Baby name consultation: Boy no. 3/baby no. 4 needs great first name with friendly nickname

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , ,

Kim and her husband are expecting their fourth baby and third boy! This little guy joins big sibs:

Charles Patrick (Charlie)
Peter Augustine (Pete)
Magdalene Lucy (Maggie)

What a great set! I absolutely love how sophisticated each full first name is, and how friendly all the nicknames are!

Kim writes,

“I love Henry and the cheerful ring of it, but that name is out for my husband. The following names have already been used in our family: Francis, James, John, Andrew, Thomas, Joseph, Dominic, Stephen, Matthew, Patrick, Nicholas, Anthony, Samuel … [also] we have the Baby Name Wizard and don’t like any of the sibling suggestions for the kids’ names.”

So you all had to know how excited I got to see that Kim and her hubs had already looked through the Baby Name Wizard — my go-to when starting a consultation, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity — and didn’t like any of the ideas! The more challenging the name challenge, the more fun I have with it!

I also want to say that I really love the combo Magdalene Lucy … Lucy’s so unexpected to me in the middle spot, and it just flows really really well with Magdalene. Lovely! (Their boys’ names are great too! Magdalene Lucy just particularly struck me.)

So I took a couple of different routes when coming up with ideas for this baby boy. I actually did start with the BNW, as usual, in order to see what names Kim and her hubs don’t care for, and also to do some extended research, by which I mean I started looking up names that I thought felt like their style, and then looking up their style matches, etc. I also used Nymbler and the Name Matchmaker on the babynamewizard site, plugging in both their kiddos’ full names and nicknames, as well as looking at matches for just the boys’ names and for the sib set as a whole. There were definitely a few names that kept popping up over and over again, in all the different sites/sources I used, two of which were also listed as style matches for their kids’ names in the BNW (i.e., names Kim and her hubs don’t like), but I included them below anyway—sometimes a discussion about a name can sway parents one way or another. It’s worth a try!

I also gave good weight to names with “friendly” nicknames — when Kim said she loves the “cheerful” feel of Henry, I think it’s similar to the vibe I get from the nicknames of her kids. I definitely think of Charlie, Pete, and Maggie as having a real friendliness to them, and I thought it revealed the kinds of names Kim and her hubs would gravitate toward.

Okay, without further ado, here are my ideas:

(1) Long and heavy hitting, like Augustine and Magdalene
I had so many ideas that I decided to group them into categories! I was struck by Peter’s middle name Augustine and Maggie’s full name Magdalene—I often see those names pop up in lists by families who love longer, heavy-hitting names (“heavy hitting”=catacombs + incense kinds of names), and I wondered if that might be a category Kim and her hubs would like to consider for their next baby. In particular, I thought of:

  • Sebastian—Sebastian’s actually a style match for Dominic, which is on Kim’s list of names they can’t use. But Dominic also goes along with the heavy-hitting feel of Augustine and Magdalene, so I was interested in its style matches, and Sebastian struck me as a good possibility. There are some really cute nickname possibilities: Seb and Sebbie are pretty traditional, and Bash is one I only heard of a few years ago (Grace Patton has a Sebastian nn Bash) and fell in love with. I’ve also heard Bas/Baz and even Ian!
  • Theodore—Theodore’s one of those names that kept showing up over and over in my research. According to the BNW it’s a style match for August (since the BNW doesn’t have an entry for Augustine, I’ve had pretty good luck with substituting August in the past), and the Name Matchmaker offered it as a match for all Kim’s kids’ names. The nicknames Ted/Teddy and Theo struck me as really great matches for Charlie, Pete, and Maggie.
  • Nathaniel—Nathaniel has that really biblical feel of Magdalene, and it’s also the name of one of the Twelve Apostles, so it’s really saintly as well. But what really sold me is the nickname: Nate is a great, friendly nickname, similar in my mind to Charlie, Pete, and Maggie.
  • Benedict—Ben is also a nickname that I think this family might like, based on the feel of Charlie, Pete, and Maggie, as well as Lucy and Henry. Benedict is a great way to get to it if they wanted to channel the “long and heavy hitting” vibe of Augustine and Magdalene.

