Birth announcement: Moira Elizabeth Charlotte!

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Happy Mother’s Day!! I gave you a little spiritual something yesterday, and today I have two (and possibly three!) birth announcements for you! What a wonderful day!! 😀 ❤ ❤ ❤

I posted a consultation for Genie at Barefoot Abbey back in January, and she’s let me know that her little girl has arrived and has been given the gooorgeous name … Moira Elizabeth Charlotte!

Genie writes,

“Our little Ladybird was born at home the evening of February 16th. At 7 pounds 12 ounces, she is a runt compared to her brothers. Deo Gratias!! Henry, our son born right before her, was 10 pounds!

Now onto the fun stuff!

Her name is Moira Elizabeth Charlotte.

As you can see, we were won over by the boys’ lobbying and did indeed name her after a spider. They were so excited for her arrival that it just felt right we should honor them in that regard. The patrons of St. JP2 and Bl. Charlotte of the Resurrection aren’t too bad either.

In the end (5 days after she was born!) we had the first name narrowed down to Moira, Genevieve, or Josephine. We had liked Moira with Immaculée Clare, however the final theme we chose changed that. We decided to give each potential daughter a Marian name so we saved Immaculée … We’re still running through nicknames and are open to suggestions, with the exception of ‘Mo’. Our sons call her variations from Ladybird to Mosy-Posy, since she was drawn from the water.”

I just love love love the name Moira, and I love Elizabeth and Charlotte as middle names for it — what a beautiful, meaningful combo!!

If any of you have ideas for nicknames for little Moira, please feel free to share! (My two ideas were Mori and Moira Beth.)

Congratulations to Genie and her husband and big brothers Malachi, Noah, Liam, and Henry, and happy birthday Baby Moira!!

Moira Elizabeth Charlotte and her brothers

For you all, in honor of Our Lady during her month of May

sanctanomina Sancta Nomina community

May is Mary’s month* and in honor of her I wanted to do something for all of you wonderful readers who have brought such joy to my life through our shared love for the beautiful names of our faith. I chose today to share this small gift with you, because it’s Saturday (which is Mary’s day) of Mother’s Day weekend!**

Are you all familiar with the National Shrine of Divine Mercy? It’s a beautiful, holy place, and one of the places where I was blessed with one of the turning points in my faith life many years ago when I was in college. In this Year of Mercy and this month of Our Lady, it seemed especially fitting to light a candle there for you in the Shrine’s Our Lady of Mercy Candle Shrine.

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I was so happy to find this place of intercessory prayer — how wonderful that “all intentions are remembered by the Congregation of Marians each day during Mass and their personal prayers, and by the Diving Mercy Intercessory Prayer Ministry”!! And how awesome that “Each prayer intention is prayed for individually before the Blessed Sacrament in Our Lady of Mercy Oratory”!!

These were my specific intentions:

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I loved that I was able to state specifically the intentions I was asking prayer for, and the “We will also pray for your additional intentions” bit refers to a menu of more general intentions that I could check off — these were the ones I chose to add:

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I hope May is a blessed month for you all! With love and gratitude, in the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. ❤ ❤ ❤

* Be sure to check out the beautiful readings about Mother Mary for each day of the month in that link. I love that today we honor her role as “Our Model in Ordinary Life” and tomorrow her role as “Mother of Christ” — perfect!

** My 6yo likes to tell me I’m the “second best mom in the whole world!” He’s referring to Mary as the best mom, of course. 😂 😍 ❤

Popularity of Zelie in 2015

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

Because of Zaylee appearing in the top 1000 in 2015 and the comments (here and here) on my post from this morning regarding Zelie/Zaylee I looked up Zaylee, Zelie, Zellie, and Azelie, and discovered Azaylee as well!, to see how many babies were so named in 2015:

Azaylee: 9
Azelie: 17
Zaylee: 270 (rank #990)
Zelie: 50
Zellie: 12

It was interesting to compare the numbers to 2014:

Azaylee: 7
Azelie: 6
Zaylee: 182
Zelie: 25
Zellie: 9

Azaylee’s making me think (as the other Kate pointed out) that the popularity of Zaylee may indeed be influenced by St. Zelie. Fascinating!

