Naming nitty gritty

“Old man” names for girls

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Hi everyone! Happy feast of the Guardian Angels!

I’ve been meaning to write this post for ages, ever since Food Network’s Molly Yeh named her second daughter Ira. Ira! Sister to Bernadette who Molly refers to as Bernie exclusively. Bernie and Ira!

Bernie’s full given name is Bernadette Rosemary and, silly me, being immersed in Catholic naming all the time as I am, I thought that maybe Molly and her hubby would give their second daughter an equally heavy-hitting Catholicky Catholic + Marian combo (despite the fact that the story at that link includes the reasoning behind the name, in which no faith talk was mentioned) and was so excited for the birth announcement. Ira Dorothy was so surprising to me until I recalibrated my thinking and thought that Bernie and Ira sound perfect together — but as *gentlemen* of an older generation! In fact, if you search “Bernie” on the Social Security web site, you’ll see it defaults to male results and it peaked in 1937 at no. 469; Ira, too, defaults to “boy” and it was at its most popular in 1900 at no. 107.

It made me think of this chef on Tasty named Merle (full name Merle Shane O’Neal), and while Merle is listed on Behind the Name as both feminine and masculine (taken as a variant of Merrill or Muriel), the only Merle I’d known before Girl Merle on Tasty is a professor I had in college who was, yes, an older gentleman. Another “old man” name! Like with Bernie and Ira, a search on the SSA site for “Merle” defaults to only male results, with a peak in 1918 at no. 170.

You can actively choose “female,” which I did for each name after searching without choosing gender, and was interested to discover:

  • Bernie was not in the top 1000 for girls at all, though Bernadette was until 1994 and peaked in 1946 at no. 146
  • Ira actually does make an appearance for girls pretty regularly from 1900 until 1947, peaking in 1900 at 480
  • Merle peaked for girls at no. 295 in 1903 and dropped off the charts in 1957

Anyway, I didn’t know any of this about these names having usage for girls in the past — I was really caught up in this old-man-names-for-baby-girls thing when I read this article from August (very recent!) called “‘Grandpa’ Names for Girls With That Vintage-Cool Vibe” by Rita Templeton! I knew it! It talks about the “hundred-year rule” where “popular names gradually lose steam and fall off the charts, and it takes a hundred years for them to become in favor again.” So grandparents’ names tend to be ones that current baby namers are drawn to — we’ve seen it here with names like Agnes, Edith, George, and Hank-for -Henry. The article points out, though, that “what is fairly new is a trend we’re seeing in 2023 that takes the hundred-year rule and turns it on its head: using these traditionally-male vintage names for girls. ‘Grandpa names’ for girls feel both timeless and trendy — clunky yet cute, giving kinda the same vibe as those lug-sole loafers that are back in style.” I love that! I think “clunky yet cute” like “lug-sole loafers” is such a fun way to describe this!

So tell me! Have you seen the “grandpa names for girls” trend in your own circles? Can you share any examples?

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

“Official forms” and multiple middle names

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

A mama whose little one has two middle names asked me about how to handle the “middle initial” field on official forms, which is a question I’ve gotten with some frequency and have always answered with what I *think*, based on having a brother and two sisters with two middle names and hearing my mom’s frustration that the second middle was often ignored because there was no room for a second initial.

Today I did some research and found a more reliable source than myself: it took quite a few minutes of searching before I could find anything official (a lot of discussion posts though! A lot of people have this question!), but I did finally find this Employment Eligibility Form that explained what I think is the general practice on official forms in the U.S.:

“Your middle initial is the first letter of your second given name, or the first letter of your middle name, if any. If you have more than one middle name, enter the first letter of your first middle name. If you do not have a middle name, enter N/A in this field.”

I was also asked about a second middle name whose last letter was missing when the parents received the baby’s Social Security card in the mail — the mama wondered if there’s a character limit? Turns out there is! This article related the story of a woman who had a hard time getting all her names on her Social Security card, and someone from Social Security explained: 

“The first and middle name fields allow 16 characters each and the last name allows 21 characters.”

