Baby name consultation: Post-conversion baby needs a saintly name!

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Why don’t we kick off the weekend with a baby name consultation?! Hooray! 😄🎉

Arenda and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little green bean! (=gender unknown) 🌱 He or she joins big sibs:

James Elias (“we both just loved the name James, and we thought it was neat it was the name of one of the apostles. We’re drawn to classic names paired with more adventurous middle names, and we both liked the way the names James and Elias flowed together“)

June Adelle (“while we were on our honeymoon road-tripping across the USA, Jeremy and I read Johnny Cash’s autobiography aloud to each other. We both loved the name of Johnny Cash’s wife, June. She was known as a woman of great hospitality – so we agreed then that if we ever had a baby girl we’d name her June after June Carter. Plus, my birthday happens to be in June, so that’s a nice little connection, too. We both liked the way June + Adelle flowed together“)

Alice Genevieve (“we both really like simple, classic names. Alice is a sweet and feminine name — and our daughter totally fits her name that way! We both liked the flair/heft that Genevieve adds to Alice, and it turns out there’s a Saint Genevieve, which is lovely. Both Adelle and Genevieve sound French, which is funny seeing as my husband and I are both Dutch [though our heritage doesn’t factor heavily in our naming]“)

Gorgeous names, right?? I love each one!

Arenda writes,

“My name is Arenda, and my husband Jeremy and I are expecting a baby in March. We’d love your input on naming this little one! A little bit about us: we’ve been married for nine years, have three kids, and are both major book nerds. 🙂 Jeremy and I grew up Protestant and just joined the Catholic Church this past April. He was attending seminary to become a Protestant pastor when we both felt the call to the Church. (Super lengthy blog post detailing our conversion here [by Arenda; this one‘s by Jeremy)].)

(I just want to jump in and say how much I love reading conversion stories, and how much regard I have for those who have to leave behind a whole network of friends and sometimes family members in order to enter the Church.)

When we were naming our children, we mostly chose names that appealed to us on an aesthetic level. But I do love that our kids ended up with names that have saintly connections, even if we didn’t intend it that way at the time! 

With this little one, we’d love to name him/her in a meaningful way after a saint or two, or to choose a name based on its meaning. My husband is really drawn to older names like Charles, Henry and George … I like classic names, too, but I find those a little much! He also loves the name Mary, while I find it rather plain. I love the idea of having a Marian name of some sort, though … and more specifically, a name associated with Our Lady of the Rosary.

Some names we’ve considered or are considering:

Boys
– Joseph ([my hubs] found a job after praying a novena to Saint Joseph)
– Matthias (maybe)
– Ambrose (too much?)
– Andrew (kinda plain)
– Xavier (I like the Zavier pronunciation better, but don’t want to have an unusual spelling)
– Patrick
– John Paul
– Pierce (I really like your suggestion of naming a boy Pierce because of Mary’s heart being pierce with a sword; also, Peter Kreeft’s books were integral in our conversion, and it seems like a neat way to honour that without actually using the name Peter. Could also use the name Simon …)

Girls
– Rosa (simple and sweet; quite love this!)
– Rosemary (I like this name, but don’t really like the herb, lol)
– Marigold (I really like this name, and it also reminds me of my grandma who always had lots of marigolds planted around her home – but it sort of seems like a name for a blonde baby? and we’re both brunettes)
– Rosetta (this was on our list when I was pregnant with Alice and I still really like it)
– Roma (to honour our joining the Church … except it always makes me think of Roma tomatoes)
– Gemma (but also has the J sound — too much having a James, June and Gemma?)
– I also quite like the name Francesca, but more as a middle name
– Catherine (I’m reading Sigrid Undset’s biography of Catherine of Siena and her life was one of such devotion to Christ! But, I tend to prefer softer names for girls)
– Dorothea (means ‘gift of God’, which is lovely)
– Josephine (love this name, but June has a doll named Josefina — maybe as a middle name?)
– my husband also really likes Gianna, and I find her story very compelling, but find the name a bit of a mouthful. And it’s a bit rhymey with our last name.

We haven’t had much time yet to get acquainted with the saints, but here are a handful who are meaningful to us…
– St. Thomas Aquinas (Jeremy’s a theology teacher and loves the writing of St. Thomas)
– St. Augustine (ditto)
– St. Catherine of Siena (so devoted to Christ)
– St. John Paul II (holy man)
– St. Joseph
– St. Anne
– Mary

We have quite a long list of names to avoid because we both come from bigger families and would like to avoid duplicates. For girls: Amber, Charlotte, Eden, Emerson, Everly, Georgia, Heidi, Ivy, Kelsey, Kim, Kristi, Leighton, Leila, London, Mackenzie, Michelle, Renae, Sadie, Skye, Tanya, Zara. And for boys: Aaron, Anthony, Austin, Brian, Calvin, Colin, Edward, Gabriel, Jake, Jonathon, Duane, Jaxon, Lucas, Matthew, Peter, Ron, Sawyer, Stan, Terry, Thomas, Timothy.

And we have a couple name requirements, too! One is that it be a name that’s recognizable and not going to be mispronounced. My name is Arenda (a Dutch name that rhymes with agenda) and people are often confused when I introduce myself. We also prefer classic spelling of names, names without awkward nicknames, names that aren’t super trendy, and names that are clearly boy/girl names. Also, [no names that rhyme with Anne, as they would also rhyme with their last name] (I quite adore the name Anne, for St. Anne and for Anne of Green Gables, but I just can’t do it!). I do quite like repeating initials in names — like Ruby Rosetta. So cute! And we don’t care for names that are rather a mouthful (Thaddeus, for example).”

Alrighty! So I laughed out loud when I read that names like Charles, Henry, and George are “a little much” for Arenda — according to the Baby Name Wizard (which, as you all know, I always use in my consultations, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity) they’re exactly this couple’s style! Henry especially is one I would have suggested to them if Arenda hadn’t said she doesn’t care for it.

Many Catholics find Mary too plain, but there are a million ways to honor her using different names! My first thought was, maybe a Mary double would be a nice compromise between Arenda’s hubs liking it and Arenda thinking it’s too plain? Mary doubles are a very Catholic naming tradition! If the second name was more adventurous, maybe that would appeal to her? Something like Mary Aquinas, for example. Or Mary Corinne, Mary Seraphina, Mary Sabine, Mary Paloma, Mary Esther, or Mary Fiona (I’m pulling all these ideas from style matches from some of the more unusual names on their list, like Adelle, Rosa, Matthias, Ambrose, Xavier, and Pierce). Or, because Arenda said she likes alliteration, Mary Margaret, which might be one of the quintessential Catholic combos! Or perhaps she’d prefer them to be first+middle combos, rather than double first names? Either way, they could do nicknames that come from the first and second names together, like Marin for Mary Corinne, Maisie for Mary Seraphina or Mary Sabine, Maple (to get really interesting!) from Mary Paloma, Missy from Mary Esther, or Mina from Mary Fiona. Mary Margaret could be Mimi. Or they could use the second name as the call name, which is also a very Catholic tradition! St. Therese and all her sisters and her mom had Marie as their first name, but they all went by their second names. My dad has four first cousins named Mary ___ and they go by their middle names; his mom was Mary Loretta and she went by Loretta. So lots of ways to work with Mary, if they wanted to try to figure something out that would appeal to both of them!

I was also interested to see that, according to the BNW, Mariana is a style match for Elias, Marian for June, and Marion for Adelle, so maybe they’d like to consider one of those as a nod to Our Lady?

In terms of Our Lady of the Rosary, any of the Rose names on their list can honor her, as Rosary arose as a term for a figurative “crown of roses” for Mary. Arenda also said she loves Rosa, which would totally do the trick, as would Rosemary and Rosetta. I also wondered what they’d think of Rosary itself? I did a consultation and birth announcement a while ago for a mama who wondered if it would be weird to name her baby Rosary as a first name; she ended up doing so, and I just love it. I subsequently discovered that Rosary is not uncommon as a given name in Louisiana!

Another possibility in regard to honoring OL of the Rosary is that she was formerly called Our Lady of Victory, since devotion to her in this way is due to her intercession in the battle of Lepanto, so Victoria (or Victor for a boy) could be a nod to her. (I think this wiki entry is pretty accurate.)

