Baby name consultation: Baby girl needs a super-Irish name like her big sibs

Diana and her husband are expecting their fourth baby — their third girl! Little Miss joins big siblings:

Lillian Nicole
Saoirse Irene
Aidan James

Which you know have me all 😍😍😍 — I love those Irish names!

Diana writes,

“My husband and I are having a hard time naming this next child. I don’t like his suggestion and he doesn’t like mine or neither of us feel like it’s right. Our pattern so far has been an Irish name and a family name. We are trying to avoid names that start with the same letter as a sibling or sounding the same.”

The list of names that Diana likes includes:

Megan
Maighdlin
Brigit
Marjorie
Claire
Ellen*
Margaret*
Madelyn
Ester
Tamsyn
Rhea
Mary

And her husband’s list includes:

Bianca
Isabel
Isabella
Inis
Vera
Grace
Molly
Naomi
Amara
Talia
Natalia*

(Asterisks denote each of their favorites.)

Okay! So first off, Lillian, Saoirse, and Aidan are fantastic names! I like Diana’s rules of avoiding using the same first initial for this baby girl, as well as names that sound similar to her older siblings’ names — that definitely helped to narrow down the field of names.

I was really interested to see what names were on their lists, since Lillian seems to me a different style than Saoirse and Aidan — I wondered if their lists be mostly Irishy Irish names, or less so? I was impressed by the range of names on Diana’s list and that of her husband! Here are my thoughts on them, in case they’re helpful:

Megan, Marjorie, Margaret: I grouped these together because they’re from the same name family — Megan is a diminutive of Margaret (and can be used as a nickname for it), and Marjorie is a medieval variant of Margaret. Margaret, Megan, and Maggie all have an Irish feel to them, so I think something here would be great. I wonder if the Gaelic version Mairead (rhymes with “parade”) might do the trick? Maisie is its traditional nickname, which is darling.
Brigit: I like that names like Margaret and Brigit are a nice middle ground between Lillian’s style and Saoirse’s. If they spelled it Bridget, they could consider using Bridie as a nickname, which I love.
Claire: Claire’s a great name! I wonder, though, if Clare might be the better spelling for this family? Like Co. Clare in Ireland?
Ellen: On the one hand, I was surprised by Ellen as it seems to have a different feel than the other names on Diana’s list. But then, my grandfather was born and raised in Ireland and his sister Eileen went by Ellen sometimes (or was it vice versa?), so I can see how Ellen can fit in with an Irish sensibility. I wondered if Eileen or Eleanor (nickname Nora, which has a nice Irish feel) are Ellen-ish names that might appeal to Diana’s husband?
Madelyn, Maighdlin: I’d never seen the Irish form of Madelyn (Maighdlin) before, I love it! I think finding the Irish variant of names they like is a good strategy.
Ester: Like Ellen, I was surprised by Ester on Diana’s list, but delighted to see that it’s similar in style to Naomi and Talia on her husband’s list — since they’re both having a hard time coming to a name they both like, it’s great to look for any commonality! However, I do think it would be a bit jarring to have a name that comes across as so Old Testament with Saoirse and Aidan as siblings, for example.
Tamsyn: I had Tamsin on my own list for my oldest if he’d been a girl, in honor of a Thomas — I liked that Tamsin is a feminine variant of Thomas via Thomasina. The fact that Diana has it on her list says to me that she’s okay expanding their names from strictly Irish to more broadly Celtic/British Isles, as I’m not familiar with its usage in Ireland, though I do think it has traditional usage in the U.K. (I could be wrong though!)
Rhea: Wow, another surprise! I think it fits with the “old lady” type names, like Ellen and Ester. One of my readers has a little Rhea.
Mary: I was excited to see Mary on Diana’s list, as there are so many pretty Irish Mary variants! Molly is one example, which I noted on her husband’s list — Mary as a given name with Molly as a nickname is how Molly arose as a name to begin with, and might be a nice option for this family. I also love Moira and Maura/Maureen.
Bianca, Isabella, Natalia: I’m grouping these together because they have a distinct Latinate feel that’s really beautiful but is at odds with the Irish style I think. But since Diana’s husband loves Natalia, I tried to think of some similar-ish names that would seem more natural with Lillian, Saoirse, and Aidan, which I included in my “official” suggestions below.
Isabel: Isabel is lovely, and could fit better with their kids than Isabella I think, but even still, it doesn’t have that Irish sparkle.
Inis: Is this like “Inish,” like Inis Mor? I’ve never seen it considered as a name before!
Vera: Vera strikes me as similar to Ellen, Ester, and Rhea in the sense of it being kind of an “old lady” name, which are definitely back in style right now. But again, it feels like a mismatch with the other kids.
Grace: I love Grace, and I think it might normally go nicely with their other kids, but that I don’t love that it shares several sounds with their last name. The Irish variant Grainne takes it one step away, and normally I wouldn’t recommend it because its pronunciation is impossible to figure out for those who don’t know how to pronounce it, but I suspect Diana and her hubby deal with that all the time with Saoirse.
Molly: I think Molly’s a great option — see my comments re: Mary above.
Naomi, Talia: Naomi is a very Old Testament name, like Ester; I don’t think Talia is an Old Testament name, but it is a Hebrew name and I believe it’s most common among Jewish families? (Except when it’s used as a nickname for Natalia, for example.)
Amara: I’m having a hard time figuring Amara out — I thought it might be a Hebrew name like Talia, but what I’m finding is that it’s an Igbo name (from Nigeria) or also the name borne by multiple characters from a couple fantasy shows. So I’d recommend crossing this one off the list, as it’s pretty far away from the style they’ve already established. Maura is an Irish name that is similar in sound which might appeal to Diana’s husband.

So those are my thoughts on the names Diana and her husband have on their lists, which I hope they only find helpful — I don’t want to disparage any names they both really like or make the task of choosing a name for their little girl harder.

Now on to my new ideas! You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I did so for this baby; Saoirse doesn’t have her own entry, but there is a list of Celtic names in the back of the book that includes Saoirse and also a nice mix of names that I think would fit well with their older kids, which I also looked through. Based on that, these are my new ideas for Diana’s baby girl:

(1) Catriona (Cait/Cate, Katie)

Catherine is a style match for Margaret; Catalina is a match for Natalia; and Caroline/Carolyn is a match for Margaret, Claire, and Ellen, so I thought Catriona, which is an Irish form of Catherine/Katherine and has similar sounds to Catalina and Caroline, might be perfect. Catriona can take the nickname Cait/Cate as well — Kate is a match for Claire and Katie for Molly, so I like this idea for them a lot.

(2) Isla

Isabel(la) and Inis from Diana’s husband’s list made me think of Isla, which I thought they might like. It’s got both Scottish and Spanish usage — pronounced EYE-la for the former and EES-la for the latter — and I included it as an entry in the book of Marian baby names I wrote, as “its Marian character comes from the title ‘Our Lady of the Isles’ (Moire ro Naomh nan Eilean in Scottish Gaelic, referring to a statue of Our Lady on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland), or any of the devotions in the U.S. and Canada to Our Lady of the Island or Our Lady of the Isle.” Isla is such a pretty name!

(3) Eilís/Eilish

I love these Irish variants of Elizabeth — they are definitely very Saoirse-ish but perhaps a little more accessible, which swings them a little more to the Aidan/Lillian side.

(4) Fiadh

Sophia is a style match for Lillian; Sophie is a match for Isabel and Grace; and Safiya is a match for Amara, but I didn’t think any of those were names Diana and her husband would really like, especially since they begin with S like Saoirse and they don’t want to repeat initials. But Fiadh is said just like the last syllable of Sophia, and like Saoirse it has a meaning of freedom: “wild, untamed.”

(5) Rosemary/Rosemarie, Róisín/Roisin

Rosemary is a style match for Marjorie, and as soon as I saw it I thought of my friend Rosemarie, who is native Irish and grew up in the Gaeltacht, speaking Irish as her co-first language, I believe, so I thought maybe they’d like to consider Rosemary or Rosemarie, especially since Diana has Mary on her list. Rosemary/Rosemarie made me think, too, of Róisín, which is Irish for “little Rose” and is the name of a girl I knew when I was younger. I’ve always loved it, such a pretty name!

(6) Ríona/Ríonach/Ríoghnach

Speaking of pretty Irish names that begin with R, these names are all variants derived from the Irish for “queen,” making them cognates of Regina and therefore they’re Marian names as well, via her title as Queen. One of my readers used Ríonach for her baby’s middle name, it’s amazing!

(7) Nollaig

This might be a strange idea, since I haven’t seen it used as a name, but it’s Irish for “Christmas,” making it like Noelle and Natalia. The final G is said, but otherwise I think it sounds a lot like Molly, especially when said with their G last name, so maybe this would be a good compromise for Diana and her hubby?

(8) Niamh, Naomh

What about one of these names? Naomi on Diana’s husband’s list made me think of both Niamh and Naomh because of the similarities in spelling (though Naomi is said much differently than Niamh and Naomh of course), which I spotlighted here and discussed faith connections.

(9) Maeve/Medb/Méabh/Meadhbh

Finally, I had to suggest Maeve — it’s one of the easiest for those who aren’t familiar with Irish names to figure out, as long as the Maeve spelling is used. If they wanted to get more Irish, though, they can choose from Medb, Méabh, Meadhbh and there might be other spellings too — so many letters for such a little name, haha!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Lillian, Saoirse, and Aidan?

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life! (And check out my buy-the-book-get-a-consultation deal!)

Baby name consultation: Parents need fresh name ideas for boy no. 6

March 31, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Biblical names, Catholic baby names, Powerful patrons

Mary and her husband are expecting their seventh baby — their sixth boy! This little guy joins big siblings:

John Paul
Simon Joseph
Magdalen Therese nn Maggie
Mark Francis
Damian Bernard
Leo Abraham

Such great naaaames!! I love them all!!

Mary writes,

“So here we are, needing a name for our 6th boy and I’m feeling tapped out. Part of the problem is that the more kids you have the more rules you have: I don’t really want another M name, or another that ends in the -an sound and it needs to feel like it matches with our other kids’ names. Our last name is also a bit of a problem — any final T or D especially gets swallowed up by beginning D of our surname. This takes some otherwise great names like Clement or Benedict out of consideration. Finally there’s my feeling that names we considered for previous kids are now reject names and I don’t want my baby to have a reject name. I recognize that this is pretty silly and that’s why I’m not going to share these names with you — I want a fresh perspective with no baggage!
Other names we don’t want to use for various reasons:

Thomas
Sebastian
Lawrence
Jerome
Augustine
Gregory

The current, extremely short list is:

Cosmas. Simon especially is really gunning for this and I do like it a lot but I wonder if it’s too weird outside of Catholic circles.
Matthias. But it’s an M name and we already have 3 of those. Also [Hubby] seems pretty ambivalent.”

I think Mary’s definitely come to the right place, because I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about boy names! Haha! I really love the names Mary and her hubby have given their older boys — John Paul, Simon, Mark, Damian, and Leo are all really fantastic and really convey the faith well. (Magdalen too — one of my favorites! Such a beautiful name for a girl with so many brothers!) I’m excited to try to find some ideas for their sixth boy!

Before I get to my official suggestions below, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on the names that they’re considering and their name rules, in case they’re helpful:

Cosmas: I really love that Mary and her husband are willing to consider such a cool name! Its faith connections are impeccable, but her question about whether or not it’s “too weird outside of Catholic circles” is a valid one. It’s hard for me to tell, since I’m so deep in Catholicky Catholic names all the time, so I sometimes have a hard time looking in as from the outside. On the one hand, I immediately think of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (which in itself presents something for them to think about as well — do they like Damian having a brother named Cosmas, or is that a negative?) — Cosmas feels familiar to me because Cosmas and Damian is a familiar reference point for me. On the other hand, Cosmas wasn’t in the top 1000 names bestowed in 2019 (the last year that the Social Security Administration shared name stats), so I dug deeper to see how many baby boys were given the name in the U.S., and it doesn’t show up in the data at all in 2019 (the SSA reports all names given to five or more babies each year, so its absence on the list lets you know how very few babies were given the name — maybe even zero). I looked back each year until 2010, and it was given to five babies in 2012, 2014, and 2016, and less than five in the other years. So it’s a very very rare name, which is probably the best marker of whether or not it’s too weird outside of Catholic circles. It’s variant Cosmo gets a bit more usage, maybe (probably?) because of the character of Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld — it was given to 49 boys in 2019. But even though Cosmo is a variant of Cosmas, and so can take the same saint as patron, I do think it has the added element of “the cosmos,” which could feel a little astrological maybe? In addition to the Seinfeld reference, which may or may not be a positive.
Matthias: Matthias was high on our list through several of our boys, I love it! But the fact that Mary really doesn’t want another M name, combined with the fact that her hubby doesn’t seem all that jazzed about it, tells me it would be best to keep looking.
“Reject” names: Mary’s perspective of not wanting to use names that they decided against for their other kids is one that’s new to me since starting the blog, but I’ve found that it’s not unusual at all! It might help to try to reframe their thinking as, “We didn’t reject that name because it was bad, we decided against it for *that* baby because it didn’t seem like the right name for him/her. But it might be the right name for *this* baby.” But if that doesn’t help, then hopefully some of my ideas here are new ones that will be helpful!
Their other rules: I like all their other rules! No M names seems right; no ends-in-the-an-sound sounds right; “needs to go with the other kids” sounds right. I did break Mary’s rule of no-ending-in-T-or-D, though, as there was one name that I thought they might like that I didn’t think was overly problematic that its ending sound runs into their last name. And for that matter, I don’t think Clement sounds bad with their last name, nor does Benedict. But then, my maiden name is Towne, so I was Kate Towne my whole growing up, and some people would mishear my name as Kay Towne, which I hated, but it really wasn’t a huge deal — I learned to enunciate the T in Kate, and I loved my name then and still do. So it’s definitely a preference, but if they don’t like it, they don’t like it!

So those are my thoughts on the names Mary and her husband are considering — now on to my new ideas! You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity — I did so for this family, with a particular eye toward finding names that are early-Church-ish and of course that go with their other kiddos’ names. Based on that, these are my new ideas for them:

(1) Thaddeus

One of the first names that jumped out at me as a name they might like was Jude — a style match for Simon — but with its D ending and the fact that his name would sound like Jew D___, I thought it probably wasn’t a great idea after all. But the other part of St. Jude’s name — Thaddeus — is a match for Magdalen, Matthias, and Benedict (which I used in my research since Mary called it an “otherwise great name”), and it has some great nicknames — Thad, Tad, and Taddy (which I guess don’t fit with Mary’s rule, oops!).

(2) Gabriel

Gabriel is such a fantastic name — it’s biblical and Marian and a great style match for Mary’s other kids’ names. Gabe is one of my very favorite nicknames — friendly and masculine — and I’ve also seen Gil, Gib, and Eli used as nickname for Gabriel.

(3) Tobias

I really wanted to find an alternative for Matthias for them — Matthias seems to me like the exact kind of name they’re looking for, but with it starting with an M, I agree that it’s probably not ideal (though if they decided to go for it, I wouldn’t be disappointed!). I wondered what they’d think of Tobias? It rhymes with Matthias but doesn’t have the problematic M, and just like I consider Matthias to be a particularly Catholic New Testament name (since he was basically chosen at the first Church Council! Haha!), so too do I consider Tobias to be a particularly Catholic Old Testament name, since it comes from the Book of Tobit, which isn’t in Protestant bibles. And Toby is such a darling nickname!