(2) Long and normal-ish
Augustine and Magdalene definitely have a different feel to me than Charles, Peter, Lucy, and Henry, though of course they do all go together by virtue of their saintliness, which is one of the things I love about Catholic naming. If this family didn’t want to go 100% the Augustine/Magdalene route for this little boy, a sort of compromise option might be a name that’s longer, like A and M, but not as weighty, if that makes any sense. In that vein, I thought of:

  • Alexander—Sebastian had a few style matches that I thought were swirling around the right area, like Nathaniel (suggested above) and also Alexander. Charles, Peter, and Alexander have a really royal feel to them, as brothers, and Alexander has loads of fun nickname options, like Xander/Zander/Xan/Zan, Sandy, Sander, and of course Alex. Given that their other kids go by Charlie, Pete, and Maggie, I’m guessing Alex is probably mostly their speed, though I think Sandy would fit in really well—a friend of mine named her son Sandy, which surprised me so much at first, but the more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more it’s grown up me. Certainly it used to be used a lot more for boys and I’d love to see it come back again.
  • Benjamin—I listed Benedict above, as it has that monastery feel of Dominic and Augustine, but Benjamin comes across as a bit friendlier I’d say. And again, I’d say Ben is a great fit for this family, and I also love Benny and Benji.
  • William—William is absolutely a name I would have thought was spot-on for this little boy! When I saw it listed as a style match for Charles I thought Nooooo! I’m so worried that means Kim and her hubs don’t like it! But I’m just going ahead and listing it here anyway! I think William is such a great match as a brother to Charles and Peter, and the nickname Will seems perfect as a brother to Charlie, Peter, and Maggie, and a great match for the feel of Henry as well.

(3) Middling
Despite the fact that Augustine and Magdalene are so long, two-thirds of Kim’s kids’ first names as well as her favorite name for this little boy (Henry) are actually much shorter, so it would be silly to not include some names like that. A few rose to the top for me, including:

  • Oliver—I’m guessing they hate Oliver, since they surely saw it listed in the BNW as a match for Lucy and Henry, but in the off chance that they might come around, I had to include it! Oliver is such a great name, and St. Oliver Plunkett such a great saint. I also love the nickname Ollie—it has that same friendly feel to me as Charlie, Pete, and Maggie.
  • Bennett—Each of my categories here has contained a formal name for the nickname Ben! I really do love Ben for this family, and Bennet(t) is yet another name that they might like. It’s a medieval variant of Benedict, which gives it great saintliness, and it has long use as a last name (a la the Bennet sisters in Pride & Prejudice).
  • Martin—Martin was strongly recommended by the Name Matchmaker as a good match for all their kids’ names as a set. I love Martin as a brother to Charles and Peter, and I love Marty as a brother to Charlie, Pete, and Maggie.
  • Nathan—I suggested Nathaniel in the first category, and I want to include Nathan here — they’re both driven by the nickname Nate, which I love with the other kids, and Nathan’s biblical too.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Charlie, Pete, and Maggie’s little brother, remembering that they have Augustine and Magdalene in the mix as well?

Birth announcement: Milo Thomas!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , ,

I posted a consultation for Carrie and her husband back in January, and Carrie’s let me know her little guy has arrived and been given the swoony name … Milo Thomas!

She writes,

“Hello Kate! You did a consult for us in January for baby boy #3, and he was born yesterday!  We actually ended up waiting until he was born to make the final name decision. Up until birth we were fairly sure we were going with Hugo Thomas, and had a couple other names we also liked just in case. Well, when we met him, we decided he just wasn’t a Hugo, and went with Milo Thomas instead! I am a little sad to not have used Hugo because it’s a great name that I love, but this baby is a Milo for sure 🙂

Thank you (and all who commented on my consult!) for all your help!!“

I LOVE the name Milo!! I absolutely think it fulfills Carrie’s hope for an “artistic and worldly” name, and as for saintly connections — you all know how I go on and on about Miles’ Marian connection, and Milo shares it too! Congrats to worriedshoe who suggested Milo in the comments!

This little guy joins his handsomely named big brothers:

Owen Joseph
Julian Elias

A simply fantastic trio of brothers!

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

image1 (17)

Milo Thomas

I’m over at Jenny’s blog today!

sanctanomina Resources and recommendations, Sancta Nomina Media ,

You all know Jenny Uebbing from her awesome blog Mama Needs Coffee (awesome because of the content, of course — she’s direct and hard-hitting and courageous when writing about the issues facing Catholics today, which I love so much — and awesome because of the name of the blog. Sing.It.Sister), and also from the times I’ve had her here: the name consultation I did for her when she was expecting her youngest, and the subsequent birth announcement, for which this meme was surely made:

530221_105556449594106_1884818178_n
From Catholic Memes

Get it? Get it? 😂😂😂 Star Wars + Catholic. My life is made. 😍

Anyway! Amazing Jenny, fellow JP2 fangirl, has just posted an interview with … me! And I give most of the credit for how it turned out to her — she asked great questions! I had to dig deep and do some research and pull together some things I’d been wanting to track down and I’m so glad I did, because it ended up being a great compilation of some important resources for Catholic namers (because of it, I created this new tab up at the top: Catholic Church On Naming, which I’ll add to as I find additional resources).

