Baby name consultant

Baby name consultant: Baby Enloe #2

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Marty and Amy Enloe and big sister Kristy Marie will be welcoming baby #2, gender unknown, around Easter. Amy’s explanation of how they chose Kristy’s name is one of the most beautiful naming stories I’ve heard: “In short, she is named after after the two greatest people I could think of — Christ and Mary, giving honor to God first (and in our 1st born) and my love/connection to Mary. It [also] connects to family names, and the tradition of naming after and/or handing down.” How lovely!

In trying to come up with ideas for the new baby, she writes, “I like family names, or naming after someone, even if it is not family, but just one who has character that you want your children to aspire to or that have a connection with/to … for our own children we tend to go more for traditional/’real’ names that are obviously a common name … We want a name to carry them through life, respectable, not just cute. Something they could be a business person with or a grandma, or a little boy … I would love a Catholic name/connection somewhere as it’s huge to me … An Italian name might be cool, I love that part of my heritage … I love John Paull II and wanted to name after him some how … boy or girl but we weren’t finding a version we liked best. Closest we came was maybe something like Gianna/Giani, which my husband wasn’t totally feeling.”

For a girl, Amy knows she’d really like to use Victoria as a middle name, for her mom (see below) and also because it “makes me think of purple, vintage, scrolls, pretty, traditional” (I love that! Beautiful mental image!), but since they’re “totally feeling boy,” they’ve given more thought to boy names:

“For sure there are 4 middle names I like for boys — Kane, Lincoln, James and Joseph … Kane because Kristy has my middle name, so our first boy could have his dad’s middle name, traditional, hand me down. James and Joseph are Biblical/Catholic and I am really liking Lincoln this time. One night Marty said the first name that popped into his head and it was the first time I didn’t immediately say no to something. It felt the same way as Kristy’s name, a surprise and I couldn’t explain why it stuck with me a while. Calvin. Calvin Kane Enloe. Hmmm… the flow works well, but maybe the two n sounds run together. Kristy was an easy baby, I am expecting this one to be harder, but do I want a Calvin and Hobbes boy?? 🙂 … It’s a boy’s name, but a man’s name at the same time. A normal name but not seen much now (like Kristy). The sounds match but not the same letter. Both 6 letters, 2 syllables … I want sibling names that match some how … I still don’t mind the idea of Martin as a first if I find a middle I would want to use/go by, or Samuel (maybe the two L sounds run together) … We were close to our priest Fr. Vince (Vincent — Italian) and he has moved out of state … I am due pretty much Easter weekend (April 6th) so maybe an Easter related name. Pascal? I always pair that with Blaise though in my mind. I considered it for Kristy … You don’t really hear Pascal here in the states, but I did know two boys that had these names.”

Amy also mentioned that she really liked how her initials, AME, say her name when said out loud, and even little Kristy gets called by her initials sometimes (KME, said K-Me). Marty’s named for his dad, Martin, but his dad goes by his middle name, so giving a boy the first name Martin but having him go by his middle would be a nod to family tradition. Finally, their parents names are Victorian Lynn and James John (Amy) and Martin Craig and Kathleen (Marty), and some other family names that might inspire include: Elva, Betty, Donald, Lincoln, Joseph, Phillip, Mildred, Katherine, Mary, Joan (pronounced Joe-Anne), and Karl.

As I do, I aimed for three suggestions for each gender for Amy and Marty, though I ended up with four for boys, mostly because I loved their existing thought of Calvin Kane so much and had a much harder time coming up with boy ideas that I thought were as good that I overcompensated!

Girl

(1) Amanda Victoria Enloe (AVE)

My very hearty #1 recommendation for a girl is Amanda Victoria Enloe. Amanda is six letters! And with Victoria in the middle, after Amy’s mom, the full name makes the initials AVE, which makes it Marian! (So sneaky!) Amanda fits a similar popularity profile as Kristy (peaked in the 70s/80s), and it means “beloved” or “able to be loved” (Latin), which is an amazing meaning for a little girl. Amanda is totally do-able on its own, but I do love the nickname Mandy, and Mandy and Kristy sound like adorable sisters to me. Another natural nickname for it — which I do not recommend of course, is Amy, and I love that it makes Amanda kind of an honor name for mom Amy. So sweet! My runner up for my first suggestion is Angela — also similar in popularity and feel, also giving the amazing initials AVE, and being named after the angels is lovely, or even Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, for an extra Marian touch. (But I just love love love the lovable Amanda. :))

(2) Monica

When I was looking through lists of names that seemed to match Kristy, Monica jumped out right away. I love the Catholic connection — St. Monica is one of the very best saints, and it has six letters! (Not that I’m fixated on that, but I was pretty psyched that some/a lot of my ideas have six letters.) I think Monica can pair well with a lot of middle names: Monica Mary, Monica Pascale, maybe Monica Lynn (Amy’s mom’s middle name, instead of using her first name Victoria), maybe Monica Martine (for her husband Martin). (I also like the idea of Martina as a first name).