(4) Joachim

One of my very favorite names, which I tried to convince my husband of through all of my boys I think, is Joachim — the name we traditionally assign to Our Lady’s father and, due to that fact, another name that I consider to be particularly Catholicky Catholic. It’s not really well known in America (though it’s got more usage than Cosmas! It was given to 28 baby boys in 2019), but it’s got pretty good usage outside of America — I wrote more about that here. Joe is an easy nickname, and they could even think of it as a nod to St. Joseph in this Year of St. Joseph, which is a nice way to work him in without repeating Simon’s middle name. Or if Joe isn’t working for Mary, we would have used Jake as the nickname, which I still love.

(5) Luke/Lucas

Lucas is a style match for Matthias, and while I think that a Matthias-type name is the kind Mary and her hubs are looking for, I didn’t want to forget about Mark, who has a bit different style than his siblings’ names, which is funny since his name is a New Testament name and four of their other six have New Testament names! I wanted to include at least one name in this list that loops Mark in more, and Luke really struck me as being a great option. I would understand if they didn’t want to follow Leo with another L name, so maybe they want to hold on to Luke/Lucas for the future if they were to have another boy, but otherwise I think Leo and Luke are darling together — if this baby and Leo are particularly close in age, it might even be a perfect idea.

(6) Dominic

Dominic is such a natural idea for this family, to me, that I feel like they must have considered it and decided they don’t like it, so this might be a wasted suggestion, but I couldn’t not include it here! I considered whether or not I thought having two sons with D names, especially with their D last name, was too much, and decided that I kind of love it. I’m a big fan of alliteration anyway, so Damian D___ and Dominic D___ are awesome in my opinion! Dom, Dommy, and even Nic/Nicky/Nico are nickname possibilities for Dominic.

(7) Isaac

They could think of Isaac in the bible as patron for a little Isaac, or they could think of one of my favorite Saints, St. Isaac Jogues (I live quite close to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs, where St. Isaac’s remains are said to be on the grounds somewhere, never found). I read a book years ago by Susie Lloyd I think — she has two: Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water and Bless Me, Father, For I Have Kids — and she gave an example of the kids’ names in Catholic families by describing a boy who introduced himself as “Isaac Jogues Callahan” (or a similar last name) and it made me laugh then and it still does! Isaac Jogues as a first+middle combo would be so cool, and so clearly saintly to anyone who knows about St. Isaac! (But also Isaac just on its own, no pressure!) Ike and Zac are traditional nicknames for Isaac.

(8) Edmund, Campion

Finally, Edmund is a match for both Clement and Benedict (both of which I used as inspiration, since Mary indicated that she would like them but for their last letter), and like them, ends in one of her problematic letters. However, when I say “Edmund,” I rarely hear the D, or barely, so I don’t think Edmund D___ sounds bad! But then I saw that Abby from Appellation Mountain recently spotlighted Campion, and I immediately thought it sounded like a name Mary and her hubs would like, and could still take St. Edmund Campion as patron. I love the nickname Cam! I know St. Edmund is later than the Saints of their older kids’ names, but I wanted to include it here just in case.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of John Paul, Simon, Magdalen/Maggie, Mark, Damian, and Leo?

Baby name consultation: Old Testament, German/Dutch, and/or Irish-y for baby boy no. 2

March 17, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Biblical names, Catholic baby names, German names, Irish names

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!! You know this is one of my favorite days, and you know Irish names are some of my favorites — check out my Irish names and Rose of Tralee tags for more!! I also read this piece that’s appropriate for today: “It’s not Happy St. Patty’s Day, but St. Paddy’s Day. Here’s why” by Amy Croffey — interesting to get an Irish person’s take!

Today’s consultation was meant to post on Monday, but as has been happening more and more to me as my kids get bigger (whoever said, “Little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems” wasn’t joking! Not that we’re having problems, just life is so much bigger and busier when they’re big and busy!), the day got away from me, and then yesterday Hubby and I took a day trip, so Monday’s post is posting today, which ends up being great because what’s better on St. Paddy’s Day than a baby name consultation?!

Andrea and her husband are having their second baby — their second boy! Their little guy joins big brother:

Jonah John (“My dad, brother, brother in law, and grandfather in law are all named John“)

Which I love for its biblicalness, family ties, and alliteration (I love alliteration). Great job, Mom and Dad!

Andrea writes,

“We thought this baby was going to be a girl and already had the name, Margot Ruth picked out. Obviously there is a chance that we could never have a daughter but would like to take this name into consideration.
Our baby will be half Mexican, so ideally we would like a name that is pronounceable in Spanish but not too Mexican to be able to go with our German/Dutch last name.
Overall, we like unique/biblical names but not too weird. We like names with meaningful meanings that are somewhat biblical like “peace”, “God’s gift”, etc.
Both of my grandfathers have passed… one this past August and I’m due around his birthday. His name was Isidro. We kind of like “I” names because of this, but not a must.”

Some names they’re considering include:

Benjamin
Eli (“we considered naming our first son this“)
Liam (“like it but too popular“)
Owen (“like it but too popular“)
Oliver (“like it but too popular“)
Ira (“husband thinks it’s too similar to Jonah. I feel like maybe an “I” name could honor my grandfather, but not a must“)
Peter (“uncle that passed away“)
Finn
Otto
Sebastian
Otis
Timothy, Daniel, Paul as possible middle name
Edsko (“family name [first/middle] of several of my husband’s Dutch/German family tree“)
German/Dutch names

Names they can’t/won’t use include:

James
Isaac
Michael
Elijah
Matthew
Levi
Luke
Mark
Ruben
Milo
Jude (“has always been a favorite“)
Max
Joshua
Christian
Henry
Hans
Ezra
Theodore

Alrighty! So one of the things I noticed first was Isaac and Luke on the list of names they can’t use — I likely would have suggested them otherwise, so it was great Andrea included her “no” list. As for her “yes” list, I love the names she and her hubby are considering! It was so interesting to me to see three solid styles emerge: biblical (Benjamin, Eli, Ira, Peter, Timothy, Daniel, Paul, and I would include Sebastian here, even though it’s not biblical, since I think it has a similar feel as the biblical names), Irish (Liam, Owen, Oliver, Finn), and German/Dutch (Edsko [wow!], Otto, and I would include Otis here, even though it’s English, since it’s related to Otto). I kept all three of those in mind as I looked for names that I thought this couple might like. First, though, I’d like to offer my thoughts on the names they’re considering, in case they’re helpful:

Benjamin: A great name! I’ve always loved the full Benjamin and the fantastic nickname Ben. I also like that it’s Old Testament like Jonah, but is popular enough among the general population that I think they could easily use non-biblical names going forward without it seeming too jarring, which is also like Jonah I think. However, since Andrea said that the like Owen and Oliver but they’re too popular, I should warn them that Benjamin is as well: according to the Social Security Administration it’s been a top ten name since 2015 and is currently no. 7. (Since popularity is important to Andrea, I included the ranking for all the names I discuss going forward.) (Jonah’s no. 141, which is a really nice sweet spot of familiar but not common.)
Eli: Like Jonah and Benjamin, I think Eli is used enough among the general public that it doesn’t come across as heavily biblical as it used to, which is good if they don’t necessarily intend all their sons (if they have more than these two) to have biblical names. Eli’s no. 62.
Liam, Owen, Oliver: I’m glad Andrea included these as names they like, even though they’re too popular for what they’re looking for. Liam has been the no. 1 name in America for the last three years, and no. 2 for three years before that! Owen is no. 21 and Oliver is no. 3. A funny thing about Oliver — my husband and I very nearly named our third son Oliver — he was born in 2008, when Oliver was just starting to not be a “weird” name at no. 118. Now it’s no. 3! Amazing ascent!
Ira: I was really surprised to see Ira on Andrea’s list, since I have always thought it to be a name exclusively borne by Jewish men! I’d never looked it up, but did so because of it being on her list, and was surprised that the Jewish element wasn’t mentioned in any of the places I looked — do you all think of it as a predominantly Jewish name, or is that just my experience? It was fun to discover it’s an Old Testament name — I didn’t know it was biblical before looking it up — and I like that it begins with an I, as Andrea said she might like to honor her grandfather Isidro with an I name. However, I agree with her hubby, too, that it’s very similar to Jonah in that it’s a two-syllable name ending in A. Maybe it would be good in the middle spot? But my favorite I idea for them is Isidro itself! I could understand Andrea not wanting to use Isidro in the first name spot, as she mentioned not wanting a name that was jarring with their German/Dutch last name, but it would be great as a middle name! A funny thing here is that one of my boys’ best friends is named Isidor, and his mom is from Germany, so I thought that might be perfect here — when I looked it up to check on spelling (Isidore is English and Isidor is a German spelling) its entry said Isidore “has historically been a common name for Jews, who have used it as an Americanized form of names such as Isaac, Israel and Isaiah.” That’s hilarious, given what my impression of Ira had been, and yet Ira’s entry doesn’t mention Jewish usage at all! My son’s friend goes by Isi (said like Izzy), which is just too cute. Ira is no. 875 (interestingly, after having been a top 500 name for most of the twentieth century and a top 200 name until 1934, it dropped out of the top 1000 in 1993 and only came back on in 2016; it’s been hovering in the mid-900s since, until 2019 when it jumped a little to 875); neither Isidro, Isidor, nor Isidore are in the top 1000.
Peter: Peter’s a good, solid name, and I like that it’s in honor of Andrea’s late uncle. It seems a bit different in style than the other names they’re considering, though — I think they might be happiest with it as a middle name rather than a first name? Peter is no. 212, which is very appealing.
Finn: I love the name Finn — it’s such a sweet name for a little guy, and so handsome for a man. It’s been used quite a bit in recent years, too, both as a given name on its own and as a nickname for names like Finnian and Finley, so it doesn’t feel as Irishy Irish as it used to. That said, this is a good place to mention that Old Testament, Irish, and German/Dutch are three pretty strong styles, and while one can certainly find overlap between them (I tried to do so in some of my ideas below), if Andrea and her hubs choose names for their children that are on the strong end of each of those style’s spectrums, they run the risk of losing the feeling of cohesiveness that most parents I work with would like for their kids’ names. That is, they tend to like their children’s names to sound like they go together. That’s certainly not a requirement! Every once in a while I work with a couple who prefer to have an eclectic mix among their children’s names, and that’s fun too! I just want Andrea and her husband to be aware of it. Finn is no. 172, a great place to be.
Otto: It’s so funny, I was so surprised when I first started hearing Oliver being given to babies fifteen years ago, then Owen followed right behind, then Oscar, which I thought was really the outer limits of the O names for American parents. But more recently I’ve been seeing Otto here and there, which is just tremendous! It was out of the top 1000 altogether from 1975 to 2010, and is currently at no. 427.
Sebastian: I love the name Sebastian — I love how sophisticated and saintly it is — and it still feels offbeat and unusual to me, even though it’s no. 18. No. 18! I’m always shocked by that!
Otis: I didn’t know until I looked it up that Otis is related to Otto! And like Otto, I would have thought that Otis would be beyond the limits of what American parents would consider for their children, and then I saw that actors Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde named their son Otis in April 2014 and in 2015 it came back into the top 1000 after not having been in the top 1000 since 1994. It’s amazing the power celebrities have! Otis has continued to rise since then, though slowly — it’s currently at no. 707.
Timothy, Daniel, Paul: These are all wonderful names and perfect in the middle spot! Timothy is no. 188, Daniel is no. 15, and Paul is no. 245.
Edsko: This is a fascinating name! I looked it up to learn more about it, but I can’t find it — it’s so fun to have a truly unique name in their family tree! How meaningful for them!
Margot Ruth: I just have to say, I LOVE their girl name!! I definitely took Margot into consideration when I was doing my research!

So those are all my thoughts on the names Andrea and her hubby are currently considering, now on to new ideas! You all know that I always look up the names the parents have already used and those like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I did so here, and I also took a look through the list of German/Dutch names in the back of the book. I also used the Name Matchmaker tool at babynamewizard.com for Ira, since it doesn’t have its own entry in the book. I certainly noted any names that were listed as similar to more than one of the names on Andrea’s list, but I was also looking for names that I thought could be both biblical and German, for example, or biblical and Irish, or German-ish and Irish-y, that kind of thing. Based on that, these are my new ideas for this little guy:

(1) Gabriel

I mentioned that I kept a special eye out for names that are listed as similar to more than one of the names on Andrea’s list, but of the names on her list, Jonah’s name is the most important since they’ve already chosen it and bestowed it on one of their children — whatever name they choose for this baby needs to be in consideration of Jonah. Not that they can’t choose a name that’s different in style! Just that, Jonah’s name needs to be consciously considered, since he’s already named. So seeing Gabriel listed as a style match for both Jonah and Sebastian — two names on their list, one of which is their older son’s name — definitely means that Gabriel needs a spot on this list! It’s one of my favorite names, and I really like that it’s Old Testament like Jonah, but it’s also in the New Testament, which provides a nice bridge between names like Jonah and Peter, and it’s a pan-European name, meaning it’s used by almost all of the European cultures, so it can fit with most any heritage, including German and Dutch. Gabriel’s Behind the Name entry doesn’t include Irish in its list of usage, but I always think of Irish actor Gabriel Byrne as being a great example of how it’s got decent traditional usage in Ireland as well. Gabe is a great, friendly nickname, too, and if they don’t like Gabe, I’ve actually seen Eli used as a nickname for it! Gabriel is no. 37.

(2) Abel

I’m always surprised I don’t see Abel get more usage! I see Abraham from time to time, and Abel can take Abraham’s awesome nickname Abe, but Abel itself is so much lighter than Abraham. This family has an Abel, if you’d like to see what Abel’s siblings’ names are at least in one family. Abel is no. 157, which is a great match for Jonah’s 141.

(3) Bram

Speaking of Abraham’s nicknames, as much as I love honest Abe, Bram is the nickname that really has my heart, and I think it might be perfect for this family! Bram is in the German/Dutch list, and it’s also the name of Dracula author Bram Stoker, who was Irish. Biblical, German/Dutch, and Irish-y in one name! Wow! Not only that, but it’s a style match for Margot! So many amazing things about this name! It seems that the Dutch pronunciation is BRAHM, rhymes with “bomb,” which I think is probably close to what the Spanish pronunciation would be as well, right? The English pronunciation is BRAM, rhymes with “gram,” and I suspect the rhymes-with-gram pronunciation is what they’ll mostly hear, so that’s something to consider before choosing this name. Either way, as long as they’re firm and consistent about their chosen pronunciation, it should be fine! Bram is not in the top 1000.

(4) Ethan

Ethan is listed as a match for both Jonah (!) and Eli, and even though it’s a biblical name, I don’t think that fact is well known by American parents in general. Do you agree? Due to that, I think Ethan might be a great choice for Andrea’s second boy, since it shares Jonah’s biblical-ness, but in such a subtle way that they could easily branch out from biblical names going forward without too much of a fuss. Something that was really tickling me when I was working on this was the idea of Ethan Edsko — what an amazing complement to Jonah John! Both with great family meaning, and the alliterative thing is just so fun. I could see how that would really restrict them going forward, though … so this is probably a bad idea, but I do love it! Haha! Ethan is no. 10 after having spent 2002-2015 between nos. 2 and 7.

(5) Elliott (Eliot, Elliot)

Elliott is a match for Oliver, and it’s also a medieval diminutive of Elias, which is a variant of Elijah, which makes Elliott kind of a sneaky Old Testament name! Elliott could be a perfect way to connect to Jonah’s Old Testament-ness while opening up their style for non-biblical names going forward. They could also use Eli as a nickname for it, if they wanted. (I also love Elliott Edsko!) Spelling can be an issue — since there are three spellings, I think it might be hard for people to remember which spelling is the right one for this baby — Eliot has a literary feel, for poet T.S. Eliot; Elliott is the standard, I think — the one from which the others came; and Elliot kind of splits the difference. Elliott’s no. 160, Elliot’s no. 173, and Eliot’s not in the top 1000.

