Baby name consultant

Nicknames: Boethius/Boëthius

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Someone I know was musing about the name Boethius for a boy, and she was trying to think of nicknames besides Bo.

At first I thought it was said “BO-thius,” so Bo seemed like the most natural nickname. I thought perhaps also something like Boze?

Then I saw online that Boethius (aka St. Severinus Boethius) was sometimes spelled Boëthius, and that means the “e” is pronounced, right? I’d verify that except my boys are asking for lunch, so I’m just going with the idea that it’s supposed to be said “bo-EE-thius,” and Bowie immediately came to mind. I also thought something like Boethius David could lead to Bede (I’m always trying to get Bede in there as a nickname! Haha!). Or, maybe something like Boethius Nathaniel for example could be Ben.

Finally, I thought Theo would work, which I thought was really cool.

What about all of you? Can you think of any other possible nicknames for Boethius besides Bo, Boze, Bowie, Bede, Ben, and Theo?

Baby name consultant: Baby #4 (boy names the hardest!)

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Theresa emailed me about a month ago hoping for help with names for her Baby #4.

“We are expecting our fourth this fall (almost out of our first trimester!) and would love love love your expertise with some suggestions. Obviously, we have a lot of time but we really like to name the baby shortly after we find out what it is, probably around the end of May/beginning of June because it really helps my husband and kids bond … We go for double Saint names for sure and mostly old/long names for girls, but not necessarily on purpose … Boy names are so much harder! … I don’t really know what boy names [my husband] likes. I don’t know if he knows … He doesn’t like names that are super specific to any ethnicity (Seamus, Carlos, Giovanni) or most Old Testament names (Noah, Elijah, Isaac) or names that are gender neutral or feminine sounding. If you can find a boy name we both like, I will be amazed!“

Oh husbands!! It was fun for me to come up against a really tough nut. I’m encouraged though because they’ve chosen some wonderful names together — their other kids’ are:

Elizabeth Anne Jude (“Anne is my middle name, Elizabeth just came to both of us at the same time and then the Mass reading a few days later was the Visitation, so we took it as a sign. Jude was because we had suffered a miscarriage before her (whom we named Felicity Jane) and thought a few times that we were losing her as well and prayed to St. Jude and she was fine“)

Adelaide Therese (“I have loved Adelaide for a long time and was stoked when I found out she was a Saint. My husband was hesitant at first but it grew on him. He picked Therese for the middle — sort of for me since I am Theresa“)

Roy Patrick (“He is the third, I did not choose his name, although I like Patrick … He mostly goes by Patch“)

For girls, they both like Genevieve, Charlotte (“but I don’t love how popular it is” … and now that the Princess is here …?), and a family name Mariemma (pronounced like Mary Emma). Theresa also likes Lucy, Evelyn, Eleanor, Louisa, Eloise, Bridget, and Cecily, while her husband likes Margaret (Maggie) and Rosemary (maybe nicked Rory or Romy).

For boys, they’ve discussed Augustine nicked Gus, which Theresa loves but her husband’s not sure. Theresa also loves Finnian (but already used by family), Seamus, Blaise, Ambrose, and double names like John Paul. Her husband likes James nicked Jimmy, Dexter, Peter, Thomas, and John.

Whew!

I wanted to address their current ideas first: After reading their already-born kids’ names, before I even got to what names they’re thinking of, my first thought was Genevieve — and there it was on their list! So that’s definitely one of my top choices for them, especially since it’s one Theresa and her husband both like. Their other ideas for girls are spot-on as well — if I were to nitpick, in the interest of narrowing down their list, I might delete Eleanor and Eloise, because they already have an El- (Elizabeth), but Louisa is a great alternative (especially being so similar to Eloise). Additionally, I’ve always thought Lucy could totally work as a nickname for Louisa, so I would combine those two into one idea. I like Evelyn, Bridget, Cecily, Charlotte (but the Princess!), Margaret/Maggie (or one of the other traditional but offbeat nicks, like Daisy or Maisie?), and Rosemary, I’m also really loving Mariemma for them! What a cool combo, and so great that it’s a family name! They don’t have a Marian name in their crew already, so that would be a great nod to Our Lady.

