Spotlight

Spotlight on: Josephine and Josepha

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I was recently reading about St. Josephine Bakhita, whose feast just passed (February 8) — what a woman! I’d never known much about her, but was blown away by the little I read of her life here. So her name was already on my radar when I read the snippet in the Baby Name Wizard about the name Josephine:

“How many names can be all this for you: elegant as an empress, familiar as an old friend, and ready to kick back with fun little nicknames? The answer is exactly three: Victoria, Catherine, and Josepine. The first two are perennially popular, but the third still manages to sound creative. Ahhh.”

I love that! And, you know me, being Nickname Girl (it might be one of my best superpowers 😉 ), I just loved all the suggestions offered: Jo, Josie, Joey, Josette, Fifi, Jody, and Posy. It didn’t list one that I read once though, that I thought was totally inspired and still do: Sophie. Amazing, right? I admit Josephine has never been my favorite name, and Sophie’s my favorite of the Soph- names (I do prefer it to Sophia) but it doesn’t totally fit my personal style … but Josephine nicked Sophie? I could totally get behind that!

Josefa was the entry right before Josephine the BNW, so I thought I’d include that here as well. I’ve known exactly one person with the name Josefa (or maybe she spelled it Josepha?), but she was cool so she made the name cool to me, and I’ve liked it ever since. The Josephine nicknames aren’t all totally right for Josefa in my opinion — Sophie draws as much from the “een” end of Josephine as it does from the “f” in the middle and the long strong “o” in the beginning; Fifi also wouldn’t be as natural for Josefa — but the Jo- ones are all great. I could also see something like Effie working, with the stress in Josefa being on the “ef.”

And of course, we can’t forget our good St. Joseph and what a great way to honor him either Josephine or Josepha/Josefa is.

What do you think of Josephine and Josepha/Josefa? Do you know anyone with these names? Do they like their name? Do they go by a nickname?

Spotlight on: Dunstan, Mihangel, Paderau

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I’m familiar with a lot of names. I read name books all the time — over and over again — call me crazy, but I find them soothing and always interesting and I learn something new each time. But I was still blown away when I was re-reading one of my favorites last night — Oxford Dictionary of First Names — just flipping through it, looking up some specific names, reading on about others, and I came across three I’d never noticed before: Dunstan, Mihangel,  and Paderau.

Dunstan is a male name, “[f]rom an Old English personal name derived from dun ‘dark’ + stān ‘stone’, borne most notably by a 10th-century saint who was archbishop of Canterbury. The name is now used mainly by Roman Catholics” (emphasis mine). !!! Now, maybe I’ve heard of Dunstan, but the fact that, at least for the audience intended by the authors (mostly Brits I would think), the name is used mainly by Roman Catholics immediately made me want to take note. So cool!

Mihangel and Paderau were both listed in the “Welsh Names” section of the book. Mihangel is a male name, from an “[o]lder Welsh equivalent of Michael … representing a contraction of the phrase ‘Michael the Archangel'” — I don’t know much about Welsh pronunciation, so I’m not sure how to say it, but I love that it’s for Michael the Archangel.

Paderau is both a male and female name, and it’s a modern Welsh name “from paderau ‘beads, rosary’.” Again, I don’t know how to say it, but when I looked it up on behindthename.com, one of the comments said, “Reminds me of the Irish word for rosary; paidrĂ­n (probably because paidrĂ­n and paderau are related words). However, from reading the comments on Behind the Name, it would seem that many ‘modern Welsh names’ aren’t used by the Welsh at all, and they just sound ridiculous to them. I hope this is a real name in Wales (because that’s all that matters, if you’re choosing a Welsh name), but it really looks nicer than it sounds.” PaidrĂ­n! I love that too! It’s not listed as a proper name anywhere that I could see, but I think both Paderau and PaidrĂ­n would be amazing names in honor of Our Lady via the Rosary (maybe best in the middle though).

What do you all think of these names? Do you know anyone with these names, or how to say Mihangel and Paderau?

Spotlight on: Solanus

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My family has a special connection to Venerable Solanus Casey — a Capuchin who died in 1957. He’s been a powerful intercessor for us — we believe that his intercession miraculously saved my sister’s life when she was stillborn — and I’m delighted to spotlight his name today.