Updated to add the numbers for Azelia, which Andrea included in her comment at the same time I was posting this! There were 24 babies named Azelia in 2014 and 25 in 2015. (She also included info for Therese and Louis, if you’re interested — there was no significant impact on either one.) Thanks Andrea!

2015 SSA name data released

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

For the past week or so I’d been seeing the name bloggers eagerly anticipating the release of the 2015 name stats from the Social Security Administration — it’s only because of them that I knew it was going to happen today, because I’m the absolute worst at being in the know and at the right place at the right time and the first one with the breaking news and all — I was actually stressed out at the idea of having to blog about it quickly and though I’d wait until tomorrow to do it. I’m so. weird.

But I took a look at the list this morning, and had a couple things to say so I thought I *would* post about it today after all, as I should, being a name blogger and all, and I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

2015_top_ten

My first reaction was absolute shock that Harper is now in the top ten for girls. Wow! I had NO idea it was that popular!!

Noah and Emma retained their #1 spots, and I’m feeling surprised by that because the people I discuss names with (mostly all of you) tend to stay away from those names because of past popularity, so all I hear about them is that they’re generally not being used. But they’re great names and pretty “normal” (not like Abcde, for example), so I’m not disappointed that they’re the names on top.

I also took a quick look at the names that increased in popularity from 2014 — Alaia had the biggest increase for girls, jumping up 2012 spots from #2676 in 2014 to #664 in 2015! WOW!! Others that jumped up more than a thousand places are Meilani, Aitana, Aislinn, Taya, and Adeline (I love Aislinn and Adeline).

The boy name with the biggest increase is Riaan, up 1360 spots from #2286 in 2014 to #926 in 2015. No other boy names increased by a thousand or more — the next closest was Huxley, up 392 spots from 1354 to 962.

I didn’t scrutinize the list, but the other name that jumped out at me was Zaylee — #1304 to #990. I can’t imagine that’s influenced by our St. Zelie, since so many of us aren’t even sure how to say it, so I assume it’s a Baylee/Kaylee name … what a weird and interesting convergence of super Catholic and super trendy!

No shock at all was the fact that the girl name Isis took the biggest hit, decreasing 1065 spots from #705 to #1770. Maybe I’m surprised it didn’t fall farther?

That’s all I have to say for the moment, but be sure to check out those who have a better handle on it all than I do — some good analysis in these pieces, and more will be coming in the next few days I’m sure:

Appellation Mountain: Harper and Benjamin Enter the US Top Ten! (Abby had made some great predictions — including that both Harper and Benjamin would enter the top ten! Wow!)

Nameberry: Emma and Noah Top Baby Names List … Again

Baby Name Wizard: The Most Popular Baby Names in America for 2015

Baby name consultant: Sole Searching Mama’s Baby No. 7

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Happy Feast of the Ascension y’all!! 😀 I’m delighted to mark this holy day with a consultation for a mama who, like me, has six boys!

Susan, from the blog Sole Searching Mama (so clever!), and her husband Steve expect their seventh baby any day (she’s taking prayer requests to offer during her labor and delivery, so be sure to send her your special intentions!). They don’t know if the baby’s a boy or a girl, and I know she feels similarly to me in that another boy would be as happily welcomed as a baby girl, but of course it’s so fun to wonder if a Little Miss is about to make her debut after allllll those brothers!

Those brothers are the handsomely named:

Benedict Steven Robert
Andrew Simon Joseph
George Patrick Thomas
Henry James Augustine
Charles Gabriel Francis
Joseph William Karol

I love each combo — so saintly! So masculine!

