Baby name consultant

Baby name consultant: Baby D (#6)

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Mom and Dad D. are expecting their sixth baby at the end of May! Mom writes:

“I am struggling with a good Catholic name for this little one … This current pregnancy & baby I feel are such a gift, given my advanced age. I will be 43 end of June.  I had a miscarriage in 2013 & named the baby Francis Mary- we didn’t know if it was a girl or boy. I prayed to discern God’s will in many holy hours before the blessed sacrament since that miscarriage & through a divine experience, I found out I was to have another baby ( it’s a cool story, but too long to share here). It involves praying the rosary every day for my brother & sister-in-law named Bob & Susan. (They are both doctors) As soon as I started praying the rosary for them everyday, I became pregnant. Absolutely incredible! I still pray for them everyday, I have no idea why I should pray for them, but I just feel I should!!

Can you help me with some girl names?

For a boy, right now I’m thinking Theodore Jeffrey. Theodore I believe means “gift of God” & Jeffrey is my husband’s name.

But just randomly I also like Rocco

My favorite saint is St. Therese. [They’d also previously considered Christianna.]“

As a side note — this is one of the things I just love about talking about names — I inevitably get to hear these amazing stories of prayer and faith, sadness and joy, and always such hope. It’s always such a privilege.

Anyway! Their other children’s names are:

Zachary [Mom’s maiden name]

John Paul

Mary Kathleen Dorothy (Mary Kate)

Charles Gregory

Timothy Michael

All of their names were chosen with a mix of family and faith connections, and they’d love a similar name for their new little one. I came up with a few ideas for them, all of which I loved so much, for different reasons, that I had a hard figuring out how to list them. I always shoot for three suggestions for each gender, which sometimes takes the form of three names, or three categories/ideas … but for this family, there was so much overlap, especially for girls, that I didn’t quite know how to list them! So I’m just throwing all my ideas out there:

Girl

(1) Susanna

The baby’s aunt is Susan, and they previously considered Christianna — Susanna came right to mind. My trusty name-meaning source says Susanna means lily in old Hebrew and rose in modern Hebrew, both of which are flowers associated with Our Lady. Susie’s a sweet nickname, or Anna; other traditional nicks include Sanna, Sukie, and Zuzu (Zuzu’s petals!).

(2) Christianna

Since they loved it before, perhaps they still do? Being that it’s a Jesus name, it makes me think about all the Mom’s holy hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament — a really nice connection.

(3) Gianna

I was so struck by the prayers being offered for the Mom’s brother and sister-in-law, and how she said she doesn’t even know why she’s feeling compelled to pray for them. St. Gianna Beretta Molla is the patron of mothers, physicians, and unborn children. Could it be any more perfect for this situation, with the brother and sil both being doctors?!

(4) Rosary

Isn’t that a crazy suggestion?! But wait! I recently did a consultation for a family who ended up naming their daughter Rosary — check it out: consultation and birth announcement. It’s so specifically meaningful for this baby on the way too, because of all the Rosaries the Mom’s been saying!

(5) Other Marian name (first or middle)

The baby’s due in May, the month of Our Lady; the parents used a Marian name in their Mary Kate’s name, as well as the name of the baby they miscarried; the Mom found out she was pregnant after starting to say the Rosary for her brother and sil — I mean, wow. Mother Mary’s all over this for them! Especially for a little girl, it would be so nice for the sisters to both have a Marian name — a nice thing to share in a male-dominated household! And an old Catholic tradition as well.

They could certainly do a Marian name for a middle — I love the idea of Susanna Mary, Christianna Mary (Jesus and Mary in one name! Pow pow!), and Gianna Mary, or perhaps Rose — there are so many beautiful Marian names! For first names though, I thought of:

  • Elizabeth (somewhat of a stretch, since it’s not *technically* a Marian name, though with Mary’s love for her cousin, it’s pretty darn close. I know a Mary Kate with a sister Elizabeth)
  • Lily (it’s associated with Mary; it’s also a traditional nickname for Elizabeth!)
  • Rose or Rosa (also associated with Mary, beautiful)

(5) Some form of Anne

As I was scribbling down Gianna … Susanna … Christianna on my little post-it when I was first thinking of suggestions for this family, I couldn’t help but notice the Anna that kept jumping in my face! Of course it made me think of St. Anne. Anne is lovely, as is Anna, and then I was thinking about Hannah — Anna is the Greek and Latin version of Hannah — and her story of praying for a baby, and her prayers were answered. It’s a nice parallel to the story of St. Anne praying for a baby, and her prayers were also answered. So any of those seem lovely and appropriate!

Boys

(1) Samuel

I found boys to be much easier to suggest names for! Samuel was an immediate favorite, because of the Hannah and Samuel story. I love it with the other kids’ names, and Sam is a favorite nickname in my family (my husband loves it, as do I).

(2) Luke

Luke was another immediate favorite for me, as he’s a patron of physicians (that connection to the brother and sil again!). Great name.

(3) Joseph

I can’t believe there isn’t a Joseph among the other boys already! I always think of Joseph as a somewhat Marian name for boys, and May 1 is the patron of St. Joseph the Worker — nice connection with the baby’s birth month!

I did consider Robert as a first name, for the Mom’s brother, but I liked it better as a middle. Samuel Robert, Luke Robert, and Joseph Robert all sound very handsome to me. I like Jeffrey with all of them as well, except Joseph – a lot of J’s! But if you love Joseph Jeffrey, I say go for it. Rocco would also be a fun middle!