A space is considered a character, so the number of letters in the first middle name + the space + the number of letters in the second middle name all have to equal sixteen or less in order to fully appear on the Social Security card.

The article also said:

“… for the [Social Security] agency’s purposes a legal name consists of a first and last name only.”

So at least for Social Security, it shouldn’t matter that the second middle isn’t complete. For a passport, though, this site explains:

“The passport is a federally issued identification document so be sure to use your full legal name.

Middle names can be tricky when filling out your passport application, but don’t let that be the one factor that holds you back. A middle initial is acceptable on your passport instead of providing the full middle name. However, as a general rule of thumb, you should always enter your name as it appears on the documentation you present to prove your citizenship. This may include your social security number, drivers license, naturalization paperwork, and birth certificates.”

I would think, then, that someone who’s missing a letter on their Social Security card should present a birth certificate instead when getting forms of identification. Kind of crazy though, right?

** Please keep in mind that I am not a legal expert — if you have a situation like those mentioned here, consult someone who really knows! (Lawyer, Social Security rep, etc.) **

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

German naming rules

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Happy Monday, everyone! Today is the feast of St. Rita, one of my very favorites — I turned to her for intercession for some of the most *impossible* things in my life, after hearing of her powerful intercession from a friend who had an *impossible* thing happen after asking St. Rita for help — God has worked through her in amazing ways! I wrote more about St. Rita here and how to honor her in baby naming here. St. Rita, pray for us!

Did you all see Swistle’s lastest post about finding a name that works in Germany and the United States? I was fascinated by what the letter writer (an American) wrote about the restrictions she feels in naming her baby, who will spend significant time in Germany while growing up. Specifically:

“For some background on German names: there are a lot more unspoken rules around naming a child. If you look up ‘kevinism’ you will see just some of the rules linked to Germany. These include not giving your child a super ‘american/british’ name, not doing a super american/french name with a german last name, place/thing names are not acceptable, and names that are of german/latin/hebrew (biblical) descent are seen the most proper and correct. Scandinavian names are also popular in Germany. There are some exceptions to these rules, but generally these rules apply. While some younger germans are pushing away from these rules, they are still very much followed by many.“

Kevinism! A new word to me! I looked it up and found the article “The Strange German Disease Called ‘Kevinism’: Can a Lame Name Mess Up Your Life?” in Discover magazine (links in the quote were in the article; I didn’t add them):

“Another day, another crazy German noun: Kevinismus, which basically means, ‘You’re named Kevin? Sucks to be you.’ According to a study of interactions on the German dating site eDarling, online daters don’t even bother to click on the profiles of users with names that seem foreign and gauche to German ears, like Kevin. The authors suggest that this online neglect due to their unpopular names mirrors lifelong social neglect, which is also responsible for making Kevins smoke more, get less education, and have lower self-esteem. …

An article on Kevinism [note: this article contains a lot of German] in Die Welt quotes sociologist Jürgen Gerhards, who asserts that Anglo-American names (Mandy, Justin, Angelina to name a few more) are a lower-class phenomenon. It seems that no one has actually crunched the numbers to prove that, but jokes like ‘Only druggies and Easterners are named Kevin‘ suggest he’s on to something.”

Had you heard of this??

The mom gave a list of some of the names that she said won’t work, including:

“Lucy- the name we both love, but cannot use because it is seen as an English name and not a proper name in Germany. Plus, the older generations in Germany who do not speak English pronounce it like ‘lutzie’ which is not a dealbreaker, but we want a name that everyone feels comfortable with. …

Claire- we are both ‘okay’ with this name. Germans would prefer it to be Clara, but we can get away with Claire …

Kaia- a name I like, it would work in Germany b/c of its scandinavian origins …

Maren- another name that we’ve thrown around. Also diverts from my typical leanings for more classic names, but it is shorter. I like the meaning ‘of the sea.’ It is a German/Danish name, but older name in Germany and I think it is rising in America. …

Lily- the only ‘flower/thing’ name that Germans find acceptable, because they do not consider this name to be a flower. In Germany, the name is spelled ‘Lilly’ and comes from the full name Elizabeth. …”

Fascinating! It reminds me of the story Jenny Uebbing related about her Joseph Kolbe:

“… while traveling in Italy (the first time) we chatted up a capuchin Franciscan from Poland in a restaurant in Assisi of all places, and as he bounced 7-month-old Joey on his knee, we proudly told him that his middle name was Kolbe ‘for Father Max.’ The happy friar shot us a look of horror and asked in disbelief You took his family name?! So I guess the American trend of assuming surnames is not kosher the world over.”