(3) Joanna P___

Joanna was inspired by both Calvin (see below), as Joanna’s listed in the Baby Name Wizard as being similar in style and feel to Calvin, and also by Amy’s love of John Paul II. I once heard of a little girl named Joanna Pauline, after JP2, which I thought was amazing, and as soon as I saw Joanna in the list for Calvin, I thought it seemed perfect. I’m not wedded to the combo Joanna Pauline, though I do like it; I actually think Joanna Pascale would be my preference. Amy said she’d considered Pascal for a boy, since she’s due around Easter, and I love the feminine form Pascale. I love it as a middle name — so interesting and unexpected and chic — and Joanna Pascale gives the initials JP, just like our beloved Papa. Amy also said they have a relative Joan (pronounced Joe-Anne), which could make Joanna an honor name if they’d like. (And — six letters! Ahh! :))

Boy

(1) Calvin Kane

This was Amy’s idea, and I just love it. Calvin is so cool paired with Kane, just great. Amy had mentioned being worried abotu inviting trouble by connecting a boy to Calvin and Hobbes but I have to say, as the mom of six boys, I actually find the connection quite endearing! My boys are all variations of mischievous, but all pretty adorable, which is my memory of Calvin and Hobbes (I haven’t read the strip in years, but I used to paste them on the paper-bag cover of my textbooks in high school, that’s how much I loved them!).

(2) Martin [Something]

I really liked Amy’s idea of Martin as a first name with a middle name that the baby would actually go by — it’s a great family tradition in her husband’s family, and it’s a nice way to have a namesake for her husband without having a Junior. I like Martin James, Martin Joseph, Martin Derek (see below), Martin Samuel, and Martin Blaise. I particularly like the last one, Martin Blaise, and while I can see why Amy thinks Blaise and Kristy are too far apart style-wise, I actually can see them working really well together. Kristy is for Our Lord after all, and Blaise is a great saint, so that automatically makes them go together to me — it’s all the same family. 🙂 Besides, Blaise’s real first name would be Martin, which I think goes with Kristy quite nicely. Martin Blaise Enloe is so handsome!

(3) Samuel Vincent

I think this is a great combo. Samuel because Amy had mentioned liking it, and Vincent after the priest she and her husband were close to. I like the initials too — SVE, kind of reminds me of “Save” — and it’s six letters!

(4) Aaron or Derek or Jason

As I mentioned, I had a hard time coming up with other boy names besides the ones Amy and Marty had already thought of. But when Aaron came to mind, I thought that it really worked. Aaron Kane, Aaron James, Aaron Joseph all sound pretty good to me, and I like how Aaron Enloe sounds and looks (lots of vowels!). Maybe some would be put off by the -on ending of Aaron running into the En- beginning of Enloe, but it doesn’t bother me — quite the opposite, I think it flows really well.

Derek also struck me as a good fit. Derek James, Derek Joseph, Derek Martin all sound good to me; Derek Lincoln not as great but not terrible either, and I like Derek Enloe. And Jason Enloe. Jason James, Jason Joseph, Jason Kane, Jason Blaise — all pretty cool. A friend recently named her son Jason, which was pleasantly unexpected. AND I just read recently that Jason is a name in the New Testament — a man who sheltered Paul and Silas. I don’t know how I’d never noticed that before! I included Aaron, Derek, and Jason in the same numbered suggestion because they’re my attempts to come up with something new for Baby Enloe #2, but really I just like Amy and Marty’s existing thoughts on boy names!

One name that I didn’t really address, though Amy specifically said she was thinking about it, is Lincoln. I do try to limit myself somewhat when making suggestions, otherwise I could just go on and on and on ……. which I don’t really think is that helpful to the parents (too many ideas!), and too stressful to me. But I do like Lincoln a lot — both the president (best president ever) and the nickname Linc (Prison Break anyone?). I don’t know what else to say about it though, so I’ll just leave it at that.

So that’s what I got! What do you all think? What other ideas or suggestions can you offer to the Enloe family?

Penny Baby #9!