And the boy ideas: Too bad about Finnian! Such a cool name! Augustine/Gus seems like it fits right in with the other kids (maybe The Mister would warm to August if he can’t to Augustine?). I’d probably delete Seamus because Theresa said her hubs doesn’t care for ethnic names (or maybe put it in the middle?) … Blaise is so cool, and the men I know tend to like it/not hate it because it sounds like Blaze=fast and fiery and just all around cool. Ambrose is great, and I wondered if a nickname like Sam would help The Mister come around? Sam totally works as a nick for Ambrose!! Double names for boys are pretty rare, except John Paul, but I think that there are loads of great combinations one could come up with. (But I do not like Billy Bob, which is probably what many of the men in my life would use as a reason not to double name a boy. Men!)

The Mister’s boy names are hilarious — they were basically what I’d expect, but then … Dexter?? Wow! I’ve taken it as a particular challenge to find a boy name he and Theresa both like!

Okay, now for my suggestions (besides what I mentioned above) … I always shoot for three for each gender, but came up with four for girls, and I went a little heavier on the boy suggestions, since Theresa said they were so hard:

Girls

(1) Josephine
As I’m sure you all know from reading other consultations on my blog, I rely heavily on the Baby Name Wizard book when coming up with ideas. It has this awesome feature where, for each entry, it lists boy and girl names that are similar in style/feel/popularity. Josephine was all over Theresa and hubs’ list!! Of course it’s an amazing saintly name, both for wonderful St. Joseph and St. Josephine Bakhita (I was reading about her recently — amazing woman!). It’s got the greatest nicknames too — Josie of course, and Jo (like Little Women!), and I totally think Sophie could work as a nickname too.

(2) C/Katherine or C/Karoline
My research showed Catherine, Katherine, and Katie as quite similar to their style. They’re great names (so says a Katherine/Kate who has always loved my name and been grateful to my parents for it!), and Katie/Kate/Kat and even Cass or Casey (as I’ve seen both) are great nicknames.

If Charlotte is too popular for them (and it is very popular) (and the Princess!), I wonder if they’d like Caroline or Karoline? Either could be a great honor name for our great St. John Paul II (birth name Karol). Especially spelled with a K, it’s much less popular than Charlotte, while still being in the same name family (Charles).

(3) Sara(h) (+___?)
This was so unexpected to me! But Sara(h) was even more a match for the names Theresa mentioned and ones that I thought fit their style than Josephine! It showed up as similar to Elizabeth, Adelaide, Thomas, John, and Katherine, so I had to include it here. But with Elizabeth and Adelaide being long-ish names, and Theresa’s ideas of Genevieve, Rosemary, Margaret, Charlotte also being long, I thought maybe a Sara(h) double first name would suit better? Like Sara-Kate (could even be a nickname for the first-middle Sara Katherine) or Sara-Clare/Claire or Sarah-Mae or similar? (With or without hyphens; with or without the H on the end of Sara.)

(4) Penelope or Beatrice/Beatrix
These were my offbeat research results that I just couldn’t not mention. Penelope, which is such a fab name, is a style match for Felicity, Eleanor, Rosemary, and DEXTER! What?!!! Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, there’s no St. Penelope (recognized by our Church anyway; I believe there’s one recognized by the Orthodox Church), but I did find that it’s said to St. Irene’s original name, so that could work, right? Like Saul/Paul, Abram/Abraham, Simon/Peter? And Beatrice and Beatrix were so similar to a bunch of Theresa’s name ideas that I had to throw it out here. I also read about its origins recently, and loved it, very faith-y.