Regarding the names they’re considering:

  • They can’t go wrong with Joseph! (But too many J’s?)
  • I love Matthias
  • Ambrose is a heavy name from the sense that it’s not popular and might also be totally unfamiliar to some people. My husband and I have considered it for a few of our boys, and really like the ideas of Sam and Bram as nicknames for it. One caution is that one of my readers has an Ambrose, and she said doctors’ offices and such are constantly mistaking him for a girl (Amber Rose) (but her son loves his name)
  • Regarding Andrew, something that might help is that Fr. Andrew Apostoli was a great priest who recently passed away, and I remember when I heard him speak once he referred to Andrew the Apostle as his patron, which is such a no-brainer but it really struck a chord with me — I’ve never known anyone named Andrew who’d really connected with any of the Sts. Andrew. So I thought that was pretty cool
  • They can totally do the Zavier pronunciation with the Xavier spelling! Both ZAY-vyer and ek-SAY-vyer are acceptable and traditional pronunciations! I wrote about the pronunciations of Xavier here (and got a little uppity!)
  • Patrick and John Paul are great, solid, saintly names
  • I love Pierce for them! And Simon too!
  • Rosa is lovely
  • Regarding Rosemary, since the herb association is problematic, I wonder if the variant Rosemarie would strike Arenda as a better fit? Roma could be a nickname for either Rosemary or Rosemarie, which would allow them to use two of the names on their list!
  • I don’t think Marigold is only for blondies! My friend recently named her baby Marigold, and all of her kids have darker hair
  • Rosetta’s such an unexpected Rose name, really pretty
  • Roma I love … maybe also Roman for a boy?
  • I can see what Arenda means about James, June, and Gemma. Another consideration is that Gemma is sometimes used as a feminine form of James
  • I think I agree with Arenda about Francesca being better as a middle name
  • St. Catherine of Siena is great! If not Catherine, maybe Siena as an unusual middle? She was also called Euphrosyne as a child — Greek for “joy” — so maybe Joy as a middle name? (Or Euphrosyne!)
  • I do love the meaning of Dorothea
  • Being the mom of boys, I’ve never had to worry about baby doll names interfering with naming my babies! Josephine would be lovely in the middle
  • St. Gianna is pretty awesome … her name is the Italian form of Joanna/Joan/Jean/Jane, so any of those could work in her honor, though Jane is too close to James and Joanna has the “Ann” problem with their last name, bummer

Regarding their list of saints, I had two thoughts I’d like to add: One is that the Charles family of names is often used to honor JP2, since his birth name was Karol, which is the Polish form of Charles. I know Arenda said her husband likes Charles and she doesn’t; maybe she’d like to consider Carl/Karl? I also know several boys with Karol as a first or middle — one is Joseph Karol, which would be nice since they have Joseph on their list (though, that’s a lot of J’s!). I’ve even seen a Lolek or two! Lolek was his childhood nickname, which is a Polish diminutive of Karol. For girls, I know little Charlottes (which I know they can’t use), Carolines, Karolines, and Karolinas named in his honor.

The second idea I had, re: St. Anne, is that I’ve thought that Stanislaus could work because of the first four letters being the same first four letters of “St. Anne.” Arenda said she’s drawn to classic names paired with more adventurous middles, so maybe Stanislaus could qualify? Another neat thing about Stanislaus is that I think it could honor JP2 too, because he had a devotion to him. I relate an awesome story about the connection between JP2 and St. Stanislaus here, and I did a spotlight of the name here.

Alrighty, so I’ve already offered a bunch of ideas based off of the names Arenda and her hubs are considering, but I have a few more. These are based on my research in the Baby Name Wizard, as well as ideas I had that just felt like good suggestions (very scientific, I know! Haha!). I tried to make sure I didn’t list any names that were on the list of names they can’t duplicate, and also that the names are recognizable and not likely to be mispronounced, and that don’t sound weird with their last name. These are my ideas:

Girl

(1) Molly
I scribbled this down on my list for them before I even cracked open the BNW! I was initially inspired by St. Gianna — I’ve seen people use Molly in her honor, since her name is Gianna Beretta Molla. Additionally, Molly is a Mary variant — in fact, its origin is as a nickname for Mary, though it’s come to be a name in its own right. They could still use it as a nickname — maybe even for Mary Gianna, where Molly works as both a nickname for Mary and a nod to St. Gianna? I like it both ways for them: as a nickname, or as a given name.

(2) Clare, Clara (Chiara?)
I think my favorite here for them is Clara, but Clare (or Claire) is certainly lovely. St. Clare of Assisi is a wonderful patron, and actually, her name was really Chiara, which is the Italian form of Clare, and I love the idea of Mary Chiara for this family! I also know several little Chiaras named for Bl. Chiara Luce Badano. But I wonder if this family of names is similar to Catherine for them in being not soft enough?

(3) Lucy
I know of a little Lucy June (she goes by both, SO CUTE!), so I actually already had Lucy in mind for this family when I saw they have a June, and then my research revealed that Lucy’s a match for their style. I love it! And the Ruby Rosetta that Arenda mentioned loving (as do I!) made me think of Lucy Loretta — Loretta’s a Marian name by virtue of the fact that it’s generally considered by Catholics to be a variant of Loreto, as in the Holy House of Loreto.

(4) Nora
I’ve seen Nora used as a nickname for Eleanor, Honora, and Annora (which is technically an Honora variant but could be a cool way to name a baby after St. Anne), but it’s also a name on its own, and has that same classic, sweet feel of James, June, and Alice. There’s a Ven. Honora Nagle, and they could also connect it to St. Helena via Eleanor, and also (a closer fit, I think) to Bl. Archangela Girlani, whose birth name is rendered as both Eleanor and Elanor. And actually, Elanor is fun for two “major book nerds” as it’s a Tolkien character name! I know a little girl named Elanor for that reason.

(5) Beatrice
I felt really good about Molly, Clara, Lucy, and Nora for this family, but I’m less sure about Beatrice — if it hadn’t been listed as a style match for Alice, Genevieve, and Dorothea, I probably wouldn’t think to mention it. But Bea is a fantastic nickname, and Beatrice can actually be considered Marian, as its “mother” name, Beatrix, means “she who blesses, makes happy, delights” in Latin, which points to the Marian title Causa Nostrae Laetitiae (Cause of Our Joy).

Boy

(1) Leo
I was far less confident in my ideas for boys than for girls! Leo’s the one that I think Arenda and her hubs might be most likely to like. Pope St. Leo the Great is a, ahem, great patron 😊; I have a nephew Leo — I love hearing it on him, such a great name!

(2) Owen, Oliver, Oscar
My favorite of these for this family is Oliver, after St. Oliver Plunkett — I love how James, June, Alice, and Oliver sound together! But I listed Owen first because my nephew Leo’s little brother is Owen! St. Nicholas Owen is one of my very favorite saints, so courageous! And Oscar’s a style match for Alice, Josephine, and Rosa; Bl. Oscar Romero would be patron.

(3) Dominic
Not only is Dominic a style match for Elias, Genevieve, Matthias, and Gianna, and a great saint in my humble and unbiased opinion 😊, but I also think Dominic can honor Our Lady of the Rosary — tradition holds that Our Lady gave the rosary to St. Dominic and asked him to promulgate it. I have this lovely image of Our Lady, Baby Jesus, St. Dominic, and St. Catherine on a medal I wear always. Also, since they love OL of the Rosary, they’d probably love Fr. Calloway’s Champions of the Rosary (Marian Press, 2016) — it’s an amazing historical and faith-filled account of the history of the rosary, and the Dominicans are HUGE in it — in fact, in the beginning are pages and pages of endorsements from top Dominicans all around the world.

(4) Louis
Speaking of Dominicans and Our Lady, St. Louise de Montfort is one of the most Marian saints, and his name is a style match for Adelle, Alice, Catherine, and Rosa, and Louie is the most darling nickname!