Susan writes,

“Our “method” for choosing names is usually the same. We begin tossing around names of saints we love, and family names are also considered. Then, we pray about it, discuss, discuss, discuss, and then eventually a name comes together that we both mutually KNOW is the one.”

I love how she articulated their process — it’s similar to my own, and I’m sure a lot of you do this too!

They’re pretty well set on boy name ideas (though they’re open to hearing more, so I included a few ideas below) — it’s the girl name that’s a stumper! Susan says,

“I’m probably hyper-fixated on the girl name, and need not be, since given our present circumstances, the likelihood of us having a girl is slim. But, the Lord may surprise us yet!“

Names they’ve considered include:

Magdalene
Zelie
Ave
Maris
Therese
Clare

And names they like but can’t use include:

Elizabeth
Katherine
Gianna
Emma

I had so much fun working on this! With big families, it can sometimes feel like all the new ground has been long broken, but coming up with names for a girl after having all and many boys (or vice versa) is so new and different.

I wanted to comment quickly on the names Susan and her hubs like/have considered:

Gianna, Magdalene, Zelie, Ave, and Therese all have, to me, that Catholicky Catholic feel of Benedict’s first name and the middles Maximilian, Kolbe, Vianney, Augustine, Gabriel, and Karol, while Emma, Maris, and Clare are a little less obvious, more like the other boys’ first names. I like seeing that — it gives me a good sense of where their taste is. Emma is especially telling, since it’s really not obviously saintly (though it is, indeed, saintly).

 

So you all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard book 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 mental files, these are my ideas for a little girl for Susan and Steve:

(1) Gemma
I probably would have ended up putting Gemma on the list of suggestions for them anyway, but when I read that they like both Gianna and Emma it was immediately clear to me that Gemma is an awesome choice for them! I love that it’s like Gianna and Emma put together, and St. Gemma Galgani is a great patron for a little girl. Another fun tidbit is that when I was looking up St. Emma, I came across a different St. Gemma—St. Gemma of Goriano—who’s also known as Emma! And her feast day is Mary 12, so close to Susan’s due date! The name is Italian in origin, meaning “gem,” which is also a great meaning for a little girl’s name to have, but it has a lot of use in England, which gives it a really English feel too, similar to Benedict, George, Henry, and Charles. (For example, see the British actress Gemma Jones, who’s been in films like Bridget Jones’ Diary, the Harry Potter movies, and Sense and Sensibility. Abby at Appellation Mountain also did an awesome spotlight.)

(2) Stella or Maristella
My next idea for them—and the first one I scribbled down when I was first reading Susan’s email—is Stella, totally inspired by Maris on their list. Though Maris has the lovely meaning “of the sea” and refers to Our Lady, Star of the Sea (Stella Maris), I think its meaning is almost completely diluted for those who aren’t familiar with it. Niles’ wife on Frasier was Maris, and when I hear it on its own, that’s what I think of. (Maybe most people are more refined than me? I hope! 😀 ) But if they were to put Maris together with Stella, as in Maristella (as this mom did, gorgeous!), then I think its meaning is more obvious. Maristella would be gorgeous for them, and is a bit like Magdalene from their list in terms of length and appearance, but I kind of like the trimmer Stella a bit more for them, especially if they did Stella Maris (first name + middle name). (Stellamaris is also a possibility.) (I don’t suppose Stella comes across as obviously Marian any more than Maris does, but for some reason it seems to me that it does.)

(3) Lucia or Lucy
Lucia was listed as a style match in the BNW for Gianna and Lucy was listed as a match for Henry, Charles/Charlie, and Emma, so I think either one (or Lucia nicknamed Lucy) would be a great idea for Susan and Steve.

(4) Margaret
Margaret is the third in the classic, regal girls’ names trio: Elizabeth, Katherine, and Margaret. There are lots of Sts. Margaret to choose from, and lots of sweet, traditional nickname options, like Maggie, Meg and Peg, Maisie and Daisy, Greta, and Rita.