Boys

(1) Francis nicknamed Finn
You all probably saw this as one of my suggestions for the Pattons — I just love it. I think it hits such a great spot right now, with the heavier, more serious Francis (that’s a little out of touch with current naming tastes, but so important to so many of us) and the fun, current, ah-MAZing nickname Finn! This seems particularly great for Theresa and her hubs, where Francis seems more along his taste lines, and Finn for her Finnian.

(2) Benedict or Bennett
This was really inspired by Dexter — I was so blown away by its inclusion in The Mister’s list of names that I paid extra attention to it, trying to find any connections. Barrett was listed as a similar boy’s name, which immediately made me think of Bennett, which is a medieval form of Benedict. Bennett on its own would be great, and Ben is an awesome nickname, but maybe they’d prefer the full Benedict? Bennett could still be a nickname, or Ben (or even Bede, which I’m sure The Mister would hate but I love the idea of two heavy-hitting saints in one name!). Benedict is similar in style to Genevieve and Penelope and John Paul, so it is connected to other names that seem to fit their style.

(3) Theodore
What would The Mister think of Theodore? It’s a style match for Adelaide, Augustine, Josephine, and Penelope, and it’s got the awesome nicknames Theo or Ted/Teddy (so cute for a little guy!). Maybe?

(4) Charles
Charles too was quite similar to many of the names on their list and my-list-for-them, and would give the name family of Charlotte without the Charlotte popularity. It could also be an honor name for JP2 (Karol=Charles), and while some families haven’t care for Charlie’s rising popularity among girls recently (as a nick for Charlotte), I think it’s totally fine for a boy, but there are other nicknames for Charles as well — Cal being one of my favorites, and some really offbeat ones like Huck, Hutch, Arlo, or we seriously considered Charles Augustine nicked Gus — maybe something like that would work for them?

So! That’s what I came up with! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Theresa and her husband?

I love to do name consultations! If you’d like me to give your name dilemma a go, check out my Baby name consultant tab.

Birth announcement: Louis Gabriel!

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Sarah’s consultation was one of the first I posted, way back in January, when she was seeking help naming their eighth baby, a boy. Yesterday she let me know he was born! She writes,

“He’s here! Delivered today – Mother’s Day – 5/10/15! He’s 10 pounds even. First name Louis (Louie or Lou) … [and] We chose Gabriel for his middle name!“

Louis Gabriel! What an amazing combo!! And even cooler is that, unbeknownst to me, it was on their original list (before my consultation), and though I didn’t think of it, one of our readers did! You are all very important to these consultations! Congratulations to Louie’s family!!!

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Louis Gabriel

Birth announcement: Clare Meryt!

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A mama who’d emailed me a month or so ago with a very near due date just let me know that her baby has been born! She writes,

“Just wanted to update you that baby has finally arrived! Her name is Clare Meryt. We chose the name Clare from St. Clare of Assisi — I think i mentioned in my original email choosing this name due to our devotion to St. Francis of Assisi. Her middle name, Meryt, is an Egyptian derivation of Mary (meaning cherished and beloved). She is the 4th generation to have a form of Mary in her name. We heard this name in a movie and did lots of research to make sure it is a variation of Mary. In all of our research we found it to be the origination of the name Mary. We particularly liked that it was something unique… And it wouldn’t sound like a magazine title 🙂 Thanks again for all your help and suggestions!! I really do appreciate it!“

Isn’t that a beautiful name?? It’s not often people can surprise me with a Marian name I’d never heard of, but such was the case with Meryt. I’m totally loving it!! Congratulations to Baby Clare and her family!!

Old Testament names okay for Catholics?

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A reader emailed me with this intriguing bit of info:

“I was reading an article a while back (I wish I could find it again) about Catholics and how we shouldn’t use Old Testament names. Instead of going back to the old covenant, we should look towards the saints for name inspiration and looking at the Old Testament was a protestant thing to do. What do you think about this? Do you think using names from the Old Testament is fine as a Catholic?”