Anyway, back to Kevinism — some more info from Swistle’s readers:

“I am German and have named two children in the last four years in the knowledge that a move to the UK in the next years is quietly likely. Swistle has excellent advice, but I would like to add the following: ‘Kevinism’ is a thing BUT if you know that one parent of the child is from an English speaking country people will be a lot more understanding.”

And:

“Another German Mom (and teacher) here.

Please don’t worry too much about kevinism. It’s on the way out and only pertains to some American names.

Essentially, it’s the same as in the US: if you want to avoid scorn, avoid ‘made-up’ spellings, lots of y’s and celebrity names

Rose (pronounced Rosuh) is actually a fairly traditional given name in Germany. It’s often but not always short for Rosemarie and it is quite dated (a grandma name), but it does exist. And Rosa is considered quite modern. …

Please don’t let the Internet scare you so much. I promise we are not that conservative!!! And just as in the US, we have so many new immigrants coming in, that our children’s generation will see this very differently.”

And there were several other comments that were helpful and enlightening; some gave some great name suggestions, and some pointed out which names are considered “dated” in Germany. I loved reading all of it!

Finally, this comment is kind of amazing!:

“So! I wrote in a long, long time ago about my (now deservedly ex-) boyfriend who hated noun names with a passion, but wouldn’t explain why. I remember you wondering, Swistle, why he hated them so much.

This genuinely answers that: he was German! I didn’t realise that was a German thing! The resolution I never knew I needed.”

Wow! So many things to learn in that post! Do any of you have experience with German naming? Do you agree with the conversation going on in this Swistle post between what the letter writer feels are her limitations and what the commenters are saying?

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Fun Friday Question: Surprisingly biblical and non-biblical-biblical names?

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What a weird post title, right?

In considering the name Veronica for this family’s consultation, I argued that it would be a great bridge name between their sons’ biblical names and their daughter’s non-biblical name because of the fact that it’s *not* biblical, because it doesn’t appear in the bible, but at the same time it *is*, in a certain sense, biblical, because the person it refers to is in the bible. A non-biblical biblical name! Or Bible-adjacent?

It got me thinking about others, because there are others! Other names that don’t appear in the bible but the people they refer to do, just like Veronica. Like:

Caspar/Casper/Gaspar/Jasper, Melchior, and Balthazar (names traditionally given to the Three Wise Men)

That got me thinking about names that don’t sound biblical (in the sense that their non-biblical associations are so overpowering that their biblical-ness might even be a surprising discovery):

Alexander (Mark 15:21, Acts 4:6, Acts 19:33, 1 Timothy 1:20, 2 Timothy 4:14)

Julia (Romans 16:15)

Nicholas (Acts 6:5)

Do you agree that Alexander, Julia, and Nicholas don’t come across as biblical? Can you think of other names like Veronica and those of the Magi that refer to people in the bible but who aren’t actually named in the bible?

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Holy Saturday name thoughts

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I wanted to pop on here quickly to say Happy Easter to you all! I hope it’s a beautiful, holy day for you and your family!

And since I’m here … 😏 … I had two name thoughts to share:

One is about the Marian name Soledad (often seen as a given name as María de la Soledad, and Marisol — as a nickname or a given name — is from María de la Soledad. The journalist and former CNN host Soledad O’Brien’s given name is María de la Soledad). It’s the ultimate Holy Saturday name! As I wrote in my book of Marian names (not affiliate link):

“This beautiful Spanish name means ‘solitude,’ and comes from the Marian title Nuestra Señora de Soledad (‘Our Lady of Solitude’), which refers to the solitude of Our Lady while Jesus was in the tomb.”