I do love Theodore also, and if they decide to go with that, it’d be a great choice! The meaning is certainly so appropriate and sonderful! I will just say … Mary Kate’s second middle Dorothy means the same thing! Theodore and Dorothy are basically the same name, just with the elements reversed. It’s not a huge deal – I mean, how many people know what a person’s second middle is? Or that Dorothy and Theodore are related? (Just this crazy lady. :p) But just something to consider. I don’t know what nickname you would use, if any – Theo’s my favorite, and that would be great, but if you went with Teddy, which is also adorable, there’s the Timmy and Teddy thing … but not a deal breaker!

So that’s what I got! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Baby D?

Humbled and thrilled and blessed beyond measure

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You’re all amazing!! Grace Patton is one lucky lady to have so many wonderful readers who are willing to click over to another blog to leave their thoughts and comments about naming a new little baby, and that new little baby is so lucky to already be so loved and anticipated. You’ve all made my whole week, and Grace’s too I hope.

Some quick little housekeeping-type things:

  • I love every single email I’ve gotten asking for thoughts or suggestions for babies on the way! My answer is always — yes yes yes! I can’t tell you how much joy I get out of sitting down with my name books and my handwritten spreadsheets in order to tackle a name challenge — only a name lover could understand.
  • Though I always try to email back with my ideas within a week, I’m a wee bit backed up with all your wonderful requests, which only means that it might take me up to a month to get back to you. But get back to you I will! With a “report” exactly like the consultations I post here on the blog (in fact, those posts are the responses I’d already emailed to the family, revised/edited just a little to make them appropriate for here).
  • However, I only post consultations on Monday, so my Mondays are all filled up now until almost the middle of August. So great right?!!! You’ll love reading them all, as every single family who has emailed me has just the most amazing, beautiful taste in names. However — I always love for the families to get feedback from readers as well, since, despite my best efforts, it’s more likely than not that I won’t exactly hit the mark, and you all provide such great and thoughtful suggestions. But having Mondays booked up until mid-August means some of you may not be able to have your consultation posted before your due date. Which may not be a problem at all for some of you — maybe you’d rather it not be public! And that’s perfectly fine, there’s no requirement of public posting. When I email you back with my ideas/suggestions, that’s when I’ll ask you (1) if it’s okay if I post it, (2) what privacy controls you’d like, if any (like only an initial for your last name, that kind of thing), and (3) what date I’ve assigned to you for the public post if you’d like it.
  • With each of the emails, be assured I am taking into account the order in which the emails have been received as well as the due dates. In general, first come first served, but if there’s a very-soon due date — and I have gotten a couple — those will get bumped up as much as I think is fair and reasonable.
  • Please don’t let any of this stop any of you from emailing me! I’d much rather have a lot than none. And I can certainly work with any name emergency any of you might have. (Again, something only a name lover could understand.)

Finally, amidst all the Patton excitement is that I had a second article up at Nameberry on Monday! Check it out: Good-Intention Baby Naming. I’m still blown away that they’ve allowed me the opportunity to have a little of my name writing posted (all thanks to Abby at Appellation Mountain!). I’ve also added a new tab up above called “Nameberry articles,” with both my articles listed and linked to. I could just die typing that right now. 🙂

So basically, the moral of the entire story is: God is good. So so good. This blog has blessed me in more ways than you know, and I hope you’ve all felt blessed by it too. ❤

Baby name consultant: Camp Patton’s newest camper

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I’m beyond excited to have the great privilege of offering name suggestions to Grace Patton of the mom/fashion/style/lifestyle/humor blog Camp Patton!

There were a bunch of mama blogs that I read when my older kids were little, and then I took a break from blogs for a while, and then when I dipped my toe back in Grace’s blog was the first new one I started reading and I haven’t stopped. She’s a hilarious writer, and so so cool that I usually feel (1) old, (2) frumpy, and (3) bland when I’m reading her posts and flipping through her photos (which the younguns are calling “grams” I think? At least, that’s what Grace calls them) … but then she refers to herself as a “house mouse” and is blessedly free of the mother-this-way-or-you’re-not-a-good-mom bologna and says she loves shoes and chatting about baby names and that it’s important to her that she and her husband “stay in the saint family of names but I’ll be very honest and admit that I’ve liked a name and then Googled to make sure there is a saint by that name” and I think “soul sisters” and reconsider my aversion to painting my fingernails with the kind of super dark colors she rocks.

Anyway, Grace and her husband Simon have four born babies already, with these amazing names:

Julia Grace

Sebastian Xavier nicknamed Bash

Theodore Augustine nicknamed Theo

Phoebe Annika

Gender-surprise Number Five is due in June, and if you’d asked me before Phoebe was born what Grace and Simon’s style was I’d say Brideshead Revisited without a doubt and start making lists of names like Eleanor and Cora and Charles. Then Miss Phoebe was born and it’s very rare that I’m completely caught off guard by a couple’s name choice, especially if they have more than one other child (two or more gives a really good idea of name style I think, especially when they’re mixed gender), but I was totally blown away by the name they chose, both first and middle. In a good way of course! I loved it the second I read it.

But it really threw a wrench into my name ideas for the Pattons, because I’d been so sure I’d pegged them, and recalibrating my mindset is never an easy task. But recalibrate I did, for an embarrassing number of weeks (I do so enjoy a good name challenge, not joking even a little bit), relying heavily on my trusty Baby Name Wizard book (you remember — for each entry it lists other boys and girls names similar in style/feel/popularity), and came up with what I think are some good ideas. At least, if my children had the names of the Patton children, I’d be pretty happy using any of these for #5. As always, I shoot for three suggestions for each gender:

Girls

(1) Nickname: Lola

It may seem strange to start with a nickname idea, but hear me out: Grace has a style that pervades her whole blog+Instagram, from her fashion sense (for her and her kids) to her music to her interior design to her photographic eye to her funny turns of phrase, and it always strikes me as trendy — but not even close to being so in a bad way — more like, on point, like her finger’s on the pulse. Like how gifts from my similarly cool sibs are often the exact coolest thing that I didn’t even realize was the big new thing or that I looked at from afar and considered too cool for me. Lola strikes me as that kind of name. It feels kind of feisty but sophisticated, and though so far Grace and Simon don’t seem to love nicknameable girls names, they’re really into cool nicknames for their boys (I mean, Bash and Theo? So cool), so Lola kind of bridges what they’ve done already for their boys and girls. And Lola’s a traditional nickname for Dolores, which is Marian, which is always a great Catholic thing to do in naming.