(5) Anna or Annabel(le)
One of the things I love about looking names up in the BNW is writing down the matches for each name on the parents’ list and then looking for names that show up in more than one of those list of matches. Anna was a big hit for this family, being listed as similar in style/feel/popularity to Katherine, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Emma. I love the name Anna, and you all know St. Anne is Sancta Nomina’s patroness, so I love giving her lots of name love. There are so many pretty variants, like Ann(e), Hannah, Anya, and Annika, and mashups like Annelise/Anneliese and Annabeth that would allow for Anne and Elizabeth together in one name.

I know I’ve talked a lot recently about Annabel, which is a new love of mine — I love that it looks like an Anna name and could be considered so if desired, but actually has different roots: it seems it is, in origin, a variant of Amabel, which arose in Scotland in the Middle Ages … Amabel is a variant of Amabilis, which means “lovable” and was the name of a male saint, but it’s also part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis (Mother Most Amiable; amiable=lovable). How cool is that?? The spelling Annabelle makes it a bit frillier and looks more like Anna + belle (belle=beautiful), which is another nice layer of meaning.

Huh. But actually, now that I think about it … is Anna too similar to Andrew? I personally think that with so many children, and Andrew being #2 and this new baby being #7, it’s not that big a deal. But it is something Susan and Steve would have to think about and make their own decision about.

(6) Rosa or Rosemary or Rosanna
I love the sweet and spunky Rosa—it’s such a lovely name for a girl, and the nickname Rosie/Rosey is to die for. But I also love Rosemary for this family—to me, it’s one of those obviously Catholic names, and I kind of love that a little Rosemary would have her own herb. It can still take Rosie/Rosey as a nickname, or Romy, which is traditional as well. (Ooh, I just thought of Rosanna too—I love that! It gets in the Anna from above without any potential Andrew/Anna issue, and the Rose bit, which is Marian and lovely.)

There were a couple other names for girls I thought of that in the end I just didn’t think made the cut for my suggestions, for one reason or another, but I thought I’d list them just in case: Christiana, Leonie, Edith, Adelaide, Felicity, and Elodie.

Even though Susan and Steve are set with a boy’s name, they said they were open to hearing more ideas, so I came up with a few that really seemed to fit the style of their other boys’ names:

(1) Edmund or Edward
Edmund is a style match for Benedict and Therese and a nod to awesome St. Edmund Campion (also, Narnia!). Edward was actually a better match for this family, according to the BNW, being listed as similar to George, Henry, Charles, Joseph, and Elizabeth (wow!). St. Edward the Confessor is a particular fave of mine.

(2) Louis
This was totally inspired by Zelie, being her dear hubby’s name, and totally fits with the other boys.

(3) Dominic
I feel like there aren’t too many heavy-hitting Catholic names for boys that they haven’t already used, but Dominic is one. It’s similar to Benedict with that monastery/incense feel (which I love), and I think it fits in really well with the other boys.

(4) Luke
Luke is such a solid boy’s name, and I consider it to be a Marian name as well, as his gospel is the most Marian and contains her beautiful Magnificat.

(5) Leo
Leo has a really similar feel as Benedict and Dominic to me, and he’s a Pope St. the Great like JP2. So cool!

And those are all my ideas for Susan and Steve! What do you all think? What would you suggest for Boy No. 7 or Girl No. 1?

New Nameberry article up!

sanctanomina Nameberry writer, Naming nitty gritty

I know I’ve told you all a hundred times before, but you make this blog. Without you guys, it would just be my personal online name file folder with all the tidbits I want to keep together in one place, but with you — Sancta Nomina sings!

Yet another example of your invaluable input is my latest piece up at Nameberry: Baby Names Quandary: Use it now or bank a name you love?