(5) Benedict, Bennett
I was going to end with Theodore, but since it’s the same name as Dorothea (but masculine, and with the elements reversed), I thought I’d end with Benedict and its variant Bennett. Benedict’s a style match for Genevieve, Matthias, and Dorothea, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is so so wonderful. St. Benedict of Nursia is also the father of western monasticism. And I think Benedict can also be considered Marian because of its meaning, “blessed.” But I wonder if Benedict is too much of a mouthful like it’s style match Thaddeus? In which case, maybe Bennett would suit their taste better? It’s a medieval variant of Benedict.

And those are my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little brother or sister of James, June, and Alice?

Baby name consultation: Short+sweet, easy to pronounce, Celtic feel

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Caitlin and her husband are compiling name ideas for a future baby (they’re not currently expecting), which is a really fun kind of consultation to work on! Their current children are:

Liam Christopher (“I have loved the name Liam since I was 10 (and apparently so had every other woman that gave birth in 2014!) and always wanted to use it if I ever had a little boy. I almost balked because it had gotten so popular but in the end knew I would regret not using it. He is a Liam through and through! Christopher is my husband’s first name.”)

Clare McKenna Constance (“My husband and I happened to be married on St. Clare’s feast day and the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Poor Clares. We then honeymooned in Ireland where we thought how cool it would be to use a geographic, Irish name somehow, so our girl’s first name is for both St. Clare and County Clare. McKenna is my maiden name that I have long thought of using as a middle. My husband and I liked that our first boy has a name from him and our first girl has a name from me. Constance was a last minute addition. My Grandmother (first name Constance) passed away while I was pregnant with Clare. It is also a strong family name as I additionally have an aunt and cousin named Constance. Her 3 names suit her very well as she is full of personality and a red head to boot! We joke that 2 names would not have been enough to contain all that is Clare! We are not big on nicknames but we often use her full name as a sort of nickname.”)

You all know how I feel about Irish names!! I love Liam and Clare together, and I love their name stories!

Caitlin writes,

“First of all, we are not currently expecting but if and when we do have more children we are pretty stumped. Our son and daughter have “the” boy and girl names so it’s been very hard to find other names that fit just as well … It has taken naming two children to see that we do have a bit of a naming style. We seem to like “short and sweet” (ideally 1-2 syllables and not too long letter wise), easy to pronounce names. We definitely prefer “softer”, not-harsh sounding names. We like nicknames in theory but in practice prefer to name our children what we plan on calling them. I go almost exclusively by Cait and my husband by Chris so we rarely hear the sound of our full first name! I am from 2 large Irish American families and definitely tend to be drawn to Gaelic/Celtic/Anglo style names but that is not a requirement. My husband is son to 2 first generation Italian immigrants but we are not drawn to most Italian/Latin/Spanish sounding names. We like to use the middle name as an honorific. We probably would not use a top 5 first name unless we LOVED it, like we did Liam.

There are a couple of things we like in theory but not so far in reality, like nicknames. We also like the idea of flower names for a girl but don’t actually like a lot of the shorter flower names and/or they are too popular. We would also like to use a girl’s name that would honor Our Lady but are not big fans of most Mary/Mari/Maria names. Despite that, the idea of using a name like “Marigold” (as it means “Mary’s Gold”) in the middle spot is actually growing on me. It feels a little indulgent for our style but I think it could be anchored by a more familiar first name. One thing I would like to hear your thoughts on, if anything comes to you: we as a family have a devotion to Our Lady under the title “Star of the Sea” or Maris Stella and would like to somehow use a name that is a nod to that. As I mentioned we don’t love most “Mari” names (there are also just sooo many “Mary-Something”/Marias between my Irish family and his Italian family) and don’t like the name Stella very much. I wouldn’t be opposed to using “Maristella” as a middle but again, it just seems a little too extravagant for us. Is there any way you can think of that could reference this title of Our Lady without actually using either word?

On to some lists!

Names we do like, for inspiration:
Girls: Lucy, Chloe, Ruby, Zelie, Gemma, Nora, Isla
Boys: Eamon, Ephraim, Finn (probably my favorite but my husband has a hopeless association with a very silly golden retriever named Finn), Jude, Theo, Oliver

Names we do like but can’t use:
Girls: Brigid, Lily(we just know too many!), Alice
Boys: Asher, Milo, Colm (just a little to clunky to say, I wish it wasn’t!), Calum, Leo (too close to Liam)

Names we dislike OR Family names we can’t repeat:
Girls: Joanna, Sophia, Audrey, Catherine or any variant, Anne, Lauren/Laura, Theresa/Therese, Julie , -ianna names (Gianna, Lillianna, etc etc)
Boys: Samuel, Connor, Matthew, Patrick, Andrew, Noah, Jonah, Ryan, Neil, Nathan, Juian, Stephen

Past and Present Pet’s names we obviously can’t use 😉
Reily, Lacey, Fiona, Bailey

Saints we would honor, likely in the middle spot somehow:
Joseph( also a big family name/my husbands middle name and I love Josephine as a girl middle), Nicholas, Anthony, Bernadette, Raphael, Pius, St. Therese, Rocco, Benedict, Bruno, Therese of Lisieux, Francis, Laurence, Our Lady

My problem with all of the Saints we would like to honor is that I don’t actually like any of their names! My husband doesn’t share this problem and would probably be fine with using any of these for a middle name as is, but I would like to try to find creative homages if possible.”

Alrighty, so I really like that Cait feels they’ve been able to whittle their style down to “short and sweet,” easy to pronounce, “softer” names, and that nicknames aren’t as big for them as they might have thought — I relied heavily on these guidelines when coming up with ideas for them.

I also like that they’re considering Marigold and Maristella for the middle name spot! They’re great names, but if they feel uncomfortable as first names, the middle spot would be a great place for them.

I gave some thought to their “Star of the Sea” question and had a few ideas:

  • Marina: Marina means “of the sea” AND it’s sometimes used in Scotland as an anglicization of the Scottish form of Mary, Màiri. So you can get the sea + Mary + Gaelic/Celtic/Anglo all in one name!
  • Another “star” name: There are several girl names besides Stella that mean “star” or similar, including Estelle (the French form of Stella), Esther (Persian), Seren (Welsh), Steren (Cornish), and the literary name Elanor (from Lord of the Rings – it means “star sun” in Sindarin, and it was also the name of a flower in the LOTR universe, and Samwise’s first daughter). Of those, I particularly like Elanor for them, since they already have Nora on their list of names they’re considering, and Nora can be a nickname for Eleanor/Elanor. Something like Elanor Marina could mean “star + of the sea,” if they felt the connection was strong enough to honor their devotion
  • Another “sea” name: There are other girl names that mean “sea,” as well, including Meri (Finnish), Mira (Indian, Hindi), Muirenn (sea+white/fair in Irish). I’m intrigued by Muirenn, because of their Irish sensibility … Forvo says it’s pronounced like “MUR-in”, as does Baby Names of Ireland I’m quite taken with Elanor Muirenn!

Before I get to my new suggestions to add to their (awesome) list of names, I had a few thoughts about them, and about the saints they’d like to honor (but t they don’t like their names):