What formal name would I suggest for Lola, you ask? Not Dolores, don’t worry! I have a few ideas, kind of quirky in that they’re not traditionally used as formal names for Lola, but they all strike me as hitting a right note somewhere in the Patton naming scheme. Basically, I tried for names/name combos that had L’s and long O’s so that Lola could be understandable as a nickname. Something like:

  • Violet Louisa (or vice versa)
  • Caroline Lucia (or vice versa)
  • Lourdes (do note that Madonna’s daughter is Lourdes nicked Lola, a surprisingly beautiful choice compared to other [life] choices she’s made)

Or maybe a Mary- double, like … Mary Aloysius. (Kidding!) (Sort of …) Or Mary Olivia, Mary Ophelia, Maria Lauren, even Marie Lorelei (if Lorelei had a better story, it would have been one of my top choices for the nickname Lola for the Pattons … as it is, doubling up with Mary makes nearly every name okay) … they could even do hyphens like the fancy French (probably Marie or Maria would work best?): Marie-Olivia or Marie-Olive, Maria-Ophelia, Maria- or Marie-Lauren, Marie-Lorelei.

If the Pattons like Lola, I know they’ll come up with an amazing formal name for it. Even if they hate Lola, I think Violet, Caroline, Louisa, Lucia, Lourdes, and Mary+[something amazing] are all pretty fab all on their own and fit well with their other kids’ name.

(Just for fun: Lulu also struck me as a fun nickname for them … like fashion designer Lulu Guinness [who was actually born Lucinda, also a possibility] … and I know of a friend-of-a-friend’s recently born baby named Lulu … really cute as a nick for Louisa or Lucia. Also, I love Lucy as a nickname for Louisa, so there’s that too.)

(2) Elisabeth

Elisabeth is long like Sebastian and Theodore, but classic and Biblical like Julia and Phoebe. The Z spelling is fine, and the one I’d likely use if I were to name a daughter this, but I’m loving the S spelling for the Pattons. (I’ve also been reading Elisabeth Leseur’s diary, what a wife she was.) It’s lovely just as it is, but you know I’m a big nicknamer and, again, thinking of Bash and Theo, I love the idea of Tess as a nickname for Elisabeth for them. Of course there are loads of other Eliz/sabeth nicknames that are awesome: Liddy, Libby, Bets(e)y, and Ellie are all favorites of mine.

Another name I almost had as one of my final suggestions for the Pattons is Esme, and I love the idea of making it a nickname for, say, Elisabeth Maria? It totally works!

(3) Felicity or Stella

I had a hard time with girls names for the Pattons, and I found coming up with a third suggestion was so hard I couldn’t decide between Felicity and Stella. I really like them both as sister names to Julia, Sebastian, Theodore, and Phoebe. I even really like Felicity following Phoebe — both starting with an F sound, but having different first initials makes it totally different to me. Felicity’s an amazing saint and it’s one of those names that just has a lot of Catholic cachet. And Stella — you all know how I feel about Stella. So Marian, so classy. I think I’ve been pushing it on nearly everyone who I’ve offered suggestions to. But yet again, I feel like it works here so well. Julia, Sebastian, Theodore, Phoebe, and Stella. Some parents prefer all their kids to have different first initials, which I do understand, and it certainly makes it easier to initial what’s whose (but harder too in a big family to find a whole lotta names that have no first-initial overlap), but like how Phoebe and Felicity both have their own first initial (even while sharing a sound), Sebastian and Stella seem so different to me because of the S- and the St-. That little T makes a difference to me, like S and St are totally different letters. (It’s a little weird here inside my namey head.)

(I also just can’t not leave here some of the names that I thought felt really close to being perfect but ended up deleting them for one reason or another: Penelope, Imogen(e), Genevieve, Iris or Ivy, Lydia, Corinne, and Liv.)

Boys

(1) Maximilian nicknamed Miles

I had a much easier time coming up with three boy names than I did with girl names. Sebastian and Theodore say to me: long, sophisticated, gentlemanly, and the very first name that I thought of was Maximilian. I love Maximilian (as is evidenced by the pseudonym I chose for my boy #5); St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of my very very favorites. I have my boy’s pseudonym nickname listed as Mac, which is an attempt at paralleling his actual nickname in real life, and was previously my favorite nickname for Maximilian, but then I read somewhat recently that someone was considering Maximilian with the nickname Miles and I thought I was going to die of name happiness. I just love an interesting nickname, and Miles is so perfect in my opinion! (If it’s helpful to any of the rest of you, that person considering Miles as a nick for Maximilian was also considering Milo, which I also adore … but not as a brother for Theo.) For the brother of Bash and Theo, I think Miles is awesome. For the brother of Sebastian and Theodore, I think Maximilian is awesome. And not that I’m suggesting middle names (okay I guess I did for Lola) (and for Elisabeth), but I would love a short middle for this long name and right now I’m loving Maximilian James. So handsome.