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The comments you left on this consultation (Felix now or Felicity later?) and this post on whether or not you reserve names for later use and this post on naming regret informed the article, and I think a lot of parents will benefit from our collective wisdom. So thank you again! ❤

Baby name consultant: Baby #4 to add more joie de vivre

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Thank you all for your patience and kind words and prayers last week! The wake, funeral, and burial for my mother-in-law all worked out so well and beautifully, may she rest in peace.

Though I’d said that I’d be able to finish up the consultations for those waiting for them, I didn’t end up being able to spend much time on the computer, so I’m a couple of days backed up. I should be able to catch up this week though, so if you’re waiting for a consultation or an email reply of any kind, don’t despair!

Now on to our regularly scheduled Monday consultation post!

Lisa, of the blog Joie de Vivre (hence my totally corny post title), and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, gender unknown! This wee babe will join older sisters:

Evangeline Grace (Evie)
Audrey Noelle
Heidi Josefina

And names they’ve talked about for girls include:

Isabel (“maybe more for a middle name?“)
Margaret (“husband really likes…I’m not quite there“)
Juliana (“has been a top choice every pregnancy…I’m ready to take it off the list, though, since the boss of my boss is named Heidi and my boss is named Julianne!“)
Mariette (“husband not on board“)
Faith or Hope
Jane
Teresita (“my confirmation saint is Ven. Teresita but my husband feels it’s too much of a nick name, womp, womp“)

For boys, Lisa says,

“My husband Tim and I have each had a strong devotion to St. Jude since before we met each other and considered that as our ‘front-runner’ for a boy’s name with the 1st pregnancy, however good friends of ours, who had a baby around the same time, also had Jude as their boy-name first choice and did have a boy *and* have the same last name we do, so we’ve sort nixed it but may consider it now that both families have more kids/ their Jude is older?“

Other names they’ve discussed/considered for boys include:

First names
Nicholas
Jude
Christopher
Nathaniel
Kolbe (“I LOVE- Tim says it evokes thoughts of Colby Jack cheese“)
Ethan

Middle names
Scott
Bonaventure
Frederick
Casimir

(“I know the last three are really wild cards but I kinda like that they’re unexpected, and the last two are the middle names of my grandpa’s that I would totally use as a middle name for a boy.”)

And names that can’t be used for various reasons include:

Ava
Anna
Charlotte
Clara
Rose
Sophia
Zelie
Kathryn
Therese
Michael
Charles
Seamus
Samuel
Daniel
Christian
Isaac
Andrew
Eleanor
Olivia
Leo

I really enjoyed working on this because I found that Lisa and Tim’s style wasn’t easy to pin down — I love a good name challenge!

Their girls’ names are each so lovely … and so different! I love each one. I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names that the parents like and have already used for their other children in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and then I look for names that show up in more than one of those lists. It was so interesting to see what names would be found to be similar to more than one of Lisa and Tim’s girls’ names or the names on their list! I’ll explain more in my suggestions below.

I love Jude, and I love that both Lisa and her hubs have a devotion to St. Jude—how weird that they have friends with the exact same last name who also have a Jude! I agree that as there are more children and the ages are more spread out that it doesn’t matter as much as it might have once. It’s a great name.

As for the names she and/or her hubs like(s), Isabel, Faith, Hope, and Jane are all beautiful … I think they’re probably right to take Juliana off the list because of the Heidi/Julianne boss issue, but maybe not forever … Margaret and Mariette are so similar in appearance and beginning and ending sounds, it’s funny that Lisa loves one and Tim loves the other! And Teresita is beautiful — I wonder if they would consider Teresa with Teresita as a possible nickname? Especially since Tim already thinks Teresita sounds more nicknamey? Or maybe Tessa would be more their speed? I like them both with the other girls’ names, and I like trying to find a connection to Ven. Teresita for Lisa in a way that maybe her husband would be okay with.

