Awesome name article by Simcha Fisher

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Oooooh check out what’s on Aleteia today!

From Ambrose to Zelie: For Catholic Babies, Old Is the New New: Fulton and Vianney, Felicity and Avila, Giorgio and Elias are all showing up in 21st century baptismal books by Simcha Fisher (whose consultation I posted in January 2015 introduced me little blog to so many of you).

Simcha may or may not have interviewed a certain Catholic name blogger when she was writing the article … and said name blogger may or may not be quote more than once (!) in the article. 😊😍😁😎

!!!!!!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I really really loved how Simcha finished the piece:

“… when St. Gemma herself was baptized, her mother reportedly feared that the child would never get into heaven without a saint’s name. The priest reassured her, saying, ‘Let us hope that she may become a gem of Paradise.’

So if mom and dad adore a name, but there’s no saint attached to it, maybe it’s just a matter of time.”

What a hopeful notion! I hadn’t known this about St. Gemma until one of you recently shared it (grace? I just took a quick look through the comments and couldn’t find it …).

(Interesting to note that St. Gemma was baptized even though she apparently didn’t have a saint’s name … I’ve been seeing mentions here and there recently about priests refusing to baptize babies without saints’ names, which I find really worrisome, especially since the Church doesn’t say they have to have them.)

Anyway! Be sure to check out the article — I’d love to hear what you think!

Baby name consultant: 20s/30s and/or Brit/European-inspired names needed for fifth boy

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Liz and her husband are expecting their fifth baby — and fifth boy! She writes,

“In general I would say that my husband and I both prefer first names that are old fashioned (popular in the 1920s and 30s) and currently uncommon. We also tend to like names with a British (or otherwise European) flare. Also, there’s got to be a saint in there somewhere (first or middle name).

We don’t like “made up” names or weirdly spelled names. I don’t prefer common/traditional names as first names, but I am fine with them as middle names (Michael, Sam, Katherine, Rose, etc).”

(I love that: “a British (or otherwise European) flare.”)

Their older boys are:

John-Paul Joseph (“I realize that John-Paul is common in Catholic circles and I specifically said uncommon, but we love St. John Paul so much that we were set on this name before we were even married. Outside of Catholic circles it is pleasantly uncommon and often people think we’re just big Beetles fans. Haha! Joseph is in honor of my grandpa as well as St. Joseph“)

William David (“I like that William is strong and it’s got a British sense to me… Prince William and all that. It is, however a bit too common. That bugs me. He was almost Oliver but I think we just chickened out. Oliver was still weird in 2008 and we didn’t have the guts to be weird, I guess. I’m over that now. 😉 Or maybe it was just intended to be saved for the next kid. David is [a family name]“)

Oliver Francis (“This is probably my favorite of all of the names we’ve chosen. I just love it. Refined, (was) uncommon, old fashioned, a touch Brit. Oliver was not quite so common as it is now when he was born in 2010. I kind of hate that it’s more popular now, but what can I say, we must be trend setters. 🙂 Francis is after Francis of Assisi“)

Theodore Anthony (“We always call him Teddy. We actually named him Theodore specifically to use Teddy. Teddy seems uncommon and old fashioned. Anthony is after St. Anthony with whom I am tight“)

(“Anthony is after St. Anthony with whom I am tight”!!!! I love it!!! 😂❤)

Names they’re currently considering include:

August
Beau
Otto (“Husband is on the fence about this one but he hasn’t vetoed it completely“)
George
Edward
Louis (“French pronunciation“)
Atticus (“I actually haven’t ran this one past the husband yet, but I really like it“)

And names that they like but can’t use for one reason or another include:

Max
Arthur
Kolbe
Henry

Additionally,

“I am fine with very common/traditional middle names, I’d prefer to avoid them as first names. We don’t have any middle names in mind yet! … We like nicknames, so feel free to suggest those if a good one strikes you.”

Alrighty, so I found this consultation to be somewhat of a challenge, which I love! It’s so fun to have to dig deep to find names that seem to fit. But it also means that I’m not as confident that I’ve done a good job here – some of my ideas are spot on I think, but others require explanation because I think otherwise Liz and her hubs might dismiss them right away.