(2) Francis nicknamed Finn

Yes, I know, me and the nicknames. But the Pattons do nicknames for their boys! Really cool ones! And Francis nicked Finn is one I considered for my own boys, and I felt oh so cool when I thought of it. I’m just not a huge fan of the full Francis for everyday wear or the traditional Frank or Frankie (though my husband kind of loves Frankie, so Pattons, if you prefer Frankie, you’re in good [and normal] company). Francis is, of course, getting lots of Catholic attention because of il Papa, and it strikes me as also fitting right in with that upper-crusty Brideshead feel.

(3) Gregory nicknamed Rory or Gus

This is another one I considered for my boys. I mean, Gregory. As the BNW book puts it, “Popes, saints, and Gregory Peck! Can a name get any more distinguished?” Right? I totally one thousand percent agree. But then the BNW goes on to say, “Except you know he’ll go by Greg, which may conjure up Greg Brady’s bell bottoms instead.” Well we certainly don’t want that (unless such pants are the newest fashion, and if anyone would know, Grace would), and I really really think Rory can work as a nickname for Gregory. I love Rory anyway, and if the Pattons like it but not Gregory, I can also offer Robert nicked Rory. It’s got a formal Brit feel to me right now because of Downton Abbey, which totally works with the other kids’ names, and St. Robert Bellarmine was pretty cool, so that’s covered too. My personal preference would be to pair a name like Robert with a kicky middle, and my first thoughts here were Robert Benedict, Robert Kolbe, or Robert Bosco (Grace mentioned that she once considered Bosco for a first name for a boy).

And Gus? My personal thought is that any name that starts with a G could have the nickname Gus. Oh my, do I love Gus. An S- middle name could help make more sense of it, like Gregory Stephen or Gregory Solanus or Gregory Simon (great way to name after Dad!).

Well! Those are my thoughts on names for Camper #5! What do you all think? Have I hit the target or sailed into the trees beyond? Please leave suggestions — I know I would love to see your thoughts, and i’m sure Grace and Simon would too!

(Apologies if I used the word “cool” too many times in this post.)

Baby name consultant: Nicknames for Carmela

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A reader, whose baby girl is named Carmela, wrote asking for help coming up with good nickname options. She didn’t care for Ella or Carmen, and was stumped as to what other options there could be. I thought I could come up with some good possibilities, and this is what I ended up with:

My first thought was Carmie. I actually know one, and her given name is Carmela.

Another thought is Cara (said like “car” … or I guess you could change the pronunciation to “care” for the nickname if you wanted), which is nice because I believe it’s Italian for “dear/beloved.”

Or Caro (a traditional nickname for Caroline).

Or maybe Melly a la Melly (Melanie) Wilkes in Gone With the Wind, or just Mela (like Ella but not).

Or:

Cammie

Callie

Carly

Carrie/Cari

The middle initial could also help — if Carmela’s middle initial is S, maybe Cassie? If a T, maybe Cat? If a D, maybe Caddy?

What do you all think? Do you know anyone named Carmela, and if so does she go by a nickname? Do you have any other ideas besides the ones I listed here?

Wee lassie’s debut!

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Theresa’s name dilemma kicked off Irish month as she was scheduled to have her eighth baby, a little girl, on St. Patrick’s Day. She emailed me an update and a photo of the new little lady!

“Everything went well, we’re back home with ::drumroll:: Rosary Brigid Elise! She was 6lbs. 14oz, 18.75 in, and has been a wonderfully happy baby with siblings who fight over getting to hold her. 

About her name, there’s always that moment when you’re faced with filling out the Birth Certificate paper and you wonder if you chose the right name. But I’m confident we did. The consultation helped us to look deeper into other forms of Elizabeth, my sister’s middle name, since I liked Eilis, but my husband didn’t care for it. We came across Elise, which seems to still flow nicely.
 
So, thank you for the inspiration and input!! We have a beautiful name to go with a bonnie wee lass! 😉 “
 
So wonderful!!!! I just love her name!!! I never in a million years would have considered Rosary for a little girl, but because of Theresa and her beautiful baby it’s totally on my radar as a viable Rosie name. Nice work Heckamans! And I’m ever so grateful for the update!
 

Rosary Brigid Elise

Baby name consultant: Baby Girl Wendt

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Shannon Taylor Wendt, of OrganicMamasShop.com (lots of beautiful things for mamas and Catholic ladies and First Communicants!), and her husband Arnold Zachariah (“Zach”) (I love that!) are expecting their sixth baby and fifth girl within a couple of weeks. Shannon writes:

“Our last name is Wendt, it has a hard sound to it, so the first name has to be flowy, without hard consonants at the end, a pretty name like Jacinta doesn’t sound right to my ear when paired with Wendt, too many hard T sounds … I, of course, want a very Catholic name, but it has to be a little different … I would like our kids to have a cool story when someone asks them where they got their name. A little way to witness. And a cool saint to be connected to! … We also don’t like nicknames.”

Their other children are:

Trinity Rose

Isabelle Grace

Veronica Lily

Gabriel Michael

Seraphina Claire

Gorgeous, right? Shannon further noted that “so far our kids are either blonde (Isabelle and Seraphina) or red heads. And I feel like some names fit a red head better than a blonde, and vice versa. 🙂 ”

Shannon also provided the names that are on their “possibilities” list, but said none of them are really sticking out: Evangeline (Shannon’s favorite, but Zach has never liked it), Arianna or Adriana (Shannon prefers the former, Zach the latter), Anastasia (Zach’s favorite), Katrina, Kateri (but maybe too popular in their circle of friends), Felicity, Marielle, Edel or Quinn  (though Shannon’s worried that “neither of these names sound Catholic. I think Quinn is a fun name, but the popular trend of choosing last names as first names might over shadow this cool Catholic name… And Edel, pronounced like Adelle, will be pronounced wrong all the time and when pronounced correctly might get confused with the singer“).