(6) Tobias

Tobias is a match for Margot and Sebastian, which is just perfect, because it’s also an Old Testament name like Jonah, AND it’s in the list of German/Dutch names, so Tobias would be a great connection between all those names! I don’t see a Spanish variant, but I think it’s pronounceable in Spanish, right? Tobias is no. 272.

(7) Mathias

Rhyming with Tobias and also on the German/Dutch list is Mathias, which I love for this family for those reasons, but also because it’s a New Testament name rather than an Old Testament name, which is a nice way to expand their style, and because it’s a style match for Margot! Mathias is the German/Dutch spelling, which is no. 420; the spelling Matthias is the English spelling, and is no. 407.

(8) Oscar

Finally, I mentioned Oscar earlier, and I’d love for Andrea and her hubby to consider it! It’s got German/Dutch usage (the spelling Oskar would really reinforce that), it’s easily pronounceable in Spanish, and writer Oscar Wilde was Irish, so they have a lot of their boxes checked right there! One of my readers who has really embraced her husband’s German heritage recently named her son Oskar, so cute. Oscar is no. 205 and Oskar is not in the top 1000.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Jonah’s little brother?

Baby name consultation: Cool, Catholic, and maybe Celtic for baby no. 4

March 2, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Catholic surnames, Celtic names, Irish names, Powerful patrons, Scottish names, Surnames

Mollie and her husband are expecting their fourth baby! This little one joins big siblings:

Avila Mary
Jack Michael
Luke Gabriel

I looooove these names!! I love that Avila is so recognizable (among Catholics anyway), and feels familiar in that it’s similar appearance- and sound-wise to names like Ava and Evelyn, but it’s also surprising in the best way possible. I love, too, that they paired it with the sweet and simple Mary. Avila Mary is such a lovely combo! And Jack Michael and Luke Gabriel are fantastic combos as well! I love how masculine and saintly they are — great names for both boys and men. Mollie and her husband have done a fantastic job!

Mollie writes,

“We’re struggling for both boy and girl names. For a girl name, Avila sets the bar that we need something somewhat (but not too) unique, feminine and vowel-y. We don’t want any repeated letters, so we can’t use another A name.

Names we liked before we named Avila were Grace, Rosalie, and Natalie.

Now that we are trying to coordinate with Avila, we like Vera and Fiona … We’re struggling with Fiona because it’s not a saint and there’s a cartoon character named Fiona that’s an ogre. We’ve always liked the name Magdalene for a middle name or Rosemary (but not sure if that fits since Avila has the middle name Mary).

As for boy names, Jack and Luke were our top two boy names since we met. So, it was very easy to name them, but now we don’t have any names that we like. We’ve tossed around Mark, Ross, Fitzgerald (my husband’s [middle name is] Gerald, but we don’t like Gerald alone). But really aren’t pulled any particular way yet. Just that we want it to go well with Jack and Luke. We named them after the archangels, which puts us in a tough spot if this fourth baby is a boy because Raphael is harder to match with and who knows how to pronounce it?!“

That made me laugh about the pronunciation of Raphael! How do you all pronounce it?

Names that they can’t use include:

Nicholas
Aidan
Noah
Michael
Casey
Griffin
David
Bennett
Samuel
Isaac

Allison
Caroline
Ella
Clara
Julia
Bridget
Elaine
Maeveen
Bonnie
Sonja
Maya

I was really interested to see what names are on their list for this baby, and was surprised by a few of them — I love being surprised! I thought I’d start by offering my thoughts on them, in case they’re helpful:

Grace, Rosalie, Natalie: I was interested that Mollie and her hubby have a sense of names they liked before naming Avila versus names they’re considering now. I agree that Grace and Natalie have a different feel than Avila, but I wouldn’t cross Rosalie off just yet. Mollie described Avila as “unique, feminine and vowel-y,” but I would describe it as “unique, feminine, and Catholicky Catholic with a current feel.” That is, I wouldn’t worry about matching its sound so much (the “vowel-y” quality she mentioned), though I wouldn’t avoid doing so either — rather, in trying to find girl names that feel like natural sister names for Avila, I would look for “Catholicky Catholic names with a current feel.” The “current feel” Avila has is that it’s a place name, which is something I think was rarer for Catholic parents to use in the past but is much more in line with modern thinking. Rosalie has a “current feel” in a different sense I think — it was out of fashion for a while, but is coming back again. This is Rosalie’s popularity chart from https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/ — I zoomed way out to get all the years from 1900 in, which unfortunately compromises the ability to read it clearly, but you get the idea:

Rosalie is currently at no. 208, which it hasn’t been at since the 1940s — in fact, it dropped off the chart altogether between 1989 and 2008! Its reemergence feels like a rediscovery — it’s vintage rather than dated. In contrast, Grace entered the top 100 in 1995 and Natalie in 1976, and both have been there ever since. Grace has the additional aspect of having very popular usage as a middle name, which adds to its feel of commonness — “common” is the opposite of Avila! All this to say, I’d suggest keeping Rosalie on the list! If they still do like it, but still don’t like it in the first name spot as a sister to Avila, maybe it can replace Rosemary as a middle name idea — that way they have the “rose” that can nod to Our Lady without the “Mary” that repeats Avila’s middle name.

If they want to find a way to make Grace and Natalie work, I might suggest making Grace part of an unexpected double first name, like Cora-Grace or Roma-Grace or Thea-Grace. Those names (Cora, Roma, and Thea) actually didn’t make the cut for my “official” suggestions below, so I’m happy to given them a mention here — they’re the kind of names I think of when I think of Avila. I’ve seen Cora used quite a bit in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (mostly, but also sometimes the Sacred Heart of Jesus … or both!), Roma is a nice nod to the Church and is place-y like Avila, and Thea means “God” and makes a pretty amazing “phrase” when paired with Grace (actually they all do) … these are all what I would call “Catholicky Catholic names with a current feel”: place names, noun names, “idea” names. And though they might seem overly long for everyday use, those three combos have the same number of syllables as Avila. And for a fresher take on Natalie, I’d suggest Natalia.

Vera: I’m not sure I’ve seen any of the families I’ve worked with consider Vera, and the only one I know in real life is in her 70s, so I had to look the name up — it was pretty cool to find that it has a very similar popularity arc to Rosalie, having disappeared from the charts in 1984 and didn’t reappear again until 2009; it’s currently 252, which is where it was in the mid-50s. I really love its entry at Behind the Name: “Means ‘faith’ in Russian, though it is sometimes associated with the Latin word verus ‘true.’” How cool! I could see Vera-Grace also being a great combo. A related name that could be cool to consider is Verity, which means “truth.” My one hesitation with both Vera and Verity is that, since they have a prominent V like Avila, will Mollie and her hubs feel like they have to find a name with a prominent V for future daughters?
Fiona: I, too, love the name Fiona! Though I like its symmetry with Avila, in the sense that it’s a five-letter name ending in A, I wouldn’t have included it in the list of names that are similar to Avila, though — it’s missing that “Catholicky Catholic” element. That said, if they just love it and want to make it work, Behind the Name says it’s a feminine variant of the masculine name Fionn, from which comes the name Finnian, and there are a few Sts. Finnian, so they can serve as patron of a little Fiona. BtN also connects it to Gwen, which is a Welsh variant, and there are some Sts. Gwen as well. As for the Shrek connection, it’s interesting to note that The Baby Name Wizard book (affiliate link), which you all know I always use in my consultations, said Shrek was actually the reason that Fiona entered the pool mainstream names — it entered the top 1000 in 1990 and is currently no. 265, which is a pretty sweet-spot position — not too popular, but neither unfamiliar nor rare. It also lets you know that lots of families are using the name, despite the Shrek connection — like this family that I did a consultation for. Fiona really is a great name!
Magdalene: I was excited to see Magdalene on their list, since it’s the exact kind of name that I think of when I think of Avila! Magdalene is fantastic, and I’d love to see them bump it onto the first-name list.
Rosemary: It’s actually a really traditional thing to give all the daughters in a family a form of Mary in their names somewhere (first or middle). Some have interpreted it in the past as using Mary/Marie/Maria itself for all the daughters (St. Therese and her sisters all had Marie); other families have used variants of Mary (my sisters and I all have a different form of Mary in our names); others have used other Marian names like Rose (some fun examples of different options here; also, my book of Marian baby names is a compilation of all these ideas). So from that perspective, I don’t think there’s any problem with using Rosemary as a middle name for a girl, even with Avila’s middle name being Mary. It could be a nice connection between sisters, and easy enough to do for all the daughters they end up having.
Mark: Mark seems so perfect with brothers Jack and Luke — a four-letter name ending in the K sound! I have no quibble with Mark, except possibly that if their first three boys have four-letter names that end in the K sound, would they feel like they have to continue that with future boys? (This is not a big quibble on my part though — you’ll see I included a similar idea in my official suggestions below.)
Ross: I love this, too — I love that it continues their boys’ four-letter theme but in a new way and with new sounds. Like Fiona, it doesn’t have a Saint as far as I can tell, but it’s actually a place name that several Saints share, which makes it a nice complement for Avila’s style.
Fitzgerald: I love this idea! The connection to Hubby’s middle name and St. Gerard is great, and Fitz is a fun nickname that’s four letters like Jack and Luke, but the fact that it’s a nickname rather than the given name opens up more options for future sons. Other ideas related to Gerard include Garrett, which is derived from Gerard, and Hardy, since Gerard is a combo of the Germanic elements ger (“spear”) and hard (“brave, hardy”).
Raphael: It’s almost painful to think of them NOT using Raphael for a middle name for their next boy! Haha! After Jack and Luke’s middle names, it would be so fun! But I definitely don’t think it’s necessary — I think Michael and Gabriel are used so frequently, even together, without Raphael, that I think they can get away with not using it. If they did decide to use Raphael (and with it being the middle name, they can choose whatever pronunciation they like! They’re listed here), some options for future boys’ middle names can include Angel/Angelo/Angelus (Angelus has the nice added layer of being the name of the Angelus prayer) and Seraphim (referring to the order of angels called the seraphim and it’s used as a boy’s name). In terms of matching a name with Raphael, I like both Mark Raphael and Ross Raphael (I’m a big fan of alliteration, though I know not everyone is). Fitzgerald Raphael might be too many unusual names together though?

So those are my thoughts on the names Mollie and her husband are considering — now on to new ideas! I mentioned The Baby Name Wizard earlier — I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they’re considering in that book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/pronunciation. I did so for this family, keeping a particular eye out for names with a strong faith connection; I also rifled through my mental files for names like Avila, since her name doesn’t have its own entry in the book, and I used my book of Marian names as a resources as well. Based on all that, these are my new ideas for Mollie’s baby:

Girl

(1) Carys or Charis

These names, which are pronounced the same (CARE-iss), are the kinds of names I think of when I think of names like Avila. The former is a Welsh name that means “love”; the latter is from the Greek for “grace, kindness.” They’re such pretty names! I like that Carys, being Welsh, has the Celtic feel that they like, as evidenced by Fiona, Ross, and Fitzgerald, and I like that Charis is contained within the word eucharist, which gives it a beautiful added layer of meaning.

(2) Clairvaux

Mollie said that Clara is off limits, but Claire showed up a few times in my research — it’s a style match for Jack, Luke, and Grace — and it made me think of Clairvaux, which has more of Avila’s feel, especially since it’s a saintly place name like Avila (St. Teresa of Avila and St. Bernard of Clairvaux) and it has that prominent V that I think they like (in case they decide they want to go that route). I think Clairvaux would be great because it would bridge Avila’s name with their boys’ names in the sense that Clairvaux is very Avila-ish and the nickname Clair(e) is very Jack-and-Luke. I have a couple of readers with daughters named Clairvaux — here’s one and here’s another.

(3) Cassia

Cassie is a style match for Ross, and it’s one of my favorite nicknames for girls, so I was excited when I was thumbing through the BNW and saw that Livia — notable because it has all the same letters as Avila and also ends in A, so I thought it was a decent stand-in from that perspective — is a style match for Cassia. Cassia has a few fun layers: it’s the name of a form of cinnamon (a spice name! How fun!) and is also the English form of the biblical name Keziah, who was one of Job’s daughters. Biblical + spice with a sweet nickname sounds amazing! There are two possible pronunciations: KAS-see-a or KAH-sha.

(4) Elanor nicknamed Nora or Ella

Ella is a match for both Jack and Luke, but I worry that it’s too similar to the sounds of Avila? But then Nora is a match for Fiona, and since both Ella and Nora can be nicknames for Eleanor, I thought there was something there, but Eleanor itself seemed a little too tame next to Avila? I wondered if changing the spelling to Elanor — which is the spelling Tolkien used in Lord of the Rings — would help? The Tolkien names are often favored by Catholic parents because of Tolkien’s identity as a devout Catholic writer and the Catholic themes in his writing — they’re kind of sneaky Catholic names! I also thought Ella-Grace — like the double name idea with Grace that I mentioned earlier — could be an interesting option.

(5) Violet

Not to add more V names when I’ve suggested that maybe a name with a strong V wouldn’t be a great idea for their next girl, in order to not feel like they’re locked into a theme, but Violet could be lovely here! It’s an entry in my book of Marian names because the violet flower used to be called Our Lady’s Modesty, and represents her humility.

(6) Stella

Speaking of Marian names, and also of Ella above, I also love the idea of Stella for this baby! Stella Maris is one of Our Lady’s titles, meaning Star of the Sea, and I’ve seen Stella as a first name in honor of this title, as well as Stella Maris as a first+middle combo, and the long and lovely Stellamaris and Maristella. Of those, Stella seems like a great sister for Avila!

(7) Kate

Kate is a match for Jack, Luke, and Ross, which means I have to suggest it for this family! I don’t think that Kate is a great sister for Avila, though — they’re just so far apart style-wise. But some ideas to make this work can include Kateri with the nickname Kate, or maybe Kate as part of a double name like I suggested with Grace. Vera-Kate, Roma-Kate, Thea Kate, Ella-Kate, even Stella-Kate could all provide just the sparkle that Avila’s sister needs to match her sister’s stunning name.

(8) Isla

Isla is a match for Fiona, and it’s an entry in my book of Marian names, since “its Marian character comes from the title ‘Our Lady of the Isles’ (Moire ro Naomh nan Eilean in Scottish Gaelic, referring to a state of Our Lady on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland), or any of the devotions in the U.S. and Canada to Our Lady of the Island or Our Lady of the Isle, including churches and institutions in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Quebec, Canada. There’s also the church of Our Lady of the Isle in Croatia.” It’s such a pretty name! I could also see Isla-Grace and Isla-Kate as being really pretty combos. (One of the Clairvauxs that I mentioned above has a sister named Isla!)

Boy

(1) Becket(t)

Given that Jack and Luke both have that prominent ending K sound, as does Mark from the names Mollie and her hubs are considering, I thought Becket/Beckett might be right up their alley. I love that a Becket(t) could go by Beck, which is a great fit with Jack and Luke, but it’s also very Avila-esque, like St. Thomas a Becket. It’s a cool option!

(2) Kolbe

Cole is a match for Luke and Colin for Natalie, both of which are great and maybe Mollie would like to consider them? They’re variants of Nicholas, which is where the patron Saint would come from. But they both made me think of Kolbe, which has that Avila feel as well and could be a really great bridge name between their boys’ style and Avila’s style.

(3) Grant

Grant is a match for Ross, and as soon as I saw it I wanted to suggest it. I’ve actually seen it in a few families who also have a Luke, and one reader of the blog said she considered it because of the dona nobis pacem part of the Mass: “grant us peace.” I love that!