Barney Casey was the oldest of sixteen children, and he struggled academically (a great patron for any student who has a hard time!). As I understand it, he took the name Solanus when he entered the seminary in Detroit, after St. Francis Solano (also known as Francis Solanus), a Spanish Franciscan missionary who died in 1610. When I first thought about the name Solanus, I assumed it had something to do with the sun — “sol” means “sun” and all that — but it’s not actually true (a mistake I’ve made often … like the name Soledad I always thought probably meant “sunny” because of the “sol” part, but it actually means “solitude” and comes from the Marian title “Mary of Solitude” [Maria de Soledad]). With Solano, it was St. Francis’ family’s last name, which means … oh wait a minute! Ancestry.com is saying that it’s a “Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian-Leonese: habitational name from any of the places named Solano (Burgos and MĂĄlaga provinces) or El Solano (Asturies, and Uesca, Aragon), named with solano ‘place exposed to the sun’ (Late Latin solanum, a derivative of sol ‘sun’).” (Emphasis mine.)

So I was right! Which is so awesome, because when I’d originally had the thought that it had something to do with “sun,” I thought of a nickname that seemed just perfect, and when I thought that I’d been wrong and it didn’t have anything to do with “sun,” I thought, “Oh well, the nickname’s a good one anyway.” But here we are back again and the nickname I thought of was …. Sonny! Or Sunny, but I think Sonny comes across as more masculine. How cute is that?? Solanus nicknamed Sonny. Swoon! Because, you know, with a name like Solanus, if you’re a two-year-old little guy and not an old Capuchin with a long beard, you kind of have to have a nickname. (I think Solly works too, which is really cute.)

What do you all think of Solanus? I think it’s extremely do-able as a middle name, and with a great accessible nickname like Sonny it’s a great first name too. Do you know anyone who has the name Solanus as a first or a middle? What does he think of his name? Does he go by a nickname?

Spotlight on: Bosco

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Today’s the feast of St. John Bosco, who is a special saint for our house full of boys. John is certainly a fine namesake for him, or the full John Bosco, but there was a Brother Bosco at our parish for a while, which really made me consider the name Bosco on its own.

Bosco. It seems to have some use as a first name among the laity — anyone remember Mr. T’s character’s name on the A-Team? (Answer: Sergeant B.A. Baracus — the B.A. was for Bosco Albert. This is new to me — I never watched the A-Team — I like Bosco Albert a lot! I guess he told people B.A. was for Bad Attitude? And his childhood nickname was Scooter. All super cute, I could totally see a precocious little guy owning all those names.)

But the scarcity of info on the name in my sources says to me its use is not widespread nor its origin well known (or maybe its origin for other people isn’t the saint). I could see Boz or Boss being really cute nicknames for it, and it seems a natural brother for a Fulton or a Kolbe.

Do you know anyone named Bosco? Does he have a nickname? Does he like his name?

Spotlight on: Juniper

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Taylor asked for a spotlight on Juniper, and in light of Pope Francis’ recent announcement that he’ll canonize Bl. Junipero Serra when he visits later this year, I’m delighted to do so.

Junipero is all male to me, because of Serra, but Juniper is only feminine to my ear; it’s listed as a girl name at Behind the Name, but its entry at Namipedia is a bit more gender neutral. I’m a big fan of boy names for boys, meaning unambiguously male names (except for something really obvious like Mary as a middle name), so I think I’d have a hard time with Juniper for a boy. If anything can change that though, a new saint could!

For a girl though, I’ve seen it talked about a time or two, like when Swistle discussed it and a few times on Baby Name Wizard (here, here, here, here …), and it’s really grown on me. The nicknames are just the sweetest — Junie? Come on. It could not be any cuter. Juno’s another option, and of course just June. Up until now I’ve thought of Juniper as kind of a hippie name, but from here on out I’m going to be thinking all saint, which is so great.

What do you think of Juniper? Do you know anyone named Juniper? Does he or she go by a nickname? Would you consider using Juniper for a boy?