Isn’t that amazing! I always think of this name on this day, and I love being reminded that it’s a day of solitude.

And speaking of “ultimate” names, I was very struck this Lent by how one of the ultimate biblical names for boys is Simon! There’s Simon Peter, Simon the Zealot, Simon of Cyrene, Simon the father of Judas Iscariot, and Simon who is included in the list of Jesus’ brothers* in Mt 13:55 and Mk 6:3, as well as others in both the Old and New Testaments. It’s a variant of Simeon, which is also well represented! Wow! (I would include John and Joseph as ultimate biblical boy names as well, just based on numbers — what others would you add?) (Of course, Mary for girls!)

“See” you next week!

* I don’t want my blog to ever be a source of confusion for anyone, so if you’re not aware of Catholic teaching regarding Jesus’ brothers, be sure to read it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (numbers 499-500) and an article that fleshes it out more fully here. (TL;DR: they aren’t the sons of Mary, who the Church teaches was “ever virgin.” That means “always.”)

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Fun Friday Question: How do you pronounce Therese?

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Happy Friday, everyone!

I posed a question on Twitter a few years ago, which I then posted about on the blog, regarding the pronunciation of Lisieux specifically and your thoughts on pronunciation of Saints’ names with non-English origins more broadly — an interesting discussion ensued! A little more heated than what I usually see on Sancta Nomina! But here I am to dip my toe back in the controversial-pronunciations water to ask:

How do *you* pronounced Therese?

I would say the three pronunciations I usually hear are ter-EZ, ter-AYZ, and teh-REESE. I might even consider ter-EZ and ter-AYZ to be variants of the same pronunciation. Do you agree? Would you add any?

As a follow-up, what are your thoughts on the accents? Do you say Thérèse differently than Therese? Have you given Thérèse/Therese to your daughter, and if so, is there more you can say about pronunciation and accents vs. no accents?

I don’t want anyone to feel self-conscious about the way they say the name or what their thoughts are on accents, so please everyone, be sensitive!

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Some great name articles

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Hi everyone! Happy Saturday, day of Our Lady!

I just read three articles on Laura Wattenberg (the Baby Name Wizard)’s site that I thought were great and wanted to share:

In Search of Antique African-American Names

The 2022 Name of the Year is Volodymyr

Lessons in Naming from American Sign Language

I learned something from each of them that I hadn’t previously known, really well done. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself here.

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Sibling Project: Fulton

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Longtime readers might remember that I’d started what I call the Sancta Nomina Sibling Project a few years ago. It was an attempt to supplement the info in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) with Catholic-specific data, and to also provide info on names that don’t have their own entries in the BNW. So far I’ve taken the information you’ve shared and combined it with my own thoughts/ideas/experiences for the names Kateri, John Paul, and T(h)eresa (all listed on this page), and it looks like I started working on a profile for Therese as well (I’ll try to finish that up soon). In light of the loss of the BNW tools on its now-defunct web site, I’m feeling inspired to start it up again. After finishing the Therese profile, I’d like to focus on Fulton, which does not have its own entry in the BNW.

According to the Social Security Administration database, Fulton was a top 1000 name for a few years early in the 20th century before dropping out of the top 1000 altogether.

Screen shot from https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi

Digging deeper in the most recent years, these are the number of babies given the name Fulton from 2000 through 2020:

  • 2020: 69
  • 2019: 65
  • 2018: 34
  • 2017: 53
  • 2016: 42
  • 2015: 35
  • 2014: 55
  • 2013: 28
  • 2012: 30
  • 2011: 24
  • 2010: 14
  • 2009: 14
  • 2008: 11
  • 2007: 9
  • 2006: 12
  • 2005: 19
  • 2004: 13
  • 2003: 15
  • 2002: 9
  • 2001: 10
  • 2000: 18

(To go back further, go here — I used the National Data.)

