Birth announcement

Birth announcement: Faustina Irene!

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I posted a consultation for Cait and her husband on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and she’s let me know her little girl has arrived and been given the gorgeous name … Faustina Irene!

Cait writes,

“Faustina Irene was born on Monday, Feb 13, at weighing 9 pounds, 8 ounces and 21.5 inches long.  She and I are doing wonderfully.

Thank you for all your name inspirations!  In the end God decided the name for us- on an anniversary trip I was reading the Diary of Saint Faustina out loud to my husband and after a particularly inspiring passage he suggested that we name our baby Faustina.  I wasn’t as sure, but we stopped in a used book store on our trip and while browsing I found one of those 2000 page baby naming books.  Almost jokingly I said a little prayer of, “Okay, God, show me what we should name this baby” and randomly opened the book.  On the very top of the page I opened to was “Faustina”.  So, at the end of the Year of Mercy, we decided to name our baby after the saint so dedicated to telling the world of the Lord’s Divine Mercy.  Irene was decided to bring in the them of “peace” and because Saint Irene is pretty great- being a sister of a pope, maybe our little namesake will inspire some of her brothers to holiness ;).  Attached is a picture of Faustina Irene (we’re not sure if she’ll have a nickname and if so what it will be).”

I love when God makes His will known so clearly! What a great name story! If you remember, Faustina joins big sibs:

Aquinas John Paul
Gabriel Benedict
Magdalena Grace
Maksymilian Paul
Augustine Francis
Socorra Perpetua

Such beautiful names! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Faustina!!

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Faustina Irene

Reading round-up: Birth/name announcement edition

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I know (or I hope) you all know how much I love your contributions to our wonderful little community here, right? 💕💕💕 Over the past couple of weeks I’ve received notes from several of you sharing birth and name announcements you’d come across that you thought I’d like to see, and of course you’re so right — I loved them all! And I wanted to post them here for all of you lovers of the names of our faith.

First up, I hope you all know Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director-turned-amazing advocate for the unborn, as well as for those who work at abortion clinics and who want to get out of the industry (she provides all kinds of resources and support, including finding jobs for them and helping them financially, through her wonderful organization And Then There Were None). She’s absolutely tireless in her efforts, even with being mama to five beautiful little ones AND expecting twins!! She and her husband recently solicited name ideas for their twin baby girls (and shared their older kiddos’ names), and her husband shared on FB last week that they’ve decided! Go check out the beeaauutiful names they chose! 👯 (Thanks to Mary and Jen for sharing this info!)

I always love hearing about the European royal names and how Catholic they often are, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out the names of a British politician’s children! Check out Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has given his fifth child an amazing name and North Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg welcomes fifth child but his name causes a stir. (Thanks to Jilana!)

Check out this little guy’s name! And Clive makes five: a birth story. I really loved reading how perfectly his name fit the naming rules his parents had — like, perfectly! And of course C.S. Lewis. Great naming story. (He’s also got some gorgeously named big sisters!) (Thanks to proud auntie Francine!)

Finally, Amy tagged me on a photo of her twin girls she’d posted on IG to illustrate her announcement that she’d posted about how she’d chosen their names and said, “@santanomina how did I do? They’re both French, places and saints!” I’m still so tickled that anyone cares what I think! Haha! Of course I 🏃 (or more like 💃) over to her blog to read all about these sweet girls’ names in “Are They Family Names?” – Behind the Names Special and can say with authority that she and her husband did a marvelous job. Beautiful times two! 👯 (Thanks also to Mary, who also shared the link with me!)

What a fun round-up! I hope you all have as much fun reading about these babies as I did!

Birth announcement: Claire Marie-Therese!

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Our reader Sarah has let me know her third baby has arrived — a sweet little girl with the gorgeous name … Claire Marie-Therese!

Sarah writes,

“I wanted to do a name consult but my husband honestly gave me his short list of the only names he would consider (or at least that became apparent in discussion, haha!). So those 5 names were it :). So we are home now with baby Claire Marie-Therese.

Born 1/28/2017
7lbs, 13.5oz
21″ long.

Claire is a name we’ve both loved for ages and obviously, has a great meaning and great Saint attached. My hesitation in using it was her sister’s name: Julianne Clare. But in talking with my mother-in-law, it’s kind of a… tradition?… in DH’s family for siblings to share a middle/first name situation, with a bunch of examples even in this new generation. So I felt better about with so many in the family following this pattern.

Marie is my middle name, and also Marian. My mom’s name is also Mary.

Therese is pretty obviously a reference to the Little Flower, but I also liked weaving in a form of Teresa since Mother Teresa was recently canonized (and her religious name was after St. Therese), and my maternal grandmother’s name was the Polish form of it. I also liked linking Marie and Therese because Mother Teresa and the Little Flower linked the two names (Marie Francoise-Therese Martin and Mary Teresa – Mother’s religious name).