First, I love their boys’ names! I think their taste and mine have a good deal of overlap—William, Oliver, John Paul, and Theodore are all names I love and have considered!

Second, reading Liz’s email made me feel like I was chatting with my sister-in-law—I think they’re name twins! My SIL loves Oliver, Beau, George, Henry, and Arthur—how funny is that? It might be worthwhile to check out the consultation I did for her and my brother, and the name they ended up choosing.

Okay! As you all know, I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they 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. Based on that research and my own namey head, these are my ideas:

(1) Bennet(t) or Elliot(t)
I was really excited to suggest Bennet(t) to this family! I was trying to think of names that I think of as similar to John-Paul (it doesn’t have its own entry in the BNW), and Benedict is always one, but even though Mr. Cumberbatch has made it so fabulous and British, I suspected brothers John-Paul and Benedict would be a bit much. Which is when I thought of Bennet(t)! It’s a medieval variant of Benedict, so it retains the saintly and papal panache, but in a more hidden way, and it’s got oodles of Brit awesomeness because of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice!

I’m listing Bennet(t) and Elliot(t) together because they’re pretty similar to me—both medieval variants of holy names (in Elliot(t)’s case, it’s Elijah), both with literary last-name connections (T.S. Eliot). Elliot(t)’s also a style match for Oliver.

(2) Walter
Liz listed several old-man names that she and her hubs like (Otto, George, Louis, Arthur), and they made me think of Walter, which is also a favorite of my sister-in-law, so I thought they might like it! Wally, Walt, and Wat(t) are all traditional nicknames for it—so fusty-fresh!

(3) Edmund
Edmund’s peak of popularity was in 1914, and it’s Brit as Brit can be. Like Edward on Liz’s list, it can take the nicknames Ed(die) and Ned (I suspect they might really like Ned). St. Edmund Campion’s an awesome patron for a little boy. Buuutttt … I’m just thinking now that Eddie and even Ned are probably too close to Teddy right? Drat! But wait! JP2’s brother’s name was Edmund and he went by Mundek! Ooh I love that!

(4) Jasper
I loooove Jasper! It’s the name traditionally given to one of the Wise Men (you might also see its variants Casper and Gaspar instead—they’re all the same name). It’s a style match for Oliver, and it reads really Brit to me.

(5) Robert
Robert was big in the 20s and 30s and I’ve been loving the idea of Rory as a nickname for it, which leans toward Liz’s affinity for Brit/European names. Another possibility is Bo, which nods to the Beau on her list. (Relatedly, this sweet little girl was going to be Robert Boethius nicked Bo if she had been a boy! Swoon!) Robert is also St. Robert Bellarmine, which ties in nicely with the heavy-hitting John-Paul.

(6) Stephen
When I saw Stephen listed as a style match for William, it felt right as a suggestion for Liz and her hubs right away. It’s super classic and of course biblical and saintly. I think using the full Stephen rather than Steve will help it seem more 20s/30s. I’m sure they have their own way of choosing middle names, but if they’re looking for ideas, Catholic Digest Editor Danielle Bean has a son named Stephen Matthias, which I think is ah-MAZ-ing!

(7) Patrick
Finally, Patrick. It’s got a similar popularity arc to Stephen I think, and it’s got the European flavor if they want to think of it that way (Ireland), but as with so many of my other suggestions here, it was the offbeat nicknames that clinched it for me as a suggestion for them. Pat and Paddy are certainly common and solid, but I’ve recently been hearing Packy and Patch, which I think are adorable!

And those are all my suggestions! What do you all think? Am I close? Or totally off? I’m worried especially that Robert, Stephen, and Patrick are too “common/traditional,” even though they’re otherwise good style matches … I’d love to hear your suggestions for the little brother of John-Paul, William, Oliver, and Theodore!

Birth announcement: Beatrice Lucia Marie!

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I posted a consultation back in February for Elizabeth and her husband, and she’s just let me know her baby girl has arrived and been given the gorgeous name … Beatrice Lucia Marie!