I’d love to know what you think of the interview! (I’m also dying over one of the tags she gave it — “Catholics Do What?” Hahahaha!)

Also, you’ll see at the end that I was given the go-ahead to mention two upcoming exciting things, both of which I’ll tell you more about soon, but quickly, regarding the second thing, I just wanted to let you know it became available for pre-order yesterday (the cover’s coming, don’t fear). You’ll notice that I wrote that very calmly and without any undignified exclamation points. You should in no way take this to mean that I haven’t been gasping for breath and doing touchdown dances in the privacy of my home over being in an actual published book.

And I’ve already blabbed too much. So sorry to keep you! I hope Jenny’s piece makes your Friday even more fun! ❤❤❤

jenny_article-03.10.17

Birth announcement: Winifred Esme!

sanctanomina Birth announcement ,

A mama I did a private consultation for last year, for a baby yet to be conceived, has let me know that she has, indeed, had a new baby and given her the gooorgeous name … Winifred Esme!

She writes,

“I consulted with you last year about a hypothetical honor name after my mother who passed away suddenly. We conceived soon after that consultation and we decided to name her the name that my mother loved, Winifred Esme. While it’s not an honor name in the sense that others hear it and know that it’s after my mother, I do think of her every time I say it, because she loved it so much! So, in that way, it honors her very much.

Thank you so much for your amazing suggestions, which started many a conversation between me and my husband, and also colored our list of future baby names as we go forward.”

Isn’t that such a wonderful name story? It’s such a great example of one of the many ways to honor someone through your child’s name, and the fact that this mama thinks of her mom every time she says her baby’s name is just perfect. ❤❤❤

Little Winifred joins big sibs (with equally amazing names!):

Clementine Eloise
Gilbert Henry
Beatrice Eulalie

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

0227170810d

Winifred Esme with her adoring siblings 💕

Another prayer request

sanctanomina Sancta Nomina community

Thank you all for praying for this morning’s mama — if I get an update and she gives me permission to share it, I will!

I have another prayer request — one of our longtime readers, Joanna, a real-life dear friend of mine who I also posted a birth announcement for when she had her sixth baby, had a terrible scare recently when she had her first diabetic seizure in the nearly twenty years since her diagnosis; it left her mouth and tongue chewed up, and both her arms dislocated. Her husband has wanted to get a diabetic assistance dog for a while, and this incident has sped up their plans. It’s an expensive venture, and Joanna’s family has set up a Go Fund Me page to help defray the cost. If any of you are able to help financially, I know they would be so appreciative! Joanna also has to have surgery on her arm in the near future — you all know how hard these things are to manage when you also have little ones to take care. She’s been posting updates on her blog, if you’d like to follow along, and prayers are very welcome and needed. Thank you all! ❤

Baby name consultation: “Nursing home,” Spanish, and saint/New Testament boy names for born baby no. 3

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , ,

Mandi, who blogs at A Blog About Miscarriage and sells Lilla Rose hair accessories, is one of our longest, most devoted readers! I posted a consultation for her when she was expecting her second born baby, and then a birth announcement when the baby was born, and I frequently look to her for resources for families who have lost a baby to miscarriage and input on naming miscarried babies (here and here). I loved her pregnancy announcement and her coining of the term “golden baby” for a baby born after a rainbow baby. She, who lost four babies of her own, is such a great resource for anyone mourning a little one, and I’m thrilled she’s part of our community.

I’m also thrilled to post another consultation for her today!! She and her husband are expecting their third born baby, who joins big sibs on earth:

Lucia Rose
David Newton, Jr. (Davey)

And in heaven:

Francis Michael
Julian Gabriel
Adrienne Rafael
Christian Michael

Though they don’t know the baby’s gender, they’re all set with a girl’s name, so they’re just hoping for help with a boy’s. Mandi writes,

“In terms of boy baby names, I feel like we are starting from scratch. I knew before I even met David that I wanted my eldest son to be a Junior. It worked out perfectly that David was a family name already. His name was kind of the obvious choice and we didn’t think about any others.

It’s kind of hard to know what names my husband will like or reject, so I’ll mostly just tell you my thought process and likes and then he’ll just have to approve or veto ideas. He did at one point say he liked men’s names like “Ralph” – kind of old fashioned, I guess? I am not a fan of Ralph specifically but not opposed to names you would generally associate with the nursing home crowd (if that was even what my husband meant, hard to tell).