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I posted all about the first eight Penny kids’ names on Monday, and invited you all to guess what their new baby girl’s name might be. Your guesses (here and on our Facebook page) included*:

Rebecca

Mia/Maria

Lucia

Cecilia

Theresa

Eva

Bianca

Georgia

Lily

Beautiful names, all! Nice job! But nobody (including me) guessed the right one:

Miryam Noël

Isn’t that just gorgeous?? Her mama writes: “We chose her name after attending a retreat for the feast of the Immaculate Conception — while praying the Rosary there I felt that Miryam was her name. Being pregnant during Advent, I felt a special closeness to the Blessed Mother and knew I wanted a Marian name. At the retreat I realized what name that was. We chose Noël because she was born during the Christmas season (we celebrate until Candlemas). I’ve had these moments with several of my children when I just felt that “that” was their name. The trick has always been convincing Chris. In case you’re curious the runners up for Miryam were Elizabeth (Chris’ pick) and Edith (my pick). ”

But we weren’t too far off, were we? There were some Marian/biblical/saintly names on our lists, all of which I would categorize Miryam as. Nice job, us!

I plan to give updates to each of the consultations I’ve posted as the babies are born, if their moms give me the update and the go-ahead to post. Thanks to Shaunda and Chris for allowing us into their naming process and selections — so fun seeing the end result! Happy Friday!

 

*(There were even a couple boy names offered as well — maybe Shaunda and Chris will file them away for a possible future boy? Julian, Malcolm, and Owen, all so handsome.)

 

Baby name consultant: Penny Family name analysis, and guess the new baby’s name!

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This is different from my usual naming dilemma/consultation type of post in that the baby’s already here and named, but I had such fun analyzing the parents’ name style (at the mom’s request) that I wanted to post it here for you, and ask you: After reading it all, do you have any guesses on what the name of the new little one might be?

Shaunda and Chris Penny, who I actually know in real life, recently (last month) welcomed their ninth born baby. Their other kids’ names are:

Rita Isabel

Austin Christopher

Emma Karol

April Grace

Christian Matthew

Leah Francine

Veronica Clare

Gianna Doreen

Shaunda said, “I’d love to see your analysis of our kids names someday, I feel like they’re all over the place, we choose for meaning not the name itself so it’s a weird grouping of names.”

I do love a good name challenge. 😉

When I put together the post offering suggestions for Simcha’s baby, I felt like I had to first figure out her style, which wasn’t easy to see at first look. But as I thought about it more, and looked up more names in the Baby Name Wizard book (it has this amazing feature of listing boy names and girl names that match the entry in terms of style and feel and popularity … I think I’ve mentioned it a time or two? :)), which led me to look up more names, I started seeing the connections emerge, like invisible ink over a heater.

Such was the case with the Penny kids’ names for me — upon thought and research, styles emerged, and I feel like their names boil down into seven (!) different styles, with a lot of overlap:

Saints/religious names (overt): Rita, Austin, Christian, Leah, Veronica, Gianna

Biblical(ish): Christian (the “ish”), Leah, Veronica

Short and punchy: Rita, Emma, Leah, Gianna

Ends in the -en sound: Austin, Christian

Not easily nicknamed: Rita, Austin, Emma, April, Leah

Ends in -a: Rita, Emma, Leah, Veronica, Gianna

Latinate (Italian/Latina): Rita, Veronica, Gianna

I don’t usually include middle names when I’m trying to figure out a style or suggestions because so many people use the middle name spot as their wild card spot — family first names, family last names, crazy names like that saint’s name you were too embarrassed to put in the first name spot … but the Penny kids’ middle names were revealing of stylistic things as well, especially when considered with some of the first names. Namely:

That vintage-y throwback Hollywood starlet feel I got from some of Simcha’s names: Francine, Doreen (especially with Rita)

Saints/religious (overt): Karol, Grace, Clare (along with allllll the other ones above!)

Kind of cool and hip: Isabel (especially with Austin)

But even with all this overlap, the outlier to all these styles, the woman who stands alone, is … April. Her name is the only one that doesn’t have overlap in more than one of the styles the other kids’ names fall into. She’s Not easily nicknamed, and nothing else. Until, that is, you look at her name by itself, not as part of her sibling set. In the Baby Name Wizard her name is categorized as part of Charms and Graces, which is described thusly:

“The traditional feminine ideals of grace, beauty, and propriety have found natural reflections in girls’ names. Propriety was the focus for the Puritans, who favored virtue names like Patience and Chastity. In the late Victorian era, the fasion was to celebrate tender beauty with names like Lily, Grace, and May.”

How lovely! How lucky for April to have such a great name! As I told Shaunda, I’d never really given any thought to the name April, but dissecting it for her made it sparkle for me! A look at the other names listed for that category reveals further evidence of Shaunda and Chris’ taste in names, as already shown by their other kids’ names, especially Faith, Felicity, Grace (April’s middle name! How appropriate!), Hope, Lily, Mercy, Rose and Rosemary, and Verity — all of which could easily fit into some of the categories the other kids’ names fir into. And April Grace is an amazing combination of sounds and feelings to me, a sweet and sunny spring breeze. To me, it really fits this description:

“The names that surged after World War II tend to be a modest, friendly bunch. They don’t try to sound fancy or exotic … So what were the parents of the ’50s aiming for with their name choices? … the most common theme is that these names sound happy. Not breezy and carefree, like the surfer names that followed in the ’60s, but happy and relaxed … [names that represent] dreams of contentment. A comfortable home, good friends, and kids playing in the yard.”