(4) Drew

I really like the idea of Drew with Jack and Luke — I feel like it has a similar feel — but I don’t so much feel that way about the full Andrew. Since they already used Jack — which of course has a long history of usage as a given name in its own right, but started as a nickname for John — I thought maybe they’d be okay just going with Drew as a given name?

(5) Ryan

I felt the same way about Ryan as I do about Drew with their boys — it just feels like it goes! I did a spotlight on Ryan a few years ago and came up with what I think are some great faith connections. I also like its Celtic background for this family.

(6) Owen

Owen is a match for Jack, Luke, and Grace, and I love that its Celtic feel goes along with the feel of Fiona, Ross, and Fitzgerald. Though it has both Irish and English/Welsh connections, I’m a huge fan of St. Nicholas Owen, who was one of the English Martyrs — he’s a great patron!

(7) Charles (Charlie)

How can I ignore the fact that Charlie is a match for Jack and Vera! Normally I would suggest the formal Charles with the nickname Charlie, but as I was thinking with Drew, maybe Charlie as a given name would be more their speed? I’ve also seen Charley bestowed as a given name by people who don’t want to use Charles — maybe the spelling Charley has more of a full-name feel?

(8) Finn(ian)

Finally, since they’re considering Fiona, which is a form of Fionn (Finn), and since Finn is a four-letter name like Jack and Luke, maybe Mollie and her hubby would like to consider this family of names for a boy! Finn as a given name is great, but I’m guessing they might like Finnian better, since it’s an actual Saint’s name. I love it for them!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister or brother of Avila, Jack, and Luke?

Baby name consultation: Combine family and style in fourth boy’s name

February 22, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant British names, Catholic baby names, Literary names, Powerful patrons

Katy and her husband are expecting their fifth baby — and fourth boy! This little guy joins big siblings:

John Ryan “Jack”
Amelia Margaret
Timothy Robert “Tim”
Andrew Thomas

Fantastic names. They’re all solid and attractive, and I also keep chuckling at “Tim” for her 3-year-old (as opposed to Timmy) — it’s such a serious nickname for a little guy! I find serious names on little ones to be so charming. Katy and her hubby have done a great job!

Katy writes,

“I’d describe our naming style as Classic/Apostolic with a hint of early-20th-century-British feel. For boys, we like names that are timeless, masculine and friendly; names that we feel will suit them well in all ages and stages of life. My husband feels that we need to stick to a biblical name in line with the Apostles/early church missionaries for all the boys’ names to flow. While I’m certainly willing to consider apostolic names, I would also really like for us to explore names that are still classic but have a bit of a British literary feel. (I majored in English Lit!) We have a very common last name, but as it is Welsh in origin, it automatically lends well to classic, 20th century British names. Ideally, we’d also like to choose a name that has a saintly connection but is not too popular right now.
One challenge [we have is] … a large extended family full of males; Hubby has 9 uncles and numerous male cousins. So, as you can imagine, it’s tough not to repeat names. Although they were not named after extended family members, our third and fourth children … have first AND middle names that also belong to [family members]. After our fourth was born, we could sense all of our parents had some hurt feelings … that we didn’t choose either of our dad’s names.”

I’m sure many of us have experienced similar situations! Though Katy and her husband wouldn’t normally have thought to choose family names on purpose, they certainly don’t want their dads (James and Patrick) to feel hurt:

“To that end, we’ve discussed ‘James Patrick,’ as a double, like a ‘Mary Double.’ I’d rather not use ‘Patrick James,’ as this is Hubby’s dad’s name exactly … I know ‘James’ is a super popular name in the U.S. right now, so I like the idea of doubling it up with Patrick so it’s more of a standout. But ‘James Patrick’ would be a lot for a kiddo to say when introducing himself, and I don’t particularly love initial nicknames like ‘JP.’ (Although I do love Saint JPII!) Plus, I feel like we can’t use James without Patrick and visa versa without hurt feelings.
I’d really like our new son to have his own identity! Anyway — I’d love to know … if ‘James Patrick’ as a double first name is Catholic Baby Name overkill.”

(“Catholic Baby Name overkill”! Is there such a thing?? 😂😂😂)

“Other names we’ve discussed:
– We both love the name Albert. However, we don’t want to use it as a first name since we already have two kiddos with ‘A’ names. So we’re strongly considering Albert as a middle name.
– Charles/Charlie seems like a logical fit for our crew, which is a classic and manly name with some boyish charm. But, for whatever reason, we don’t feel excited about it.
– Hugh, which I really love! But I can’t sell Hubby on it.
– Lawrence nn Laurie, like Theodore Lawrence in Little Women! But, again, can’t sell the husband on it — I think he’d settle for Lawrence as is if I really pushed for it, but the “Laurie” nickname is too much of a style departure for him. I loved the post you did last year that outlined modern nicknames for Lawrence! But nicknames like ‘Law’ or ‘Rence’ definitely aren’t our style. (But maybe you have a different perspective.)
– Louis, but again, we don’t feel excited about it.
Names we can’t or won’t use:
Anthony
Benjamin
Christopher
David
Dominic (Hubby is discerning a calling to become a lay Dominican, but we don’t feel like the name fits our style)
Ernest (love this name, but it’s the name of our cat!)
Francis
Gabriel
George
Henry
Jacob
Joseph
Jude
Luke
Mark
Matthew
Michael
Nathaniel/Nathan
Owen
Samuel
William“

Alrighty, so I have some thoughts on how Katy’s hubby “feels that [they] need to stick to a biblical name in line with the Apostles/early church missionaries for all the boys’ names to flow,” as well as Katy’s hope to “explore names that are still classic but have a bit of a British literary feel,” but first I’ll address the idea of James Patrick.

Many people have deep seated feelings of love-shown-by-honoring-family-with-names, and it’s a very traditional practice in many cultures (examples: Irish, English, Italian, Scottish) and so has deep roots in many people’s psyche, so I think it’s really wonderful that Katy and her hubs are trying to be sensitive to that. I really like Katy’s proposed solution of James Patrick as a double name, and I definitely don’t think it’s “Catholic Baby Name” overkill, haha! If Mary Clare and John Paul can do it without raised eyebrows, James Patrick should be just fine. I think they might run into some trouble enforcing it, which they’ll have to decide if they’re up for dealing with or not, but if they’re up for it, great! I’d love to meet a little James Patrick.

That said, I wanted to try to think of additional ways that they could give their baby “his own identity,” in case some fresh ideas are helpful:

Nickname Jay: I’m assuming Katy’s dad goes by Jim, given that that’s the standard nickname for Jameses of a certain age, so coming up with a different nickname could be the way to let her little guy have his own name space. Jay is my favorite idea for this family in this vein — I think it fits what Katy said they like for boys: names that are “timeless, masculine and friendly.”
Nickname Jamie: I have a friend who is James always and everywhere except with his family, who calls him Jamie, and it comes across as the sweetest, most affectionate nickname.
Nickname Rick(y): I’m sure Katy’s father-in-law Patrick doesn’t go by Rick or Ricky, so maybe using it as an unexpected nickname for Patrick (even with Patrick being the middle name) could be their son’s alone?
Nickname Paddy: Again, I’m guessing it’s very unlikely Katy’s father-in-law goes by Paddy — it’s not everyone’s style, but I find it sweet.
Using different variants: Like James Padraig or Seamus Patrick, if they were into Irish names (Iago is the Welsh variant of James, oh my!). Jacob and James are variants of the same name, so Jacob should work as an honor name for a James in theory. Maybe Jameson or Patton (son of James, and an English surname derived from Patrick, respectively).
Nickname Junior or Chip (or similar): Patrick and James are actually Katy’s husband’s two middle names (or maybe middle and Confirmation name?), so they could possibly think of using something like Junior as a nickname, or Chip (like “chip off the old block”). I think those kinds of nicknames (others: Red, Sonny) have such a friendly feel. (I also wrote about Junioring a non-firstborn here.)

So based on the emotions tied up in the naming of this baby, I was a little hesitant to discuss the other names Katy and her hubs like, or to offer new ideas, because I don’t want to make their decision more difficult! But I have always enjoyed name conversations, even if I was sure what we would name our baby, so I’d like to go back to Hubby’s thought that they need to stick with biblical names (specifically Apostles or early Church missionaries) in order for the baby’s name to fit with his brothers’ names. I definitely don’t think he needs to worry about that. You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity (informed by a computer program developed by the author — it’s uncannily accurate!). Names that are similar to John, Timothy, and Andrew include names like Charles, William, Robert, Henry, and Christopher — none of which are biblical (though an argument could be made for Christopher to be technically biblical, in terms of the idea of the name/who it refers to) — which tells me (and I felt this anyway, before looking up the names) that John, Timothy, and Andrew have been used in so many circumstances and cultures and given to so many boys/men, both famous and not, that the biblical association is not the primary association for most people. In a family with John/Jack, Amelia, Timothy, and Andrew, I would find names Charles, William, Robert, Henry, and Christopher to be a natural fit. Especially since their real overarching theme is “saintly,” and all of those names fit. I know William, Henry, and Christopher are on the list of names Katy said they can’t use, and they’re already considering Charles, and Robert is already Tim’s middle name, which actually leads me to another idea for them: maybe instead of thinking that each of their boys so far has a biblical *first* name, and specifically one that’s an Apostle’s or early Church missionary’s name, they could reframe their thinking as, “each of our boys has at least one biblical name,” and if they reframe their thinking that way, they can see how it would be natural to move to, “each of our boys has at least one biblical name in either the first or middle name spot.” So then something like Charles James could be argued to fit into what they’ve already done: a biblical name in the first or middle spot, and a first name that’s stylistically consistent with their other boys’ names.

As for Katy’s hope to “explore names that are still classic but have a bit of a literary British feel,” it was so fun to see Albert, Hugh, and Lawrence (Laurie!) on her list! So unexpected! I love that Katy said both she and her husband love Albert, and it seems like the perfect middle name — a way of placing their stamp on their baby’s name. Also, Katy mentioned that her husband is discerning a call to the Dominican Third Order — St. Albert the Great is one of the very best Dominican Saints! Something like James Patrick Albert could be really wonderful. As for the other names:

Charles/Charlie: I one hundred percent agree that this “seems like a logical fit for [their] crew.” I also like that it’s not a biblical name that still fits really well with their other kids’ names, which can open up more possibilities for them for the future. However, if they can’t get excited about it, then let’s keep looking!
Hugh: Aw, I love Hugh too. One of the names that showed up a few times in my research is Hubert, which is such a perfect combination of Albert and Hugh that I wondered if they’d like to consider it? There are a few holy Huberts.
Lawrence nn Laurie: What girl doesn’t love Laurie from Little Women?! But I think most men (or most men I know, anyway) would have a hard time with Laurie for a boy these days, so sad. Yeah, I agree that Law and Rence aren’t this family’s style. I wonder if they could combine some of their ideas here, like Lawrence with the nickname Lou, for example? Like Lawrence and Louis together? I also like the idea of Rory for them as a nickname for Lawrence — especially with Jack and Tim, Rory would feel natural to me, as all three have a vaguely (and with Rory not-so-vaguely) Irish feel.
Louis: I wonder if Katy would feel more excited about it if they changed the spelling to Lewis? Doing so totally amps up the British literary feel, and I thought this bit from this birth announcement post for a little Lewis might be helpful — the mom wrote that she “always disliked the name Louis, and I still do!! Isn’t that so weird? But Lewis is completely different to me. So balanced, with the consonants in the front, middle, and end, and no danger of being a ‘Louie.’ Even Lew is different from Lou — so literary and all.” And Lewis is the medieval English form of Louis, so it totally counts for any Sts. Louis that Katy and her hubs might have a particular devotion to.

So Katy and her husband have a lot of great ideas! But of course, I can always come up with more ideas! Using the research I did in the BNW that I mentioned above, as well as the Name Matchmaker tool on babynamewizard.com for the names that don’t have their own entries in the book, and then some other ideas that just seemed right for this family, these are additional ideas they might like to consider for this baby or for future babies:

(1) Philip nicknamed Pip

This is definitely my favorite idea for them outside of the names they’re already considering! It meets Hubby’s criteria for a New Testament name and it — but especially the nickname Pip — meets Katy’s criteria for a classic name with a British literary feel.

(2) Paul

Paul doesn’t have the British literary feel like Philip/Pip does, but it certainly fits the biblical theme and I like that it’s one syllable like John, after the longer Timothy and Andrew.

(3) Nicholas

Nicholas is another New Testament name that can fit with British/literary a la Nicholas Nickleby, for one. Nick is a great nickname that fits in well with Jack and Tim, and Cole and Colin can also work as nicknames if they wanted, and have more of a British-y feel I think.

(4) Alexander nn Alex, Sandy

Like Nicholas, Alexander is a New Testament name and it’s such a pan-European name that it can have whatever heritage one wants it to! I was also drawn to Alexander because of its nickname Sandy, which isn’t used so much anymore for boys, but was traditionally a boy’s nickname and might be more palatable than Laurie for Lawrence (I know a little Alexander nn Sandy and it’s super cute).

(5) Edward nn Ted, Ned, Ward

Edward totally has the British feel I think Katy likes, and Ward was also a style match for some of the names they like, which can be a nickname for Edward, so I thought that might be great! Ted and Ned are other Edward nicknames that they might like that I think can have a very British feel.

(6) Theodore

Speaking of Ted, Theodore seemed to me to maybe be a nice bridge between the biblical names and the British names … it’s not biblical in the sense that it doesn’t appear in the bible as a name, but Theophilus does, which I think adds a biblical sheen to Theodore if they want it to because of the shared “Theo,” and of course its meaning “gift of God” can be biblical, or “biblical adjacent,” maybe, like Christopher.

(7) Gilbert

I enjoyed seeing Gilbert show up as a style match for Katy and her hubs — they already have Albert on their list, and I suggested Hubert as well, so maybe they don’t need another -bert name to consider, but Gilbert’s entry at Behind the Name really made it seem like a name they would like: “The Normans introduced this name to England, where it was common during the Middle Ages. It was borne by a 12^th-century English saint, the founder of the religious order known as the Gilbertines” (there are other saints with the name as well). What a very English name! And there are few nickname I love more than Gil!

(8) Jordan

Finally, I was working on this on the feast of Bl. Jordan of Saxony, the second Master General of the Dominican Order (after St. Dominic), and one of his sermons is said to have brought St. Albert the Great into the Dominicans, so I thought it was perfect to finish this list with a nod to him! I know Jordan has a very modern, secular feel to it, but I love that it’s actually an old and very religious (and very Dominican) name.

And those are my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother for John/Jack, Amelia, Timothy/Tim, and Andrew?

Baby name consultation: First baby is coming soon!

February 19, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Country & Western, Powerful patrons

I know we’re all horrified by the effects of the winter storm on Texas — Sancta Nomina has many readers from Texas, and I’ve been praying for them and everyone who is suffering from the snow and cold, power outages and food shortages. Being from the snowy northeast, I know well how scary winter weather can be, even in a place with the infrastructure and familiarity to deal with it, never mind for those who don’t have the same experience and resources. Please continue to pray for them! I also made a donation in the name of the Sancta Nomina community to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston with the request that it be used where it’s needed most. 🙏🙏🙏

Courtney and her husband are due next week (!!) with a little green bean 🌱 (gender unknown)! Courtney writes,

“We like simple and classic names. Ordinary spellings and names that will age well as they grow up. I am a teacher, so finding names is challenging. Ha! And my husband comes from a huge extended family who tries not to repeat names. So as you can see, we are kind of stumped. We don’t know what the gender is.
Girl names we like:

Emma Catherine
Lucy Ann
Charlotte (Charlie) (“we don’t typically like ‘boy names’ for girls but that’s the exception”)

Boy names we both don’t say no to (ha!):

Lane
Miles
Jack

Names we like but can’t use:

Leo
Milo
Cora
Gemma
Sophie
Wyatt
John
Jacob
Nolan
Annie/Annabell
Max“

I agree, this was a challenge! “Simple and classic names” is a great category, and “ordinary spellings” is a kind thing to think of for one’s baby! At the same time, it’s the simple, classic, ordinarily spelled names that are perennially popular, and with Courtney being a teacher, my expectations are very low that I’ve actually been able to come up with an idea that she and her hubby haven’t already considered and decided against. But I’m always happy to try!