Plus, I wanted Claire to have an extra name in there since she’d be sharing a name with her sister, and her sister kind of (technically not, but practically yes) has a double first name with a lot of Saints in there :).

Debating the hyphen was tough, but we didn’t want her to end up being forced to drop the second middle name on some forms?

So we now have Nathaniel James, Julianne Clare, and Claire Marie-Therese.”

I love this name story! Not only because of the amazing combo Sarah and her husband ended up with (I mean, come on: Claire Marie-Therese is amazing!), but also how Sarah’s hesitation over using the same name for a first name that her older daughter has a middle was assuaged by finding out that her hubs’ family has a tradition of sorts doing that very thing. How cool! I think using a different spelling is pretty great too. And using a double middle that’s sort of like big Sis’ “double” first. And all the saintly connections (I love how Mother Teresa and St. Therese are woven together so nicely!). And Mary! And what great taste Sarah and her hubs have (I love Nathaniel, Julianne, and Claire together!). Great job all around!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Claire!!

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Claire Marie-Therese

Birth announcement: Walter Dominic!

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I posted a consultation for Michelle the day after Christmas, and I’m delighted to share that she’s let me know her little guy has arrived — the so-handsomely named … Walter Dominic!

Michelle writes,

“Baby boy arrived! After two months of bed rest and nearly three weeks in the hospital due to chronic placenta abruptions we welcomed Walter Dominic on January 21 at 3:30 pm, 6pounds 6ounces! He arrived on the last day of the Dominican Jubilee year, in fact I was able to watch the closing Mass live early that morning after my water broke in the hospital!

I loved loved loved your suggestion of Albert and Gregor and Casper was on the table (especially as I was in the hospital through the week of Epiphany) but ultimately both hubby and I agreed that he was to be Walter Dominic. Servant of God Walter Ciszek along with Holy Father Dominic are both men whom I only pray our son will mirror in this life! Both men whose faith and spirit are relevant in our current world and so with them I pray for our new babe.

We are thrilled he is here and that Our lady kept both of us safe throughout the 36 week pregnancy. Thank you for your ideas!“

What an end-of-pregnancy this mama had! And I’m so happy that the baby was born on the last day of the Dominican Jubilee Year, with Michelle having a Dominican sensibility and her other kiddos having such Dominican names — God’s perfect timing! And I love the combo Walter Dominic — it fits in so perfectly with his big sibs’ names, and has such wonderful patrons!

Congratulations to Michelle and her husband and big sibs Henrik, Philip, Martin, Dennis, and Brigit, and happy birthday Baby Walter!!

Walter Dominic and his big siblings!

And a bonus picture! This is from last All Saints’ Day — all the kids (minus Walter of course) dressed up as Dominican saints! 😍

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Left to right: Fra Angelico (Philip), St. Martin de Porres (Martin), Bl. Imelda (Brigit — her brothers chose for her!), St. Hyacinth (Dennis), St. Dominic (Henrik)

Birth announcement: Theo Peregrin!

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Do you all remember Julia’s fun “geeky” consultation from last fall? She (who you might recognize better by her handle, ethelfritha) has let me know her little guy has arrived and been given the fantastic name … Theo Peregrin!

Julia writes,

“I wanted to let you know that Theo Peregrin was born on Jan. 21. He was 10 lbs 5 oz and is as healthy as a horse, in addition to being almost as big as one. Everything with labor and delivery went great. He ended up being induced, as he was a week late and I tend to have big babies (obviously!) and everything went right according to plan. Now he alternates between eating, sleeping, eating while sleeping, and generally being squishy and cute.

We still didn’t have a name nailed down when we went into the hospital. Nothing like leaving it til the last second, right? However, we had been throwing Peregrin around for a middle name recently and got really attached to it. We considered several first names to go with it and in the end decided we were OK with Theo not being short for anything. Basically, he can choose his own patron saint from the dozens of holy Theodores, Theodosiuses, Theobalds, and Theodoras out there!

As for Peregrin, I have two sorts of conversations with people about it. The first conversation goes like this:

Other person: Peregrin, that’s so interesting. Where did you get it?
Me: Well, there is a Saint Peregrine.
Other person: Oh, and a falcon, right?
Me: Right!

The second conversation goes like this:

Other person: Did you leave the “e” off the end on purpose?
Me: YES
Other person: ….is it a Lord of the Rings reference?
Me: LET’S BE FRIENDS

Yes, we named our son after Peregrin Took. But also Saint Peregrine, who is awesome!