But that description was not of any category April’s name falls into; rather, it’s for a category of names called Mid-Century America, into which Leah and Gianna’s middle names, Francine and Doreen, fall. And those two names have a similar feel to me as Rita. Wheeeeee! I just love finding things like that — connections abound everywhere!

So though Shaunda and Chris didn’t need any suggestions for their baby, who they knew was a girl, I thought I’d put together what my predictions might have been, for both a boy and a girl, if I didn’t already know the gender and name.

As you know, I usually shoot for three ideas for each gender (both to stretch myself and to limit myself), but here I had four ideas for girls and three for boys. My predictions:

Girl

(1) A Marian name (Stella)

While Grace (April’s middle name) can be considered a Marian name, it was notable to me that there weren’t any other Marian names in the other girls’ names. Like with Simcha (hmm. There’s a lot of similarity between the Pennys and the Fishers! Maybe because they both have nine born children, only two of which are boys?), Stella immediately rose to the top for me, especially because of Rita, Francine, and Doreen — as I wrote in Simcha’s post, it has “that same starlet feel.” Also, Doreen always makes me think of Tori Spelling’s daughter, whose name is Stella Doreen (I have a weird ability to remember most celebrities’ kids names. Judge away), which impressed me to no end when I first read the birth announcement. (As an aside, I actually think they did an amazing job naming their four.)

(2) Biblical(ish) (Magdalena)

I know, this is kind of vague, but they already have Christian, Leah, and Veronica (I know, Christian and Veronica don’t show up in the Bible in that way — hence the –ish), and I was just really feeling it for this baby. If I had to choose, I might think Magdalena, Lydia (but maybe too close to Leah?), Hannah, Bethany. I think Magdalena is my #1 here, it feels especially similar to Veronica to me, which I love.

(3) Charms and Graces (Hope or Faith)

This may be me letting my personal preferences leak in, which I try to avoid as much as possible when coming up with names that I think would be perfect for a family, but if I had named my children the names Shaunda and Chris had chosen, I think I’d be inclined to choose a name for #9 that balanced out the styles already used, i.e., a name that was similar in style and feel to April. As I noted above, some of the Charms and Graces names seemed really spot-on to me in terms of ones I think you would like, and in particular I could see a name like Hope or Faith being a really good fit. I like both of those with the other kids’ names, lovely.

(4) Super saintly (Cecilia or Felicity)

Felicity would by my very first choice here if it weren’t for the family last name (Penny) and even still I don’t think it’s unworkable — but I suspected Shaunda and Chris might think it is, since Shaunda told me once that girl names ending in -ie/-y are difficult with their last name. So then, Cecilia is my strong second choice. Not only do I think they fit in well with the other kids’ names, but they remind me of the Penny family and all they hold dear and stand for — faith, love of God, love of the Church.

Boy

(1) Nicholas Owen

Unlike with the girls’ names, in which categories seemed easier to pinpoint than specific names, I found picking boys’ names a bit easier. Probably because they only have two boys and their names are similar in style and feel. Nicholas Owen inspired me in three ways: first, Nicholas totally feels like Austin and Christian to me. Kind of a cool, friendly, masculine dude (in all the best ways). It also showed up in lists connected with Veronica, Emma, and Leah. Owen was another one that showed up over and over when I considered the names that had similar styles and feels to the other kids, including Emma, Grace, Isabel, Christian, Leah, and Austin. But I wasn’t feeling Owen as a first name for the Pennys, which led me to my third inspiration: St. Nicholas Owen. He was a Jesuit brother who built hidey holes for priests in England during the post-Reformation persecutions, and he was martyred for it. Such a cool saint, such a cool name (we’ve considered it ourselves).

(2) Gabriel or Michael

As with Nicholas, Gabriel and Michael just have the same feel as Austin and Christian to me: cool, strong, manly. I’ve seen Gabriel be somewhat polarizing though, so Michael I think is a slam dunk here. This is more of a gut feeling on my part than backed up by any of the BNW lists, but I like them both for a Penny boy.

(3) Benjamin or Nathan

Finally, Benjamin and Nathan both showed up all over the place as having similar styles to ones Shaunda and Chris had already chosen, like Emma, Leah, Christian, and Veronica. In addition, they’re both biblical, and both end in the -en sound.