After thinking about their already-named kids’ names, and the names on their list of ideas, and their last name, and their preference for no nicknames, and Shannon’s so-well-worded hope that “I would like our kids to have a cool story when someone asks them where they got their name. A little way to witness. And a cool saint to be connected to!” I think I came up with some good suggestions/ideas. As always, I shoot for three suggestions:

(1) A meaning name (Charis or Felicity)

Shannon’s other kids’ names are just beautiful, and full of faith-y significance, which really binds them together nicely. Even still, Trinity struck me as an outlier of sorts, and though I really try not to let my personal preferences sneak (much) into my ideas for others, I admit my first thought was to find a name that would be a little closer in style to Trinity, to kind of balance out the sib set. My very favorite suggestion in this vein of thinking is Charis (pronounced CARE-iss). It’s feminine and pretty, like all of the other girls’ names, but it feels like more of a “meaning” name to me, like Trinity. It’s Greek for “grace,” and is contained within the word Eucharist. Merriam-Webster explains the Charis-Eucharist connection thusly: “Middle English eukarist, from Anglo-French eukariste, from Late Latin eucharistia, from Greek, Eucharist, gratitude, from eucharistos grateful, from eu– + charizesthai to show favor, from charis favor, grace, gratitude; akin to Greek chairein to rejoice.” Such great Catholic meaning, and beyond that — such a beautiful meaning for a baby girl! I know they already used Grace as Isabelle’s middle name, but I think Charis and Grace are different enough in sound/appearance (obviously), and one is a first name and one is a middle, that it would be totally fine and not weird.

Additionally, Anastasia’s on their list as Zach’s favorite, and though I don’t know how Shannon and Zach choose the middle names (and I rarely offer suggestions for them, since it’s impossible to know family names, etc.), Charis Anastasia is really popping for me as a gorgeous combo.

The other thought that rose to the surface in the “meaning name” vein was Felicity, which was already on their list. It means “happiness,” and I particularly liked it with the middle name Edel (there I go with middle name suggestions again!). Felicity Edel. Beautiful! Putting Edel in the middle also solves the pronunciation and not-so-obviously-Catholic issues Shannon mentioned in regards to Edel.* And Edel is a short middle, like the other girls’.

Some other names that might also work in this category are Stella, Roma, Gemma, Vesper, and Verity.

(*As a side note, I looked up Ven. Edel Quinn to see if there was anything else offered about her name that could provide inspiration, and I thought these bits were interesting:

— “Edel was accidentally but providently named ‘Edelweiss’ because the Priest who baptized her had bad hearing and thought her father said Edel when he said her name would be Adele.” (source)

— She took the names Josephine Eucharia as her Confirmation names (source) (I wasn’t able to find much on the name Eucharia, but I assume it’s connected to Eucharist, which is a nice connection to Charis, if they want to think of it that way)

— Her middle name was Mary and she belonged to the Legion of Mary (so … Mary) (source)

— “Her mother meant to name her Adele, with an “e” at the end, but the priest associated her name with the diminutive form of the flower Edelweiss, and so the name Edel somehow stuck.” (source) (I liked this specifically because Shannon was worried about the name being misheard as Adele – it’s cool that Adele is still kind of an honor name for her!))

(2) Long and feminine (Christiana or Genevieve)

There are so many really gorgeous long feminine names on their list of considerations, as well as their other daughters, that I headed in that direction for my second idea. Shannon loves Evangeline but Zach doesn’t; he loves Anastasia but Shannon isn’t sure — I wondered what they’d think of Christiana? It’s my very favorite of the Christ- names, and of course the fact that Jesus Himself is the Honoree makes it uber super duper Catholicky Catholic. Christiana also contains “ana,” which is my favorite part of Anastasia. Christiana Quinn? This is definitely a swoon-worthy name to me!

The other name that I thought fit this bill really well is Genevieve. It has similar sounds as Evangeline, with all the V’s and N’s and the soft G, and she’s the patron saint of Paris, which is just so cool. Genevieve Edel?

(3) Giselle

I know this probably seems somewhat out of left field, but Giselle showed up several times in the Baby Name Wizard book as related to names they’ve already used or like: Trinity (via Genesis), Arianna, Adriana, and Quinn (via Xavier). It’s also got the -elle ending like Marielle, and Bl. Gisella of Ungarn is pretty cool, so … maybe?

I also thought these two previous consultations I did might be helpful to the Wendts, as I feel like there’s some overlap in their style and these others: Stark Family and Penny Family.

What do you all think? Do you think I’m in the right ballpark or miles away? Do you have any other suggestions to offer the Wendts? Please also remember to consider OrganicMamasShop.com for gifts for First Communion, Mother’s Day, Confirmation, or what have you — there are some really gorgeous things on there!

Jessie’s girl!

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Back at the end of January Jessie wrote asking for help naming their fourth baby, a girl. She has wonderfully provided us with an update, and a photo!

“Kate! I’m so sorry for not updating you sooner! Our little girl was born on Valentine’s Day and we have just been so caught up in her that I forgot to write … [My husband] decided he would really like to honor his Great aunt, who was like a grandmother to him and to who he was very close to without directly using her names. Her middle name was Mary so I searched all your posts for Marian versions. We ended up with Liliana (lil-ee-ah-na) Grace. Lily for Mary, Ana for St. Anne, Jesus’ grandmother, since he always thought of his Aunt as his grandmother, Grace because I still liked it 🙂  We both love it and I never would have thought of it without your posts which included so many original ways to include Mary/saints in names. Thank you so much! I’ve attached a picture for you in case you want to use it in an update … we did truly love your suggestions. I’ve called dibs on Louise Philomena for next girl!!!“

How wonderful! Something that had really jumped out at me when Jessie first emailed was how she said, “I’d love something that matches the feel of both Eleanor/Ella like my first little girl but by the time I weigh everything else, I can hardly think about that too.” I totally think Liliana fits the bill! Nice job, Jessie and Hubby! And thanks so much for the update — it’s so fun to read the end (but really beginning!) of the story!

