Catholic baby names

Reading round-up

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Buckle up guys, I’ve been adding to my “reading round-up” list for months now — today’s the day! I’m getting it done!

Grace told me about a NYC gathering she’d gone to called Catholic Underground, which is totally the kind of thing I would have loved when I was in college, and the name of the director:

“Of course, it was fabulous with an hour of adoration and getting to see one of the actual missionary images of Our Lady of Guadalupe. But the reason I’m emailing you is not just to tell you about a great experience but to share with you an awesome religious name I spotted. On the little flier we got walking in the door there was a nice little letter from the director of Catholic Underground, and his name is…….Br. Mark-Mary!!! How cool is that!? It’s so rare that you see men take feminine names, so it just makes me so happy to see it when it happens!“

I love that!! #MenWhoLoveMary

Emma wanted to be sure I’d seen this post (from early December) over at Swistle’s blog, saying, “Oh boy, does Swistle ever need Sancta Nomina over at her blog today!!!!” Haha! The mom writing is expecting her third, and her older two are Harriet Paloma (“Hattie”), and Hugo Campion. Ohh my! In her dilemma letter she writes things like,

“Their middle names feel (to my ears) more modern and have religious significance (“Paloma,” meaning “dove” which stands both for peace and for the Holy Spirit, “Campion,” after St. Edmund Campion)“

and

“[regarding the fact they’re considering Consuelo] I have always been fascinated by the French and Spanish-language tradition of naming children after the Virgin Mary, but using her many titles or apparition locations. English is pretty limited when it comes to honor names for the Blessed Mother. We have Mary, Marie, and some more unusual, but related, variants such as Mae, Mamie, Maren, Molly. But nothing compared with the range and diversity of the French/Spanish naming tradition: Lourdes, Carmel, Soledad, Guadalupe, Luz, Amparo, Araceli, Socorro, Belen, Pilar, Delores. And on and on! My daughter’s godmother is Monserrat after Our Lady of Monserrat (love!!).”

I would indeed have loved to get my hands on that dilemma! But this bit from Swistle sums up my feelings pretty exactly (the question was Margaret vs. Consuelo as a first name):

“Margaret Consuelo is a pretty kick-butt name, and coordinates beautifully with Harriet Paloma and Hugo Campion. Paloma (peace) and Consuelo (solace) are particularly well-matched.”

Speaking of Swistle, I also loved the sib set in this post: Charles (Huck), Isaac, Katherine, and Seth. (I love Huck for Charles!!) One of the commenters (our very own eclare!) said she guessed the family might be Catholic, based on the size of the family, the kids’ names (which she accurately described as “saint/biblical”), and some on their list (including Xavier), and I agree. I was disappointed by Swistle’s reply though — she said, “I don’t think Seth or Charlotte are saint names,” which is misleading. Seth the Patriarch (from the Old Testament) appears in Book of Saints by the Monks of Ramsgate as well as Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, and his feast day is March 1. There are also several Blesseds Charlotte, and, as eclare correctly pointed out, Charlotte can be and is often used as an honor name for any of the Sts. Charles/Karl/Carl/Carlo/Karol.

One more Swistle post: Baby Names to Consider: Classic/Traditional Names with Atypical/Non-Traditional Nicknames. I loved reading the ideas from her and the commenters!

Shelby told me about this article: The Saint behind the Jagermeister Logo is also one of the 14 Holy Helpers. I love finding out stuff like that! As Shelby put it, it “goes well with your post about Catholic things in plain sight like the Sophie the Giraffe.” “Catholic things in plain sight”! I love that!

It reminds me of something else I read recently: Nutella Founder Dies, Said Secret of Success Was Our Lady of Lourdes: Devout Catholic took employees to visit site of Marian apparitions. Yes, Nutella is now my new favorite food. 🙂

Then there was this: A 3yo boy named Diesel will only answer to Popcorn, and so his parents are going to legally change his name.

The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources is one of my favorite resources, and I was so struck by one of its recent blog posts about the rise of certain names in Protestant records after the Reformation that I raised a question:

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The Apocrypha in this context are the books (or parts of books, as in the case of Daniel) that are part of the Catholic bible but not part of the Protestant bible. (As opposed to books Catholics consider to be apocryphal, like the Protoevangelium of James.) It was so strange to me that Judith (the book of Judith is rejected by Protestants) and Susan (the English form of Susanna(h), from the part of the book of Daniel that’s considered apocryphal by Protestants) would receive an uptick in use by Protestants after the Reformation. So interesting! And even better — the DMNES team (including our own Sara) is on it!

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I find stuff like this so fascinating. As I said to Sara, I learn so much about culture, religious, politics, history, and language through names. I can’t wait to read what she comes up with!

I was also interested by this bit in the DMNES post on New Testament names after the Reformation, about our dear St. Anne:

“Anne: This name could be classified as either an Old Testament name or a New Testament name. In the OT, this was the name of the mother of Samuel (more often modernly transliterated as Hannah); in the apocrypha, Anne is usually identified as the mother of Mary, though she is not named explicitly in the NT. Whatever the origin and whatever the spelling, this name was always common; it was, in fact, one of the most common feminine names throughout all of Europe throughout the Middle Ages, due primarily to the early veneration of the mother of Mary. The name was so well entrenched that the Protestant turning away from the veneration of the saints did not cause any reduction in its popularity.” (emphasis mine)

How cool is that! It’s also particularly funny that its entrenchment was “due primarily to the early veneration of the mother of Mary” — not only a saint, despite “the Protestant turning away from the veneration of the saints,” but a saint who’s never named in the bible we all agree on, nor even in the apocrypha rejected by Protestantism — Mary’s mother’s name is only given in the Protoevangelium of James, so its use is totally due to Catholic tradition. She’s a great lady, that St. Anne. 🙂 ❤

Finally, I was enjoying these dilemmas on the Baby Name Wizard site recently:

Thoughts on Gemma

Bishop as a first name?