So those would have been my predictions, based on my analysis of Shaunda and Chris’ naming tastes. Just for fun, some of the other names that showed up over and over as similar to the names they chose are: Shelby, Shane, Lily, Sydney, Lucy, Abigail, Casey, Amber, Jared, Rebecca, Rachel, Mercy, Victoria, Natalie, Joel, and Chloe. A lot of names! But I had a lot of names to work with. 🙂

What do you all think? What would you guess Shaunda and Chris named their new baby girl? If it’s okay with them, I’ll tell you all on Friday … in the meantime, let’s hear your thoughts!

Baby name consultant: Baby #4, if a boy

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Angela and John have three born children already, with these amazing names:

Lucia Marina (Italian pronunciation of Lucia)

Kolbe Oliver

Blaise Campion

Baby #4 is due February 4th!! That’s in two days!! And they’re struggling to come up with a boy’s name. Angela writes, “Now we’re expecting #4 on Feb 4 and I’m starting to stress that we don’t have a boys name … given our history, I’m guessing chances are it’s a boy.  I love the name Benedict, but my husband had an ill-behaved dog with that name.  We are both warming to Clement, but it hasn’t really jumped out at me.  I have been reading a bit about Bl Pier Giorgio, but I think Pier Giorgio is a little heavy for a non-Italian family (our last name is very German sounding and we’re very anglo-looking).  We do like Raphael, and he was in our OT reading at our wedding, but I had a student with that name, so a bit of a mixed association.  My husband likes Chrysostom for a middle name, and I think the name has great meaning, but with a middle name like that I’d like to have something more accessible for the first.  I liked your suggestion for Bede as a nickname for Benedict, and I’ll try that one out with my husband.  But he really can’t seem to get on the Benedict band wagon.”

I had loads of fun thinking of names for this little baby on the way, if a boy. I love Angela and John’s bold over-the-top (in the best way!) Catholic naming style. I mean, it’s *Catholic*. Woo! I think I came up with some good ideas (I usually shoot for three) for a little brother to Lucia Marina, Kolbe Oliver, and Blaise Campion:

(1) Xavier

Instead of a specific name, I almost made my #1 choice “super Catholic, short-ish, last-namey.” Lucia, Kolbe, and Blaise are all of similar length, which is visually pleasing; they’re super heavy-hitting no-doubt-about-it Catholic; and Kolbe and Campion are both last names. I love all those attributes, so I tried to think of others that I thought felt similarly and came up with: Jude, Damien, Fulton, Claver, Bede, and Xavier. Angela said she liked my idea of Bede as a nickname for Benedict, so I wondered if she’d like Bede on its own. Jude is great, Fulton is great, Damien is great. Claver is more unexpected, and maybe too much hard-C/K with Kolbe? I think my runner-up for #1 would be Jude. I like Jude Chrysostom very much.

But Xavier really rose to the top for me as it perfectly fits all the above criteria (super Catholic, short-ish, last-namey). I particularly like that, though it was originally a last name, it’s become well used as a first name, so it kind of bridges the very-last-name feel of Kolbe (though Kolbe is on the rise as a first name, I hear it from time to time) and the first-name-ness of Lucia and Blaise. One downside is that it has two acceptable pronunciations in English (ex-ZAY-vyer and ZAY-vyer), a fact that tends to be polarizing enough that some parents can’t handle it if someone calls their son by the wrong pronunciation. I myself think it’s easy enough to just correct people, probably as they already have to do with Lucia. I like Xavier Chrysostom, and the nicknames Xave and Xavey are super cute on a little guy, never mind the coolest initial ever: X.

(2) Gabriel

The presence of Raphael on their list right away made me think of Gabriel, and then when Angela said she’d like to have a more accessible first name to balance out Chrysostom, I was totally sold. Gabriel has that heavy-hitting-Catholic feel of the other kids, and totally fits in well with them in my opinion, while being pretty popular at the moment on the name charts, so it’s more familiar to people than Kolbe and Blaise. Gabriel Chrysostom is such an awesome name imo, I really like it for this new baby. A runner-up for #2 for me would be John — just John. As in, John Chrysostom. As in, John the dad. With Lucia, Kolbe, and Blaise, it’s unexpected, but John is always a great name, especially when paired with an unusual middle.