First, I love their ideas of Emma Catherine, Lucy Ann, and Charlotte nicknamed Charlie — they’re all lovely and feminine, and even Charlie has taken on more of a spunky feel to me these days, rather than boyish, since it’s used so much currently as a nickname for the ultra-feminine (even princess-y!) Charlotte. Similar ideas in the Charlotte/Charlie vein that they might like to consider for the future include Madeline nicknamed Maddy and Georgia nicknamed Georgie.

Jack and Miles are fantastic boy names, and I was so surprised by Lane! I LOVE being surprised by names on parents’ lists! The Baby Name Wizard (affliate link) — which you all know I always use in my consultations — categorizes it as Country & Western, which is similar to Wyatt on the list of names they like but can’t use, and also reminded me of the feel I get from Jack and Miles, Emma and Lucy, Charlie for a girl, and Annie/Annabelle on the list of names they like but can’t use — it all makes sense! Two of my ideas in my list of “official” suggestions below were inspired in part by this feel, and another that was on the Country & Western list that doesn’t feel quite right for this family as an official suggestion for this baby (but maybe for the future?) that I’d like to mention anyway is Casey (Bl. Solanus Casey would be a great patron!).

I thought, too, since Courtney and her hubby are first-time parents that it would be good to include the most recent (2019) rankings for each name, as compiled by the Social Security Administration, so that Courtney can see how likely it will be to encounter a child with the name in the classroom, for example (though also note that popularity is not nearly what it used to be, and I would hope they wouldn’t let popularity discourage them from choosing a name they really love!). Here are the names mentioned so far:

Emma: no. 2 (after 5 years at no. 1 and being in the top 3 since 2003)
Lucy: 48
Charlotte: no. 6 for the second year in a row (entered the top ten in 2014)
Madeline: no. 97
Georgia: no. 205
Lane: no. 258
Jack: no. 19 (John no. 28 and Jackson no. 17)
Miles: no. 75
Casey: no. 527 for boys (no. 897 for girls)

As for my list of official suggestions, I’ve already mentioned the Baby Name Wizard — you all know that I lean on it heavily in consultations, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity — I looked up the names Courtney and her hubs are considering and the additional ones they like but can’t use, and came up with this list, none of which are on their lists of names they can’t use:

Girl

(1) Claire, Clara

Claire is a match for Emma, Charlotte, Miles, and Jack, so I think it’s a good bet they might like it! Clara is a pretty variant that’s a match for Cora, so I wanted to be sure to suggest it as well. Claire is no. 55 and Clara is no. 95.

(2) Molly (or Mary?)

Molly’s a match for Lucy, Jack, Annie, and Max — such a sweet name! You might already know that Molly started as a nickname for Mary, and is still sometimes used that way, so they could consider that route as well. Molly is no. 161 and Mary is no. 126.

(3) Elizabeth (Elsie, Elise, Eliza, etc.), Isabel(le)

There were so many Elizabeth names in the results for this family that I definitely wanted to include them! Elizabeth itself is a match for John; its nicknames/short forms Elsie is a match for Charlie, Elise for Miles, and Eliza for Cora; and the Elizabeth variants Isabelle is a match for Charlotte and Isabel for Sophie. So many Elizabeth names! One of the nice things about Elizabeth is that it’s such a “simple, classic name” but has so many nicknames and short forms that you can easily choose one to fit your taste. Others that I love for Elizabeth include Ellie, Libby, Lizzie, Lily, Betsy, and Beth, and there are loads of others. Elizabeth is no. 14, Elsie no. 247, Elise no. 207, Eliza no. 119, Isabelle no. 117, and Isabel no. 135.

(4) Sadie

Like Molly, Sadie started its life as a nickname of another name — in this case, Sarah — but has come to be used as a given name in its own right. I enjoyed seeing it listed as a match for similarly sweet names Lucy, Cora, and Sophie. Sadie is no. 87, Sarah is no. 81, and Sara is no. 163.

(5) Faith

The only name Faith was a match for was Wyatt, but I really loved that, since Wyatt is one of those quintessential Country & Western names, and Faith is one of my favorite, underused Catholic names. It’s familiar but not even in the top 100 at no. 125 (though it was a top 100 name from 1999 to 2016).

Boy

(1) Owen

Owen is a style match for Emma, Charlotte, Miles, and Sophie! Owen can be a form of Eugene and its soundalike Eoin is a form of John, so some people take Owen to be a form of John, but my favorite patronage is the amazing St. Nicholas Owen! Owen is no. 21.

(2) Benjamin

Benjamin is a match for Emma and Charlotte and Ben is a match for Annie. I love the name Benjamin! Lots of other people do, too — it’s no. 7 and has been in the top 10 since 2015.

(3) Luke

I’m interested to see what Courtney and her hubby think of Luke, as I think it straddles different styles they like! It’s a match for Lane and Jack, and its variants Luca for Gemma and Lucas for Jacob. It’s Country & Western while also biblical and saintly, a great option! Luke is no. 32, Luca no. 87, and Lucas no. 8.

(4) Samuel

Samuel’s a match for Emma, and Sam — one of the best, friendliest nicknames for boys in my opinion — is a match for Lucy, Charlie-for-a-girl, Jack, Cora, and Annie. Such a great name! Samuel’s no. 22 and has always been a top 100 name.

(5) Elliot(t)

My last idea is a little more of a risk, maybe — Elliot (that spelling, though I also love the literary Eliot and the longer Elliott) is a match for Miles and Milo. I love that Elliot is a medieval diminutive of Elias, which is the form of Elijah used in many languages. A biblical name that doesn’t come across as biblical! Elliot is no. 173, Eliot is not in the top 1000, and Elliott is no. 160.

And those are all my ideas for Courtney’s little bub! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Courtney and her husband’s first baby?

Baby name consultation: Which direction to go in for Baby no. 2?

February 8, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Powerful patrons

Michelle and her husband are expecting their second baby, a little green bean (gender unknown)! 🌱 This little bub joins big sister:

Victoria Gianna (“We chose her middle after the obvious, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, but also after pope Saint John Paul (Italian: Giovanni Paolo) and St. John the Apostle. Her first name is dedicated to the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Victories (celebrated today as Our Lady of the Rosary) and to our Lord’s victory on the Cross over sin and death … We teach her that her first name honors both, Jesus and Mary and her middle name honors the Sts. Gianna Molla, John Paul II, John the Apostle and also St. Anna, the mother of our Blessed Mother. Her birth day coincides with the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and choosing a Marian name (Our Lady of Victory) was important to us.”)

Isn’t Victoria Gianna such a pretty combo? I’m amazed and thrilled by how many patrons Michelle and her husband were able to pack into their daughter’s name!

First names they’re considering for a girl include:

Emilia, Emmelia ( nickname Em, Emmie, Millie, Mila, Lia) with possible middle names Zelie (ZAY-lee pronunciation) or Magdalene Rose
Aurelia Rose Celeste (“meaning golden rose of heaven … St. Aurelia Petronilla was cured by St. Peter himself! … [But] my baby’s first cousin is named Olivia Rose and I concern myself that it will be sound vastly similar and overlapping“)
Beatrice, Beatrix (nn Bea, Beasy, Bees, Trixie), maybe Beatrix Evangeline
Chiara Marie
Esther (“lovely sound but we may be a bit slow here in attaching to it“)
Eva (“lovely, short sound but is it too short for us?“)
Frances (“love the Catholic history and the sound but we may feel reserved“)
Evangeline Marie
Josephine
Katherine, Kateri, Catherine, Caterina
Karolina (“the spelling reflects the Polish given name of JP II, Karol. Are we ready for that slightly unconventional K spelling?“)
Lucia/Lucy (“I love the sound of name, though I think I see its popularity rising within the community(s) that we visit around here. Lucy is my mom’s middle name“)
Madeleine (“not sure what pronunciation they will end up attaching to this one“), Madalena, Magdalene
Maristela (“these names beginning with M are so beautifully Marian and saintly but then we worry that it will sound more of an alliteration when paired with our last name“)
Perpetua (“like the early Christian martyrdom ties but don’t know if we will be entirely comfortable using it as first name. Also, one of our daughter, Victoria’s, many many nick names is Perpeta/Popeta!“)

Boy names include:

Rafael, Raphael (Rafe, Raph, Ralphie), maybe with double middle name Charles Joseph (“I am drawn to this name because of the many saints that I have asked intercessions of during my long healing journey ranging from my post partum days to achieving this pregnancy, St. Raphael was one of them“)
Benedict, Bennett, maybe Benedict Aquinas Joseph (“St Benedict and Pope Benedict, but I may not feel drawn towards it entirely as a first name“)
Charles Maximilian Joseph
Karol Joseph (“Karol was St John Paul II and his own father’s given name. Lolek was JP II’s nick name growing up“)
Maximilian (“We love the strong historical, Latin/Roman Catholic origins but then again, the alliteration forming bit with our last name concerns us“)
Joseph (“We honor St. Joseph here as well as St. JP II and Pope Emeritus Benedict, who has long been a great teacher/champion of the Faith for [my husband], as well as me“)
Fulton (“Hubby reiterated that he loves this name. Venerable Fulton Sheen has been one of his greatest hero and responsible for bring him closer to his Catholic home. I love Fulton Sheen much, but am I ready for this as a first name?“)
Athanasius (“I think we both find this name delightfully saintly but Hubby says, and I agree, it’s also quite a mouthful“)
Augustine (“A great hero of a saint for Hubby’s conversion, but are we ready for the name?“)
Beckett/Becket
Dominic
Gabriel (“I do find it hard to associate with the nn Gabe for a boy, maybe because of my strong memories of Gabe from the Office?“)
George (“St. George, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati“)
George Maximilian Joseph
Gregory (“Pope Gregory the Great … I find it hard to associate with the nn Rory for a boy“)
Ignatius
Jonah
Judah
Kolbe
Marius
Magnus

And Saints they would be happy to honor:

“Mary and St. Anne — I asked for their intercession all along the weeks, months and years leading to my pregnancy.
So Anna-Maria has great significance for me as I pondered and recalled on this name this past Advent. I find the hyphenated version serves as a reminder to what unites Anne and Mary, an intimate union of the Old and New Testaments. “Through them are brought about the prophecies of Israel and the proclamations of the Church. Through these two Jewish women in the line of David — one whose Hebrew name means “grace,” and one who is “full of grace” — comes grace upon grace.”
St Joseph — Hubby and I consecrated ourselves to him on May 1, 2020
Servants of God Emilia and Karol Wojtyla, parents of JP II — I have asked for their intercession since their sainthood process began in March 2020
St. Josemaria Escriva — It was during the late afternoon of his feast day, Friday, June 26 2020 that I got the earliest cautious but positive confirmation of my pregnancy from a HCG/progesterone blood test that done the day before. This was the first time I got such sweet news in the many many months preceding this event.
St Gerard Majella and St Gianna Molla (kept their third class relics close to me during the months preceding and during pregnancy)
St Louis and Zelie Martin, St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux – I sought their intercession during the above months
Jesus and Mary — Feast of the Sacred Heart — we consecrated our daughter, Victoria, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19 2020 and the next day was the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary“

I just love how thorough and thoughtful Michelle and her husband are in regards to babynaming!

Before sharing my new ideas for this family, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on the names they’re considering, in case they’re helpful:

Emilia/Emmelia: I love both of these! Emilia in honor of St. John Paul II’s mother is wonderful, and I love it with both Zelie as a middle name and Magdalene Rose. The spelling Emmelia is lovely too, and St. Emmelia is a great patron — mother to so many Saints!
Aurelia: Aurelia Rose Celeste has such a beautiful meaning — I wonder if they might like to consider a combo that can have a similar meaning, but move the name away from Olivia Rose sound-wise? Maybe something like Chrysantha Caeli or Chrysantha Celeste? Chrysantha is a shortened form of the flower name chrysanthemum, and it means “golden flower”; Caeli is Latin for “of heaven” (like in Our Lady’s title Regina Caeli, “Queen of Heaven”), or Celeste can fill that role. I love how Chrysantha looks and sounds, and possible nicknames Chrysa or Chryssy (even spelled Chrissy) make it very user friendly and can even give it a slight nod to Jesus. I might be allowing myself to get too excited about this idea, I just love it! It does lose the St. Aurelia Petronilla connection, though, unfortunately. And Aurelia really is lovely.
Beatrice/Beatrix (Bea, Beasy, Bees, Trixie): I love Beatrice and Beatrix, and they have such darling nicknames! The meaning is just wonderful as well. Michelle said that she wasn’t sure about this name at first, but I loved discovering that it’s a big style match for their name taste, based on my research in the Baby Name Wizard! (affiliate link) (You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up in the BNW the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity.) Beatrice and Beatrix are matches for Aurelia, Evangeline, Josephine, and Maximilian! Beatrix Evangeline is a really great combination with lots of meaning.
Chiara: Chiara is absolutely beautiful, and normally I’d be enthusiastically in favor of it (I love Bl. Chiara Luce Badano), but with their older daughter being Victoria Gianna, I wonder if they want to follow right away with another uber-Italian name? Not that Victoria on its own comes across as very Italian — in fact, it’s not the Italian variant of the name — but its -a ending followed immediately by sister Chiara would indeed make it seem very Italian. If they don’t mind or if they like the Italian vibe, wonderful! I have no quibble! But I thought if they used Chiara now, which is so VERY Italian, and would seem to convey that they intend their children (or at least their daughters) to have very Italian names, it might seem a bit jarring to use Esther, Frances, or Madeleine later, for example. (If they want to lean into the Italian vibe, this is easily remedied by switching those names to their Italian variants: Ester, Francesca, and Maddalena. Then they all work together!) One way that they could still use this name in another form is Clara — it goes as well with Victoria as it does with Madeleine, in my opinion. I also had the thought that if they decided to use Chiara as the first name after all, maybe they’d like to consider Lucy as the middle name, which could be a nod to Michelle’s mom and also very similar to Bl. Chiara Luce Badano’s name! Or maybe Clara Lucy?

I want to interrupt my bullet points here just to talk about the Italian names thing for another minute, to make sure I’m articulating myself well. So as I said, Victoria isn’t Italian — it’s actually sometimes considered a fourth addition to the three “classic English girl names” (Catherine, Elizabeth, and Margaret), which would allow it to fit in nicely with the less ethnic-feeling names on Michelle’s list, which are most of them (or they could be — e.g., Madeleine is the French version and would be quite at home with Marie-Helene and Jean-Pierre, but it’s had so much usage among English speakers that its Frenchness has been much muted, and so it can fit in well with non-French names as well). And in fact, Victoria’s actual Italian variant is Vittoria. So a girl named Victoria can have sisters with all kinds of names, and all of the names on their list would be lovely with it. But pairing it with Gianna, and then following it with Chiara, definitely emits a very Italian feel. I hate to discourage them from using a name they love! I quite like the idea of using Chiara as a middle name with a less Italian first name, which would mirror Victoria Gianna in a very pleasing way I think. Madeleine Chiara, for example. Okay, back to my bulleted list!