Also I thought you might be interested in a little anecdotal data I learned from the hospital registrar. When she came by to get Theo’s birth certificate info, she said she didn’t get too many Theos. I asked her what name she did get a lot of, and her answer was immediate: Oliver. And for girls? Evelyn!“

Don’t you just love this announcement? I was dying over Julia’s rendition of people asking her about Peregrin! 🤣🤣🤣 Love it!! I also love that they went with “just Theo” — a name they’d liked from the very beginning. And it’s so perfect paired with Peregrin!

Congratulations to Julia and Ben and big sibs Petra and Corwin, and happy birthday Baby Theo!!

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Theo Peregrin

Birth announcement: Simon Augustine!

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I posted a consultation for Amanda and her husband back in November, and I’m delighted to share that Amanda’s let me know her little guy has arrived and been given the amazing name … Simon Augustine!

She writes,

“You did a consult for us a while ago and we were SO THRILLED with your suggestions.  I wanted to let you know that Mr. Simon Augustine (Gus) joined us this past Tuesday, 1/17.  😊 We were torn on names right up until the month before he was born and then I was struck down with double pneumonia and cracked two ribs from coughing a week before our scheduled c-section.  We prayed and prayed and prayed for God’s will to be done, of course, but with the ‘wink wink nudge nudge’ that it’d be awesome to at least be partially healed before attempting a repeat c-section recovery.  😉  God heard and answered and the hospital allowed my c-section to be pushed back to 41 weeks (which is fairly unheard of after five sections!).  We felt also that we were being lead toward the name ‘Simon’ which is. of course, in honor of the apostle, but also means “God has heard”.  Our older kids had nicknamed him, “Gus” in utero after the chubby mouse in Cinderella and as a convert, my hubby has a special place in his heart for St. Augustine, so the choice was made.  😊

Thank you, thank you for all the time and effort you put into suggesting beautiful names for our little nugget – we LOVED considering them and re-considering them and it was barely a fight at all, which for us is preeeeeeetty amazing.  😝“

What a story! What an amazing mama! And what a name!! I LOVE that the full name is Simon Augustine but they’re calling him Gus!

Congratulations to Amanda and her husband and big sibs Faith, Bennett, Maya, Cate, and Jude, and happy birthday Baby Gus!!

Simon Augustine “Gus”

Birth announcement: Laura Rose!

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I’ve been a big fan of today’s mama for a long time — back when I first started this blog, I posted a link to JoAnna’s blog, A Star of Hope, where she had written about how she and her husband had chosen their five born babies’ beautiful names. When JoAnna became a reader here, I was so starry eyed!! She’s been a big contributor to our community, and I’m over-the-moon delighted to share with you that she’s given birth to her sixth born baby — a little lady named … Laura Rose!

JoAnna writes,

“Laura is named in honor of her aunt and my younger sister, Laura Linnae Walsvik, who was born at 28 weeks gestation on December 3, 1981 and died December 4, 1981. I was only 13 months old when she was born and died, so I don’t remember her, but I have always thought about her (and later, after I became Catholic, I began asking her to pray for me). Before we officially decided to use Laura as our girl name, I did ask both of my parents how they felt about it first, as we were willing to choose a different name if having a granddaughter named Laura would cause too much pain or sorrow for them. But both of them said they would consider it an honor. 

When I brought up Laura as a name possibility to my husband, he liked it immediately — we were both born and raised in North Dakota, and given the famous writer Laura Ingalls Wilder (one of my favorite authors), we felt it was a name that was a subtle tribute to our “prairie” roots. 

I also liked it because it means “laurel,” which is a symbol of victory, and our Laura is a rainbow baby after two consecutive miscarriages at 12 weeks. Our other girls have flower names as well (Elanor – which is a flower in the Tolkien universe – and Violet) and we didn’t mind continuing the theme.

As icing on the cake, I realized that January 22 was the feast day of Blessed Laura Vicuña. Our baby was due January 23 and ended up coming on January 21!

Rose is a name that I have always loved, and for a long time I wanted to use it as a first name, but my husband preferred it in the middle name slot. My best friend and former college roommate is named Roselyn and goes by Rose, and I wanted to honor her as she has been a good friend to our family. I also liked the nod to St. Rose of Lima. Plus it’s another Laura Ingalls Wilder connection (her only daughter was named Rose).”

Isn’t this great?! I’m so in awe of the layers of meaning in this baby girl’s name, so wonderful!!

Little Laura joins big sibs:

Elanor Mary
Noel (m/c Dec. 2006)
William Joseph
Chris (m/c March 2009)
Violet Elizabeth
Gabriel Keith
Peter David
Francis (m/c June 2015)
Jude (m/c Oct 2015)

Such a beautifully named family!! Congratulations to JoAnna and her husband and their older kiddos, and happy birthday Baby Laura!!