Elizabeth writes,

“I feel like proclaiming “Habemus Nomen!” Baby Beatrice is 1 month old today, and we just finalized her name! I’m notoriously bad at decisions, and this was a particularly tough one.

Beatrice Lucia Marie arrived on April 13 at 5:27am (after an amazing but whirlwind less-than-5-hour labor in which we made it to the birth center just 13 minutes before she was born). She was a perfect 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 19 inches long.

Here’s basically how it went:

We had pretty much narrowed first names down to Mary or Beatrice in the last few weeks of pregnancy. I was almost certain her name would be Mary, so I was surprised that when we saw her, we were both knew immediately that she was not a “Mary.” It still took us a good 48 hours to commit to “Beatrice.” But we were at a total loss on her middle name. We had too many great options and none that filled every criteria we had. We narrowed it down to Lucia, Chiara, Vittoria, Maria and Caterina and then down to Lucia, Chiara, or Caterina. We love St. Catherine of Siena. She’s such a powerhouse saint and one of the 2 patrons of Italy (along with St. Francis of Assisi). The fact that I lived in Siena for 6 months in college and Brian has visited there with me a couple of times was a big draw, too. And I just love her quote about setting the world on fire…But I felt like I just couldn’t come to terms with the potential mispronunciation, and I actually prefer Catherine, so maybe we’ll keep that in mind for a future daughter! 🙂 We went back and forth on Chiara and Lucia. I really liked that there is so much more documented about Chiara and the connection to Francesco (George’s middle name, as I’m sure you recall), and now there’s also Bl. Chiara “Luce” Badano. In the end, though, we decided that Lucia just fit her best. And we like the way it flows. And neither of us wanted to let it go since we’d loved the name from the start. And George called her Lucy for weeks during my pregnancy. We still struggled with the fact that so little is known about St. Lucia… but the essence of her story is so relevant to a Catholic growing up today. Lucia is such a strong example of standing up for your faith in a society that is (sometimes/often) hostile to it. Plus we love that it means light. And Beatrice could also claim Bl. Chiara Badano as a patron with the Luce-Lucia link.

As I said before, I was really hoping for a Marian name for baby Bea, and maybe they’re a stretch, but I came up with a few connections that I like (and I thought you’d appreciate). First, St. Beatrice founded the Order of the Immaculate Conception. Also, Beatrice in Italian is simply blessed (“beata” — or “beatus” in Latin) + ending indicating a female (“trice”). So, even though it’s usually said to mean “bringer of joy” or “she who brings joy” (which I love), to my Italian-centric ear it’s more accurately “she who is blessed,” which immediately makes me think of the Blessed Virgin Mary and “blessed are you among women…” Also the initials B.L.M. make me think of “Blessed Mother.” (Not quite so obvious as B.V.M. but it’s still reminiscent of Our Lady.) Then there’s Lucia of Fatima. And did you know there’s a Madonna della Luce/Our Lady of Light? So… Marian connections! Finally, at 2 weeks, we had the birth center send in her official documents with the name Beatrice Lucia!

But I still felt like something was missing and wasn’t totally at peace about her name. I even called our state’s department of health to see what the rules were for changing middle names on the birth certificate. (You have until the baby is a year old to change the name! I think that includes first and middle names.) I really wanted her to have a form of Mary in her name, and we talked about adding Marie as a second middle. I liked the idea of carrying on the tradition of “Marie” (both my mom’s and my middle name), but both Brian and I had mixed feelings about a double middle name (for a few reasons, mostly logistics though). We’d been praying about it, and stumbled across the solution when we were finalizing the info for her baptismal certificate. (She’ll be baptized this Sunday!) When I mentioned our middle name dilemma to the office manager at church and asked if it might be an issue if we changed her middle name later, she said the name on her baptismal certificate did not have to match her legal name. Total lightbulb moment! I called Brian immediately, and we decided that the perfect solution would be to have her baptized as Beatrice Lucia Marie and keep her legal name as Beatrice Lucia! (For now… we have 11 months to change our minds about that. ;)) I immediately felt a flood of peace about the whole thing, which had been weighing on me heavily since she was born. I’m so glad that she’ll have Marie as an official, even if not legal, part of her name! Bonus, I think my mom is pretty happy about it. 🙂 It’s great that she has connections to all sides of our family, too: Beatrice (mother-in-law’s suggestion and, inexplicably, her nickname in Jr. High(!)), Bea (my paternal grandmother’s nickname), Lucia (husband’s paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Lucas), and Marie (my mom’s middle name and mine)….