(3) George

Pier Giorgio was my inspiration for George — I agree that Pier Giorgio would be too much for a non-Italian family, but Peter George is the same name and would totally fit with the family’s ethnic background. Lucia, Kolbe, Blaise, and Peter sound great together! And Peter George would be my runner up here. But then I was thinking about Pope Francis’ pre-papal name being Jorge, which is George in Spanish, and thought maybe George would be cooler in the first name spot — the Pope and Pier Giorgio remembered in one name! Then I was thinking even more about the Pope Francis connection, and how his full pre-papal name was Jorge Mario, and how Mario isn’t technically a male form of Mary, but I know some people use it that way, and I thought that George Mary would be an amazing name for a little boy with the kind of parents who could/would use Mary for a boy’s middle name. I could definitely see Angela and John pulling it off! Lucia Marina, Kolbe Oliver, Blaise Campion, and George Mary. Faaaabulous. 🙂

So those were my ideas — how about the rest of you? We don’t have long to help Angela and John name this little baby — please comment away!

UPDATED TO ADD: After I had typed all this up, I had two more names come to mind that might work: Bosco (or the full John Bosco) (I was inspired by my last name spotlight!), and Chrysostom itself. I have a friend who has a friend whose name is Chrysostom and he goes by Chrys.

Baby name consultant: Baby #4, a girl

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Mama Jessie, who’s due in less than three weeks!, wrote asking for help with naming her little girl. She and her husband already have Noah, Owen, and Eleanor (nicknamed Ella), and in considering names for the new little one, she wrote, “We both would like a saint name somewhere in there but aren’t particular about whether it is first or second … My one firm rule is that if the first name is over 2 syllables, I have to have a way to nickname it down to 2 or less … Names we both love that we have considered are Gianna, and Philomena. We are struggling with both though bc we don’t have a nickname for either that we like (Gia, Anna, Lola, Fila, Minnie and mena are all no gos) Plus we aren’t even sure Philomena is a saint since apparently there was some change in the 1960s and we have been told yes and no by different sources. My husband loves Terese. I can’t nickname it and worry about mispronunciation. My absolute favs are Lucy and Magdalena, both which my husband likes but he would want Lucy to be a nickname and has ruled out Luciana and Lucia , or he needs a nickname for Magdalena that is not Maggie or Lena. We both really like Grace for a middle name but aren’t set on it. 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.”

First off, I too love nicknames — having one is pretty much a rule for me — so I enjoyed trying to think of some for Gianna and Philomena. For Gianna, besides the Gia and Anna that Jessie said they couldn’t use, I thought of Gina and Nina (which I particularly like), and I also know a little Gianna who goes by Gigi. For Philomena, I loved all the nicknames they’d already considered and discarded — nice job Mom and Dad! — and I contributed Pia, Pippa, Pina, Fina, Finn or Finna, and Pim to the list. Regarding Philomena as a saint, I’d never heard anything about her not being one until Jessie’s email! I looked it up — she’s in all my saints’ names books, but this article says differently (and quite convincingly): Why is Philomena No Longer Considered a Saint? Its use is certainly a mark of a super-Catholic family, and even the article I linked to above said, “In fact, this may actually not be the name of the person in the tomb at all, for the Greco-Latin roots of the word simply mean ‘lover of the light,’ and thus the tomb-inscription may have been intended as a description of the deceased person rather than her personal name.” So if one wanted to use it in that way — because of its meaning, and that meaning’s connection to God and His Truth — that would be quite valid, in my opinion, and quite faith-filled. It would definitely make an interesting story for a little girl named Philomena!

But I try to give three suggestions when considering a name dilemma, and I decided not to include Gianna or Philomena in my final three. Rather, my first is:

(1) Louisa

Louisa is inspired by Jessie’s love of Lucy and her husband’s desire for Lucy to be a nickname for a more formal name. He doesn’t like Lucia or Luciana, so I’ll throw out there that Lucinda and Lucille are also common Luc- names. But I’ve long thought Lucy would be a natural nickname for Louisa, and I love Louisa. It totally has the same feel to me as Eleanor — in fact, Eleanor is included in the list of similar girl names to Louisa in the Baby Name Wizard book (which I consider to be basically the most expert of all name books), which is just like striking gold to me, because Jessie had 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.” And with either St. Louis de Montfort of Bl. Louisa Therese (!) de Montaignac de Chauvance (who I knew nothing about until I looked up Louisa in one of my books! She was beatified by JP2, which is very cool) as a patron saint, Louisa nn Lucy, to me, satisfies everything Jessie seemed to want in a name. I love Louisa Grace, as they like Grace as a middle name, or Louisa Therese like Bl. Louisa.

Despite a name’s seeming perfection on paper, though, sometimes it just doesn’t do the trick. So my second suggestion is:

(2) Magdalena

Jessie described Magdalena as her other favorite along with Lucy, but said her hubby doesn’t care for Maggie or Lena. Well. If all that’s standing in the way of them using this gorgeous name is the right nickname, I think I got them covered. What about: Magda, Meg, Molly or Dolly, Madge, Mandy, Mae/May, or Maddy? Magdalena Grace is so pretty, and as a special bonus, Molly is listed as a name with similar feel as Noah in the Baby Name Wizard book! I really think Magdalena nn Molly could work, I love how Molly bridges the style between Magdalena and Noah, Molly totally feels like it could fit with Eleanor/Ella to me, and it’s Irish like Owen! Woo!