Esther: Esther is a beautiful name, and Queen Esther in the bible is a wonderful character, but Esther does feel a bit different than most of the names Michelle and her hubs like, which could be why they’re having a harder time coming around to it.
Eva: Eva, too, is beautiful, but it has a difference as well — the more I think about it, the more I think that the names they like best for a girl are long names, and I think they’d be happiest sticking with those. That doesn’t have to mean short names are out, though! Hyphenating or connecting two names can give nice length to an otherwise short name. Eva-Maria for example, or Evamarie. Or they might like to consider a longer name that’s a variant of Eva or related to it, like Evelina, and use Eva as a nickname. Or — Evangeline, which is already on their list!
Frances: I agree with Michelle, Frances has great history and Catholic meaning! But I think it feels a bit plain for the kinds of names I think they like best. I could see them liking its Italian variant Francesca or German variant Franziska or Portuguese variant Francisca more. I also think a Frances might feel like her name is a little underwhelming next to big sister’s long and lovely Victoria.
Evangeline: Evangeline is a wonderful addition to their list — great meaning, beautiful name. The fact that they can use Eva as a nickname, which is also on their list, makes it feel like a great two-for-one option!
Josephine (nn Zuzu, Zozi, Zozia): I love that they’re considering Josephine — using a Josephite name would be so great in this Year of St. Joseph, and in light of how Michelle and her husband consecrated themselves to him last May 1. How wonderful! I love the nicknames Michelle said she likes, too — they’re so fun and unexpected! Josephine can also work to honor St. Josemaria, since his name is literally Joseph+Mary. A first name + middle name combo of Josephine Maria would hammer this home even more, while keeping St. Joseph and Our Lady front and center.
Katherine/Kateri/Catherine/Caterina: These are all beautiful, and Katherine/Catherine would be great as a sister to Victoria in that classic-English-names way. I also love Victoria and Caterina together, if they decided to lean into the Italian-feeling names. And I do love St. Kateri and her beautiful name, but like with Esther and Frances, it just feels … not quite their style. But I love it as a middle name idea!
Karolina: I think Karolina might be one of my favorite ideas here for this family. I love the K- spelling — I know a few families who have named daughters Karoline or Karolina with that spelling, which immediately signals a devotion to St. John Paul II, which I think is so great. It easily fits in with feminine and elegant sister Victoria, but doesn’t pigeonhole their style into any one particular heritage, since Karolina (like Victoria) is used across lots of different languages/cultures.
Lucia/Lucy: Lucia and Lucy are both just lovely! I think Lucia can have the same issue as Chiara that I mentioned earlier — that possibly overly Italian feel, especially if they use the Italian pronunciation loo-CHEE-ah. As with Chiara and Kateri, I would love it in the middle name spot. Lucy is great to me because it’s Michelle’s mom’s middle name, though I admit I don’t think it’s quite right as a first name for them, just based on the feel of most of the names they like.
Madeleine/Madalena/Magdalene: All of these variants of Magdalene are marvelous! Though I do think Michelle’s wise to be wary of the pronunciation issues of Madeleine. There are some who do say mad-e-LINE — the spelling Madelyn should fix this problem, but I think the Italian Maddalena (if they decide to go the Italian route), or Magdalene itself, or perhaps even better as a combo of the two with Magdalena, will make them happier in the long run.
Maristela: Oh yes, I totally understand the appeal of the gorgeous Maristela, and also that Michelle isn’t a fan of alliteration with their last name! For what it’s worth, I quite like alliteration, and find Maristela M___ to be lovely. However, I know that’s a controversial opinion, and if one doesn’t like alliteration, then one doesn’t like alliteration! One way to use this beautiful name with its patronage of Our Lady, Star of the Sea is to switch the elements around and use Stellamaris. I’d like to mention a long, beautiful, Marian name that doesn’t start with M, that they might like to consider: Immaculata! I love the name Immaculata, I think it’s so lovely and so specifically Marian!
Perpetua: Perpetua’s a funny name in that it’s an old Roman name, but has such good usage in England that the only Perpetuas I’ve ever heard of (other than my friend’s little girl) are English! One was a character in Bridget Jones, for example. But for Catholic purposes, St. Perpetua is one of my favorites, and I love that it can also connect to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is a particular devotion of the Redemptorist Order, and St. Gerard Majella was a Redemptorist priest, so they could maybe think of it as including him as a patron as well! All that said, the fact that Victoria has Perpeta and Popeta as nicknames (so cute!) says to me that Perpetua’s probably best in the middle name spot.

Raphael/Rafael (Rafe, Raph, Ralphie): I really love that Michelle asked for intercession from St. Raphael, and I love the nickname ideas — Ralphie keeps making me chuckle, I love it!
Charles/Karol: I love that we can honor St. John Paul II with the Charles names, it’s nice a nice option! Michelle mentioned Lolek — I wonder if she would consider using that as a nickname if they named their son Charles or Karol?
Benedict/Bennett: I too love the meaning of these names and our wonderful Pope Benedict. It would make a great middle name if they couldn’t come around to it as a first name!
Maximilian: As with Maristela, I really don’t mind Maximilian M___ — especially for boys, alliterative names sound superhero-ish to me, which can be fun! — though I could see that Max M___ wouldn’t be ideal. I’m glad Michelle included this as a name they like, as it was helpful in my research.
Joseph: Joseph seems like a no-brainer for this family, from Michelle and her husband’s devotion and consecration to St. Joseph, to the baby being born in the Year of St. Joseph, to Joseph being a family name on Michelle’s side. It would be wonderful in the first name spot or the middle spot, wherever they feel most comfortable with it.
Fulton: I admit, Fulton jumped to the top of my list of favorites for this family when I read that Michelle’s husband loves this name. I think it’s striking that this is the only name she said this about! However, since Michelle’s not sure about it, maybe she’d prefer to consider it in the middle name spot? Or, maybe she and her hubby would be open to considering Ven. Fulton Sheen’s given/baptismal name, which was Peter? (Fulton was his mother’s maiden name and what he went by always, as far as I can tell.)
Athanasius: I love how Michelle and her hubs characterize this name: “delightfully saintly” but, indeed, “quite a mouthful”! I agree! It would be awesome in the middle name spot!
Augustine: I definitely think Augustine is easier to handle than Athanasius, however I will say that we very nearly named one of our boys Augustine (for the same reason — he was a great influence on my own husband’s conversion) and decided against it at the last minute because of pronunciation issues. au-GUS-tin and au-gus-TEEN are both well used, and not only do people tend to strongly prefer one or the other, but they also tend to strongly believe that their favored pronunciation is the correct one and the other is incorrect. We felt it was too much of a possibility that we’d be constantly annoyed by others “mispronouncing” our son’s name — since Madeleine holds a similar difficulty for Michelle, I would think they’d want to consider this aspect of Augustine before deciding to use it.
Becket(t): I’m a bit surprised by Becket/Beckett on their list! It’s definitely saintly, and it shares Bennet’s and Fulton’s surname style, but while Fulton especially has a real reason for being on their list, Becket(t) seems outside the style of name they really seem to prefer.
Dominic: Dominic is wonderful for this family, it seems just right to me. I also love that Our Lady of Victory was the original title for Our Lady of the Rosary and same feast day, so Victoria and Dominic have a connection.
Gabriel: Michelle’s comment about Gabe from The Office made me laugh out loud! I hope they don’t let that reference interfere with what is otherwise such a great name. I’ve seen Gib, Gil, and Eli used as nickname for Gabriel, if that’s helpful.
George: George has a similar feel to me as Catherine, Frances, and Charles, and I think it goes quite well with Victoria as well.
Gregory (not Rory): I love the name Gregory as well, and have suggested Rory as a nickname in the past because, while a lot of people seem to like Gregory — a handsome, sophisticated, saintly name — the nickname Greg strikes many as outdated in a negative way. If they don’t like Rory, however, I’ve often thought that Gus could work, if Gregory was paired with a middle name that had a prominent S. Maybe Gregory Charles? Gregory Athanasius?
Ignatius: I’ve seen Iggy, Nate, and Nash used as a nickname for Ignatius, all of which I think are great!
Jonah, Judah: I’m including these two together, because they seem similar to me — both Old Testament J names ending in -ah. Jonah is the more familiar of the two, while the Jud- name that I usually see used is Jude, so Judah feels a bit fresher!
Kolbe: Hmm … earlier I’d said that Becket(t) didn’t seem quite this family’s style, Bennett and Fulton on their list notwithstanding. But with Kolbe on here too … maybe they’re more into surname-type names than I’d thought?
Marius: I like the idea of Marius a lot — a very masculine Marian name!
Magnus: Since Magnus means “great,” I’ve often thought it would be a fun middle name for a Pope St. the Great first name, like Gregory Magnus for Pope St. Gregory the Great! Or Charles Magnus for St. John Paul the Great! (But then, Charles Magnus is basically the same name as Charlemagne, isn’t that weird?!) Or to be even more explicit, John Paul Magnus!

I wasn’t actually sure if I’d be able to come up with any names that were new options for this family! They have so many gorgeous names on their list, and I wondered if my only contributions would be offering my thoughts on the names on the list. But fortunately, I do have some new ideas! My research in the Baby Name Wizard book was the foundation; I also use the Name Matchmaker tool on babynamewizard.com, as some of their names aren’t included in the book (Perpetua, Magdalene). And I took into account the Saints Michelle said they love. Based on all that, these are some more names they might like to consider:

Girl

(1) A Lily name (Lilia, Lillian, Liliana)

Since Michelle said they’d love to honor St. Joseph, but aren’t totally sure that Josephine is their style, I wonder if they might like to consider one of the Lily names, since lilies are one of St. Joseph’s symbol? Lily doesn’t have the best flow with their last name, but Lilia is a really pretty variant. Lillian is a less flowery option, and Liliana is longer, like the names they tend to like, and they could consider the -ana ending to nod to St. Anne if they’d like.

(2) Susanna

Speaking of Lily names, and also names that nod to St. Anne, and also the fact that Michelle listed Zuzu as a possible nickname for Josephine, Susanna came immediately to mind. It means both “rose” and “lily” in Hebrew, which can work for St. Joseph via the “lily” meaning, and also Our Lady, as lilies and roses are both symbols for her. The -anna ending can be for St. Anne, and Zuzu is a traditional nickname for Susanna!

(3) Cecilia, Caecilia

Cecilia is a match for Josephine and Catherine, and it’s lovely and long and feminine like Victoria. Such a beautiful, saintly name! I also remembered this family, who used the original Latin form of Cecilia for their daughter: Caecilia. Behind the Name says its pronunciation is kie-KEE-lee-a, but I think Cecilia’s pronunciation could be used with that spelling if they wanted.

(4) Julia, Juliana, Juliette

Julia did quite well for this family in my research! It has the same sophisticated feel as Victoria, and lots of Saints to choose from for patron. If they wanted to lengthen it, Juliana can add the St. Anne connection, and Juliette has a pretty French flair (I actually spotlighted Juliet(te) here).

(5) Philomena

My last girl idea is more along the lines of Aurelia, Magdalene, and Perpetua — a lesser-used but almost exclusively Catholic name. Philomena has some great nickname options as well, like Fia, Fila, Fina, Lola, Mena, and Minnie.

Boy

(1) Tobias

I was really interested to see what boy names would rise to the top in my research as good suggestions for a son for Michelle, and was excited to see Tobias as one of them! It’s an Old Testament name like Raphael, Jonah, and Judah, and in fact Tobias is part of St. Raphael’s story in the book of Tobit; it’s also a style match for Evangeline. Such a handsome name!

(2) Thaddeus

Thaddeus is a style match for Raphael, Benedict, and Edmund! I love that it’s a New Testament name with the weighty feel of some of the Old Testament names, and is a lesser-used way to name a baby after St. Jude. Thad, Tad/Taddy, and Ted/Teddy are all great nickname for Thaddeus!

(3) Thomas

Michelle has Becket(t) on her list of possible first names and Aquinas on the list of middle names they like, but I wonder what they’d think about Thomas? It can hang with Charles/George/Gregory as well as Benedict/Dominic/Gabriel (and Victoria of course!).

(4) Leo, Leander

Gregory and Magnus made me think of Leo, as Pope St. Leo the Great is another with “Great” in his name. Leo Magnus would make this connection explicit, as would the combination, Leo Maximilian — since they have Maximilian on their list, maybe this would be a great way to use it? Leo could also serve as a nickname for Leander, which is in the Raphael/Benedict/Maximilian/Dominic family of names, and St. Leander of Seville was actually friends with Pope St. Gregory the Great!

(5) Frederick, Everett

I wouldn’t have come up with either Frederick or Everett on my own for this family, but they both did so well in my research that I couldn’t not include them here! Frederick is a match for Victoria (!), Beatrice, Frances, Josephine, and Magdalene, and Everett is a match for Aurelia, Beatrice, Magdalene, and Bennett. Isn’t that so surprising? There are actually several holy Fredericks that one could look to for a patron, and Everett is derived from Everard, of which there are several holy men so named as well.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Victoria Gianna’s little sister or brother?

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

Baby name consultation: Formal names for the nickname Sonny

January 25, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Bl. Solanus Casey, Catholic baby names, Jesus names, Mario Lopez, Nicknames

A reader wrote to me asking:

“I really love the name Sonny. But! I’ve yet to find a formal name I like that could be the official name… and now I’m wondering if I even need that? Especially if I can find a good spiritual connection to the name… apart from the obvious “son.” lol is this making sense? Do you have any thoughts?“

Do I have any thoughts? Always! 😂😂😂

I LOVE the nickname Sonny!! The first name that comes to mind is Santino — Sonny on The Godfather was Santino nn Sonny, and Santino means “little saint,” which is fantastic! HOWEVER, I know some might be like, “Ew! The Godfather!” I get it! (Another funny reference: Mario Lopez and his wife named their youngest son Santino and call him Sonny!) For what it’s worth, there was a little guy in one of my boys’ preschool class named Santino nn Sonny, which I’d never seen in real life before then, and I just died of happiness, SO cute. (He was not obviously Italian.)

I’ve also thought that Sonny could be a great nickname for Solanus! I wrote about it here; I think it’s a fantastic option. Bl. Solanus Casey is amazing! There are some people who are hesitant about using Solanus as a given name because of the last four letters, so if you like this idea but not that detail, you could consider Solano instead — Bl. Solanus’ religious name was actually Francis Solanus, and it was bestowed in honor of St. Francis Solano, a 16th/17th century Franciscan.

I’m also thinking, since Jesus is THE Son, maybe Sonny would be a nice nickname for a Jesus name? Like Joshua, Christo, Emmanuel … I’ve always loved Christo/Cristo but thought it might be hard to work with and/or seen as disrespectful in English-speaking locales (though it’s used in other languages) — having a nickname like Sonny could make something like Christo/Cristo do-able as a legal name without the hassle maybe?

I really think Sonny could also work for any S name, especially if it has an N in it (Stephen, Solomon, Sebastian, Simon, Simeon), or any name containing or ending in -son (Samson or any number of surnames — maybe one in your family tree?), or really any name at all! Sonny is one of those Junior/Red/Chip-type nicknames that can be completely unrelated to the boy’s given name — it might be perfect if there’s some family member you’d love to honor but who has an unfortunate name, or a nickname for a Junior. Using Sonny as the exclusive call name means the given name can be anything at all. You know?

Do you agree? What other names do you think would be good formal names for Sonny? Do you know anyone named Sonny, and if so — I’d love to know about his given name and how he got his nickname and whether he likes it!

Baby name consultation: Help name Twin no. 2!