Spotlight on: Oscar

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The scene in the movie “Romero” where the soldiers are shooting up the tabernacle and Archbishop Oscar Romero was risking his life to save the hosts — to literally and freely take the risk of dying for Jesus — was one of the single most moving things I have ever seen — I saw it once in high school and once in college and that scene has stayed with ever since. He was eventually killed while saying Mass “in El Salvador in 1980 by Right-wing death squads. His murder came a day after he had said in a homily that soldiers should obey God’s commands and put down their guns.” (From “Archbishop Oscar Romero was a martyr, declare Vatican Theologians.”)

“Archbishop Romero’s Cause was opened at the Vatican two decades ago but was delayed for years as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith studied his writings, amid debate over whether he had been killed for his faith or for political reasons.” But now it has been ruled that “Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered “in hatred of the faith”” — that he was indeed a martyr — and even that the Archbishop “will “almost certainly” be beatified in 2015, and that Francis may skip the beatification and canonise him in San Salvador.”

So: Oscar. It’s one of those names I want to like. It always shows up in lists of names that are similar to names I like. Like … Leo. And Victor. And Hugo, Rosa, and Milo. (All this according to the Baby Name Wizard book.) And it’s got great Irish connections, which is always appeals to my overwhelmingly green heritage — Oscar was the grandson of Fionn mac Cumhail (Finn McCool). It’s somewhat popular in the Scandinavian countries, which is a large part of my husband’s heritage, so that’s appealing as well.

But there’s Oscar the Grouch and Oscar Meyer bologna and (good heavens) Oscar Pistorius. It’s just not a name I could get on board with … until now? Here’s betting a Blessed or Saint Oscar Romero will make the name jump up and dance all over the baby name stats. Oz or Ozzie are cute nicknames for a little guy (Ozzie Osbourne notwithstanding), or even Scar, I suppose, for the edgier among us, and I could see a grown-up Oscar being an athlete (Oscar de la Hoya) or a poet (Oscar Wilde).

What do you think of Oscar? Can you think of other nicknames for it? Do you know any little or big Oscars? What do they think of their name?

Spotlight on: Stephen

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Today’s the feast of St. Stephen, so what better name to spotlight? (My Christmas name post is here, and I hope you all had a very very merry, joyous, blessed Christmas!) (Pope Francis discussed St. Stephen during the Angelus today, saying, “If we are not all called to martyrdom, as Stephen was, nonetheless, the Pope said, “every Christian is called in every circumstance to live a life that is coherent with the faith he or she professes.” Pope Francis acknowledged that following the Gospel is a very demanding path. But, he said, those who follow it “with fidelity and courage” will receive the gift promised by the Lord to men and women of will – the promise announced by the angels to the shepherds: “on earth, peace to those on whom His favour rests.””)

I have a lot Stephens in my family — Stephen with a “ph” always and only, and don’t try to spell it Steven because that’s not their name. It’s a great, traditional, masculine name with a great history, including being the name of the first martyr and several kings. There are also several female versions, like Stephanie and Stefania.

There are two acceptable pronunciations apparently — STEE-ven and STEH-fen — but I’ve only ever heard STEE-ven in real life, and my family members all say it that way. Steve is a great nickname for a man or a boy, and Stevie great for a little boy (or a spunky choice for a girl, a la Stevie Nicks). It’s great for all ages, and while it’s pretty uncommon on little boys at the moment, mom blogger-turned-Catholic Digest editor Danielle Bean gave it to one of her sons. And besides, less-used names are all the rage among name nuts, right?

Do you know anyone named Stephen? Does he have any opinion of his name? What nickname does he go by, if any? What about girls with a feminine variant? What are their nicknames?

Spotlight on: Nic/k- names

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Not nicknames, Nic/k- names — names that start with Nic/k: Nicholas, Nicodemus, Nicanor, Nikolai, Nico, to name a few.

Last Saturday was the Feast of St. Nicholas, which got me thinking about this post. We’ve considered it once or twice for our boys, mostly to get to the nickname Cole, but I like Nicky too. Cute for a little boy, strong for a man. (Side note about Cole: I love Cole, and we considered using it just as it is as a given name, but it feels just a little too Caden/Brayden/Jayden to me, despite it’s long history of use [Old King Cole!]. We also considered Kolbe nickname Kole, but it too is too trendy feeling to me=just too cool for us.) (I also don’t love the possibility of Cole becoming Coley, as names for babies seem so wont to do. Coley’s a girl’s name.)