We’ll mostly call her Beatrice but also use the nickname “Bea.” (She ended up being born the day before my grandmother’s birthday (Albina a.k.a “Bea”)!)

We’ve also gotten a bit creative with other nicknames. I’m not sure if any of these will stick, but I thought you’d appreciate them.

Bertie/Birdie
BettyLu
Beats
Bea (“bay-ah”; nn for Italian pronunciation of “bay-ah-tree-chay)
Bella (first and last letters of her first and middle names)“

I’m all a-swoon over all these details!! What a beautiful, thoughtful, meaningful name Elizabeth and her husband have chosen for their little girl!!

Baby Beatrice joins equally well-named big brother:

George Francesco

Nice job, Mom and Dad! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Beatrice!!

Beatrice Lucia Marie with her big brother and parents

Prayers please!

sanctanomina Prayer Intentions, Sancta Nomina community

One of the mamas in our Sancta Nomina community has asked for prayers for protection and good health for her baby — she’s newly pregnant after multiple losses. St. Anne, please intercede for us! ❤ 🙏

Birth announcement: Rosalie Caoilfhinn!

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Back during Christmas week I posted a consultation for Laura and her husband, and Laura has let me know her little one has arrived — a girl! And she’s been given the amazingly beautiful name … Rosalie Caoilfhinn!

Laura writes,

“Rosalie Caoilfhinn was born on April 18 at 11:08pm, weighing 8lbs, 2oz
and measuring in at 21 in. Since she arrived she has just been
showered by love, particularly by big sister Clara. (Clara told me all
along that it was either a girl or a sister!)

We are so grateful for our consultation, and actually, one of the
names that I had written off right away ended up in our final two:
Juliet (Beatrice was the planned middle name.) We had both names ready
when my grandmother died. She had always promised that when she died,
if she was able, she would send us roses to let us know she’d made it
to heaven. A couple of days later, a cluster of red roses bloomed on
my yellow rose bush. Well, when God sends you a sign, I guess you take
it!

That mysterious occurrence, combined with my research on Bl. Rosalie
Rendu and our baby girl’s head full of pretty auburn hair just sealed
the deal for us. Rosalie it is! (We’ve been using your suggested n.n.
“Ree” and daddy’s also been calling her “Li-li” to go along with
Clara’s “Lou-lou.”) And now we have Juliet Beatrice on the list if we
ever have another little girl.”

What a story!! I could just hug Laura for sharing it with us — name stories often have layers of meaning, and it’s such a special thing to get to hear how God works through them. ❤ ❤ ❤

Rosalie joins big sister:

Clara Louise

And I’m just dying over sisters Clara and Rosalie. Beautiful job, Mom and Dad! Congratulations to the whole family and happy birthday Baby Rosalie!!

Rosalie Caoilfhinn with sister Clara and her roses from heaven

 

Birth announcement: Clara Grace!

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I posted a consultation for Maureen and her husband back in March, and she’s let me know her baby girl has arrived and been given the loveliest lovely … Clara Grace!

Maureen writes,

“Just wanted to let you know that our Clara Grace entered the world on Wednesday May 4 at 4:37am. She was 8lbs. 10oz. and 21.25″ long and we love her to pieces already. She is learning to sleep through big sister, Eleanor’s antics and Eleanor is learning to show her affection gently. We can’t thank you enough for helping us name our sweet girl!“

Clara Grace!! I love it!! Extra exciting is that Clara was one of the ideas I offered in the consultation!! 😍 👊 🎉

Congratulations to Mom and Dad and big sister Eleanor Maureen, and happy birthday Baby Clara!!