We would want familiar, traditional boys names, along the lines of David. A few names we like but wouldn’t use (at least at this time) are John, Michael, Robert, and Francis. Other names I like are Joseph, Peter, and Thomas. I have always loved the name Guillermo but it’s a no-go for my husband as are other more strongly ethnic names (I generally love Spanish names, hence Lucia) though he at one point mentioned liking Joaquin.

Another important consideration is that we would want the name to be directly connected to a well known Saint (or biblical figure, though despite my son named David, I am more strongly drawn to New Testament names). Added bonus if we have a strong connection to the Saint, but obviously you would have no way of knowing that and it’s not necessary – we can always develop a devotion after the fact. We would most likely use a family name for the middle – probably Alan or Milo after my grandfather or David’s.”

Can I just say that what Mandi said about her husband (“It’s kind of hard to know what names my husband will like or reject” and “if that was even what my husband meant, hard to tell”) is so familiar! In my own marriage and many of yours, husbands’ name tastes can be so mysterious, no matter what ideas they offer!

Anyway, this was a really interesting consultation to work on—between Mandi’s husband maybe liking names like “Ralph” and her loving Spanish names, and having a desire for “familiar, traditional boys names” + “directly connected to a well known Saint/biblical figure” I was interested to see what I’d come up with! I’m kind of digging my list of suggestions—I’m eager to see what you all think!

First though, I wondered what Mandi and her hubs would think of considering Alan as a first name? She said it’s a middle name contender, in honor of her grandfather, but it totally has the feeling of Ralph to me … although, looking at the SSA stats, I can see that Ralph was far more popular in the early part of the twentieth century, dropping out of the top 100 in the early 60s while Alan peaked in the 50s/60s before settling into the top 200 and staying there even til today. Ralph and Alan were similar in popularity in the 50s though, and that mid-century overlap is actually really similar to David’s popularity arc (top ten from 1937 to 1991, peaking at no. 1 in 1960—right around when my three Uncle Davids were born! Remarkably, from 1957 to 1971, it was one of the top three names). Anyway, I think Alan would be an interesting name for them to consider for a first name, given that Ralph is already sort of in the mix, and I know that I’m totally being influenced by the fact that I’m currently reading Fr. Calloway’s Champions of the Rosary and Bl. Alan de la Roche was a total rockstar (also a Dominican, and I’m a lay Dominican, woot!). Alan Milo has a really cool ring to it.

As for other ideas, as always I started by looking up Lucia and David in the Baby Name Wizard, as well as Cecilia, Ralph, John, Michael, Robert, Francis, Joseph, Peter, Thomas, and Joseph. (And, for what it’s worth, Peter and Thomas are my favorites for them from the list of those they’re considering—I even had Peter on my own list of ideas for them until I remembered it was already on their list!) I also took a look through the list of Latino names in the back of the book for inspiration. Based on all that, and my own thoughts as well, these are my ideas for Mandi’s baby (if a boy):

(1) Stephen
This was my very first idea, before even cracking open the BNW. It’s the name of a well known saint AND a New Testament figure, and also one of my boys’ best friends is Stephen, and his brother is David, and there’s a pair of brothers in my family named Stephen and David! So to me, David and Stephen go together like peas and carrots. 😁 I like Stephen Milo a lot.

(2) William
This is totally inspired by Mandi’s love of Guillermo, and is the first of several ideas I have connected to her love of Spanish names. I was thinking that she could totally just call her son by the Spanish equivalent of his name—even if it’s just a fun, home-only nickname, maybe even just something she calls him from time to time. It may help satisfy her Spanish-name love without being too foreign for her husband, you know? So William is the English equivalent of Guillermo, and it’s also a style match for John, Joseph, and Thomas. William Alan and William Milo are both fine, imo.

(3) Henry
Henry is another that I liked for this family in part because it has a Spanish equivalent that would be easy enough for Mandi to whisper to her boy from time to time (Enrique), and also because it’s a match for Lucy (similar to Lucia) and Joseph. I quite like it as a brother for David/Davey! Henry Alan and Henry Milo are great.

(4) Gerard
When I was looking through the list of Latino names, Gerardo jumped out at me and I thought, “Huh. Gerard would be great.” It has a similar old-man feel to me as Ralph, and in fact peaked in 1956, so it fits in well with the mid-century peak of Alan and David. St. Gerard Majella is such a great patron for all oms, and especially for moms who have previously lost babies, as he’s the patron of pregnant women, unborn children, childbirth, mothers, and motherhood! Gerard Alan and Gerard Milo are equally fine I think.