I might have felt the tiniest bit ragey while reading it, because my initial reaction was That’s a bunch of bologna! and whoever is spreading this kind of info is spreading untruths, and can’t you just see a good-hearted well-intentioned mama of an Elijah or Esther starting to twitch upon hearing that the names she gave her babies in good faith are actually not okay?

I hate that kind of thing. We have enough to worry about without worrying about things we don’t need to worry about. Right? I mean, really.

I get that sometimes it’s an honest mistake. I also get that certain things used to be different from now, so the older generations might have a certain idea about things that the younger generations are unfamiliar with and vice versa. Just in the arena of baby names, as I noted on my “About this blog” page,

“In the old days, you may have heard, parents who wanted to have their babies baptized in the Catholic Church had to bestow a saint’s name — or the priest would. Indeed, the old Code of Canon Law (in effect from 1917 until 1983) did stipulate that the baby needed to be given a Christian name, and if not, the priest was to add a saint’s name to the baby’s given name. (Canon 761)

The Code of Canon Law changed in 1983, and the new naming requirements are not so strict. Canon 855 states that, “Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to take care that a name foreign to Christian sensibility is not given.” That’s it. Basically, most names are totally fine.”

So I decided to look into it, and found this post on Nameberry, which asks,

“I posted here last week that we finally found our perfect boys name: Tobias. I love it, and so does my husband. I’m just a little confused about using Old Testament names, as a Catholic (I’m new to Catholicism). My mother in law told us that Catholics traditionally use New Testament names/Saint names for Catholic babies, and that Old Testament names like Tobias are traditionally considered to be Hebrew/Jewish names. I would love some clarity on this subject. Is the name Tobias traditionally considered a Jewish boy’s name? Of course, it won’t make or break using the name for us; I am just curious. Thanks!“

I immediately zeroed in on “My mother in law told us” which, to me, smacks of older generation vs. younger generation. I’m sure her mil was not trying to deceive her — the mil likely believes that New Testament and A.D. Saints’ names are the best to be used — perhaps that was even the definition of a “Christian name,” since I suppose pre-Jesus names aren’t considered technically “Christian.”

So then I looked into whether or not the Old Testament holy people are considered Saints — I always thought they were, but maybe not? I found this good article, “Old Testament Saints?” by Fr. Ray Ryland on Our Sunday Visitor’s site, which explains that “the Church does in various ways venerate and ask for the intercession of Old Testament saints,” as in the litanies of the saints, the First Eucharistic prayer, and one of the general prayers of the funeral liturgy. Fr. Ryland also notes that the Roman Martyrology, which lists “all the saints whom the Church had officially recognized up to” its publication in the 1600s, “remembers, among others, the following Old Testament saints: the prophet Habakkuk (Jan. 15); Isaiah (July 6); Daniel and Elias/Elijah (July 20 and 21); the seven Maccabees and their mother (Aug. 17); Abraham (Oct. 9); and King David (Dec. 29).”

My own grandfather’s first name was David, and he was born in Ireland and baptized Catholic (an interesting example, considering he was born in 1904 — definitely “old generation”). Another good example, using David again, is my other grandfather, who was a convert to Catholicism, and when he converted, since neither his first nor middle names were recognized as “Christian names,” he changed his middle to David.

And what about St. Isaac Jogues? Isaac is OLD TESTAMENT, and yet (as far as I can tell) Catholic parents in the very early 1600s gave it to their son. (I say “as far as I can tell” because I can’t find any evidence that Isaac is his religious name rather than his birth name. But even if it was not his birth name, it only bolsters my argument that Old Testament names are fine fine fine for Catholics, if even a priest can choose it for his religious name.)

Have any of you heard this perspective before, that Catholics should stick to New Testament and other post-Jesus Saints’ names?

Little Miss Stark!