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Liliana Grace

Baby name consultant: Wee Lassie Heckaman

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It’s March! In my house, March means Irish — Irish food, Irish music, Irish coffee in my green Claddagh mug (okay, maybe just the “coffee” part of “Irish coffee”), Irish green everywhere for the entire month — so what better way to kick it off than with an Irish-y Irish name dilemma?

Theresa and Sean Heckaman are expecting #8, a little girl, who will arrive via a scheduled c-section on St. Paddy’s Day. Their other children are:

Theodore (Teddy) Stephen Joseph

Joshua David Joseph

Patrick Darrel Joseph (also born on St. Paddy’s Day!)

Joseph Wayne Michael

Miriam Anna Rose

Evalena (Evie) Margaret Marie

William (Liam) Fulton Joseph

Theresa gave a lovely explanation for each one, which I’m not including here for space reasons, but each name is a lovely mix of family and saint names (note also the “Joseph” in each boy’s name and the form of Mary in each girl’s).

Theresa wrote in this comment here on the blog:

“I am scheduled for a c-section on March 17th, and we decided to go with the name Rosary Brigid Marie. It’s making me a little nervous because it’s not common and anyone who isn’t Catholic looks at me like I’ve got three heads. I love the nickname Rosie, and can’t seem to settle on any other formal name, so Rosary it is! The good news, though, is that any Catholic who hears it is thrilled 🙂 … I’m having a hard time with the middle names, though. I’m not entirely sold on Brigid, the first draft was Rosary Therese Marie, but that changed when we learned the baby’s birthday, now we have to do something Irish! We’ve always planned on having our girls’ third middle name to be Marie, but we started off with Miriam Anna Rose (figuring Miriam is enough Mary for one name), so I’m not afraid of finding another Mary name, but flow is a problem. Moira and even Maura seem to make it too much of a mouthful. I’m probably overthinking this!”

I’d responded to that comment with:

“Theresa! This is gorgeous! And Rosary has a long history of use in other languages — Rosario, for example, is a name used for both men and women in Spanish, and for men exclusively (I think) in Italian. My mom actually has a friend named this, an older Italian man, and he’s always gone by “Soddy” (I assume because the Italian pronunciation is more like ro-SOD-io? With that semi-rolled R?).The behindthename.com entry says about Rosario: “Means “rosary”, and is taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora del Rosario meaning “Our Lady of the Rosary”. This name is feminine in Spanish and masculine in Italian.” So I’m totally on board with Rosary, nice job! And Rosie totally makes it not a big deal — friendly, “normal,” accessible nicknames can make just about any formal name okay, in my opinion. … (I do just want to whisper to you though, since you’ve already decided on Rosary and all, that Roisin is one of my favorite favorite Rose names, and it’s sooo Irish!!! It’s a diminutive of the Irish Rois (Rose), and could totally take the nickname Rosie! Roisin Therese Marie? Mmmmmm!) … Also, the Rose names are considered Marian, and I totally would consider Rosary to be so too — does that help with your flow problem? You don’t need to use Marie (unless you want to of course) because Our Lady is already honored. If you still want an M Mary name there, I agree Moira and Maura don’t flow well, because I think the rhythm of Marie is what works — two syllables, with the emphasis on the second. So Maureen would flow quite well I think (or the Irish spelling Mairin, accents over both i’s).”

I encouraged Theresa to email me if she wanted to chat about it some more, and I’m so delighted that she did!

She gave this further info: “Other first names considered for this new baby: Louisa and Beatrice. I have always wanted a Rosie, though. I think the main problem we’re (actually myself since my husband is fine with the current name, Rosary Brigid Marie) is just the middle names and finding something that really goes together well and has an Irish feel.”

So this is what I have to say about all that:

First off, I actually think Rosary Brigid Marie sounds fine and flows well and — honestly truly — sounds like a name a native Irish person would use (at least in Old Ireland): reverent, Catholic, and Irish. A beautiful, gorgeous name for a St. Paddy’s Day baby! And St. Brigid is St. Patrick’s female equivalent, so I really do think they’ve chosen a brilliant name. (I have a long love of all things Irish — my maternal grandfather was born and raised there, in Cobh, Co. Cork, and my own mom has studied the Irish language, and I studied abroad in Galway while in college, and have visited a bunch of other times … it’s all I can do right now to not replace “mom” with “mum” and start saying “thanks a million” and go make some tea. So I hope my sense is right that Rosary Brigid Marie is a good Irishy Irish name!)

But I will always have a suggestion or two (or three, actually, as I always shoot for) when it comes to names, and here they are:

(1) Alternatives to Rosary

Theresa loves Rosie, but not the Rose names. Rosary is pretty inspired I think, and I suggested Róisín already (though I get that might be too much for someone who doesn’t live in Ireland) (pronounced row-SHEEN), but I also wanted to suggest Rosaleen. Beyond Shannon and Sean: An Enlightened Guide to Baby Naming (by the Nameberry ladies) says, “The Irish had imported Kathleen to America in the nineteenth century, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that the true impact of the Irish “een” names began to be felt. These included not only actual Irish names like Pegeen, Eileen and its variant Aileen, Maureen (a diminutive of Maire, the Irish Mary) and Noreen (a diminutive of Nora), but also Josephine, a French name that was very popular in Ireland; Doreen, an Anglicization of the Irish Dorren or Doireann; and Rosaleen, the Irish pet form for Rose. Colleen — an Irish word meaning “girl” but never used in Ireland as a name — hit the New World in the 1940s, peaking in popularity in the early 1960s” (6) (my emphasis).