(3) Terese

My final suggestion is Terese. I do love this name. I’d never seen it spelled that way before (I was only familiar with Therese), but I looked it up and apparently it’s the Basque and Scandinavian form of Teresa, according to my trusty behindthename.com source — I like it! The two pronunciations I’m familiar with, and I believe they’re both valid, are teh-REHZ and teh-REESE. One of my very favorite nicknames in the whole world is Tess, which is a traditional nn for the Theresa names; I’ve also seen Reese used as a nn when the teh-REESE pronunciation is used. (As an aside, I once heard of twin sisters Aurora and Therese that were nicknamed Rory and Reese. So cute!) I don’t mind Reese — it’s fun and spunky — but I adore Tess (it’s quite high on our own girl list). If neither Tess or Reese suits though, Tea, Tracy, Tessa, and Tressa are all nickname for the Theresa names (Tea and Tessa/Tressa probably more so for Theresa itself rather than T(h)erese, but I personally see no reason you couldn’t use them if you wanted to for Terese). My personal preference would be for a different middle than Grace with Terese, just for flow — I quite like Terese Magdalena.

So that’s what I got! What do you all think? Do you have any other idea or suggestions for Jessie and her husband?

Baby name consultant: baby #8, a boy

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Sarah and David are expecting their eighth baby, a little boy. Sarah describes them as “your typical Catholic family and like traditional (preferably French or Irish) names.” They have seven children already, named:

Zoe Olivia

Brady Patrick

Michael Joseph

Katherine Mary-Claire

Margaret Rose

George Thomas

Matthew David

They have some names they’re considering, but they don’t want to share them as they really want a fresh perspective. In trying to come up with suggestions, I was struck by what seems to be a difference in style between Zoe’s and Brady’s first names and the names of the rest of the kids. So I relied heavily on the style of Zoe and Brady when musing on names for #8, while also keeping in mind that their younger children have very traditional names.

I used both Nymbler and Name MatchMaker for ideas, and I usually shoot for three suggestions, as I’ve done for others. So my ideas for this little baby are:

(1) Henry

It was the first name that came to my mind, even before checking out the name matching sites, and it was one of the first names they suggested. Brady, Michael, George, Matthew, and Henry sound like a great set of brothers, and I love it with the girls’ names as well.

(2) Myles

As soon as I saw Myles I thought it was a great fit. I think it’s a little more offbeat than Michael, George, and Matthew, which makes me think it’s a great bridge between their names and Brady’s. It does make for a lot of M’s, but with so many kids I don’t think that matters much, and besides — one of my favorite things about Myles is that it can be considered a Marian name! One of my name books, Oxford Dictionary of First Names, says that Maolra is a “[m]odern spelling, common particularly in the west of Ireland, of earlier Maoil-Mhuire ‘devotee of Mary.’ It has been anglicized as Myles.” It’s Irish, it’s Marian, it seems more stylistically consistent with Brady than your other boys’ names, I love this idea! (Do note though that the spelling of Miles is unrelated.)

(3) William

I love William for you. Its traditional-ness is a great style match for your younger boys, and its current popularity, as well as both nicknames Will and Liam (though I know Liam can stand on its own), seem well suited as Brady’s brother. I wouldn’t mind if you chose just Liam as the first name, but William seems just that much more a better match in my opinion.

Oliver was a heavy contender for me until I remembered that Zoe’s middle name is Olivia, and Charles and Jude also struck me as possibles, but in the end I settled on Henry, Myles, and William. If I had to choose a middle name, not knowing anything about how you choose them (family names?), I’d guess Francis.

What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Sarah and David’s baby boy?

Baby name consultant: Baby SHAN-ick, if a girl

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The SHAN-ick Family has a little boy, Dominic Paul, and is expecting baby #2, due February 19. They’ve decided on a boy’s name — similar feel and style to Dominic Paul, with your basic Catholic first and middle names, nothing crazy (like Athanasius) — but girl’s names are giving them a hard time. Mom says:

“While I’d like at least part of the name to have a saint/Catholic meaning, I’m not obsessed with having both be saints names … my husband would really like a Marian name if it’s a girl. He was into simply “Mary” but I couldn’t get into that … We are sort of toying with a form of Rose: maybe Rosemary … We both love St. Therese of Lisieux but I think the French pronunciation will be too complicated. It stands out as a favorite for middle name. We don’t like Theresa … Lindsey was also a finalist for no particular reason … I have a problem with super popular names: Lucy is nice but I know four. My husband likes Gianna (because of the pro-life connection and because he’s a doctor) but we know SO many Giannas. Maybe I just need to let that go. Gianna may end up a middle name.”