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Clara Grace

Birth announcement: Bernadette Rosemary!

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I did a private consultation for Hannah and her husband a couple of months ago, and I was delighted to be alerted to this on Twitter a couple weeks ago:

bernadette_rosemary_birth_announcement2

So I clicked over to see this birth announcement:

bernadette_rosemary_birth_announcement

Bernadette Rosemary!!! What a beautifulllll name!!! I emailed Hannah to congratulate her and she offered this further fun bit of name info:

“We were going back and forth about her name for almost a day until we decided on Bernadette. It has always been one of my favorite names and Saints, and I just kept going back to it. We really loved Regina “Ruby” as well though, and my husband was loving Zelie. Ultimately, Bernadette just felt so right and I love it more every time I say her name. I think what was holding me back was not having a nick name that I loved for her, but for now we just call her by her full name, and it feels so right.

I was set on Frances for her middle name but Ralph didn’t love it. I thought it would be a great idea to honor Mary with her middle name because of Saint Bernadette’s devotion to Mary. Rose was also my grandmothers name so  Rosemary it was! I love the combination of the two names and how “old fashioned” they sound together.”

I love name stories like that, where a bunch of different elements come together and just feel right. ((sighing with happiness))

Baby Bernadette joins her amazingly named big sibs:

Jack Timothy
Remy Patrick
Liam Edwin
Lucille Estelle

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

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Bernadette Rosemary

Baby name consultant: Warrior Saints

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I hope you all got to see the three (three!) birth announcements I posted yesterday — three beautiful little ladies with three gorgeous names! Be sure to check them out if you haven’t yet seen them: one, two, three. (I have a couple more coming this week, wheeee!! 😀 )

Today’s consultation is a bit more private than usual, and a whole lotta awesome: Parents with a military background recently asked for ideas for names for the warrior saints theme they’ve already started with their kiddos and hope to continue for both boys and girls. I love that!! I mean really. How cool.

I came up with a bunch of ideas (there are a lot of saints who were soldiers!), and I’m really hoping you all can round out these lists with your own ideas!

Girls

First off, there’s St. Joan of Arc, the girl soldier who helped bring victory to France and died for her faith. Such a great patron for a little girl! I did a spotlight of her name not too long ago.

Then there are three biblical women who I see routinely referred to as “warriors”: Deborah, Jael, and Judith. In the intro to the book Women Warriors in Romantic Drama by Wendy C. Nielsen is this sentence (the link takes you right to it): “Women warriors such as Joan of Arc, and Judith, Deborah, and Jael in the Bible, fight openly with honor for justice and freedom,” which is pretty awesome. You can read more about Deborah and Jael here (their story is linked), and Judith here; I also spotlighted Judith recently here, including a Marian link to the name.

Then there’s St. Quiteria, who has a pretty amazing story. I actually posted a birth announcement recently for a little girl named after St. Quiteria (her parents decided to go with the spelling Kyteria).

Otherwise, there are loads and loads of Saints who were soldiers—all men as far as I can tell, except St. Joan, but some pretty great female variants include:

Adrianne or Adrienne, for St. Adrian of Nicomedia (you could even use Adrian for a girl)

Alexandra et al., for the Sts. Alexander

Andrea, for Bl. Andrea Bordino or Bl. Andrea Gallerani (a pretty great option, since you’d use the Saint’s exact name)

Caroline or Charlotte or Carla for any of the Sts. Charles that were soldiers (lots!)

Irene for St. Irenaeus

Hyacinth or Jacinta, for St. Hyacinth (Jacinta is the Spanish and Portuguese feminine version of Hyacinth, and Hyacinth on its own can be a girl’s name as well)

Lucy for St. Lucius

Marian, for Bl. Marian Górecki (this Bl. Marian was a man, but how great is it that you could use his exact name of Marian?!)

