbe, Vianney, Augustine, Gabriel, and Karol, while Emma, Maris, and Clare are a little less obvious, more like the other boys’ first names. I like seeing that — it gives me a good sense of where their taste is. Emma is especially telling, since it’s really not obviously saintly (though it is, indeed, saintly).

 

So you all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Based on that research and my own mental files, these are my ideas for a little girl for Susan and Steve:

(1) Gemma
I probably would have ended up putting Gemma on the list of suggestions for them anyway, but when I read that they like both Gianna and Emma it was immediately clear to me that Gemma is an awesome choice for them! I love that it’s like Gianna and Emma put together, and St. Gemma Galgani is a great patron for a little girl. Another fun tidbit is that when I was looking up St. Emma, I came across a different St. Gemma—St. Gemma of Goriano—who’s also known as Emma! And her feast day is Mary 12, so close to Susan’s due date! The name is Italian in origin, meaning “gem,” which is also a great meaning for a little girl’s name to have, but it has a lot of use in England, which gives it a really English feel too, similar to Benedict, George, Henry, and Charles. (For example, see the British actress Gemma Jones, who’s been in films like Bridget Jones’ Diary, the Harry Potter movies, and Sense and Sensibility. Abby at Appellation Mountain also did an awesome spotlight.)

(2) Stella or Maristella
My next idea for them—and the first one I scribbled down when I was first reading Susan’s email—is Stella, totally inspired by Maris on their list. Though Maris has the lovely meaning “of the sea” and refers to Our Lady, Star of the Sea (Stella Maris), I think its meaning is almost completely diluted for those who aren’t familiar with it. Niles’ wife on Frasier was Maris, and when I hear it on its own, that’s what I think of. (Maybe most people are more refined than me? I hope! 😀 ) But if they were to put Maris together with Stella, as in Maristella (as this mom did, gorgeous!), then I think its meaning is more obvious. Maristella would be gorgeous for them, and is a bit like Magdalene from their list in terms of length and appearance, but I kind of like the trimmer Stella a bit more for them, especially if they did Stella Maris (first name + middle name). (Stellamaris is also a possibility.) (I don’t suppose Stella comes across as obviously Marian any more than Maris does, but for some reason it seems to me that it does.)

(3) Lucia or Lucy
Lucia was listed as a style match in the BNW for Gianna and Lucy was listed as a match for Henry, Charles/Charlie, and Emma, so I think either one (or Lucia nicknamed Lucy) would be a great idea for Susan and Steve.

(4) Margaret
Margaret is the third in the classic, regal girls’ names trio: Elizabeth, Katherine, and Margaret. There are lots of Sts. Margaret to choose from, and lots of sweet, traditional nickname options, like Maggie, Meg and Peg, Maisie and Daisy, Greta, and Rita.

(5) Anna or Annabel(le)
One of the things I love about looking names up in the BNW is writing down the matches for each name on the parents’ list and then looking for names that show up in more than one of those list of matches. Anna was a big hit for this family, being listed as similar in style/feel/popularity to Katherine, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Emma. I love the name Anna, and you all know St. Anne is Sancta Nomina’s patroness, so I love giving her lots of name love. There are so many pretty variants, like Ann(e), Hannah, Anya, and Annika, and mashups like Annelise/Anneliese and Annabeth that would allow for Anne and Elizabeth together in one name.

I know I’ve talked a lot recently about Annabel, which is a new love of mine — I love that it looks like an Anna name and could be considered so if desired, but actually has different roots: it seems it is, in origin, a variant of Amabel, which arose in Scotland in the Middle Ages … Amabel is a variant of Amabilis, which means “lovable” and was the name of a male saint, but it’s also part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis (Mother Most Amiable; amiable=lovable). How cool is that?? The spelling Annabelle makes it a bit frillier and looks more like Anna + belle (belle=beautiful), which is another nice layer of meaning.

Huh. But actually, now that I think about it … is Anna too similar to Andrew? I personally think that with so many children, and Andrew being #2 and this new baby being #7, it’s not that big a deal. But it is something Susan and Steve would have to think about and make their own decision about.

(6) Rosa or Rosemary or Rosanna
I love the sweet and spunky Rosa—it’s such a lovely name for a girl, and the nickname Rosie/Rosey is to die for. But I also love Rosemary for this family—to me, it’s one of those obviously Catholic names, and I kind of love that a little Rosemary would have her own herb. It can still take Rosie/Rosey as a nickname, or Romy, which is traditional as well. (Ooh, I just thought of Rosanna too—I love that! It gets in the Anna from above without any potential Andrew/Anna issue, and the Rose bit, which is Marian and lovely.)