  • I wonder if they’d consider Flynn instead of Finn? It’s so similar to Finn, but might be different enough that the dog association would be lost
  • I was so surprised to see Ephraim on their list! It’s almost completely unfamiliar to me! It doesn’t seem easy to say and spell to me, but I love seeing wildcard names on a couple’s list, so I loved seeing it here! Funny enough, Laura Wattenberg (author of the Baby Name Wizard, which I rely heavily on in my consultations as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity) wrote in her latest blog post about “55 Biblical Names Reaching New Heights” and Ephraim is one (it’s currently at no. 884; it entered the top 1000 in 2013 after not having been in the top 1000 since 1914). It didn’t inform any of my suggestions below, as I felt it was so different from their other ideas, which tended to be more similar to each other than not. But it did make me think of one name that I thought I’d mention here, in case it strikes their fancy: Malachy. There’s the Old Testament prophet Malachi, which gives Malachy the same biblical feel as Ephraim, but
  • Malachy is an Irish saint’s name and an anglicized form of some heavy-duty old Irish names
  • Cait said they can’t use Milo — I wonder if Miles would be different enough? I’m a huge fan of Miles! Both it and Milo have traditional usage in Ireland as an anglicization of the Old Irish name Maolmhuire, which means “servant of the Virgin Mary”! Irish, Mary, and male, all in one name! Also easy to say and spell, short and sweet
  • Josephine for a girl’s middle seems a great way to honor St. Joseph, if they don’t care for Joseph for a boy
  • I have an idea for Nicholas in my official suggestions below
  • For Anthony, I wonder if they would like any of the variants like Antonio or Anton? Or maybe Padua as a middle name?
  • I believe St. Bernadette’s given name was Marie-Bernarde, so maybe just Marie could sufficiently nod to her? (And Our Lady of course, a two-for-one!)
  • Pio and Pia are variants of Pius, maybe they’d like to consider one of them?
  • St. Therese was Marie-Therese, so Marie could be for her too (and Bernadette and Our Lady, whew!). I see Rose names given in her honor frequently as well — I quite like Rose or Rosa for this family, though I know Cait said they don’t care for a lot of the shorter flower names. I have another idea below for honoring St. Therese
  • Bennett is a medieval form of Benedict that I see pop up fairly frequently on lists of names parents are considering
  • Unfortunately I can’t think of anything great for Raphael, Rocco, Bruno, Francis, or Laurence! But I do have some ideas for Our Lady below

Okay, so I looked up the names Cait and her hubs have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard, and added some ideas of my own. Based on all that, these are my ideas:

Girl

(1) Maura, Moira, Molly
This is one of my Marian ideas — an Irish form of the name itself! I think Maura might be the best option for them, as it’s easy to say and spell. Moira is a pretty option too, though I know pronunciation varies depending on who you’re talking to. And I love Molly for them — it’s a style match for Lucy, Ruby, and Nora. (Using Maura or Moira would knock Nora off for the future, unfortunately.)

(2) Eva
Eva is a style match for Theo, and funny enough, I already had it on my list for Cait and her hubs for three reasons: first, I was trying to think of Irish names that could be easily anglicized, and Aoife was one of the first I thought of; second, Eva can be considered Marian in that Our Lady is considered the New Eve; and thirdly, because in the traditional hymn Ave Maris Stella there’s this stanza:

O! By Gabriel’s Ave,
Uttered long ago,
Eva’s name reversing,
Established peace below

Since the name Eva is used in the hymn, I thought maybe they could consider Eva to be a nod to Our Lady, Star of the Sea.

(3) Maisie
Maisie is a traditional nickname for Margaret, as it’s a diminutive of Mairead (the Irish Margaret). Though it’s often used as a nickname, it’s also bestowed as a given name — it was no. 574 in 2016 on the SSA chart.

(4) Tess(a)
This is my other idea for honoring St. Therese. Tess is a common nickname for the Teresa/Therese names, and like Maisie it can also stand on its own (it was a top 1000 name from 1983 to 2013). Tessa is also lovely, and feels more complete to some parents — it was no. 229 in 2016. (They could also consider the Irish Treasa!)

(5) Grace
Grace was a big style match for this family, being similar to Clare and the Lucy/Ruby/Nora/Molly names. It’s easy to say and spell; there’s the darling Gracie as a nickname if they’d like; and it honors Our Lady as well! It could go really well with heavy hitting, offbeat middles like Marigold and Maristella, though maybe that would be too many Marian names? I also like Grace Bernadette and Grace Josephine (Mary and Joseph in one! Beautiful!).

Boy

(1) Jack, Sean, Shane
These were my first ideas for them before I finished reading Cait’s email! I know they have John, Ian, Owen, and Evan on their list of names they don’t like/can’t repeat, so maybe they meant to add Jack, Sean, and Shane as well … but I had to suggest them just in case! All of them are easy to say and spell and nod to Cait’s Irish heritage.

(2) Henry
Henry is a style match for Clara (standing in for Clare, since Clare doesn’t have its own entry), Lucy, and Theo. I think it definitely has a British Isles feel, and there are loads of great Sts. Henry to choose from! I did a spotlight of the name here.

(3) Colin
This is my idea for Nicholas, and I had it on my list for them before I went back and re-read Cait’s email and remembered that Nicholas is one of the saints they love but don’t love his name. It’s easier than Colm and similar to Calum, but I didn’t see it on any of their “can’t/won’t use” lists. It’s got usage as an anglicized form of some Gaelic names, but for this family I prefer the separate usage derived from a medieval diminutive of Nicholas.

(4) Rowan, Rowen (Rohan?)
I’ll be interested to see what they think of Rowan/Rowen! Rowan did surprisingly well for them in my research, being similar in style to Gemma, Isla, and Finn. It’s more unisex than some parents of boys like — in 2016 it was no. 182 for boys and no. 239 for girls — but the spelling Rowen might help (visually anyway, even though it’s said the same as Rowan), as it’s no. 658 for boys and not in the top 1000 for girls. Another option that’s similar is Rohan, which can be said like Rowan, or it could be said RO-han, like the Riders of Rohan in LOTR. It’s got exclusively masculine use as far as I can tell — it was no. 742 in 2016, given to 327 boys and less than five girls (if any; the SSA only lists names given to five children or more in a given year).

(5) Casey
My last idea for Cait and her hubs is Casey. Like Rowan, it has unisex usage; unlike Rowan, the gap between the boy and girl usage is much larger: it was no. 560 for boys in 2016 and no. 857 for girls. The recent beatification of Bl. Solanus Casey has put it on the radar of quite a few parents, and he’s the first Irish American Blessed, which is awesome for Cait’s heritage. I think it’s short and sweet, and easy to say and spell.

There were a few other ideas I considered adding to the list, which I ultimately decided not to for various reasons, but I thought I’d include them here just in case: Greer, Maeve, and Julia for girls; Rhys, Alec, and Blaine for boys.

And those are all my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little sister or brother of Liam and Clare?

Spotlight on: Cecilia

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Cecilia! You’re breaking my heart! You’re name meaning’s causing some problems! 🎶🎶🎶

Not for everyone, certainly — Cecilia’s definitely one of those names that’s generally favored by parents wanting an obvious saintly name (I included it my list of unmistakably Catholic girl names), and I know lots of Catholic families with little Cecilias. St. Cecilia was a martyr for refusing to sacrifice to false gods; she was the first incorruptible saint; she’s in the Canon of the Mass; and she’s the patroness of music, musicians, musical instrument makers, and singers (among other things), which makes her name perfect for a music-loving couple to consider for their daughter. She was a strong, holy woman, and her name is lovely and feminine. There’s a lot to recommend Cecilia! But I’ve heard from multiple parents who have a hard time getting past its definition of “blind.”

One reader emailed recently about this issue — she would very much like to consider the name, but said, “I just cannot get past the meaning of ‘blind.’ A positive meaning is a must for me … I was just thinking that knowing more about the origins of Cecilia might change my heart a bit.” Of course! Let’s get to the root of the problem! We know it derives from the Latin for “blind,” but why? Who was the first to be named “blind,” and why were they?

Based on my research, I’m going to argue that the definition of “blind” no longer applies to this family of given names. From what I can gather, Cecilia is the feminine form of a Roman gens (or “clan”) name, which originally — in ancient days — was taken from a mythological figure, Caeculus, who was a king mentioned in the Aeneid, and his name was indeed intended to mean “little blind one” (from the Latin word for blind) because part of his mythology was that he showed mastery over fire (and in fact his mother was said to have been impregnated by a spark of fire), but the smoke did affect his eyes, hence the name of “little blind one.” He was really a figure of divinity and strength, and I’m sure the Roman clan didn’t fuss about the meaning of “blind” (otherwise they would have changed their name, right? Or not chosen Caeculus as their “ancestor” in the first place?). (I’m getting this info from Wikipedia, hoping that it’s accurate!  I also read this.)

So really, I think the name originally persisted because of that clan, and that family doesn’t mean “blind,” they mean whatever would come to mind when those who were familiar with them would hear their name, you know? Like, my last name is Towne, but I’m sure when people see or hear my name they don’t think “town, village, enclosure,” which is what the name originally meant. Or if they do, it’s a fleeting thought that’s quickly replaced by whatever comes to mind when they think of *me.* This is all what I tried to articulate in the article I wrote about name “definitions” vs. name “meanings”.