Nicodemus: One of my fave fave favorites. (My husband? Not so much.) I’m a big fan of names that are similar to “regular” names but have a twist of some kind; Nicodemus feels that way to me because of the Nic nickname, and because it’s Biblical/New Testament — theoretically it should be just as acceptable as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Right? But it’s so so rare that I guess no one else agrees with me. 😦 (The Nicodemus of NIMH hasn’t helped.)

Nicanor: Pretty cool huh? It’s a saint’s name, it’s got a great nickname, it’s unusual, it kind of sounds like a Lord of the Rings/Narnia/Sword in the Stone kind of name. Why aren’t more parents choosing Nicanor?

Nikolai: Swoon. That’s all I have to say. Because it sounds so Russian to my ear, if we were of Russian extraction, I’d be all over this. (Though it’s also Scandinavian, as are my children … and actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau rocks it, and he’s not Russian — he’s Danish … hmm …)

Nico: I just love Nico. It’s short and sweet; it’s traditional and masculine; it’s pan European, which I really like in a name. But it feels too cool/hip/Italian for us.

There are other loads of other Nicholas variations besides those mentioned here (e.g., Nils, Claus), and feminine versions as well (e.g., Nicole/Nicola, Colette) — if you want to honor a Nicholas in your life/family tree or St. Nicholas himself, you have loads of options. Which are your favorites?

Spotlight on: Cornelius

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Today is the feast of Pope St. Cornelius, so what better name to spotlight than his?

Cornelius. Not a common name. I’m not quite sure what to think about it. On the one hand, it’s a Pope’s name, and a pope who became a saint (he combated heresy and an anti-pope and died a martyr). It’s also an old Roman family name, and has become one of those pan-European names, with a variant in nearly every European language. Some of them are quite cool, like Cai/Kai/Caj/Kaj (Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish), and there are some interesting diminutives too, like Cees/Kees (Dutch). I knew a man whose first name was Cornelius, but he always went by Neil, which is also a possibility. And I just discovered that Connie Mack‘s given name was Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. That is really cool. (I cannot recommend strongly enough to always always read the comments for each entry on Behind the Name — there is so much great real-world information there.)

On the other hand, though, Corny is a pretty natural nickname. Corny just doesn’t work these days. Right? I think kids still say it: “You’re so corny,” “That’s so corny.” Which is a bad thing. Or at least not a good thing. Right? Additionally, Corny always makes me think of Cornflake S. Pecially, which shouldn’t be a bad association (Mr. Rogers!) but isn’t a good one, in my opinion, for a baby. And as cool as the Connie Mack connection is, Connie just doesn’t seem doable for a boy these days (see also: Carroll, Meredith, Courtney …). Really, for me, I can’t see being able to warm up to Cornelius.

Which is really unfortunate, because I do love its historical and religious pedigree and international flavor. It’s got all the elements I look for in a boy’s name, but sometimes … that’s just not enough. (Alexander is another name that I feel similarly about — it hits all the right notes except the one that makes me like it. A post for another day.) If you love Pope St. Cornelius, or have a Cornelius in the family you’d like to honor, I could see it being a smashing middle name. Or, consider the female variant Cornelia, with its own history (the name of a woman considered to be the “ideal Roman woman”) and many sweet nicknames (Corrie, Lia, and my favorite: Nell).

Do you know anyone named Cornelius? Does he like his name? Does he have a nickname?

(Guest) spotlight on: Mercedes

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I have a special fondness for Marian names, and Mercedes is one of my favorites. How many times have I wished that it wasn’t also a car brand! I loved hearing it in the movie The Count of Monte Cristo (the one with Jim Caviezel), and in high school it was given to one of my best friends as her Spanish name to be used in Spanish class.

Laura Wattenberg (the Baby Name Wizard) just blogged today about Mercedes and how such a devout Catholic name became a car brand. It was pretty fascinating — as she put it, “the emblem of German engineering [is possibly] a product of French literature, with Spanish Catholic origins, via an Austrian Jew. Nobody said names were simple.”