There were a couple other names for girls I thought of that in the end I just didn’t think made the cut for my suggestions, for one reason or another, but I thought I’d list them just in case: Christiana, Leonie, Edith, Adelaide, Felicity, and Elodie.

Even though Susan and Steve are set with a boy’s name, they said they were open to hearing more ideas, so I came up with a few that really seemed to fit the style of their other boys’ names:

(1) Edmund or Edward
Edmund is a style match for Benedict and Therese and a nod to awesome St. Edmund Campion (also, Narnia!). Edward was actually a better match for this family, according to the BNW, being listed as similar to George, Henry, Charles, Joseph, and Elizabeth (wow!). St. Edward the Confessor is a particular fave of mine.

(2) Louis
This was totally inspired by Zelie, being her dear hubby’s name, and totally fits with the other boys.

(3) Dominic
I feel like there aren’t too many heavy-hitting Catholic names for boys that they haven’t already used, but Dominic is one. It’s similar to Benedict with that monastery/incense feel (which I love), and I think it fits in really well with the other boys.

(4) Luke
Luke is such a solid boy’s name, and I consider it to be a Marian name as well, as his gospel is the most Marian and contains her beautiful Magnificat.

(5) Leo
Leo has a really similar feel as Benedict and Dominic to me, and he’s a Pope St. the Great like JP2. So cool!

And those are all my ideas for Susan and Steve! What do you all think? What would you suggest for Boy No. 7 or Girl No. 1?

Baby name consultant: Baby #4 to add more joie de vivre

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Thank you all for your patience and kind words and prayers last week! The wake, funeral, and burial for my mother-in-law all worked out so well and beautifully, may she rest in peace.

Though I’d said that I’d be able to finish up the consultations for those waiting for them, I didn’t end up being able to spend much time on the computer, so I’m a couple of days backed up. I should be able to catch up this week though, so if you’re waiting for a consultation or an email reply of any kind, don’t despair!

Now on to our regularly scheduled Monday consultation post!

Lisa, of the blog Joie de Vivre (hence my totally corny post title), and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, gender unknown! This wee babe will join older sisters:

Evangeline Grace (Evie)
Audrey Noelle
Heidi Josefina

And names they’ve talked about for girls include:

Isabel (“maybe more for a middle name?“)
Margaret (“husband really likes…I’m not quite there“)
Juliana (“has been a top choice every pregnancy…I’m ready to take it off the list, though, since the boss of my boss is named Heidi and my boss is named Julianne!“)
Mariette (“husband not on board“)
Faith or Hope
Jane
Teresita (“my confirmation saint is Ven. Teresita but my husband feels it’s too much of a nick name, womp, womp“)

For boys, Lisa says,

“My husband Tim and I have each had a strong devotion to St. Jude since before we met each other and considered that as our ‘front-runner’ for a boy’s name with the 1st pregnancy, however good friends of ours, who had a baby around the same time, also had Jude as their boy-name first choice and did have a boy *and* have the same last name we do, so we’ve sort nixed it but may consider it now that both families have more kids/ their Jude is older?“

Other names they’ve discussed/considered for boys include:

First names
Nicholas
Jude
Christopher
Nathaniel
Kolbe (“I LOVE- Tim says it evokes thoughts of Colby Jack cheese“)
Ethan

Middle names
Scott
Bonaventure
Frederick
Casimir

(“I know the last three are really wild cards but I kinda like that they’re unexpected, and the last two are the middle names of my grandpa’s that I would totally use as a middle name for a boy.”)

And names that can’t be used for various reasons include:

Ava
Anna
Charlotte
Clara
Rose
Sophia
Zelie
Kathryn
Therese
Michael
Charles
Seamus
Samuel
Daniel
Christian
Isaac
Andrew
Eleanor
Olivia
Leo

I really enjoyed working on this because I found that Lisa and Tim’s style wasn’t easy to pin down — I love a good name challenge!

Their girls’ names are each so lovely … and so different! I love each one. I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names that the parents like and have already used for their other children in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and then I look for names that show up in more than one of those lists. It was so interesting to see what names would be found to be similar to more than one of Lisa and Tim’s girls’ names or the names on their list! I’ll explain more in my suggestions below.

I love Jude, and I love that both Lisa and her hubs have a devotion to St. Jude—how weird that they have friends with the exact same last name who also have a Jude! I agree that as there are more children and the ages are more spread out that it doesn’t matter as much as it might have once. It’s a great name.