Kostka, for Bl. Stanislaw Kostka Starowieyski (Kostka struck me as really do-able for a girl; I’ve seen a priest take it as part of his religious name but in his case, and in the Bl. Stanislaw who was a soldier, it was in honor of St. Stanislaus Kostka, who’s a different guy and not a soldier)

Victoria, for the several Sts. Victor who were soldiers (I also love the tie-in to Our Lady of Victory and Jesus Himself as The Victor)

Boys

There are loads on that list I linked to above, but I just picked a few of my favorites to include here:

Adrian (Bl. Adrian Fortescue and St. Adrian of Nicomedia)

Alexander (there are a bunch of Sts. Alexander on the list of soldiers, and Alexander the Great is a common enough warrior reference)

Andrew (Bl. Andrew Dotti and St. Andrew the Tribune)

Bruno (Bl. Bruno of Rommersdorf and St. Bruno of Ebsdorf; doesn’t Bruno just seem like a warrior name?!)

Charles (several)

David (Bl. David Carlos-Marañon, St. David of Scotland, and King David himself)

Dominic (Bl. Dominic Collins and Bl. Dominic Dosso)

Edward (Bl. Edward Joannes Maria Poppe)

Gerard (Bl. Gerard of Clairvaux)

Ignatius (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Leo (several)

Marco (Bl. Marco of Jativa)

Peter (several)

Raymond (Bl. Raymond de Blanes and St. Raymond of Fitero)

Simon (Bl. Simon Ballachi)

William (Bl. William of Andleby, Bl. William of Maleval, St. William of Gellone)

There are several whose names are actually given as “St. So-and-So the Soldier,” which is really cool:

St. Andreas the Soldier (Andrew)
St. Lucius the Soldier (Luke could work for this one, or Lucas)
St. Mark the Soldier
St. Maximianus the Soldier (Max)
St. Peter the Soldier

(There are others but I thought these were the most user friendly.)

Finally, the patron saints of soldiers include:

St. Adrian of Nicomedia
St. Faith
St. George
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. James the Greater
St. Louis IX
St. Martin of Tours
St. Nicholas

(Full list of patron saints of soldiers here.)

So there are a lot to choose from! What others can you all add?

Birth announcement: Mercy Adelaide!

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A mama I did a private consultation has let me know her baby girl has arrived, and she’s been given the fabulous first+middle combo … Mercy Adelaide!

She writes,

“Thanks for all of your suggestions, it brought about a lot of conversation regarding naming our baby. We considered all of your suggestions as well as our list. We still were undecided even after she was born. We needed to meet her to know for sure. She was born 4/7/2016 at 3:01 am (so early!) and was 7lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches. We settled on Mercy Adelaide. Mercy for the reasons you suggested, and it has also had a deeper meaning for our family in recent months. Adelaide means kindness, and she’s also the Patron Saint of large families, which is now fitting.”

I’m just dying over Mercy Adelaide, what an amazingly awesome name for a little girl!! I would love it anyway, but it’s so extra great that she was born during the Year of Mercy, how meaningful. She joins her equally well named big siblings:

Molly Justine
Milo Remy
Maisy Marian
Maren Thérèse
Marina Thomas (with Jesus)

I love seeing sibsets that begin with the same letter, and this is a pretty amazing bunch of names. Well done, Mom and Dad!

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

Mercy Adelaide with her mama

Birth announcement: Gemma Clare!

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I posted a consultation for Jaclyn and her husband back in February, and Jaclyn’s let me know her new little girl has been born and given the beeauuutiful name … Gemma Clare!

Jaclyn writes,

“Our daughter was born on May 1 (her due date!) and is happy and healthy. We decided to name her…Gemma Clare!!

We so enjoyed the ideas and suggestions from you and your readers, and hope you like the final decision ;)”

If you remember from the consultation, Jaclyn and her husband really wanted a name of “a saint (or derivative) or otherwise Catholic in nature…we want someone to hear her name and just know she’s Catholic” — I’d say they did pretty darn well with Gemma Clare!! It’s so full of faithy significance!!

Congratulations to the proud parents and big sibs Lillian, Olivia, and Henry, and happy birthday Baby Gemma!!

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Gemma Clare