(5) Charles
Charles matched up with Lucia (via the Spanish variant Carlo), Cecilia, John, and Joseph, and there are so many great patrons associated with the name—St. Charles Borromeo, Bl. Karl of Austria, and St. JP2 are the three that I always think of first. Charles Alan and Charles Milo both sound fine, and Charles Alan has a particularly nice feel to me.

(6) Edward
Edward is similar in style to Robert and Joseph and has even more of the nursing home feel, just based on its popularity arc—it was a top ten name until 1931 and has slowly decreased ever since. It’s a lovely, gentlemanly name, and I love St. Edward the Confessor. Like with Charles, Edward Alan and Edward Milo are fine, with the former having a particular sparkle to me.

(7) Martin
Martin was only listed as a style match for Peter, but as soon as I saw it I thought it was a great suggestion for Mandi and her Mister. St. Martin de Porres’ father was Spanish, and I love that Martin can have that Spanish connection without being strongly ethnic. Brothers Davey and Marty are super cute too! Martin Alan doesn’t flow as well, and I don’t mind the alliteration of Martin Milo, though I know some people don’t care for that kind of thing.

(8) Victor
Finally, Victor, which was a last-minute addition to my list! I was thumbing through the BNW recently, just for fun, and was reading the Victor entry where I was reminded that, as it says in the BNW, “Like Hector, Victor is currently most popular with Latino parents,” which of course made me think of Mandi! It’s papal and saintly, a great name! I did a post about nicknames for Victor, which continues to be one of the posts that draws the most people here from internet searches (a lot of people are searching for good nicknames for Victor!), and an article at CatholicMom, and I’m particularly loving the Spanish nicknames Vicho and Victo for them. Victor Alan and Victor Milo are both great.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What other ideas can you offer Mandi and her husband for a boy baby?

Birth announcement: Tori Spelling’s baby no. 5!

sanctanomina Birth announcement

I normally wouldn’t post a birth announcement for a celebrity’s baby, but I posted some ideas for Tori Spelling’s fifth baby a while ago because I’ve long thought she’s a pretty amazing namer and yes, I’d actually had a list of ideas for her thumbtacked to my weirdo brain’s name board for a while. 😂

Anyway, her baby has been born! A boy named … Beau Dean! I’m kind of kicking myself that I didn’t think of Beau — now that she’s chosen it I’m like Of course! It’s four letters like their other boys, and though I’m not thrilled with the flow of the one-syllable Beau with the one-syllable Dean, I do love that she used Dad’s name as the middle name and probably would have made the same choice if I were her.

Amazingly enough, I looked up the SSA stats for Liam, Finn, and Beau, as I suspected that their popularity arcs might be similar but staggered, if that makes any sense, with Finn as popular now as Liam was a few years ago, and Beau as popular now as Finn was a few years ago — I feel like Tori’s shown herself to have her finger on the pulse. I was sort of amazed to find that Beau is currently just a hair more popular than Finn currently is! And with a much gentler rise compared to Finn’s steeper ascent.

jackfinnbeau

But of course Finn’s stats are somewhat misleading, since Finn as a given name joins the Finians, Finnegans, Griffins, and others that go by the nickname Finn — the Finn names are hot hot hot right now! And I bet Beau will be too in a couple years.

All in all, I’m pleasantly content with the new Spelling-McDermott baby’s name. What do you think of it?

Baby name consultation: Is this name okay?

sanctanomina Baby name consultant, Naming nitty gritty

Today’s consultation is for a family who has a pretty good idea of the name they’d like to use, but they just need some reassurance. The name is Anessa, a variant of Agnes, and they write,

“I worry about missing something — years ago we had friends who named their daughter ‘Sarin’ only later to realize it is the name of a deadly compound in used in chemical warfare!  I think they changed it to ‘Sarah’ before the child was 1.”

Though my gut reaction was that Anessa is totally fine, and a beautiful choice!, I did give some good consideration to the question — names that are more unusual are more prone to having just one association stick, after all. I googled Anessa to see if anything weird came up — there seems to be a brand of sunscreen called Anessa, and an Asian site that have the name but I have no idea what it’s saying and even if it’s bad I can’t imagine it would be the kind of thing that would be a problem here. It seems one of the Cabbage Patch Kids from years ago was Anessa as well. Even the name sites don’t have much on the name, and you all know that any time there’s a chance for someone to voice an opinion online (especially a negative one!), people jump at the chance! So the fact that there isn’t anything controversial to read is encouraging.

It would be really helpful to get your opinions as well. Is there anything about the name Anessa that these parents should know before choosing it?