So if the original people with this name were able to look past the meaning of “blind,” and be powerful despite their name’s origin (and there’s even a goddess [of sorts] known as Caia Caecilia), even more so can those who have no connection to them or their origins (mythological or otherwise), and in fact have new connotations that are intimately tied up in the name Cecilia. Because I’m sure it’s only name nerds (and Latin ones too, I suppose) who know that Cecilia means “blind” — other Catholics know that it means “patroness of musicians,” and non-Catholics might know that there’s a musical connection, or they might just know it as a pretty name.

Now that I’ve convinced you all that blindness has nothing to do with St. Cecilia, in an interesting twist I just read this post that says St. Cecilia was born blind, and this post, which says, “The name Cecilia means blind and so, although we don’t know if she herself couldn’t see, she is also the Catholic patron saint of the blind.” None of this info (her being blind, or her being patroness of those who are blind) is included anywhere on CatholicSaints.info (which is where I usually turn for my saint info). In fact, I’d assumed that she’s known as Cecilia because she was a member of that Roman gens, and The Catholic Encylopedia at New Advent seems to support that hypothesis when it refers to “the family of St. Cecilia (Gens Caecilia).”

Back to being able to look past the “definition of the name,” I love that Behind the Name argues, “Due to the popularity of the saint, the name became common in the Christian world during the Middle Ages.” It’s ultimately because of St. Cecilia, and no other bearer of the name (nor, of course, its meaning), that the name has the popularity it has had and continues to have! So great!

As for the name itself, isn’t Cecilia so sweet? So soft and lilting. It can be spelled Caecilia (like this family) or Cecelia, and has some great variants like Cecily, Cicely, and even Sheila! Sheila is an anglicization of Síle, which is the Irish form of Cecilia. I love the Russian Tsetsiliya, the Polish Cecylia, and the fact that Cecil and Cecilio are male variants — so cool! And lots of fun diminutives and nicknames, including the familiar Cece, as well as Lia, Celia (which can also stand on its own with separate origins), Cissy, Cila, Cilla, Cilka, Silke, Silja, and Zilla. Who knew?!

What do you all think of Cecilia? Have you, too, been bothered by the meaning? Has this post helped? Would you consider naming your daughter Cecilia, or have you? What do the Cecilias that you know go by?

Name thoughts from Blessed is She

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You guy are the best! Three of you sent me the link to this post on Blessed is She yesterday, knowing that I would love it, and I do! Called by Name to Be with Him by Mary Catherine Craige. Beautiful!

Birth announcement: Peter Paul! (and a name question)

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A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know her little guy has arrived and been given the handsome, significant name … Peter Paul!

She writes,

“As usual my babies end up naming themselves in the end with a name I never considered until the last minute. A couple days before Peter Paul was born I was still obsessing about names and probably had about 20 names on the list. It was all decided when I went to confession and the priest asked what the baby’s name was so he could pray for him by name and I just blurted out Peter Paul! I like to think that Jesus himself was asking the name and basically having me decide at that moment so I would stop obsessing. Ha! So that’s what made it official for me and a couple days later he was born.

Thank you so much for all your name suggestions and help. Hugh and Cormac which you suggested were big contenders, as was Francis which I never imagined using either until the last minute!“

What a cool story!! I’ve never heard one like it! And Peter Paul is such a great combo! It is SO cool that they share a feast day — June 29 is the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul!

Mama also added,

“I have a baby name question for you still though — when our baby was first born we were using Peter as the first name and Paul as the middle name. I’m starting to prefer Peter Paul as the double barrel first name. What is protocol for double barrel names? Do we add a new middle name? Do we hyphenate Peter-Paul? I’m trying to think of what will be easiest for him long term with social security cards, passports, etc. What do you think?“

Such a great question! Fortunately we have John Paul as a frequent example of a double-barrel first name for a boy; unfortunately, even that doesn’t provide hard and fast rules. Certainly there has been Mary Kate and the like on the girl side for ages, and loads of people have hyphenated last names, and I think the way it’s handled on forms, etc., is to put both names whenever possible. So they can hyphenate, which will make more obvious that both names are part of the first name, or they can smoosh them together, a la Johnpaul/JohnPaul or Marykate/MaryKate. I don’t really know what will be easier in the long run! Whatever you put on the birth certificate should be exactly what goes on the Social Security card, and exactly what goes on the passport, but in terms of other forms — especially those ones with the boxes where one letter goes in each box — they might run into difficulty getting both Peter and Paul to fit, especially if they keep the space between or add a hyphen (as opposed to putting them together as PeterPaul). And I’ll bet that they’ll frequently find just Peter as his first name on various documents/in the doctor’s office, etc. But there are a lot of people who deal with issues with their names, and each person deals with it according to his/her personality (i.e., some people hate it and some people roll with it and are even really proud of it), you know?

I do know that some people find hyphens in boys’ names to be a bit fussy, if that’s at all helpful. But if they love it, they should do it! (And there’s Jean-Claude Van Damme as an example of a guy with a hyphen.)

As for middle names, probably the easiest of all the options would be to keep his first name Peter and his middle name Paul. I’ve known several people that go by their first+middle on a daily basis, as if it’s a double-barrel first name, so they could still call him Peter Paul in real life, and introduce him that way, and make sure that’s what he’s called at school, etc.

If they decide to add a middle name, they don’t have to do anything to Peter Paul (hyphenate etc.) unless they want to; they’d just add another name, which would go in the “middle name” spot on forms. Which means he might end up being Peter MiddleName sometimes, if whatever person or computer is dealing with his name can’t compute a double first name. Or Peter Paul with the middle name dropped, which often happens to second middle names.

I’ve often thought this mom handled the whole multiple-name thing well — it might inspire this family to come up with a creative idea as well.

Please share with this mom (and me!) what your thoughts are regarding her double-first-name question!

Congratulations to the whole family, including big siblings Niall Jude, Phoebe Rose, Linus Noel, and Johnny Blaise, and happy birthday Baby Peter Paul!!

Peter Paul

Name story: Ruby and Peter

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Two things happened recently that inspired this post: one was that a reader suggested I do a series on “the stories behind the names” — sharing the name stories of the children of any of you that would like to do so, whether you’ve had a consultation/birth announcement or not, which is an idea I love. The other was that another of you messaged me, “So I’ve shared bits and pieces about my daughter’s name with you, so I thought I’d just give you the whole big run down! I know you love name stories.” Perfect timing!

I’ve shared personal stories before, tagged either Name stories, Personal stories, or Real-life naming (little Meriam’s recent post is a perfect example), but I want you all to consider this an official invitation to send me your kiddos’ name stories, if you’d like to! I’ll run them when I have openings — I know I’d love to read them, and I’m sure all of you would as well!

So first up we have that mama who messaged me about her daughter’s name, and then she added in the info for her son’s name, and I’m thrilled to share their stories with you because they’re awesome!

Theresa and I follow each other on Twitter, and she has indeed shared bits and pieces of her daughter’s name with me before, so I loved reading the whole story!

“She’s Ruby Mae Anastasia. I liked the names Ruby and Mae independently of each other but one day (before we were even married!) my husband said, ‘What about the name Ruby Mae?’ I told him I loved it but that she needed two middle names (I have two and so we agreed so would each of our kids). Immediately he threw out Anastasia and we were set.

When we were finally pregnant, I actually wanted a completely different name for our first girl but this one kept coming back to me and eventually I gave in. Then all the weird coincidences started happening.

Ruby is both mine and my mom’s birthstone, so that was a nod to us. Mae is obviously a form of Mary and my mil’s middle name is Marie and my sil’s name is Maria, so a nod to all three of those ladies. Mae also means flower; my mil and I are both named for St. Thérèse the Little Flower, so that became another nod to all three of us. Then Anastasia is my other sil’s confirmation name, and then An- was a nod to my, my mom’s, and my maternal grandmother’s middle name Anne. But there’s more!