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When I posted the consultation for Angela and Tim Stark back in February, Angela was really hoping to convince her husband of the name Augustina Christi for their baby-girl-on-the-way, or at least find a way to compromise as they searched for the right name. She wrote, “He shoots down anything different or unique and I shoot down anything that sounds too common.”

The baby has been born! And she has a beautiful name!!! Little Miss Stark was named:

Rosemary Anne

How lovely! Angela writes,

“Thank you so much for your assistance with the name, you were the one that got the wheels turning for us. The funny this is is that my husband ended up agreeing to Augustina Christi and I immediately shot down his recommendation of Rosemary. But for some reason my heart kept going back to Rosemary. It just seemed to suit her sweet personality. Rose is also my patron saint, Mary is just awesome, and saint Anne is just as wonderful. It just all seemed to fit for us. Plus we’ve decked out her whole wardrobe and nursery in roses! Thanks again for the awesome recommendations!”

What a great story! As I told Angela, stories like this always make me think of God whispering in the parents’ ear about the name the baby’s meant to have. Congratulations to the whole Stark Family!!!

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Rosemary Anne

Baby name consultant: Baby Girl B #4

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Sylvia (middle name Maria) of the blog Tales from the Mommy Trenches and her husband are expecting their fourth baby girl this month! Their last name is one syllable and starts with B, and their other girls are:

Gloria Ruth

Victoria Rose

Elena Wren

So beautiful! All three girls go by their middle names, and Sylvia wrote, “I am Cuban, so we like to have a Spanish/Latin flair in there, along with a Catholic name, of course. The other three are all called by “R” names, but we might need to forego that tradition for this one. Rita is currently my husband’s frontrunner.”

I had such fun coming up with name ideas for this family!

Okay, first off I love the theme of “R” middle names that the girls go by, and I would hate to see them have to move away from it, so the first thing I did was come up with possible R-ish names (you’ll see what I mean about the -ish):

Reina/Reyna — I love this one, as it means queen=Our Lady
Roma — like Rome, where the Pope is!
Ruby — I almost didn’t include this one, because of it’s closeness to Ruth, but I just love it
Risa — I’m a little rusty on my Spanish, but I think this means laughter, right?

Risa inspired Marisa, which I also quite liked as a middle name option — it’s a way of moving away from an R given name (which they’ve already started to do with Wren), but they can still call her Risa.

And Sylvia’s husband’s thought of Rita made me think of Margarita, which would also be a good middle name — a way of moving away from R while still allowing her to go by an R name (Rita). Choosing a middle name like Marisa or Margarita could open up M possibilities if they were to have more children, which would make a really nice seemingly seamless transition from the R middles of now to something different later.

As for first names, I was a little less sure. I love Spanish/Latin-type names, but I’m just not familiar enough with Cuban culture, for example, to know if what I’m suggesting would make someone of Cuban descent wrinkle their nose because it’s only an “old lady name” or a “trashy” name, etc. Do you know what I mean? So I’m sorry if this aren’t on point! But I liked each of them for this family, for the reasons I’ll explain (I usually shoot for three, but I couldn’t narrow it down any further than I did here):

(1) A Marian name
With the baby due in May — Mary’s month! — and Sylvia’s middle name being Maria, it made a lot of sense to me for them to consider a Marian name. I thought maybe Maria as a first name, or Carmela/Carmen, or Lilia. All would be beautiful first names with really nice spiritual and familial significance.

(2) Cristina
Mary- names made me think of Jesus names, and Cristina was one of the first names I saw when I was perusing a list of Latino/Latina names. I love all the Christ- names, and Cristina is particularly lovely to my eye.

(3) Sofia
I have no reason I liked this other than it felt right with the other girls! It is a beautiful name.

(4) A papal name
My favorite ways to name a little girl after one of our recent popes are Francisca or Francesca (for Pope Francis of course!) or Carolina/Karolina (for Pope John Paul II — birth name Karol) — I thought any of those would work nicely for this family. Joanna could also be for JP2, which I also quite like.