January 18, 2021 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Naming multiples, Naming twins, Powerful patrons

One of our longtime readers and her family have been devastated by the recent theft of the means of her husband’s livelihood — many high-end instruments and specialized equipment that he takes with him from his job as a music teacher at a Catholic school to other venues in which he helps provide for his family through his musical training and talent. This was a loss of almost $11,000 worth of instruments and equipment, which the insurance company has only agreed to pay a third of, never mind the impact it has on his ability to teach. A friend has set up a Go Fund Me (which includes a video of Tom playing), and if any of you feel moved and are able to donate, I know the family would be so grateful. And please keep them in your prayers!

Mary and her husband are expecting twin boys! These little guys join big sister:

Juliette Marie (“Juliette is after a grandmother figure I had and Marie is of course after the Blessed Mother and is also the middle name of the first girl in every generation in my family so her name has a lot of meaning to us“)

I looove the name Juliette! Juliette Marie is so lovely!

Mary writes,

“[M]y husband and I tried to conceive for several years, and eventually were blessed to be able to adopt our daughter who’s 2 now. We had quite the surprise this year after working with a great NaPro doctor and are so excited to welcome the twins in June (but probably May).”

Amazing!!

“Baby Boy 1 will be Joseph McDaniel. We’ll call him ‘Mac’ as a nickname from his middle name. Joseph is after 2 St. Josephs I love, St. Joseph, husband of Mary, and the lesser known St Joseph of Cupertino, patron Saint of test takers and exams, who helped get me through some very difficult times while I was in law school. Joseph is also my husband’s middle name so another very meaningful name. McDaniel is my maiden name and my paternal grandfather was often called “Mac” so Mac is in his memory.
We’ve been tossing around Jude for Baby Boy 2 after St. Jude because so much of our story has just seemed impossible, but here we are. It just hasn’t stuck quite yet. Out of complete coincidence, Juliette and Mac will have the same initials so part of me wants to pick another JM name, but that’s not a “must.” I also like the idea of Baby Boy 2 going by a nickname like his brother, but again, not a “must”.
Other Saint names we’ve considered and Saints we love are Michael (mostly as a middle name because my husband loves St. Michael and he was a major part in my husband converting to Catholicism), Sebastian (my husband’s confirmation Saint), St. Augustine (who we have a strong devotion to after visiting the Marian shrine in St. Augustine and then adopting our daughter shortly after) and St. John Paul II. If we used Sebastian or Augustine, we’d want him to go by a nickname. We’re definitely pro-nicknames.
Juliette and Mac are both named after a Saint who’s important to us and a family member, which I like. Other family names we’ve considered are Theodore, Warren, and Giles.
We like names that are classic but unique enough that you don’t hear them every day (so names like Peter, Matthew, and John are mostly out unless we could use a more unique nickname). The fact that Michael is very common makes me hesitant to use it as a middle name, but we do love St. Michael so much.”

Working on twin consultations is such fun! I love the names Mary and her husband have already chosen, and I love that they’re “definitely pro-nicknames” — you know how I feel about nicknames!

One of the things that really struck me about Joseph McDaniel’s (amazing, fantastic) name is how full of meaning it is, with Joseph having strong family and personal faith connections and McDaniel being both Mary’s maiden name and the source of her grandfather’s nickname. Also, both Mary and her husband are represented, with Joseph being Hubby’s middle name and McDaniel being from Mary’s side. No matter what names they choose for Twin 2, I would encourage them to try to make sure his name has just as much meaning — it doesn’t have to have the same kind of meaning, necessarily (i.e., it doesn’t have to be two family names), but there should be a feeling of balance and equal specialness between both names.

One thing that I immediately thought of was that Mary’s boys will be born in the Year of St. Joseph and also likely in the same month as the feast of St. Joseph the Worker (May 1), and with one twin having St. Joseph’s actual name, I thought it would be nice for the other twin to also have a nod to St. Joseph in either his first or middle name. I did a post recently on names for St. Joseph, and of them, I thought these had possibility for this family:

Carpenter, as he was a carpenter and is represented by a carpenter’s square specifically and carpenter’s tools in general. I’ve never heard of Carpenter as a first name, but it’s not really different from other occupation names like Mason, Taylor, and Carter, right? Maybe with Cap as a nickname?
Cruz or Croix or other “cross” names, as the cross is one of his symbols
Foster, since we refer to him as Jesus’ foster father
Valiant, as he’s valiant (as noted in the Litany to St. Joseph) (what a cool, masculine virtue name!)
Surnames derived from Joseph, like Jessop/Jessup (if either of these names were in Mary’s or her husband’s family trees, I’d die of happiness!) (Jesse could be used as a nickname for Jessop/Jessup, which has additional connections to St. Joseph since St. Joseph is a descendant of King David, who was son of Jesse)

Another way to look at this is that Mary described Joseph as representing two special Josephs — what about breaking that honor up and naming one son after St. Joseph the foster father of Jesus, and the other after St. Joseph of Cupertino? I’ve seen the latter honored in ways that I think might appeal to this family: Cupertino as a given name with Coop and Cooper as nicknames, and Cooper as the given name in honor of Cupertino. Something like Michael Cupertino nicknamed Coop or Cooper could be really nice — two names with very meaningful faith connections for Mary and her hubby and a middle name that’s similar to McDaniel in the sense that I always think of saintly place names as in the same category as surnames. Joseph McDaniel and Michael Cupertino have a nice symmetry, and Mac and Coop have a nice sound together! It would be even better if a family connection could be figured out for Twin 2 as well, but that might be asking too much. Maybe some of my other ideas can get all the elements in there …

I do love their idea of Jude, since he’s the patron of impossible causes, and Jude Michael would be a nice JM combo — Juliette Marie, Joseph McDaniel, and Jude Michael. Two worries I have are that they’ll feel locked into a JM combo in case they have more children (which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, there are lots of great J and M names!), and also that Jude and Juliette are so similar in sound. That can easily be remedied by having Jude Michael go by a nickname of his middle name, like Mac will, and since I think Mary prefers more offbeat suggestions, they might like one of my favorite ideas for an unexpected Michael nickname: Miles/Milo. I’ve often thought Miles or Milo can work for Michael, since their first three letters encompass Michael’s first two letters and its last letter — they’re almost like a contraction of Michael, plus “es” or “o” added on the end. Miles/Milo has an added neat connection to Michael in the sense that St. Michael the Archangel is a warrior, and, as the entry for Miles on Behind the Name says, “From an early date it was associated with Latin miles ‘soldier.’”

Further, I included Miles/Milo in my book of Marian names because they have a history of usage in Ireland as an anglicization of the old Irish name Maolmhuire, which means “servant of the Virgin Mary,” which, for this family, can represent a connection to the Marian shrine in St. Augustine. So many connections! Mac and Miles/Mac and Milo sound great together!

Once again, though, Jude Michael doesn’t include a family connection, and I’d really love for both boys’ names to represent both a Saint who’s important to them and a family member, just like Juliette’s and Mac’s names do. Of the ones Mary mentioned — Theodore, Warren, and Giles — Theodore immediately jumped out as a nice idea because of its meaning: “gift of God.” It’s the kind of significance that can amp up the specialness of the name and bring Joseph McDaniel and his brother’s name into balance. I really like the idea of Twin 2 going by a nickname of his middle name, like Mac, so maybe Theodore Michael nicknamed Miles or Milo would be perfect? Joseph McDaniel and Theodore Michael? Or Theodore Cupertino? I also like the nicknames Theo and Ted(dy) — Mac and Theo, Mac and Ted, Mac and Teddy all sound really great. I also like Theodore Jude.

I’m also loving the idea of Michael Augustine nicknamed Gus — Mac and Gus have that same good-guy feel to me, and Michael Augustine is certainly full of personal faith meaning!

I also love Sebastian — Seb, Sebbie, Bash (like Grace Patton’s son) and Baz are great options for nicknames.

So they have a lot of good ideas and names to work with and play around with! If they went with some combination of names they’re already considering, I’d be thrilled! But of course, I can always come up with more ideas, haha!

You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Though this strategy doesn’t always work well for parents in Mary’s situation, where the chosen names are as much about personal meaning and connection as they are about style, I was pleased to have a few ideas jump out at me that I thought had merit. I also had a few ideas of my own that I thought would fit in with the personal meaning part and also an attempt to balance both boys’ names meaning-wise. Based on all that, these are my additional ideas for Mary’s second twin:

(1) Benjamin or Benedict nicknamed Ben, Banks, Boon

I really liked seeing that Benjamin is a style match for Joseph per the BNW — not only are they stylistically similar, but I also love that Joseph and Benjamin are the two youngest sons of Jacob in the Old Testament. Bennett is a match for Juliette and Benedict for John Paul, so a Ben- name seemed a good bet here. While Ben is certainly the traditional nickname — and I love Mac and Ben together — I also know of a little Benjamin that goes by Banks as a nickname, which is fun. I’d also considered the nickname Boon for Benedict for one of my own boys, both because it has a B and N, like Benedict, but also because a boon is a blessing or a favor, which is such a great meaning and mirrors the meaning of Benedict (“blessed”). I like that meaning for this family! They could also certainly do Benjamin with the nickname Boon.

(2) Charles nicknamed Cal or ?

I was interested to see what nicknames would be listed as similar to Mac, and one of them was Cal, which is a nickname I’ve loved forever. So great for both a boy and a man! There are a couple ways to get to Cal, but Charles is one of my favorites, and it can honor St. John Paul II, since his birth name was Karol, which is the Polish for Charles! If they like the idea of Charles but Cal isn’t feeling quite right, one of my favorite posts from Abby at Appellation Mountain is her post on nicknames for Charles — there are so many! I would also add Hutch to her list. I also love the combo Charles Augustine nicknamed Gus!

(3) Henry nicknamed Hank

As with Cal, Hank is what inspired this idea. Hank is a traditional nickname for Henry and was listed as a style match for Mac! I’m really loving how Henry Sebastian sounds — Joseph McDaniel and Henry Sebastian (Mac and Hank) are a very handsome pair! There are lots of great Sts. Henry too, and St. Henry Morse has a particularly nice depiction of himself with Our Lady and the Child Jesus.

(4) Maximilian nicknamed Miles or Milo, or Kolbe?

Maximilian is a style match for Sebastian, Augustine, and John Paul, and I actually really love that McDaniel nicknames to Mac and Maximilian’s usual nickname is Max! But don’t worry — I’m not at all suggesting that they call their boys Mac and Max, only that McDaniel and Maximilian can sort of be like mirror images in their boys’ names. In fact, I really like Miles or Milo as nicknames for Maximilian — something like Joseph McDaniel and Jude Maximilian (Mac and Miles/Milo) could be really pleasing. But then, I also noticed that Cole is a style match for Jude, which made me think of Kolbe, and while I wasn’t thinking of pairing Maximilian and Kolbe together (though I’m not opposed to it if they want to!), would it be crazy to suggest that Kolbe could be a nickname for Maximilian?? Probably, right! Totally crazy! But intriguing!

(5) Fitz something

I was thinking about how Mac means “son of,” and how Fitz also does, and thought maybe Mac and Fitz would be great brother names? I don’t actually know what Mary’s husband’s name is, but if it’s William, Gerald, or Patrick, any of those with Fitz in front would be kind of amazing! Fitzwilliam is actually Darcy’s first name in Pride and Prejudice, and Fitzgerald and Fitzpatrick can both certainly serve as first or middle names.

(6) Isaac

My last two ideas are inspired by their meanings. Isaac means “he will laugh, he will rejoice,” and he was so named because Abraham laughed when God told him that Sarah would become pregnant. Mary’s story reminds me of Abraham’s, because of how they tried for several years to conceive, and then when they do, they’re given twin boys! What a surprise! And what joy! Isaac seems a perfect name for one of their boys! Zac is a nickname often used for Isaac, which wouldn’t work with Mac, but its other nickname Ike might. Or maybe they’d rather keep Isaac as the name that isn’t nicknamed? Isaac Theodore nicked Theo?

(7) Samuel

Like Isaac, Samuel is inspired by his story in the bible — he was the result of Hannah’s many years-long and tearful prayers, and was so named “Because I asked the Lord for him” (Samuel 1:20, which fits one of the two meanings of Samuel given on Behind the Name: “God has heard”). Also a fantastic meaning for this family! And Sam is so great with Mac. Samuel Warren? Samuel Augustine?

And those are my ideas for Mary’s second twin boy! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of Juliette and the twin of Joseph McDaniel nn Mac?

Baby name consultation: To Canon or not to Canon for baby no. 3?

December 28, 2020 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Fantastic feast days, Powerful patrons, Roman Canon names

I know I said I’d be off the blog until the end of the week, but I forgot about my Monday consultation post! Enjoy! And be sure to check back in on Friday to read my Year in Review post!

Cassie and her husband are expecting their third baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown)! This wee babe joins big sisters:

Felicity Marie (“Her first name jumped out at my husband and me during the same Christmas Eve Mass when our priest prayed the Roman Canon. We loved that it meant happiness, and she’s lived up to that in so many ways in her four years. Marie is the middle name of my mother, my mother-in-law, and me. Felicity was also born in May, and we wanted to honor Mary since she was born in Mary’s month“)
Lucy Rose (“We decided that we loved another name from the Roman canon and Lucy was on our “short list” prior to her birth. We loved that it meant light also. We chose Rose for two reasons: she was due on August 23rd, the feast of St. Rose of Lima. I had always loved this saint since I was little and then I was lucky enough to travel to Lima for a college class and get to see where St. Rose spent her life. The second reason we picked it was because Lucy ended up being born on the feast of Our Lady of Knock. Mary is portrayed in this apparition with a single rose on her head, so we thought using Rose as her middle name also fit well for the day she was born“)

I love their girls’ names!! Gorgeous!! And I so enjoyed reading the reasons Cassie and her husband chose each of their names — it’s so cool that they were able to incorporate meaningful elements from the month and even day they were born!

Cassie writes,

“As you can see, we really like using names related to the day a baby is born. For Baby #3, we are due on February 22nd. We don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl. We can’t use the name Francis/Frances for a first name because that is a family name already used.

I would describe our style as strong, Catholic names that are pretty traditional but maybe not too out there. We do use nicknames often, but don’t choose names based on what the possible nicknames will be. We have obviously picked names from the Roman canon so far, but I’m not sure if we want to stick to that or not. Part of me thinks that if we ever want to break from that tradition, we should do it now with this next child so we don’t feel like we have to use that for all future children. We also seem to have middle names that are Marian head nods with our current children’s names; again we aren’t sure whether we will continue that or not.

Here are names that are on my list:

James – my father’s name
Michael – my husband’s middle name and my father-in law’s first name; wouldn’t want to use this for a first name to avoid having the same name as my FIL
Augustine – my husband isn’t a huge fan
John or John Paul – Pope St. John Paul II is my husband’s Confirmation saint
Leo – my husband’s grandfather’s middle name
Joseph – my father-in-law’s middle name and it’s now the year of St. Joseph
William
Benedict
Maximilian
Thomas
Mary
Cecilia – she’s my Confirmation saint; but we’re not sure if this feels too much like an “old lady” name; my husband had a great-aunt named this so he’s not crazy about it
Agnes – also not sure if it’s too old feeling, but I have seen it coming back in Catholic circles
Clare“

Great names on their list!

Ok, the first thing I want to address is the idea of continuing — or not — with names from the Roman Canon. I agree with Cassie’s thought that if they want to break with a naming pattern, doing it before three-in-a-row is probably the best, since I always think that three cements a pattern. However, there are so many common names that are included in the Canon that it’s very easy to come up with them without any connection to the Canon, and there are so many Saints that share names with other Saints that if they’d named their girls after St. Felicity of Rome (as opposed to the Canon’s St. Felicity of Carthage) and the Fatima visionary Servant of God Lucia dos Santos (as opposed to the Canon’s St. Lucy of Syracuse), their girls would technically have names that are mentioned in the Canon, but they wouldn’t actually be the names of Saints in the Canon. You know?