Ruby was due on Sept. 15 — feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This is where things get even crazier. I have a huge devotion to OLS, my paternal grandma died on her feast and *her* Mother was named Maria Delorosa and raised my gma and her siblings in Seven Dolors parish. My mom (and all of my dad’s family) are buried at Seven Dolors cemetery. So I *knew* that OLS just had to be her patroness and I consecrated Ruby to her in utero. But there’s more!

My paternal grandma’s name was Irene and her mom heard it on a radio program and fell in love with it. I first heard Ruby on a television show a couple years before I met my husband and fell in love with it. I consider that a special link between my daughter and my Gram.

And then you made me realize the connections between Ruby and the Sacred Heart and the Precious Blood, both of which I’m very devoted to, so I count those in her patronages, as well.

Literally all the women in my family are accounted for in Ruby’s name … and then she’s got some powerful patrons on top of that! It was just so perfect I love when a name just comes together like that and I *love* when they’re so full of meaning.”

Isn’t this amazing? I totally agree with Theresa — I love when when names come together like that, and when they’re so full of meaning.

I asked her if her son had an equally as great story and Theresa said,

“Not nearly as involved but yes! I’ve always wanted to name my first son Peter and hubby was totally on board. Peter is for two of my favorite literary characters — Peter Pan and Peter Pevensee — and then for St. Peter. His middle names are Leon and Gerard after his grandfathers. Leon is my fil’s middle and Gerard is my dad and his dad’s name. My name goes similarly — I’m named for my mom’s favorite saint and then my middles are for my gmas, one of their first names and the other’s middle; so we thought that was a nice connection. My dad’s brother never had any sons (neither did my dad, actually) but if he had, he would’ve named one Peter, so I think this is a nice nod to him, too, as I’m very close with that Uncle. But there’s more! Growing up, we didn’t live near either side of my family, so my bff’s grandparents ‘adopted me’ and I remained semi-close with them until their deaths. My adopted gpa’s middle name was also Leon, so that’s a nice nod to him! Peter likes to tell us he’s also named for Spider Man (Peter Parker) bc that’s his favorite character, sooooo we just go along with it 😂 Obviously, there are also Sts. Leo and Gerard that we invoke for his patronages as well.”

I just sigh with happiness over good name stories. 😊😍❤️ Thanks to Theresa for sharing this great info! And please feel free to share your own! Email me at sanctanomina at gmail dot com and write “Name story” in the subject.

Baby name consultation: Baby no. 9/girl no. 7 needs a saintly K name

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First off, you guys! I’m so sorry I was so quiet last week! All week I kept thinking of posts I wanted to do, but it was one of those weeks where I was just trying to make sure each day had what it needed and then it was bedtime and what happened to the day? And I just caught up on the comments from last week’s consultation now! You guys are amazing!! I intend to be better this week — I have a bunch of birth announcements I want to post (so many of you have had babies!!) and a name spotlight … it’ll be a fun week, as long as my life cooperates!

Alrighty, for today: Amber and her husband are expecting their ninth baby — their seventh girl! This little lady joins big sibs:

Kaydra Dean
Houston Michael
Kaitlyn Nichole
Kaydence Leigh
Carter Joseph
Kourtney Renae
Kimberly Elizabeth
Karly Jean

It’s clear they have a theme! I love seeing big families with an all-one-letter theme, or a certain-letter-for-certain gender theme (like this one) — it’s so fun to see what names they come up with! In high school I babysat a family with eight children whose names all began with C, and friends from college have eight children with all J names — I was always excited to hear what the new baby’s name was!

Amber writes,

“Names I like:
Kateri Marie
Khloe Marie

My husband likes the name Kerry but I’m not totally sold on that name. We would like to use Marie as the middle name and the first name has to start with an K. We thought we would like to use a name of a Saint but my husband thinks Kateri doesn’t roll off his tongue very well. I thought we could call her ‘Kari’ for short.”

Also, Amber told me Katherine is not an option for them.

I think one of the most fun things about a one-letter theme is that the one letter trumps all other stylistic considerations, you know? You don’t have to worry about whether the names have the same style/feel/popularity, because their only requirement is that they begin with the same letter. And I’m amazed at all the ideas Amber and her hubs have come up with so far!

In general I would say that Kateri, Khloe, and Kerry are good possibilities for this baby girl — I especially like Kateri, and I think Amber’s idea of using Kari as a nickname for it, similar to her hubby’s pick of Kerry, is genius! But in looking through their older girls’ names, since they have a Kourtney already I would advise crossing Khloe off the list, otherwise they come across as very Kardashian. Of course, the fact that they have so many girls would water down the Kardashian connection, but I do think it would still be pretty obvious.

Also — and this is a bit nitpicky, but sometimes crossing names off the list helps to make the choice easier — Kaitlyn is a form of Katherine (Irish), as is Kateri (Mohawk). I know a Kateri who goes by Kate, and another who says Kateri as “KAY-ter-ee” so the similarity between Kaitlyn and Kateri is extra obvious to me. Maybe that doesn’t matter to this family, and that’s totally fine! I just wanted to be sure they knew so they could make an informed decision.

Re: Kerry, I wonder if the similar Kelly might appeal to them? I did a spotlight on it not too long ago.

Normally for a consultation I would start by looking up the names that the parents have used and like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, but since the here style is a certain letter rather than a “feel,” I just tried to come up with as many K names as I thought Amber and her hubs might like and would go well with their older kids. These are my ideas:

(1) Karoline
On the one hand, Karoline has some pretty great patron saints, so it’s a great option for a family who wants a saint’s name beginning with K. And, Kari/Karrie can be a nickname for it, so that might encourage Amber’s husband agree to it as well! On the other hand, I just offered that fact that Kaitlyn and Kateri are related as a possible reason to not choose Kateri, so it’s weird that I’m suggesting Karoline now even though it’s related to Karly! They’re both feminine forms of the Carl/Karl/Charles family of names, and in fact Karly can be a nickname for Karoline. So maybe Karoline’s not a great idea, but it seemed worthwhile to mention it.

(2) Kalista
I recently did a spotlight on the male name Callixtus, and Kalista is a feminine form of it. It means “most beautiful” in Greek, which makes it a really nice name for a little girl. Kali and Kallie are sweet nicknames too — maybe similar enough to Kerry/Kari that Amber’s hubs will be okay with it?

(3) Karis
This is another idea that could yield the nickname Kari. It’s similar to Karly in the fact that they share the first three letters, but they already have that with Kaydra and Kaydence, so I’m guessing that’s okay with them. Karis could be a variant of Carys, which is a Welsh name derived from the Welsh word for “love,” which is quite nice. Or, it could be a variant of Charis, which is derived from the Greek for “grace, kindness” and is contained within the word Eucharist.

(4) Kasey
Fr. Solanus Casey was a Capuchin Franciscan who was recently beatified — he’s very special to my family, as I wrote about here, and seems to be wildly popular in general. Such a wonderful man! I’ve seen people name their children Casey (and even one little Case) in his honor, so Kasey could be a great idea for this family.

(5) Kristina, Kristy
I have a friend from college named Kristina, and I’ve always thought her name is a pretty spelling. And you all know our reader Amy who has a daughter named Kristy Marie — those names specifically chosen to honor Jesus and Mary. I love that!

(6) Klara
I went back and forth on whether I thought this was too similar to Karly, and decided to leave it on the list. Karly and Klara aren’t at all related, which helps — Karly’s a member of the Charles family, while Klara/Clare/Claire mean “clear, bright.”

(7) Kara
This is another that’s similar to Kerry, so that hopefully Amber’s husband might like it. It’s from the Italian for “beloved,” which is a great meaning for a little one.

(8) Keira, Kira, Kyra
I say these three names the same way, and I think they’d all be great options for this family.

(9) Kyteria
My last idea is Kyteria, which I first learned about from this family — it’s an alternate spelling of Quiteria, which is the name of a saint! It’s a pretty great story!

And those are my ideas for Amber and her husband! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Kaydra, Houston, Kaitlyn, Kaydence, Carter, Kourtney, Kimberly, and Karly?