Rosaleen is sweet and old-fashioned (in the best way possible) and Irish. I love it. Also, when I’m considering Irish names (as I would have loved to have given my boys names like Padraig and Tadhg but my husband has not a drop of Irish blood and his style is “Bob”), I consider the kinds of names that traditional Irish parents might choose — which may or may not be super duper Gaelic-y Gaelic but almost certainly will be saintly or otherwise heavy-hitting-Catholic (one of my native Irish friends when I was in school there was John Paul — along with a thousand [or more?] other boys his age, as he was born just after JP2 was elected pope). This all brings to mind a friend of mine from years ago named Rosemarie, who is also native Irish, and represented the Gaelic-speaking part of Ireland (the Gaeltacht) in the 2001 Tralee Festival (read about the Festival here and here). I love Rosemarie, and have had it on my list for years, through all these boys of mine.

(2) Alternatives to Brigid

I’m thinking of the second middle as the most obvious nod to the baby’s birth/feast day. Brigid is great — as I mentioned above, she’s St. Patrick’s female counterpart, and even has a cross named after her. Very Irish, very saintly, just lovely. Another idea is Bríd (said breed), which is a contracted form of Brigid and might be helpful if a one-syllable name would work better in that spot. BUT, if other super-Irish ideas are wanted, how about:

  • Catriona — said kah-TREE-nah (like Katrina), an Irish form of Katherine
  • Kathleen/Caitlin — the Heckamans could do Kathleen, that spelling, or Caitlin, which in Irish is said exactly like Kathleen! They’d have an uphill battle trying to get people to say a first name Caitlin as Kathleen, but in the middle they can do anything they want
  • Eilis — said EYE-lish, the Irish form of Elizabeth

I particularly like the idea of a C/Katherine or Elizabeth variant for them, as they haven’t used either one yet with their other girls, and they’re such big Catholic names.

(3) Alternatives to Marie

I know Theresa said they aren’t worried about finding a suitable Marian name, but I thought I’d throw a few good Irish options out there anyway, especially since they’d originally planned on Rosary Therese Marie — if the Marie were to change to an Irish form, they could go back to using Therese if they wanted and still have an Irish-y name:

  • Máire — Beyond Shannon and Sean says this is “the true Irish version of Mary.” They say it’s pronounced like Marie; behindthename says it’s pronounced MOY-ra; babynamesofireland says it’s pronounced MY-ra. That says to me they can choose the pronunciation they want!
  • Some other “Mary equivalents used in Ireland” (according to Beyond Shannon and Sean): Carmel (after Our Lady of Mount Carmel); Dolores (after Our Lady of Sorrows); Máirín – said like Maureen, an Irish diminutive of Mary; Maureen (anglicized form of Máirín); Molly (a diminutive of Mary)

What do you all think? Can you think of any other ideas that might be helpful for Theresa and Sean for their little Irish Catholic baby girl?? Are there any Irish readers out there who can verify my Irish thoughts or tell me I’m full of bologna/blood sausage?

Baby name consultant: Baby Girl Stark

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Angela and Tim Stark have two little ones already, Paxton Anthony and Gabriella Tiffany, and they’re expecting their third, a girl. Angela writes,

“Our first (boy) was easy for us: Paxton Anthony Stark. Paxton is not very catholic but Pax is Latin for peace… so kinda sorta? But we love his name. We LOVED Maximus but Maximus Stark sounded too much like a transformer. But once Paxton was mentioned we agreed right off the bat, it sounded very strong … Our next (girl) we struggled and argued the WHOLE pregnancy. It wasn’t until we were about to sign the birth certificate where I said “Let’s just do Gabriella” and he replied “I guess I’ll get used to it”. I was only okay with it because I LOVE the angels, I threw in the extra L to make it more unique. I was hesitant on the name because I didn’t want anyone to call her Gabby or Ella. Tim liked the name but was hard pressed on Julianna which I refused and he was grumpy about it. We love her name now, and no one has called her Gabby yet. Her middle name is Tiffany after my husbands sister who passed away.”

For this new little girl, Angela says,

“I have been a devout Catholic my entire life and I want a saint name but a unique one. When I say unique I don’t mean anything crazy off the wall… but different. If it were up to me her name would be Augustina Christi Stark (Call her August). I also like Faustina, Constantine, Lucia (pronounced looSEEa), Noelle (not a saint but still like), Aurea and a few others but that’s the gist of it. My husband (recent convert/baby catholic) on the other hand is obsessed with “princess” saint names like Victoria, Alexandra, Anastasia, Julianna, Isabelle, Sophia, Teresa. He shoots down anything different or unique and I shoot down anything that sounds too common (for lack of better words). The names we somewhat agree on are Lucia, Cecilia … and that’s about it but neither of us are sold … bonus points if the saint has an awesome story and has a latin feel/sound to it.”

I love Angela and Tim’s other kids’ names — I think they did a great job. I absolutely agree that Paxton Anthony is quite heavy-hitting with the Latin-for-peace bit, and Gabriella Tiffany is so pretty and feminine — I love the Gabriel names anyway, and recently I was reading about the origin of Tiffany — it’s very Catholic itself! It comes from Epiphany (read more here and here), and finding that out gave me appreciation for the name that I didn’t have before.