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Laura Rose

(See more on JoAnna’s Instagram and Facebook!)

Birth announcement: Jacob Miles!

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Do you remember Kelli’s consultation from last week? She sent me all the birth+naming details! Her little man’s been given the amazing and meaningful name … Jacob Miles!

Kelli writes,

“Just wanted to drop you an email and introduce our newest little guy, and to thank you for the name consultation and wonderful comments and ideas! It gave us a lot to think about and really helped us narrow things down.

By the time we got to the hospital we were fairly certain about Jacob, but still not sure about a middle name. What was supposed to be a fast and easy labor, turned into the most difficult one I have ever had. By the time Jacob was born, we had friends, family, church family, priests, and nuns praying the Divine Mercy chaplet for him. He entered the world to my husband praying the chaplet over us in the delivery room. After learning about the name Miles, which you had suggested, and its connections to Mary and the Slavonic root word for Merciful, we knew we had to honor all those prayers by giving him this name.

He gave us a bit of a scare in the hospital. He had dangerously low blood sugar and ended up in the NICU, but thanks to a wonderful doctor and a fantastic nurse we were able to come home earlier today with a happy and healthy new one.

The entire family is thrilled and I am so glad we did the consult and discovered more about this name. It seems meant to be!“

What an amazing story!! I didn’t know of the connection between Miles and mercy when I suggested it, but how amazing that it ended up being just the name for this little boy and his particular circumstances! I also love that they ended up going with Jacob for a first name, which, if you remember, was the name their son Will was “desperate” to use — Jacob Miles is just the perfect name all around! It’s such a nice feeling to know the name chosen feels “meant to be.”

Congratulations to Kelli and her husband and big sibs Abby, Will, Aaron, and Jessa, and happy birthday Baby Jacob!!

Jacob Miles

Birth announcement: Charles David!

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Though Kate Wicker’s December guest post mostly focused on how she named each of her kiddos, she did finish up by saying she was open to ideas for her newest little one — a boy due in January. I’m delighted to share that he’s born and named — the very handsome … Charles David “Charlie”!

Kate and her husband hadn’t decided on a name by the time the baby was born, but it didn’t take long before he was named, and I’m totally not bragging or anything, but Charles was my No.1 suggestion for them. 🙂

🎉💃👏😊🙌💖

Congratulations to Kate and Dave and big sibs Madeline, Rachel, Mary Elizabeth, and Thomas, and happy birthday Baby Charlie!!

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Charles David (with his grandma)

(Be sure to check out Kate’s Instagram for more pictures of this adorable little guy!)

 

Birth announcement: Genevieve Guadalupe!

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Back on the Advent names post, reader Mary commented,

“I am due on the 10th and while we have names on our mind, I LOOOOVE the idea of incorporating Advent traditional themes into their names.🙂 So I will have to keep brainstorming, I guess.😉“

I always get so excited to hear of an upcoming birth! I told Mary I’d love to know what she ended up naming her baby, if she didn’t mind sharing. She didn’t mind! 🙌 She emailed me the other day to let me know her little one has arrived — a little girl who’s been given the gorgeous name … Genevieve Guadalupe!

Mary writes,

“Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you and your family well and blessed! A few weeks ago you shared a post on the blog on Advent Baby Names. I commented on the post that I was due December 10 with baby #2 (at the time gender was unknown) and that I loved the idea of an Advent-inspired name. We were blessed with the safe and quick(!) delivery of a baby girl on Tuesday, December 13th and chose to name her Genevieve Guadalupe. Genevieve after my husband’s late grandmother. We were already set on Genevieve as a first name for a girl, but were pretty unsure about middle names. During the last part of our pregnancy we did a 54 day rosary novena which just so happened to end on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and one of our intentions was for a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. We believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe definitely interceded for us (many blessings have been revealed during and after praying it) and wanted us to finish the novena before the baby was born! 🙂

What’s interesting is that the name was suggested by a couple family members, as a joke (we also joked that our baby’s name would depend on which saints’ feast day he/she was born on since there were so many that week!), but it really grew on us. Also, considering that we live in Texas, we felt that it was a perfect fit for our family and daughter!

Genevieve, nicknamed Gigi, joins big brother James Peter! 🙂 “

I looove Genevieve Guadalupe!! What a beautiful, meaningful combo!! I love how present Our Lady of Guadalupe was to Mary and her husband, and it’s so wonderful to memorialize her intercession in the very name of their baby girl. ❤ Also, I know Gigi can be a nickname for Genevieve anyway, but have G.G. initials makes it really fun!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Genevieve!!

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Genevieve Guadalupe