Baby name consultation: Baby no. 5/boy no. 2 needs short saintly name

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Ashley and her husband are expecting their fifth baby — their second boy! This little guy joins big sibs:

Nash Michael (“His first name is my husband’s grandmother’s maiden name and his mother’s middle name. His middle name is after St. Michael the archangel who is one of my favorite saints“)

Clare Ellaine (“Clare is after St. Clare, no real reason just really like the name Clare. Ellaine is my mom’s name and was my middle name“)

Holly Jane (“Jane is after my grandmother. Holly kind of came at the end a few days before she was born, someone was talking about a Holly they knew and the name just struck me and I asked my husband if he liked it and we ended up naming her Holly. This child is the only one who has just a random name that isn’t a saint or a family name, but we get around it by saying that Jane is a family name and there is a St. Jane de Chantal“)

Anna Mary (“We had always liked the name Anna and had seriously considered it for Baby #2, but it felt more right with this baby. My husband’s mom is also named Ann, so she is the family connection. We chose Mary because she was born on the feast day of the Holy Name of Mary. She was born 2 weeks early which very much surprised us and her name wasn’t set in stone. MY mom told me that day when I thought I was in labor about the feast day and it was just perfect to name her after Mary“)

I loooove these names! They make such a pleasing set to me! And I love that Anna’s middle name was because she was born on the feast of the Holy Name of Mary — one of my favorite feasts!

Ashley writes,

“We always have a VERY difficult times with naming. And boys are especially hard. We do not name the child until they are born. We usually have a few top contenders, but it always just feels better for us to name them once they are here. We kind of have a bit of a theme with our kids of including saint/religious name and also a family name. One of our kids is a combo, but I think that I kind of want to continue that now that we have started it, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. I would probably rather forgo the family name before I left off a religious or saint name.

All of their names have tended to be short, which I like and they aren’t shortened. We do call Anna, Annie and Anna. We use both names interchangeably.

Okay so now for the big dilemma on our hands. We are so stuck and don’t really like any names. Let me tell you briefly about this pregnancy though.

We were about ready to try for #5, about 2 years ago, when I had a series of health events that really drug me down. I ended up having chronic neck and back pain amongst other things. There was A LOT of stress, a lot of dr apps, physical therapy and sadness. I wondered if I would always be in pain for the rest of my life. We avoided pregnancy for a long time but in my deep part of my heart I wanted another baby so bad. But I was very very very scared. I was scared of what would happen to my body through a pregnancy, would my pain get worse, would I be able to do it … All of these fears. And at the beginning of this year I began to have improvements, but continued to hold off on pregnancy. My drs cleared me to get pregnant but I just could not get over the fear even though I really wanted another child. So I had been loosely but VERY conservatively using NFP to avoid and low and behold I became pregnant. I wasn’t being strict with NFP but I def didn’t think it was a fertile time either. The feeling that I had when I got the positive test was such an overwhelming feeling of being taken care of by a loving Father. I felt like God was telling me, ”Ashley I know that you are scared to “try” for another baby so I am not going to make you make that decision.” I felt like he was saying, ”Ashley I am bigger and greater than your fears.” It was such an intense moment for me in my life! And this pregnancy has been awesome. I have felt great and I have felt like I have gotten a lot of clarity on my chronic pain condition and healing of mind body and soul!

So to say the least, I truly feel more than with any other child that this baby was so intended by God to not only be here in existence but also as a gift to me especially, one that has had great impact on my relationship with God and through this baby and pregnancy has brought about much healing.”

Isn’t this such a wonderful story?! I love how Ashley articulated that she felt “such an overwhelming feeling of being taken care of by a loving Father,” what a gift. ❤

Ashley continues,

“I mention all this because I had thought about some name that kind of represented some of that. I had looked up Theodore (Theo) because it means God s gift and it is on our maybe list because of that.”

Ashley explained to me that she doesn’t really care for a lot of traditional names (Matthew-type names), nor currently popular names (Aiden, Jaxon), nor country names (Colt, Cole, West).

“My husband’s name is Jeffrey Locke and he doesn’t want a jr. On his side John is a very popular boy name. His nephew, brother, dad and grand dad are all John Locke. So John is a family name but we couldn’t use it as a 1st name. Locke could be used as a middle family name … Some family names on my side is my grandfather’s name was Leo. My great grandfather was Casper … my great grandfathers were Ray Rhymes and Ralph Harry; some other names on my side are McVea (but that has already been heavily used by my cousin) and my dad’s name is Rhymes but my sister already used it for her 1st daughters middle name. My maiden name is Oliver which is popular now but I don’t really like it and I don’t think it sounds good with my last name Wagner because of the -er at the end of both of the names. On my husband’s side there is a William Baumann and then John Locke.

Some names that have kind of made it on our list are Bruno, Leo, Ansel (my husband doesn’t like it though), Brock (but reminds me of 80’s), Ben, Raph/Raif, Theo, Abram, Owen, Sam, Isaac, Ford.

Ben has always been a name we liked, but my problem is that I don’t like Benjamin or Bennet, or Benedict. So I had said in the past I would just name my kid Ben. I feel like a lot of boy names have longer names and then there is the shortened version that the kid is called. (Benjamin/Ben, William/Will, Theodore/Theo) Problem is in most all of those situations I don’t like the long name and I wonder whether you can just name the kid the short name? Because I don’t want to name my kid Benjamin when I don’t like the name Benjamin just so I can call him Ben. Kind of like with Theodore, I don’t really like Theodore, but Theo is ok.

Abram has kind of struck me. You could call the kid Abe which is ok, but the longer name Abram isn’t that long and I actually kind of like it, but husband isn’t totally keen on it.

Leo is my grandfather name and I like it and am unsure about it all at the same time.

Bruno my son came up with after watching a movie about St. John Bosco, but I feel like with Bruno Mars it just kind of ruins it.

I think that we do not like names that are difficult for people to say or spell. That is why I like the name of my son Nash so much. It is different, not many people have that name, but no one ever asks how to spell it or for me to repeat it. It can’t be shortened or nicknamed. So I think we tend to lean towards those kind of names, especially looking at our other kids names, short, easy to say, can’t be nicknamed really.

So I think maybe that wraps it up … or maybe this is all just a jumbled mess of words. I just feel very discouraged because I will go through and read 1000 boy names and not really like any of them and none of the names on our list do I really really like and I just worry this baby won’t have a name 😦 or that I will just have to settle on a name. I don’t have great expectations of absolutely LOVING and feeling totally connected to a name because I just never feel that way before hand which is part of why we don’t name until the baby is here. I think its hard for me to connect a baby I haven’t seen with a name … it’s just weird to me and I certainly could never call a baby a name until there are here. (I think I am weird like that)

But I hope that you can think of some possibilities, although I fear that every boy name out there is just going to be blah. But thank you so much in advance for your time and your talents and good luck!!!!!“

I’m sure we can help Ashley and her husband! Even if only by sparking a conversation that leads them to the right name! Ashley also sent a photo of her beautiful family, in case it was helpful for inspiration:

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What a handsome/beautiful crew! 😍😍😍

So first off, I love that Theo(dore)’s on their list because of Ashley’s wonderful experience, and I think “just Theo” is a really nice fit with Nash, Clare, Holly, and Anna. Theo Locke sounds pretty cool!

Speaking of Locke, I just have to say — it seems like a homerun for their son’s first name! With Nash having a surname feel — indeed, having been a surname in Ashley’s husband’s family before it was her son’s first name — I immediately thought when I started reading her email that another family surname would be a great idea for their second son, and then when I read about Locke it seemed so perfect! Something like Locke William (for the William on her husband’s side) or Locke Raymond (to lengthen her great-grandfather Ray’s name) would be so handsome (and both William and Raymond are saints’ names). I also like the idea of Rhymes and McVea — if they weren’t already used in Ashley’s family, I’d think they were great options.

