Happy Monday everyone! The mama whose consultation I’d scheduled to post today decided she’d rather not have a public post, which is always fine — there’s absolutely no pressure to have a public post! I only want it to be a help! — and fortunately I have a birth announcement to share with you instead! Woo! 🎉

Back in March, I posted a consultation for Heather from the Go Forth with Heather and Becky podcast (a day before the episode with me as a guest posted!), and I’m delighted to share that Heather has let me know her baby girl has arrived and been given the lovely and meaningful name … Maura Kay!

Heather writes,

“I wanted to touch base to let you know that our sweet baby girl has arrived, and to let you know about how we settled on her name!

Your consultation was very helpful for my husband and I, and really solidified my desire to name our daughter in a way that honored my mother. This caused us to lean towards Maura Kay as my mother and I both have the middle name Kay, and I also loved your suggestion of honoring my mother by using her initials and this name combination does both. Our older children are named after more well-known Saints (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton & Maximilian Kolbe), and I was unsure if St. Maura was too obscure where it is hard to find holy cards, medals, etc. and there just isn’t a lot of information about St. Maura. However, I love that it is an Irish variant of Mary, as my husband and I have a strong devotion to Mother Mary, and is a nod to my husband’s Irish heritage.

As I told you in the consultation, and on the episode of “Go Forth,” I love the name Catherine so much, and this was a strong contender until the end and I couldn’t commit without seeing her, which we have never done before with our other kids. I love St. Catherine of Siena, but my husband wasn’t sold on “Cate” as her nickname.

On the day she was born, I still couldn’t commit to a name, and it took quite a while for the nurses to leave our room for us to settle on her name. I thought she looked like a “Cate” and my husband strongly thought she looked like a “Maura.” Because I love both names, it didn’t take much convincing on his part to get me to agree to Maura Kay, especially where it allows her to share the family name of “Kay”. Maura Kay fits her so well, and we receive many compliments on her name! While her name isn’t one that is easily shortened like our Lizzie and Max, we all frequently call her “Mo Mo” which is a fun little pet name for her. Thank you so much for your help and guidance-your advice really helped us narrow down our name list and think about baby naming in a fun new way!

Maura arrived on June 6, 2017 at 6:46am and was 9.5 lbs and 21 1/4″ long.”

I love reading name stories where there was some uncertainty about the name and when the final decision is made, it was like Of course! Of course that’s her name! Maura Kay is just beautiful, and I love that it honors Heather’s mom and Our Lady all in one. Perfect!

Congratulations to Heather and her husband and big sibs Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Maximilian (Max), and happy birthday Baby Maura!!