For this baby, I do love Lucia and Cecilia, but I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to help the Starks find a name they feel might be a better fit. I always try to find overlap between differing styles, to see if there’s some common ground. As you all have probably figured out by now, I rely heavily on the Baby Name Wizard book to do this, as it lists, for each entry, other boy and girl names that have a similar style/feel. Hubby Tim’s style is very consistent — he likes Alexandra, Victoria, Anastasia, Julianna, Isabelle, Sophia, and they both agreed on Gabriella for their first daughter, and those names are basically all listed as similar to each other in each respective list. Angela’s is more eclectic, but not too different from Tim’s in the sense of very feminine names ending in -a — Augustina, Faustina, Lucia, Aurea.

One of the names that immediately came to my mind for them was Thaïsa. It’s so similar in look and sound to Teresa, which Tim likes (it’s said tie-EE-sah) while still being really unusual and distinctive that I thought it might be a good fit. Alas, though she’s revered as a saint in the East, her actual existence and details are disputed (I spotlighted it here), so it didn’t make my final cut, but I thought i’d mention it anyway.

The suggestions I came up with for little Miss Stark (I shoot for three) are categories with names within, as a way of trying to get to those names that have overlap between Mom and Dad’s two styles:

(1) Frilly/lacy/feminine names with a boyish nickname

When I read that Angela’s very favorite first name is Augustina with the nickname August (and I love love Augustina Christi!), my immediate thought was “sophisticated and feminine with a boyish nickname.” That might not have been Angela’s intention, but I like it, and I had two ideas that might fit in with that idea, thus marrying Tim’s “princess” style and Angela’s spunkier mindset: Elisabetta nicknamed Eli (like EE-lie, the boy’s name, not Ellie), and Michaela nicknamed Michi.

Elizabeth is certainly a great saintly name, but I looked for some of its non-English variants to get at that “Latin feel/sound” Angela said she hoped for, and thought Elisabetta fit the bill. It’s gorgeous to look at and say, in my opinion, and patrons could be St. Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist or St. Elizabeth of Hungary, or my recent favorite is Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur, who secretly prayed and offered her sufferings until her death for her atheist husband’s conversion; after she died he found her journal, which detailed all she’d done for him, and he converted and became a Dominican priest who once led a retreat for Fulton Sheen. Such a great story, such an amazing woman. As for Eli as a nick — Elizabeth and its variants have a million great nicknames, but I hadn’t heard Eli used until recently. I know an Elizabeth who goes by Eli, and though I thought she was a he for the longest time (I only know *of* her — a friend of a family member), Angela runs the same risk with August, so I suspect that’s okay with her.

My other suggestions, Michaela, is a favorite of mind. I know a little one with this name whose mother’s first language is Spanish, and they call her Michi (MEE-chee), which is just one of the cutest names, and I think it works fine for a non-Spanish-speaking family as well. The Starks could use that pronunciation, or MITCH-y, which is also really cute. And of course St. Michael is a great patron and protector, and Angela did say she loves the angels (I would understand though if they thought it was a bit much with sister Gabriella).

(2) Last name of a saint

Angela said she wants “a saint name but a unique one. When I say unique I don’t mean anything crazy off the wall,” and using the last name of a saint seems a really good way to do this. On the blog My Child I Love You, two of the little girls are named Clairvaux and Vianney, and both those names jumped out to me as ones that the Starks might like. Especially Clairvaux, since it can be shortened to the sweet Clair. I’ve also seen Majella used as a first name for girls, which is another option, and one of my very favorites is Avila, which is connected to Tim’s love of Teresa.

(3) Princess-y names that are also unusual/unique

This is similar to #1, but I didn’t focus on nicknames as much as femininity and unusualness. I found quite a few that I think would work: Karoline or Karolina (said like the state or care-ah-LEE-na), Lydia, Magdalena, Reina, Sabina, Gemma, Charis, Christiana, Clementine, Juliet or Juliette, Roma, Natalia, Jacinta, Simone, Seraphina, Evangeline, Penelope, Georgiana, Zelie, Dominique. They’re all either saints/blesseds/Biblical (Lydia, Magdalena, Sabina, Gemma, Juliet(te) [from Julia], Natalia, Jacinta, Penelope [original name of St. Irene], Zelie [St. Therese’s mom and a Blessed herself]), or female versions of male saints’ names (Karoline/a for JP2, Christiana for Jesus, Clementine from Clement, Simone from Simon, Georgiana from George, Dominique from Dominic), or otherwise Catholic (Reina is a form of Regina, Charis means “grace” and is contained within the word Eucharist, Roma for Roman Catholic, Seraphina for the angels, Evangeline means “good news,” like evangelist). I love each of these names.

One saint that seemed especially meaningful in light of Angela’s love of Augustina is St. Agostina Livia Pietrantoni. I was reading about her recently — Agostina is actually the name she took when she became a Sister of Charity, but the snippet I was reading referred to her as “Livia” throughout, so I thought I’d suggest it. I have long loved Livia — I love that it feels familiar because of Olivia, but it’s not Olivia — it’s an old name in its own right, going back to ancient Rome, and rarely used. And there’s the amazing nickname Livvy, which I think is just the sweetest. Livia Christi? I love it.

What do you all think? What suggestions do you have for Angela and Tim’s little girl-on-the-way?

Have you seen my “Baby Name Consultant” tab?

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Check out the top of my blog, under the title, where I have those other tabs: “Home,” “About me,” “About this blog” — I added one for “Baby Name Consultant,” wherein I detail the way my crazy mind works when it comes to names and how my strange little interest might be helpful to any of you about to tear your hair out because you canNOT come up with a name for this baby! Or even if you’re not tearing your hair out and just want to air your ideas and get some feedback. Or whatever! Check it out and tell all your friends and family and neighbors — it’s one of my very favorite things God has allowed me to do through this blog. ❤