(5) Jacinda/Jacinta or Lucia
I was only going to suggest Jacinda or Jacinta here — Jacinta’s one of my very favorite names — and then it made me think of Lucia as well, which is also gorgeous.

(6) Ana
St. Anne is Mary’s mother, and she often pops up in my name thoughts. 🙂 I love Ana, and I thought a short name like it could offset a longer name like Margarita quite nicely if they decided to go that route.

So those are my ideas! What do you all think? Do any of them seem like they might hit the right note? What names would you suggest for Baby Girl B #4?

I love to do name consultations! If you’d like me to give your name dilemma a go, check out my Baby name consultant tab.

Baby name consultant: Baby Girl Johnson

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Natalie and Christopher Johnson are expecting their third baby and second girl. Their other children are:

Fiona Emma

Arthur Christopher

*Swoon!*

Natalie writes,

“I’m due with a girl in [early May] and we cannot think of a good name! … Our last name is Johnson, so we like names that are not too popular, but also classic and not ‘made up’. We’ve been seriously considering Alice and Eleanor, but I feel like it’s weird to use two ‘A’ names (Arthur then Alice) and I think Eleanor is nice, but I’m not a huge fan of nicknames and I’m worried too many nicknames would come out … I would like to use a family name for her middle … either Olivia or Eugenie [Natalie’s middle name is Eugenie]. I would love some help!“

I love Natalie and Christopher’s taste! Regarding Alice and Eleanor, I can see why another ‘A’ name might seem less than ideal, especially being directly after an A-named sibling, and Eleanor certainly does have a bunch of nicknames, but they’re both really beautiful names — I don’t think they could go wrong with either one. However, I can always come up with suggestions! And though I always shoot to offer three, I came up with four for the Johnsons:

(1) Nora

Thought it can be a nickname for Eleanor, my top suggestion is to consider just Nora. It’s a full name in and of itself. It totally seems well matched to Fiona and Arthur in my opinion. I also love the idea of Nora Eugenie — not only does it flow nicely, and Eugenie’s Natalie’s middle name, but she’d also have Natalie’s initials, which is a sweet connection between Mom and daughter.

(2) Beatrice

You all know by now that I love looking for patterns and connections between already-born kids’ names and the names in consideration in the Baby Name Wizard book, and Beatrice emerged as similar to both Alice and Eleanor. I thought it was a great suggestion for the Johnsons, not only because of its similarity in style to the names they’re considering, but also because, as I recently found out from another of my trusty sources (Behind the Name), its origin/early usage is fairly religious (as Beatrix, which of course Beatrice is a form of): “Probably from Viatrix, a feminine form of the Late Latin name Viator whic meant ‘voyager, traveller’. It was common amongst early Christians, and the spelling was altered by association with Latin beatus ‘blessed.'” I thought that was pretty cool! But I would definitely recommend Olivia over Eugenie as the middle name — Beatrice Eugenie is too Royal Family (Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s girls). (Unless of course Natalie and Christopher like the royal connection — Beatrice Eugenie is quite beautiful together!)

(3) Molly

I know of a little Arthur who has a sister Molly, and I love it with Fiona as well. Molly is Marian too, being originally a nickname for Mary, and its Irish/Celtic feel is so spot on as a sister to Arthur and Fiona in my opinion. I’m loving Molly Olivia!

(4) Other awesome names that seem similar to the Johnson’s style and don’t nickname easily

I came across a bunch of other names, both in my head and my research, that I thought would work well for the Johnsons, so I thought I’d mention them just in case: Iris, Juliet, Clara, Lucy, Aine or Anya, Carys or Charis.

So those are my ideas! What do you all think? Have I hit the right note, or am I totally off? What name(s) would you suggest for the sister of Fiona and Arthur?

I love to do name consultations! If you’d like me to give your name dilemma a go, check out my Baby name consultant tab.

Birth announcement: Christopher Jesse!