Of the names on their list, a few thoughts:

  • Bruno—this is the second time in a month I’ve heard the name Bruno from a reader! I guess I wouldn’t have thought that Bruno Mars would ruin the name, but rather that he would make it seem extra feasible — do the rest of you agree? The fact that it was inspired by a St. John Bosco movie made me wonder if Ashley and her hubs would consider Bosco as a first name? Blogger Grace Patton has a Bosco, it’s such a cool name I think (she also has an Abe!)
  • Leo—great name, and I love that it’s a family name for them! It’s easy to say and spell, like Nash
  • Ansel—I’m not sure if this is helpful, but if Ashley’s husband doesn’t like Ansel, there’s the similar and very saintly Anselm
  • Brock—Ashley’s comment about Brock reminding her of the 80s made me laugh! I can see what she means, though it actually peaked in popularity in 2003
  • Ben—it’s funny that, though I think Theo can stand on its own as a name, I have a harder time getting there with Ben. I do see what Ashley means about not caring for the longer version and just preferring to name him Ben—it’s certainly not the end of the world, and I’m sure other parents have done it (in fact, checking the 2016 SSA stats, there were 347 baby boys named just Ben!). I had some other ideas for them on how to get to Ben though, if they were open to thinking of a formal name for it—all of these were bestowed on boys in 2016 per the SSA:

— Ruben/Reuben
— Eben
— Bento
— Robben
— Benz
— Benning
— Bence
— Benno

One that’s not on this list that I like is Bendt — it’s a Danish form of Benedict

  • Raph/Raif—I usually see these as nicknames for Raphael (I usually see the spelling Rafe, if that’s helpful), but Rafe (that spelling) is also a variant of Ralph, and reflects the way the name used to be said (it still is sometimes—actor Ralph Fiennes says it “Rafe”), so that could make it a nice nod to the Ralph Harry in their family. AND — the meaning of Raphael is “God has healed,” which is so perfect for this baby!
  • Abram—I like Abram a lot, and Abe is one of my favorite nicknames! Abel is another with similar sounds
  • Owen—I actually think Owen’s a great idea for this family, because it’s short like their other kids’ names, and it has usage as a surname, which fits in with the style of Nash—St. Nicholas Owen is one of my favorites!
  • Sam—If they’re thinking of Sam on its own, I feel like it’s similar to Ben for me, in that I have a hard time seeing it as a given name on its own (but who cares what I think, if they like it!). If Ashley and her hubs don’t care for Samuel or Samson, I’ve often thought Sam could work as a nickname for Ambrose, which is sort of similar to Abram and Ansel, and super saintly. Another nickname idea I’ve liked for Ambrose is Bram, and I actually love Bram on its own too—I should have thought of it when I was commenting on Abram above, as Bram is a form of Abraham
  • Isaac—love it
  • Ford—this would be a great brother name for Nash I think! Especially if it has family significance! There’s a Bl. Thomas Ford, which can give them a saintly tie-in
  • Casper and Oliver are both awesome—and Oliver would be particularly attractive to me, being Ashley’s maiden name—but I agree that they don’t sound great with the last name Wagner

I totally get that Ashley and her hubs like names that are easy to say and spell, so I focused on that when looking for name ideas for them, and I let Nash’s name influence me the most! I tried to find names that I thought felt like his—short and surnamey, or at least one or the other. I also tried to find faith connections for each of my ideas, though I wasn’t able to for all of them (but that can be easily remedied by the middle name).

That said, you all know that I start all my consultations by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, so I did look up Clare, Holly, and Anna too to see if there were any boy ideas that were similar in style to theirs, that would also work as a brother for Nash.

Based on that research, as well as some ideas that I had on my own, these are my suggestions:

(1) Grant
Weirdly, Clare doesn’t have its own entry in the BNW, but Claire and Clara do, so I looked them both up, as they have different style matches. Grant was a match for Claire, and it immediately felt like a good suggestion. I know a family with a Benjamin and a Grant, so Grant makes sense to me for someone who likes Ben. It’s easy to say and spell, just like they’re hoping for. (For what it’s worth, Benjamin is also a match for Claire, and Leo for Clara.) I looked up the popularity of each name I suggested here (as well as their older kids) to be sure they weren’t too popular, and Grant was no. 171 in 2016, which is a really comfortable place to be—not top 100, but not unheard of. (For reference, Nash was 286, Clare was 719 [but Claire was 40]), Holly was 527, and Anna was 51.)

(2) Miles or Milo
You all know that I often suggest Miles/Milo on the blog, ever since I discovered that they have traditional usage in Ireland as anglicizations of the old Irish name Maolmhuire, which means “servant of the Virgin Mary.” I loooove Marian names for boys! I thought their popularity was pretty good for Ashley’s taste too—Miles was no. 105 in 2016, and Milo was 248, which I think makes it an extra good match for Nash, who was no. 286. Miles was also a style match for Clara, and Milo for Leo.

(3) Case
This is one of my own ideas, inspired by a family I did a consultation for a while ago who had a similar aesthetic as this family. One of their boys was Case, in honor of (now) Bl. Solanus Casey. I loved that! I love Casey (and it’s a style match for Holly!), but I get that some people don’t like that it has usage among both boys and girls, so I thought Case was a great solution. Nash and Case have a really similar feel, and I love any name that ties to Bl. Solanus! Case was no. 551 in 2016 (for reference, Casey was no. 560 for boys and 857 for girls).

(4) Jude
I’m actually surprised that Jude wasn’t already on their list, which makes me think maybe they considered it and decided against it? It’s actually a match for Anna and Leo, and it was no. 161 in 2016. I like that it starts with a J, so it can maybe be a nod to Ashley’s husband Jeffrey and the Johns in his family. Jude Locke has exactly the same rhythm as John Locke, which can be another connection to them.

(5) Blaise
This is really just because it’s a really saintly, short name. I also thought they might like a B suggestion, since they have Bruno, Brock, and Ben on their list (and Abram, which has a strong B sound). It was no. 903 in 2016.

(6) Kolbe
Speaking of really saintly, short names, Kolbe is that, and it’s also a surname! I know Ashley said she doesn’t like Cole (which, incidentally, was a match for Claire and Owen), but I think Kolbe has a different flavor all together. It wasn’t in the top 1000 in 2016, though there were 51 boys so named.

(7) Nico
I looove the name Nico! I think this might be a wild card suggestion, as some people think it has too much of a Latin feel to work well for families that aren’t Hispanic or Italian, but it’s listed on behindthename.com as a Dutch and German short form of Nicholas or Nicodemus (in addition to being an Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese short form), and the spelling Niko is a Finnish, Croatian, Slovene, Georgian, and German form. Nico was no. 496 in 2016, and Niko was no. 614. It’s definitely not trendy, or country, or Matt-esque, and I don’t consider it “wacky out there” either. So maybe?

(8) Evan
My last idea for Ashley and her hubs is Evan. It was a style match for Owen, which is what put it on my radar, and what encouraged me to list it here is that it’s a variant of John. Ashley said they can’t use John as a first name because of all the Johns in their family, but using a variant of John could be a cool way to work around that, and still nod to those relatives. I quite like the idea of Evan Locke. Evan was no. 69 in 2016, and I think it fits their criteria of “easy to say and spell.” (Other John variants are Sean, Shane, and Ian, and I’ve even seen an argument made for Owen having usage as a Gaelic form of John, so if they end up going with Owen, that could be a nice connection too).

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of Nash, Clare, Holly, and Anna?

Happy feast of the Holy Name of Jesus!

sanctanomina CatholicMom.com writer, Holy Name of Jesus , ,

I love when things like this happen: My December CatholicMom column was moved to after Christmas because of the topic I wrote about (the naming of Jesus), but I didn’t know what day it was being moved to, and yesterday I discovered that it was posted last Friday, so I planned to link to it here today, and when I was scrolling through Facebook this morning I saw that today’s the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus! How perfect that I was already planning to share an article about His Name on the feast of His Name!

This is my new article: Glory to the Newborn King.

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It links to an older one I’d written on the power of Jesus’ Name (Planned Parenthood vs. the Holy Name of Jesus); I also did a post a while back on some of the saints who were promoters and lovers of the Holy Name of Jesus (THE promoter of the Holy Name), as well as a post discussing some of the names of Jesus (March for Life: Comfort and confidence in the Holy Name of Jesus). And then today I looked up “prayers to the Holy Name of Jesus” and found this beautiful Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, which my littlest guy and I just said together. His Name is such a beautiful thing to contemplate today, on Its feast and while we look forward to the Epiphany!