As for the names she and/or her hubs like(s), Isabel, Faith, Hope, and Jane are all beautiful … I think they’re probably right to take Juliana off the list because of the Heidi/Julianne boss issue, but maybe not forever … Margaret and Mariette are so similar in appearance and beginning and ending sounds, it’s funny that Lisa loves one and Tim loves the other! And Teresita is beautiful — I wonder if they would consider Teresa with Teresita as a possible nickname? Especially since Tim already thinks Teresita sounds more nicknamey? Or maybe Tessa would be more their speed? I like them both with the other girls’ names, and I like trying to find a connection to Ven. Teresita for Lisa in a way that maybe her husband would be okay with.

Their boys’ names are very consistent stylistically! Nicholas, Christopher, and Nathaniel especially have a lot of the same names listed as style matches. I’ll discuss more in my suggestions below.

As for the middle name ideas, they’re all very handsome, and I was particularly struck by the combo Jude Frederick — I think it has such a great flow! BUT – I’m love love loving the idea of Frederick as a first name for them!!! I love that it’s long and sophisticated like Evangeline; it’s got a German feel like Heidi; and it’s really classic like Audrey and all three of them really. It’s got the great traditional nickname options of Fred, Freddie (so cute!), and Fritz, and I know a little Frederick who goes by Erick. I love it! Frederick Jude would be very handsome.

I love Kolbe too, great name and great saint! Colby Jack cheese is hilarious and such a bummer!

Okay, so I have a bunch of suggestions for Lisa and Tim:

Girl
(1) Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn or Madeleine
This was influenced at first by Margaret on their list, as I sometimes find that people who struggle with Margaret but love the nickname Maggie are open to considering Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn with the nickname Maggie. I love it! But as I was doing my research, I discovered that Madeleine is a style match for Evangeline and Isabel, and Madeleine is the French version of Magdalen(e), so I thought it definitely deserved a mention.

(2) Clairvaux
I know Clara’s on the list of unusable names, but Claire is a style match for Audrey and at first I dismissed it … but then when I was thinking about it some more — especially the style of Kolbe (saintly last name) — I wondered what they’d think of Clairvaux? Lindsay at My Child I Love You has a little Clairvaux, after St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and I believe they call her Clair sometimes.

(3) Victoria
Victoria is a style match for Juliana, Nicholas, and Nathaniel, and I love that it’s got that longer length like Evangeline. I love that it could be considered Marian (Our Lady of Victory), or a Jesus name (Victory!), and I love that it has a bunch of nickname options: Vicky, Vicka, Tori, Vee, Cora, Ria.

(4) Samantha
Samantha’s a style match for Nicholas, Christopher, and Nathaniel! I know Samuel isn’t usable, but maybe Samantha’s different enough?

(5) Camille or Camilla
Camilla is a style match for Juliana and Jude, and Camille for Hope. I really like it with their other girls, and I love the nickname Cammie.

Boy
(1) Luke or Lucas
Luke was all over the place for this family! Luke is a style match for Audrey, Jude, Ethan, and Faith, and Lucas matches up with Isabel. Wow! I’ve heard Jude described as the “Luke less traveled,” so I wasn’t surprised to see that it’s similar to a bunch of other names they like.

(2) Owen
Owen was also a big hit for them, being similar to Audrey, Isabel, Juliana, Ethan, and Faith. It’s a great name, and its patron is the amazing St. Nicholas Owen, a martyr who built hiding places for priests.

(3) Conrad
It’s funny, when I was first reading your email and saw Heidi, I immediately scribbled down Conrad, and then later discovered it’s a style match for Frederick! My husband and I considered Conrad for our youngest—I’ve always liked it.

(4) Bennett
Being that Kolbe is a saintly last name, I was trying to think of others from that category that Lisa and Tim might like (like my suggestion of Clairvaux above), and when I saw Bennett listed as a style match for Hope, I knew that was the one. Bennett is a medieval form of Benedict! So it’s got great saint cred, but it feels more like a last name (and of course is one, as in the Bennet sisters of Pride and Prejudice).

(5) Thaddeus or Theodore
Finally, I wondered if their love of St. Jude could transfer from the name Jude to the name Thaddeus? It’s long, like Evangeline, Christopher, and Nathaniel, and can take the nickname Thad, Tad/Taddy, and Ted/Teddy. Ted/Teddy made me think of Theodore too, which I suspect might be more their speed, and indeed it’s a style match for Frederick; they could also use the great nickname Theo.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for a brother or sister to Evangeline/Evie, Audrey, and Heidi?