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I’ve had the great blessing in the last few weeks to receive a few panicky last-minute emails, along the lines of, “Help! My baby’s due [in two days/next week, etc.] and we can’t decide on a name!” They’re as fun and stressful as you can imagine — I love love being able to offer some thoughts, and I’m always nervous and hopeful I can get back to the mom with some ideas before the baby’s born!

One such was lovely Allie, whose eighth baby, gender unknown, was to be born the following week via scheduled c-section. Her other kids are named:

Andrew James

Timothy Ryan

Dylan Richard

Kyle Scott

Gabrielle Marie

Caitlyn Rose

Elizabeth Claire

Great names, right?!! Allie and her husband had decided on Caroline Grace for a girl (beautiful!) but were having a hard time coming up with a boy name. They knew for sure they wanted to use the middle name Jesse, after Allie’s dad, who passed away several years ago.

My suggestions for her, based on the style and feel of her other kids’ names, as well as flow with Jesse as the middle name, were: Christopher, Alexander, and Samuel.

Just last night Allie emailed me with the following:

“Just wanted to update you on our new arrival and name decision. We were blessed with a beautiful baby boy on Monday. After talking to my husband Scott we both felt drawn to the name Christopher Jesse! We love the strength of the name and you can’t go wrong with a name honoring Christ. (And St Christopher ain’t too bad either. :)) So I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to get back to me. May God bless you and all you do!“

How wonderful!!! Congratulations to Mama Allie and her beautiful family, and happy birthday to Christopher Jesse!!

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Christopher Jesse

Baby name consultant: Baby M-rhymes-with-Mary

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Meaghan’s expecting her fifth baby, whose gender she’ll find out in early May. Her other kiddos are named:

Caleb James

Magdalyn Elizabeth

Evangeline Grace

Silas George

Gorgeous, right?! This is her dilemma:

“We like our girls to have a longer formal name that has a cutesy nickname. (Maggie and Evie.) For a boy I really like Levi. Middle name would be Thomas or Joseph … The problem is we can’t name a baby girl. We thought about Seraphina, but I don’t like any of the nicknames.  We also thought about Eden but it seems short compared to the other girl names. And hubby thinks it sounds like “eating.” My husband also doesn’t like any girl names that were boy names first, such as, Josephina (which I love.)“

(Oh husbands!)

“We were also thinking about Angelica because we love Mother Angelica from EWTN. But I’m on the fence about it. We love the rose association with Mary and I love the nickname Rosie. I’ve thought Katharine but my husband doesn’t want a Katie. Just today I thought of Seraphina Rose and we could call her Rosie but then I realized it’s a celebrity baby name after I googled it.”

The ideas I came up with I thought might be helpful either in and of themselves, or perhaps sparking other ideas for Meaghan and her husband. I really really like their preference for long girl’s names that can be shortened to cute nicknames, so I kept that in mind. As always, I shoot for three suggestions, and in this case they were more categories rather than only one name each:

(1) Long and Biblical-ish

The first thing that jumped out to me is how all Meaghan’s already-born children’s names are Biblical — Caleb and Silas are obvious; Magdalyn is Mary Magdalene’s “last name” of course, and Evangeline=evangelist, like the writers of the four gospels. I really like that theme, especially with their twist on it for the girls (alternate spelling of a last name; Biblical word transformed into a name), so my first suggestion is to try to stay with that idea. Susanna(h) was my first thought — the “h” in Susannah makes it seem extra long and certainly very Biblical; no-h Susanna has more of a saintly feel while still being Biblical. It’s got great nicknames too — Anna/Annie, Susie, Suki, Zuzu (like Zuzu’s petals in It’s a Wonderful Life!).

My second thought was Julia, but given that they like longer names, I thought Juliana or Julianna might be more their style. Certainly Julie is a natural nickname, but Ana/Anna/Annie could work, or maybe Jude (especially with a D middle name?). I’ve also seen Jilly as a nickname for the Julia names, which is really cute.