(I like to generally shoot for three suggestions, if I can [as I did for Simcha], and I was able to do so here.)

Okay, as I understand it, it seems that for first names the three contenders/ideas you mentioned are (1) a non-Rose Marian name, (2) a Rose name, and (3) Lindsey. Middle name options are Therese and Gianna. Do I have that right?

I went to both Nymbler and Name MatchMaker and entered Dominic, John, Rosemary, and Lindsey as inspirations, and between their results and the general feel I got from your email I have the following thoughts as a sister to Dominic Paul:

(1) Marisa/Marissa or Molly
There are so many gorgeous Marian options, I wasn’t able to pick just one, but these two particular ones seemed to jump out. Behind the Name says Marissa is a variant of Marisa, and Marisa is an Italian/Spanish/Portuguese combination of Maria and Luisa; Namipedia says it’s a modern elaboration of Maria. Its peak of popularity was the 1990s, which is the feel I get from Lindsey (it peaked in the 80’s, but I think Marisa/Marissa and Lindsey share a general “throwback” kind of feel). A friend of mine recently named her daughter Marissa, for Our Lady, which I found a pleasant surprise. I quite like Marisa/Marissa Therese or even Marisa/Marissa Rose.

Molly too seemed like it might suit. I’m related to two — one born in 1979 and the other in 1984 — which is why I think it has that same “throwback” feel to me as Lindsey and Marisa/Marissa — but Name Voyager shows it’s been pretty popular from the 1980’s on, enjoying two pretty comparable peaks in the 1990s and 2010 (by “peak” I mean #84 in 2010 and #94 in the 90’s, so never super popular). It’s a diminutive of Mary, which makes it Marian, and it has definitely become its own name, but it could also work as a nickname for Mary (I know a Mary who goes by Molly). Molly Therese, Molly Gianna, Molly Rose, Molly Rosemary (or replace Molly with Mary on the birth certificate and still call her Molly) all strike me as lovely.

(2) Felicity

You don’t want a “popular” name like Lucy and Gianna, and the kinds of families that have Lucy’s and Gianna’s are the kind that like Felicity as well, so maybe it’s too popular in your circles, but I just love it. It totally fits with Dominic in my opinion, and goes great with your middle name options.

(3) Sydney or Sidony/Sidonie
I found Lindsey to be quite the wild card — not a saint’s name, and with a different feel to me than the other names you mentioned. But it made me think of Sydney right away, which I’d always understood was derived from “St. Denis.” I set out to verify that, and my most trustworthy name-meaning site, Behind the Name, only said it was derived from Sidney, which was an English surname. I checked it out in a couple of my name books, and found the most delightful little nugget:

“[As a male name] The name appears regularly in Latin as de Sancto Dionisio, etc., and there can be little doubt that it is a reduction of St. Denis … [As a female name] this is not uncommon as a woman’s name in Ireland, and is probably a survival of Sidony”

So then I looked up Sidony and it said,

“this name was formerly used by Roman Catholics for girls born about the date of the Feast of the Winding Sheet (i.e., of Christ), more formally alluded to as ‘the Sacred Sendon’. Sendon or Sindon (from Latinsindon … ‘fine cloth’, ‘linen’) was used in Middle English for a fine cloth, especially one used as a shroud. The SacredSendon is supposed to be preserved at Turn … Sidonie is not uncommon in France, and the Irish Sidney is probably reallySidony.” (pp. 268-269, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe, 1977).

Now, come on. How cool! I’d never really heard of Sidony; I’d certainly never heard of its relationship to Sydney; and a name that refers to the Shroud of Turin?? But wait! That’s not the end! I looked up the Feast of the Winding Sheet and the Wikipedia entry said that it’s celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday … which is just two days before this baby is due!

So Sydney/Sidony has jumped onto my favorites list. I think either one goes really well with your middle name options, and though you said you don’t need both names to be saintly, I’m just loving this previously unknown (to me) super Catholic connection.

A P.S. about your Rose names: I really like Rosemary — it’s sweet and vintage-y, certainly Marian, and with cute nickname options (Rosie, Romy). I had a friend long ago named Rosemarie, which I like too. I also like just plain Rose, and Rosa, and Rosalie. Rosemary Therese and Rosemary Gianna both have a nice flow; I actually think Therese and Gianna go well with Rosa and Rosalie as well. I’d love to know what other Rose names you might be considering!

What about you readers? Do you think my suggestions are spot-on are totally crazy? Do any of you have any girl name suggestions for this little baby?