It’s notable that Bishop Fulton Sheen was declared Venerable in 2012; it would be interesting to see if the numbers changed in light of his death in 1979. Also, from his first broadcast on the radio in 1926 through the many years he was on TV and until his death, his popularity in America only increased — I would imagine the name did as well (though still staying out of the top 1000, which I find strange given that it was in the top 1000 before he was ever known — does anyone know why?). I plan to look at those numbers when pulling together the info from your comments in my final “entry” on the Sibling Project page.

Fulton is a Catholic surnamey name (which, in my mind, always also includes place names, because of their usage in Saints’ names as a sort of surname: e.g., St. Catherine of Siena). However, I’ve seen parents choose Fulton who don’t otherwise seem into surnamey names, which I assume is due to the fact that, for many people, their primary familiarity with the name is only as a first name (albeit an unusual/unique one). Furthermore, Fulton wasn’t even Ven. Fulton Sheen’s given name — rather, his given name was Peter John, but he went by his mother’s maiden name, Fulton. Further further, not only is it a surname but it’s an Irish one as well. So there are a few reasons that parents might like Fulton:

  • it’s an obviously Catholic name
  • it’s an unusual/unique first name (per it’s most famous bearer)
  • it’s actually a nickname (of sorts) (by this I mean, in the case of Ven. Fulton Sheen, it wasn’t his given name) (side note: there are actually a bunch of other famous holy people who we know almost exclusively by names other than their given names — I wrote an article with several examples not too long ago for CatholicMom)
  • it’s a surname
  • it’s Irish

In light of these, if you have given your son the name Fulton or plan to/thought about/have it on your list of serious considerations, which of the reasons listed above fit your reasons? More than one or none at all are totally fine — and if your reason isn’t listed above, please share what your reason(s) is/are?

And I’m eager to hear anything else you know about the name Fulton! Specifically, if you know someone named Fulton (your own child or someone else’s), what are his brothers’ and sisters’ names? What names (boy names and girl names) do you consider to be stylistically similar to Fulton (from a Catholic perspective)? Also, I did a post on nicknames for Fulton over five years ago — I’m sure at this point there are more! Please share the nicknames you’ve heard, or those you think could work!

I’m back on hiatus from doing consultations (though check back from time to time, as I hope to open up a few spots here and there as I’m able), but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Fun Friday Question: “Unmistakably Catholic,” except … not?

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Happy Friday everyone! A question for you all today: Do you know or have you ever encountered someone with what you consider to be an Unmistakably Catholic name, but the person isn’t Catholic? I don’t mean someone who has Catholic parents and/or was raised Catholic and has fallen away, nor do I mean someone with a name that is *both* super Catholic and also something else (like Fatima), nor do I mean someone with a name that *is* very Catholic but has also become very mainstream and borne by people with lots of different backgrounds (like Joseph), I’m thinking more like a non-and-never-have-been-Catholic named Regina or Pius.

If so, what name was it? Were you able to ask about it? Do you know the person’s siblings’ names? Any other info about this kind of naming situation? What characteristics do Unmistakably Catholic names have that you think might be appealing to non-Catholics?

Have a great weekend!!

The five baby name consultation openings I had for January have been taken, but Theresa is available to help you out! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

For help with Marian names, 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). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Lilibet Diana, and honor names

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I posted briefly on Twitter and Instagram yesterday when I heard the news about the birth of Harry and Meghan’s daughter and quickly received the most IG likes and comments I’ve had in a while! Some people love the baby’s name, while others have been driven to deeper depths of anger at H and M than they were before the baby was born. I’d love to know what you think!

I’m also thinking quite a bit about what makes a name an honor name, and when an honor name does the exact opposite. If you have thoughts and/or personal experiences on that topic, I’d love to hear that too!

As for me, my initial reaction upon hearing the name was to be absolutely stunned at how very perfect I thought it was. I’m always delighted at being surprised by a name, and I was thoroughly and happily surprised by Lilibet Diana. Though I’ve since thought more about the possible negative aspects of it, I continue to love it.

Please share your thoughts!