Lastly, Rebecca or Rebekah. Magdalyn, Evangeline, and Silas are all New Testament names, so it might be nice to get an OT name in there for Caleb? I recently saw Ruby as a nickname for Rebecca and immediately fell in love with it, even though Rebecca was never one of my favorite names. Ruby is adorable!

(2) Double first name

Meaghan mentioned liking Rosie as a nickname, so my mind immediately went to long Rose- versions, which led to the doubles: Rosemary or Rosemarie or Rosamaria or Rosanna. I like all those! And the Marian connection is awesome.

Then I thought of the Mary- doubles, and since Mary rhymes with their last name, I thought about Maria: Maria Teresa, Maria-Therese, and Annamaria (I just finished a book with a great character named Annamaria and I was struck by how pretty it is. Besides the Anna/Annie nicknames, I could even see using Amy as a nick for this. So sweet!). Maria Teresa actually has a traditional mashup-type nickname that’s Spanish but I know it’s used by other cultures as well: Maite. It’s pronounced MY-tay, and is one of my favorite nicknames. There are really a million ways to pair Marie or Maria with another name and come up with an interesting nickname! I was going to suggest Maria Seraphina with the nickname Maisie, but Maisie’s a traditional Gaelic nickname for Margaret, so it seems too similar to Maggie to me. Marie Angelica is another option, based on their discussions about Angelica — maybe nicknamed Molly? Or Mia? Actually Mia’s a pretty standard nickname for Maria, so that could work for any of these options.

(3) Miscellaneous

I had a couple more ideas and I wasn’t sure how to categorize them — so “Miscellaneous” it is! First I wanted to make another argument for Seraphina/Serafina. I just love that name! And it’s so perfect with Meaghan’s other girls … she said she didn’t like the nicknames, so I just wanted to be sure she’s considered them all: Certainly Sera and Fina (especially with the Serafina spelling), and Fia (I know a little Sophia who goes by Fia, so cute!), or even Sophie/Sofie, or something cute like Sunny! I personally wouldn’t worry about it being Ben and Jen’s celebrity baby’s name, especially if Meaghan’s Seraphina always went by a cute nickname, but if it’s still not feeling right then maybe …

Annabel? I looked the other kids’ names up in my trusty Baby Name Wizard book, which lists boy and girl options for each entry that are similar in style and feel, and Annabel showed up in the lists for both Caleb and Silas. It’s a gorgeous name, spelled that way or Annabelle. I love all the Anna/Annie names anyway, and Belle is also a really sweet name (Bella could work too). Some others that came up as matches with the other kids, or just out of my head, were Emmeline, Karolina, and Caterina (which reminds me that Meaghan likes Katherine — Katie isn’t the only nickname! Kat is quite stylish right now, great for Katherine, or I know a Kateri who goes by Kat, or Cat for Caterina).

I had several other ideas that I ended up crossing off my list for one reason or another, so I thought I’d offer those too, just in case: Christiana (because of it starting as a boy’s name), Anastasia (if Seraphina as a celeb baby was too much for Meaghan, I assumed the main character in the horrible soft porn Fifty Shades of Grey would be too much. So unfortunate), Veronica (I love the nickname Via but thought it was too close to Evie. But maybe Ronnie, Nicky, or Nica?), Clementine (because of starting as a boy’s name), Genevieve (too similar to Evangeline), Penelope (neither Biblical nor saintly … but oh the nicknames! Penny or Nell or Pip/Pippa!). I also thought I should caution — again because Seraphina’s celeb connection bothers Meaghan — that Angelica is the name of the horrible older sister in the Rugrats show. I watched it only once or twice when I was younger, and vividly remember her, and I’ve seen her reference on other name discussion boards when the name Angelica comes up. It’s still a beautiful name, but it’s important to have all the facts!

Those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the M-rhymes-with-Mary Family, if their baby-on-the-way is a girl?

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