Fun Friday Question

Follow-up to yesterday’s post: My dad’s picks!

sanctanomina Fun Friday Question

It appears I jumped the gun in yesterday’s post on listing the names my dad would like if he got to choose today, without my mom’s input! He texted me his faves today (not including the ones he’s already chosen with Mom, as he was sure to point out ❤ ), and I was so surprised — pleasantly so! I love being surprised with names!

Yesterday I’d said:

“… these are names I remember him talking about since I was little:

Girl
— Maureen, nicknamed Mo
— Samantha, nicknamed Sam

Boy
— Daniel (not sure about a nickname?)
— Sebastian, nicknamed Seb(by) (Dad often referenced former track and field Olympian [and current British politician] Sebastian Coe when he talked about this name; it was the nicknames Seb and Sebby that he really loved, I’m not convinced the full Sebastian is actually his style)

Dad loves girl names that can have a boyish nickname!“

But THESE are the girl names he texted me tonight!

Sabrina
Gabriella
Rafaella
Genevieve
Antoinette
Anastasia

How frilly! How gorgeous! And nary a nickname (boyish or otherwise) in sight! My favorite is Genevieve, because it’s my mom’s Confirmation name — she wasn’t given a middle name, so her Confirmation has a middle-name feel for her. I love it! If we’d had a bunch of girls, I would definitely have tried to work Genevieve in somewhere. ❤

For the boys, he had Daniel and Sebastian, as I’d expected, but he added:

Raphael
Hamilton

Wow! So much more adventurous than I’d expect! Hamilton is actually a family name for him — a first name of an ancestor — and he’d suggested it to me (with the nickname Hammy) when I was pregnant with Luke, but not only is it not really my taste, I admit I thought he was half joking (especially because of Hammy!). Apparently not! (Not even about Hammy, I’m sure!)

What a fun Saturday night!! 😀

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

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Fun Friday Question: How different are your parents’ taste?

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I had so much fun with last week’s question and follow-up! It was so fun to read about your “almost names”!

Here’s another question for you: How different are your parents’ taste in names? If you were able to ask them right now what names they would have on their list if they didn’t have to take into account their spouse’s taste, what names would they be?

My parents did a phenomenal job naming me and my sibs (most of whom prefer to remain anonymous on here), but their lists are pretty different. I asked my mom last night for one or two of her favorite boy and girl names and she said:

Girl
— Róisín (Irish for “little rose”; said ro-SHEEN)
— Máirhín (the Irish “Mary” [Mair-] + “hín,” which is the ending syllable of the diminutive of her dad’s name — see Dáithín below; said mar-HEEN)
— Áine (used as the Irish equivalent of Anne, which is the name of Mom’s mom; said like the name Anya; Mom prefers this as a middle name, but then thought she preferred the sound of Áine Róisín and Áine Máirhín to Róisín Áine and Máirhín Áine )

Boy
— Fionn (“finn”)
— Dáithín (Mom’s dad was from Ireland and had the given name David, but he attended a St. Paddy’s Day event at my school once and introduced himself as Dáithín , which Mom had never heard before — he was apparently called that when he was small. [He also spoke with a brogue during that event, which he’d also never done.] Dáithí is used as the Irish equivalent of David)
— Mícheál (the Irish spelling of Michael, said MEE-haul)

It’s pretty clear what Mom’s taste in names is! 😂☘️

Dad wasn’t able to get back to me before this story went to press 😀 , but these are names I remember him talking about since I was little:

Girl
— Maureen, nicknamed Mo
— Samantha, nicknamed Sam

Boy
— Daniel (not sure about a nickname?)
— Sebastian, nicknamed Seb(by) (Dad often referenced former track and field Olympian [and current British politician] Sebastian Coe when he talked about this name; it was the nicknames Seb and Sebby that he really loved, I’m not convinced the full Sebastian is actually his style)

Dad loves girl names that can have a boyish nickname!

Mom’s Máirhín and Dad’s Maureen are pretty similar from their girl lists (though I don’t think Mom loves Mo and Dad probably wouldn’t go for an Irish spelling). Both my parents have biblical names on their boy list, which is what my brothers have, and if my sisters and I had been boys we would have had biblical names too, so there’s some common ground there. I love seeing that, though their lists look pretty different, there’s some points of possible overlap and compromise!

How about your parents? Happy Friday!

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

Follow-up to yesterday’s post: Opposite gender name?

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Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday’s post here on the blog and also on both Facebook and Instagram! It was so fun to read your responses! One thing several of you shared was the name you would have had if you’d been a boy (all my responders were women) — I didn’t think to share that part of my name story, but I wish I had! My parents planned to name me Joshua if I’d been a boy, which is a name both my husband and I quite like, but it doesn’t work with our last name. That would have been a fun way to name a boy after me though! I loved reading that too — that several of you considered names for your children that were names almost given to you. I’m a big fan of creativity in honor naming!

Happy Saturday, day of Our Lady and eve of Divine Mercy Sunday! (Notable fact: St. John Paul the Great died on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday.) ❤ ❤ ❤

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

Fun Friday Question: Who were you almost?

sanctanomina Fun Friday Question

Happy Friday everyone! Is this — could this be — possibly — my *fifth* post of this week?? Did I put up a post every day since Monday?? I can’t even believe it myself!

I have more birth announcements coming for you (so! many! babies! 😍😍😍), but I thought I’d take a quick breather and ask a fun question. A while ago Abby from Appellation Mountain asked about your “pre-name” on Facebook — actually, I can’t remember what she called it, it was something like “pre-name” I think, but probably not because I searched several times for that term and similar ones to find the post and link to it and I can’t, so I must have it wrong — anyway, she meant the name you almost had, or the name(s) that your parents considered for you before deciding on the name they gave you. I’ve been meaning to pose the question here ever since!

I’ll start: My parents considered Tiffany for me! (Which I’ve come to sort of love since I discovered it’s medieval form of Theophania [=Epiphany] and was traditionally given to girls born on the Epiphany. How cool!) (I was not born on or near the Epiphany, though.) They settled on Katherine Marie before changing it to Katherine Morna immediately after I was born (my sweet dad acquiesced to my exhausted mom ❤ ). (Happy day! I don’t feel a bit like a Tiffany, but very very much like a Katherine Morna, and especially a Kate.) How about you? Who were you almost?

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!