Their boys’ names are very consistent stylistically! Nicholas, Christopher, and Nathaniel especially have a lot of the same names listed as style matches. I’ll discuss more in my suggestions below.

As for the middle name ideas, they’re all very handsome, and I was particularly struck by the combo Jude Frederick — I think it has such a great flow! BUT – I’m love love loving the idea of Frederick as a first name for them!!! I love that it’s long and sophisticated like Evangeline; it’s got a German feel like Heidi; and it’s really classic like Audrey and all three of them really. It’s got the great traditional nickname options of Fred, Freddie (so cute!), and Fritz, and I know a little Frederick who goes by Erick. I love it! Frederick Jude would be very handsome.

I love Kolbe too, great name and great saint! Colby Jack cheese is hilarious and such a bummer!

Okay, so I have a bunch of suggestions for Lisa and Tim:

Girl
(1) Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn or Madeleine
This was influenced at first by Margaret on their list, as I sometimes find that people who struggle with Margaret but love the nickname Maggie are open to considering Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn with the nickname Maggie. I love it! But as I was doing my research, I discovered that Madeleine is a style match for Evangeline and Isabel, and Madeleine is the French version of Magdalen(e), so I thought it definitely deserved a mention.

(2) Clairvaux
I know Clara’s on the list of unusable names, but Claire is a style match for Audrey and at first I dismissed it … but then when I was thinking about it some more — especially the style of Kolbe (saintly last name) — I wondered what they’d think of Clairvaux? Lindsay at My Child I Love You has a little Clairvaux, after St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and I believe they call her Clair sometimes.

(3) Victoria
Victoria is a style match for Juliana, Nicholas, and Nathaniel, and I love that it’s got that longer length like Evangeline. I love that it could be considered Marian (Our Lady of Victory), or a Jesus name (Victory!), and I love that it has a bunch of nickname options: Vicky, Vicka, Tori, Vee, Cora, Ria.

(4) Samantha
Samantha’s a style match for Nicholas, Christopher, and Nathaniel! I know Samuel isn’t usable, but maybe Samantha’s different enough?

(5) Camille or Camilla
Camilla is a style match for Juliana and Jude, and Camille for Hope. I really like it with their other girls, and I love the nickname Cammie.

Boy
(1) Luke or Lucas
Luke was all over the place for this family! Luke is a style match for Audrey, Jude, Ethan, and Faith, and Lucas matches up with Isabel. Wow! I’ve heard Jude described as the “Luke less traveled,” so I wasn’t surprised to see that it’s similar to a bunch of other names they like.

(2) Owen
Owen was also a big hit for them, being similar to Audrey, Isabel, Juliana, Ethan, and Faith. It’s a great name, and its patron is the amazing St. Nicholas Owen, a martyr who built hiding places for priests.

(3) Conrad
It’s funny, when I was first reading your email and saw Heidi, I immediately scribbled down Conrad, and then later discovered it’s a style match for Frederick! My husband and I considered Conrad for our youngest—I’ve always liked it.

(4) Bennett
Being that Kolbe is a saintly last name, I was trying to think of others from that category that Lisa and Tim might like (like my suggestion of Clairvaux above), and when I saw Bennett listed as a style match for Hope, I knew that was the one. Bennett is a medieval form of Benedict! So it’s got great saint cred, but it feels more like a last name (and of course is one, as in the Bennet sisters of Pride and Prejudice).

(5) Thaddeus or Theodore
Finally, I wondered if their love of St. Jude could transfer from the name Jude to the name Thaddeus? It’s long, like Evangeline, Christopher, and Nathaniel, and can take the nickname Thad, Tad/Taddy, and Ted/Teddy. Ted/Teddy made me think of Theodore too, which I suspect might be more their speed, and indeed it’s a style match for Frederick; they could also use the great nickname Theo.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for a brother or sister to Evangeline/Evie, Audrey, and Heidi?