Also, I really don’t think there aren’t a whole lot of people who will hear Cassie’s children’s names and think, “Wow, they really stuck to the Canon!” I do totally understand, though, her own perspective as the namer, feeling like these connections are so obvious! It reminds me of my boys — I have seven and the first five have a biblical name as either their first or middle, which wasn’t necessarily on purpose, but then with no. 6, neither of the names we chose were biblical. We decided to go with them anyway, but I was even sort of self-conscious that we’d broken a very clear pattern after so many kids. But no one even noticed! It was absolutely not a thing for anyone else but me! And then for no. 7, we gave him a biblical first name! My one little guy (no. 6) is the only one with no biblical name! And no one but me has ever noticed! So anyway, if Cassie and her hubby chose Cecilia for this baby and then Clare for the next, I’d be amazed if anyone thought it was weird or obvious.

One more thing that can help: I would encourage Cassie and her hubs to focus on the fact that they gave their first two children “strong, Catholic names that are pretty traditional but maybe not too out there,” as Cassie described them, and leave it at that. That way they’ll be able to worry less about choosing or not choosing a name from the Canon — that can just be a coincidence that may or may not show up in their other children’s names.

(Can you tell I think a lot about this kind of stuff?? Haha!)

I would say all similar things about their usage of Marian middle names, especially because there were specific circumstances that led them to choose those two Marian names — Felicity being born during May and Lucy being born on the feast of Our Lady of Knock — so that can be their pattern: including a nod to the day/month/season of the baby’s birth as opposed to Our Lady specifically every time.

Before moving on to my new ideas, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on the names that are on their current list, in case they’re helpful:

James: Fantastic, classic, I love that it’s Cassie’s dad’s name, and it’s in the Canon (incidentally, this is a great example of liking a name for other reasons, and having its inclusion in the Canon be a coincidence)
Michael: Also wonderful, and I love it as a possible middle name
Augustine: I’d love to find a name that Cassie and her hubby both love, so since her husband isn’t a fan, I’d suggest shelving this one for now. I’m glad Cassie included it, though, because it gave me a good sense of her style!
John, John Paul: Both of these names are in the Canon, both of them more than once — there’s St. Paul the Apostle, St. John the Apostle, martyred brothers John and Paul, and St. John the Baptist. But then of course, there’s the non-Canon John Paul II! Doing something like John Paul would be a fun bridge between Canon names and non-Canon names, if that tradition was still worrying Cassie, since John and Paul are Canon names but John Paul is not a Canon Saint.
Leo: Leo is such a great name, and can work for a Feb. 22 baby because of Feb. 22 being the feast of the Chair of Peter and Leo being a papal name! (Also John Paul!)
Joseph: I love the Year of St. Joseph connection, I can’t wait to see how many Joseph-named babies there are!
William: Like James, Michael, John, and Joseph: one of those classic names that works with all different kinds of styles.
Benedict: While James, Michael, John, and Joseph are saintly without necessarily revealing one’s faith, names like Augustine, John Paul, and Benedict (and Felicity and Lucy) are more likely to, which I love
Maximilian: Ditto what I said for Benedict — I love having a mix of more familiar and more unfamiliar/heavy-hitting names in a family! It really opens up a lot of possibilities!
Thomas: Very handsome
Mary: Adding Mary to Felicity’s and Lucy’s names would loop in the James/Michael/John/Joseph/William/Thomas names nicely
Cecilia: I love Cecilia for this family! It’s lovely with big sisters Felicity and Lucy, and I love that she’s Cassie’s Confirmation Saint! As for being an “old lady name,” it’s more popular now (no. 153) than it’s ever been (it was no. 199 in 1900, 192 in 1903, 190 in 1904, and 197 in 1905 before dropping into the 200s in 1906, with its lowest points being between 1963 and 1990, and entering the 100s again at no. 181 in 2015, and continuing to climb). I don’t think it’ll climb too high, which puts it in the nice sweet spot of familiar but not overly popular. (For reference, it’s way more popular than Felicity [which is currently at its most popular at no. 361] and always has been, and is less popular than Lucy [currently no. 48], though Lucy had more of that strong “popular in the early part of the century, then not at all popular, then currently very popular” arc that, before it gets popular again, denotes an “old lady” name.) A possible way to have the saint with a different, possibly fresher-feeling name, is to consider the variant Cecily. They will want to consider that Cecilia’s a Canon name (though again, I wouldn’t let that influence them either way); also, a funny thing I noticed is that Felicity, Lucy, and Cecilia/Cecily are all C-heavy — is that awesome? Or will it feel like the Canon thing, where if they choose a C-heavy name for this baby, they’ll feel like they need to for all their children, or at least all their girls?
Agnes: It’s funny, but I would have thought of Agnes as having a more old-lady feel than Cecilia! And indeed, Agnes dropped out of the top 1000 in 1973 and hasn’t been back yet (though Cassie’s right that I’m seeing it more and more among Catholic families. Interestingly, the first “current” baby I ever saw it on was actress Elisabeth Shue’s daughter, whom she named Agnes Charles in 2006; after that, I was surprised that it was the name given to the baby of fictional character Elizabeth on Blacklist in 2016). So anyway, yes, it’s back mostly in Catholic circles but also in society in general, as all the “old lady” and “old man” names are currently en vogue! I also love that Agnes is associated with lambs (being so similar to Agnus Dei=Lamb of God), which makes for a nice Lenten tie-in via Jesus being the Sacrificial Lamb. I even saw once that someone considered the combo Agnes Daisy because it sounds like Agnus Dei!
Clare: Clare is lovely and timeless

Cassie and her hubby have a really great list of names! I can see all of them fitting in nicely as Felicity and Lucy’s little brother or sister.

Now on to my new ideas! You all know that I start each consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I did so for this family, and I also looked at the list of names for the Sorrowful Mysteries and Joyful Mysteries that I posted to the blog a while ago, since their baby is due right around/at the beginning of Lent and might also be born in the month of the Annunciation. Based on that, these are my new ideas:

Girl

(1) Sidony/Sidney

When Cassie said she’d like to have a nod to when the baby’s born in his or her name, I immediately thought of Sidony because of her due date. It’s one of my favorite namey discoveries! Check this out:

“[Sidony] 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 Latin sindon … ‘fine cloth’, ‘linen’) was used in Middle English for a fine cloth, especially one used as a shroud. The Sacred Sendon is supposed to be preserved at [Turin] … Sidonie is not uncommon in France, and the Irish Sidney is probably really Sidony.” (pp. 268-269, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names [affiliate link] by E.G. Withycombe, 1977).

But wait, there’s more! The Feast of the Winding Sheet is celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday — Ash Wednesday is on Feb. 17 in 2021, and a Feb. 16 birthday is not at all out of bounds for a baby due on Feb. 22!

(2) Catherine/Katherine/Katharine

Catherine is a style match for a bunch of the names on their list: James, John, William, Joseph, Thomas, Mary, and Cecilia! It’s a lovely name (if I do say so myself, as a Katherine 😊), and there are a bunch of Sts. C/Katherine to choose from. In fact, St. Katharine Drexel’s feast is March 3, if Cassie goes that long!

(3) Margaret or Magdalene

Like Catherine, Margaret is a match for almost all those same names, and like Catherine, there are so many wonderful Sts. Margaret. The Mag- part — especially Maggie as a nickname — made me think of Magdalene, which I thought might be an even better fit for Felicity and Lucy’s style, and I like the connection of St. Mary Magdalene to the end of Lent (being the first to see the Risen Christ).

(4) Anne/Anna/Anastasia/Susanna/Joanna

Anne, too, has the same style matches as Catherine and Margaret, so I had to include it anyway (and I love St. Anne!), but I also liked that the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus is celebrated in February (Feb. 2), which is when Anna and Simeon were given the gift of beholding the Messiah they’d waited so long for. Anna would be lovely for that reason! And since we’re talking about Anna names, I can’t not acknowledge that Anastasia is in the Canon.

I quite liked this comment a reader left on my Sorrowful Mysteries post, which I think is appropriate here in the “Anne/Anna” suggestion:

“I am adding Susanna and Joanna since tradition would hold they were included as witnesses at the cross. Though not named in passion narrative, Luke, Mark, and Matthew all indicate “other women” who had ministered to Jesus who were there watching. Earlier in Luke’s gospel Susanna and Joanna are named as women who were followers of Jesus and who ministered to their (Jesus and disciple) needs. And Joanna is listed in Luke’s gospel as one of the women who took spices to the tomb and is recognized as Joanna the Myrrh Bearer in Orthodox tradition.”

For these reasons, both Susanna and Joanna would be nice nods to the liturgical season Cassie’s baby will mostly likely be born in!

(5) Beatrice/Beatrix

Beatrice is a style match for Agnes, and Beatrix is a match for Maximilian, so I thought there might be something there. Its meaning of “she who blesses, makes happy, delights” is a fantastic one, and is the reason I included it in my book of Marian names (not an affiliate link) — I’ve seen other families use this name in honor of Our Lady as well. Since Mary is in the Canon, using a Marian name that’s not Mary itself would be a cool way to link to their Canon girls and any non-Canon names they might bestow going forward.

(6) Josephine, or a Lily name

Josephine is a match for Cecilia, and I thought since it’s the Year of St. Joseph, maybe Cassie and her husband would like to consider it for a girl? Not only that, but St. Josephine Bakhita’s feast is Feb. 8, which is at Cassie’s 38-week mark, if I’m not mistaken. Could be a perfect two-for-one!

Going along with the St. Joseph idea, one of his symbols is a lily, and not only is Lillian a match for both August (standing in for Augustine, since it doesn’t have its own entry) and Clara (I looked up both Claire and Clara, since Clare doesn’t have its own entry), but this was a great comment on my post of Joyful Mysteries names (since the Annunciation is celebrated in March, I thought it might be a good inspiration):

“Lily, Lillian, Liliana, Lila as Gabriel &/or Mary at the Annunciation is typically shown holding a lily. Or one is being passed by Gabriel to Mary. So beautiful.”

And that same reader pointed out that Susanna means “lily.”

One last thought in the “lily” vein is that Lily is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth, and Elizabeth joins Catherine, Margaret, and Anne as being a big match for many of the names Cassie and her hubby like. Maybe Elizabeth nicknamed Lily could be a perfect idea?

(7) Julia, Juliet

Finally, Julia is a match for James and John, and Juliet for Felicity, and St. Julia Rodzinska’s feast is on February 20 — Julia and Juliet are both such lovely options! I did a spotlight of them here.

Boy

(1) Gabriel

I already mentioned that the Annunciation was one inspiration for me when thinking of names for this family, since it’s celebrated in March, and their baby might be born in March. I thought Gabriel might be a great idea for them! It’s also in my book of Marian names because of the Annunciation, so it can be a nice way to continue their Marian theme, if they decide they’d like to.

(2) Charles

I’ve seen a lot of families use Charles in honor of JP2, since his birth name was Karol (the Polish for Charles), and if they used Charles for John Paul, then that would open up John for them to use for another boy.

(3) Barnaby/Barnabas

I’m really interested to see what Cassie and her hubs think of Barnaby or Barnabas! Barnaby is a style match for both Felicity and Benedict, isn’t that crazy?! And cool! And he’s included in the Canon as Barnabas, so if they wanted to continue their Canon theme, he might be perfect! Another way to continue their Canon theme without locking themselves in too much would be to use a Canon name in either the first OR middle spots — Barnaby and Barnabas seem like amazing middle name options to me, so unexpected! Especially if they paired it with something really familiar, like Michael Barnabas or Joseph Barnaby.

(4) Simon

Simon has that same sort of possibly British feel as Felicity and Benedict (and Lucy fits in with that nicely too), and it’s a specific match for Cecilia and Leo. It’s got two great connections for this family, I think: Simon Peter, which fits in with Cassie’s due date, and since Peter’s in the Canon, using Simon might be a better way to nod to him but move away from Canon names; and also Simon of Cyrene, which is specifically connected to Jesus’ Carrying of the Cross — a great figure and Lenten name.

(5) Thaddeus

Thaddeus is like Benedict and Maximilian — long and saintly. He’s also in the Canon, but I think he’s listed as Jude? So Thaddeus might be like Beatrice/Beatrix and Simon — a technical Canon Saint without using the actual name listed.

(6) Sebastian

Similar to Benedict, Maximilian, and Thaddeus, Sebastian has that nice length and weighty feel. It’s also specifically a style match for Felicity!

(7) Theodore

Theodore seems like a really great compromise of sorts between their James/John/Michael names and their Augustine/Benedict/Maximilian names — it’s got the length of the latter with the familiarity of the former. And such a great meaning: “gift of God”!

Those are all the ideas I have for Cassie and her husband based on style and liturgical season/feast days that I thought they were most likely to like, but I also wanted to offer a few more of the same that I wasn’t convinced they’d like enough to warrant their own entry above, but I wanted to at least mention them, just in case. Here are some from my Sorrowful and Joyful Mysteries posts:

Dolores: Spanish for “sorrows,” traditionally used for Our Lady of Sorrows (María de los Dolores) and here could refer to both her and to the Sorrowful Mysteries, or to the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) — the name for the path in Jerusalem Jesus walked on his way to the Crucifixion.

Helen(a): She discovered the True Cross.

Veronica: she wiped Jesus’ Face during the Carrying of the Cross.

Isaiah or Zechariah: The Passion and death of Christ fulfilled the OT prophecies found in Isaiah and Zechariah.

And regarding feast days, I was excited to see that that the baby is due Feb. 22 — that feast day is one of the best: the Chair of St. Peter! Any of the papal names can be a nod to it, including but not limited to Peter, and also offbeat ideas like Clavis or Clavius or Claver (like St. Peter Claver) (from the Latin for “key,” like “keys of the kingdom”) or Roman (for Rome/Roman Catholic/the pope lives in Rome). Of course, the possibility of Cassie’s baby being born on his or her due date is small, I know, so here are a sampling of Saints with feast days between two weeks before and two weeks after her due date whose names I thought held promising inspiration (do note that because I looked through twenty-eight days’ worth of feasts, and each day has loads — major and minor — I’m only including ones here that jumped out at me. I would encourage Cassie — and any of you that this might be helpful for — to take a look through, in case I missed some that might be a better fit. I used the daily calendar on CatholicSaints.info.)

Feb 8

Jerome Emiliani (this makes me think of how St. JP2’s mom’s name was Emilia, and her cause for canonization is open!)
Josephine Bakhita
Our Lady of the Lily (a cool tie-in with lilies being a symbol of St. Joseph)

Feb 9

Our Lady of the Bells (maybe Isabel(la)? Because of Bells?)

Feb 10

Scholastica
Our Lady of the Dove (Jonah means “dove,” and Dove itself would be a sweet middle name, maybe. Also Paloma means “dove.” Also Jemima, which I LOVE, but I get that most people aren’t ready to try to bring it back)

Feb 11

Our Lady of Lourdes (I love both Lourdes and Bernadette as given names)

Feb 20

Amata of Assisi (Amata is such a pretty name — it means “beloved,” and is in my book of Marian names because of Our Lady’s title Mater Amata [beloved Mother])
Jacinta Marto (Lucy and Jacinta might be “too much Fatima”? But I love her, and the name)
Julia Rodzinska
Leo of Catania
Pietro of Treia (this is the Italian variant of Peter)

Feb 21