Baby name consultant: Finn’s little brother or sister

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I’m popping back on to post today’s scheduled consultation, and thank you for your kind words and prayers for my mother-in-law and our family!

Kate and her husband are expecting their second baby! Their older son is:

William Finn, who goes by Finn

Love love love. I adore Finn, and it’s SO cool that it’s a middle for William.

Kate writes,

“Finn’s first name was a no-brainer because it’s a meaningful family name on both sides … [however we] could not agree on a nickname for William (I like Bill or maybe Will, he liked Liam but I didn’t) so we decided to just call him by his middle name. I don’t even remember how we came across Finn, but [my hubs’] family identifies strongly with their Irish heritage and I thought it was cute, so it was a winner.

This baby is probably a girl (per an early ultrasound), but we’re looking for both a girl and boy name in case he/she changes her mind at the anatomy scan. 😉

My husband and I have very different naming styles — and personalities altogether — which made it a miracle we decided on Finn’s name and is making it very difficult this time around … my style is a little more “hipster”, his is a lot more plain-Jane (his words, not mine!) We are both leaning towards a French name for a girl this time around (my family is French and Polish.)“

For girls,

“our top contender for Finn was Geneva Eloise. Geneva is a family name on Jeff’s side, a great-grandmother he was very close to. I still like it, but I’m not sure I love it. We were/are considering the nickname Vivi or Gemma.

For middle names with Geneva, I like Stellamaris and Azelie, but am open to more ideas. I’m not sure they sound quite right. I/we are also open to new first name ideas though Jeff says he’s very attached to Geneva. Other family names are Margaret (my side), Aileen (my side), Helen (his side.)“

And for boys,

“we have literally zero ideas. I love Francis and Walter, my husband does not like either. We have no new ideas. Anything would help.”

Okay! Not to fear! I can always come up with ideas! 😀 I love Geneva Eloise with the nicknames Vivi or Gemma, so sweet! I also love Stellamaris and Azelie as middle names. I have nothing more to say, they’re just great ideas.

For those who don’t know, I almost always start my consultations by looking up all the names the parents have used and liked in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that match the entry in terms of style/feel/popularity. It’s uncannily accurate! Between that research and other, and my own namey head, these are my suggestions for boy and girl names (I tried to be heavier on the boy names but ended up with seven suggestions for each gender!):

Girl

(1) Genevieve or Vivienne
Geneva made me think of Genevieve right away, so Kate and her hubs probably won’t like it, since Geneva’s a family name and Genevieve loses that, but I had to suggest it. Or maybe it could be seen as a nod to Geneva while giving the baby her own name? St. Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris, which is great! And Vivienne also has the strong V sound and the French spelling, and both Genevieve and Vivienne can take the nicknames Vivi or Evie. So cute!

(2) Juliette
Juliet’s one of my very favorites, and Juliette’s a beautiful French variant. Lovely!

(3) Sylvie
When I saw Sylvia pop up in my research, I immediately thought of Sylvie and thought it was a great suggestion for this family! It’s got the V of Geneva, and it’s kind of like Sophie but not nearly as popular. This reader named her baby Sylvie Regina, which I just about died over! It sounds so like the Marian hymn “Salve Regina,” so cool!

(4) Beatrice
This also showed up in my research, and it reminded me of the family I did a consultation for recently whose mom is from France, and all the girls have French names. Beatrice made me think of it because it’s the mom’s name, and Bea is one of my favorite nicknames for a little girl.

(5) Clementine
Clementine is actually a style match for Eloise, I love it! Not least because it’s a “mercy” name — perfect for a baby born during the Year of Mercy!

(6) Helene
I wondered what they’d think of Helene? Kate said that Helen and Aileen are family names, and Aileen is sometimes considered an Irish variant of Helen, and Helene is the French variant. That same French family I mentioned above has Helene as one of the girls’ middle names, it’s a beautiful name, and St. Helena is great. Nell is a great nickname for Helene, a la little Helen Borobia, who sometimes gets called Nellie Peg (for Helen Margaret! I die!)!!

(7) Magdalen(e) or Madeleine
Magdalen(e) just seemed like a name Kate and her hubs would like, and I have no real reason except my gut feeling! The French variant is Madeleine of course, but I don’t know, I was just feeling Magdalen(e) for this family. I love that you can get Maggie as a nickname, which is always so darling. But I’d be 100% happy with Madeleine too, and if they liked the combo Madeleine Sophie,after St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, I’d be even happier!

Boy

(1) Robert nicked Rory
I was really excited to get into the boy names! William Finn is just the greatest combo, so I feel like it has some big shoes to fill. The first one I thought of right off the bat was Robert as a first name with the nickname Rory. Robert is a style match for William and Rory is a style match for Finn and I just totally love this option.

(2) George nicked Geo or Geordie
Can you all see that I’m going for a solid, traditional first name with a more offbeat nickname? I love that! I love the nickname Geo for George, so cool! Another possibility, which is really fun, is Geordie (pronounced Jordy), which I believe is a Scottish diminutive of George. (Fun fact: I have ALWAYS been in love with the nickname Jordy and tried to get my husband on board. I was never successful.)

(3) Theodore or Leo
Theodore matched up with Geneva and Francis style-wise, so of course I had to suggest it, and I’d actually already scribbled Leo in my notes for this baby before I’d even started doing research, because my brother and SIL — whose taste seems to me to be pretty similar to Kate and her husband’s — named their son Leo. Theo and Leo share sounds, so I’d say it might be a matter of do they prefer short (Leo) or long with a shorter nickname (Theodore/Theo)?

(4) Jude (Julian?)
Jude and Finn are amazing brother names in my opinion! Jude also has that Catholic cachet that’s so great. I’ve seen Jude used as a nickname for Julian, and the Beatles’ song Hey Jude was written for Julian Lennon, so there is precedent for doing so, and I thought Kate and her hubs might like that option.

(5) Owen
This is another one informed both by the style of Finn, and by my brother and SIL, who named their Leo’s little brother Owen! St. Nicholas Owen is an awesome patron for a little Owen.

(6) Conrad or Connor
Conrad probably seems a little bit out of left field, but it’s a style match for both Geneva and Eloise, so I thought it deserved a mention. I love the name Conrad, and my hubs and I actually considered it for our youngest! I could also see Conner used as a nickname, which is pretty cool and pretty similar to Finn. Or maybe Connor as a first name? I love it!

(7) Arthur nicked Archie or Abe
Arthur is totally because they like Francis and Walter! And Archie and Abe are nicknames I’ve recently seen used by parents of Arthurs, who were total hipsters. I love Archie, I think that’s brilliant for Arthur; the Arthur who’s Abe has a B middle name, so it makes sense, so perfect.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother or sister of William Finn?

May she rest in peace

sanctanomina Prayer Intentions, Sancta Nomina community

I did a spotlight of the name Ludmila on Feb. 26 — saintly grandmother of Good King Wenceslaus — and asked at the time for prayers for my mother-in-law, my boys’ own faith-filled grandmother. This morning she passed away, and any prayers you could spare for the respose of her soul and our family during our mourning would be much appreciated. ❤

I’ll be off the blog probably for a week or so, though I’ll be checking email regularly (those who are waiting for consultations needn’t worry — I find them therapeutic to do so there shouldn’t be any problem getting them to you around when I said I would.)

April CatholicMom column up today

sanctanomina CatholicMom.com writer ,

My April column posted today on CatholicMom.com: Names “foreign to Christian sensibility.” You’ll recognize it as a slight retooling of this post, and I’m like 99.99% sure that when I wrote that original post Canon Law said “Christian sentiment” but when I went back to double check before submitting to CatholicMom, it was all “Christian sensibility.” Weird!

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