Religious or not religious? (this mom has since figured out a solution, but I really liked some of the ideas offered in this post)

(Also, I think the commenter Optatus Cleary would like it here. 🙂 )

Whew! I think that’s all I have for today!

ETA: Oh! Also this: Twitter Reveals That All Kids Hate Their Names (my takeaway: pray and do the best you can, and then don’t worry), and this: Are There Any More Z Names? Neither the author (Laura Wattenberg herself) nor any of the commenters mentioned Zelie/Azelie!

 

 

Baby name consultant: Little Miss after 5 boys, and rethinking the planned name

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Genie, who blogs at Barefoot Abbey, and her husband are expecting their first girl after five boys! She writes,

“Our moniker muddle is that after 5 boys we are expecting a girl (in the middle of February) and are now rethinking the previously intended girl name philosophy from our courtship.

Being Anglo/celtophiles and my husband’s pride in his Scotch-Irish heritage have been factors in our sons’ names. We also try to use repetitive or similar sounds in each child’s name as a whole. For girls, our original philosophy was for our first daughter to have a Mary inspired name and then saint names (many my patronesses) for any subsequent daughters.

We have had “Moira Immaculee Clare” as our first girl name for 10 years. [Clare is a family name] … I like Therese in that spot as well.

We know about 5 Moiras over the age of 5 … Also concern was voiced that Moira did not match the other future girl names on our list.”

It’s an interesting dilemma, having had the same name chosen for ten years and five other babies, only to be unsure when it actually comes time to use it!

Genie shared the other girl names on their list, so we could see if it’s true that Moira doesn’t match the other names:

Moira Immaculee Clare
• Moira – Irish/ Scottish variant of Mary, we like the possible nickname of Molly – we just aren’t “Mo” people.
• Immaculee – obviously Marian name, we love the sound but don’t think it will work for us as a first name, coincidentally Ladybird’s (our baby) due date is near the feast of OL of Lourdes.
• Clare – family name, saint

Josephine Felicity Marie – “Josie/Jojo”
• Josephine – for Bl. Josephine Leroux martyr of the French Revolution.
• Felicity – love the meaning of the name and Ss. Felicity & Perpetua
• Marie – Marian

Genevieve Imelda Faith “Gigi”
• Genevieve – patroness, my baptismal but not legal name
• Imelda – patroness, confirmation saint at my reception into the Church from Anglicanism in ’11
• Faith – meaning

Margaret Gemma Therese – “Meg” (Little Women)
•Margaret – patroness, Ss. Margaret Clitherow & Margaret of Scotland, my 3rd baptismal name.
•Gemma – love the modern saint’s story
• Therese – love the simplicity of her little way.

Lucy Elinor Hope
• Lucy – St. Lucy day is one of our family’s favorites in Advent, Lucia of Fatima, C. S. Lewis, Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Elinor – my husband was born in the Feast of St. Helena, Austen spelling (Sense & Sensibility)
• Hope – meaning

Emmelia Magdalene Rose – “Emmie/Mila”
• Emmelia – patroness, mother of saints
• Magdalene – love that she was the first follower to see Jesus after the Resurrection, first son was due on Good Friday and was almost “Moira Magdalene Clare”
• Rose – Marian

Elizabeth Azelie Jane – “Eliza Jane” (Little House)
• Elizabeth – patroness, St. Elizabeth of Hungry, my legal middle name
• Azelie – patroness
• Jane – my husband’s grandmother & aunt, Jane Eyre

Beatrix Evangeline Hope/Anne – “Beasy”
• Beatrix – St. Beatrix of Nazareth
• Evangeline – love the sound of this, I want to say there is an obscure connection to Mary here?
• Hope – meaning
• Anne – St. Anne (Mary’s mom) & St. Anna Maria Taigi, Green Gables spelling

Aren’t they each gorgeous? I love all the meaning behind each one! The faith significance, the literary references, the nicknames (Beasy!) — wonderful job all around!

Some further info about girl names:

“Our sons are pushing for Charlotte but that’s most likely due to their love of Charlotte’s Web, and not the martyr of Compiegne. Lol!

The other philosophy we are currently considering is forgoing Moira or a Marian first name. For that theme, we would go straight into girl saint names but have a Mary connection in each daughter’s name. Unfortunately, we’re having a hard time being that creative with Marian derivatives.”

Genie’s little Miss will be joining the following well-named brothers:

Malachi Benedict Aquinas
• Malachi – first canonized saint of Ireland, “Carrots” is one of his nicknames
• Benedict – St. Benedict was a big part of our pre-marriage prep, Pope Benedict XVI
• Aquinas – Our courtship began on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

Noah Oliver Francis
• Noah – my husband liked the sound & justified it as being close to the Gaelic word for saint
• Oliver – last canonized saint of Ireland, he usually goes by “Noah Oliver” or the Gaelic pronounced “Ollibear”
• Francis – the patron of the parish we’d attended all our marriage. He took me there after the pub on our first date.

Liam Michael Damien
• Liam – Bl. Liam Tirry one of the 17 Irish martyrs, his nickname is the Scottish term of endearment “Ducky”
• Michael – St. Michael is one of my husband’s patrons along with St. Thomas Becket & St. John the Baptist.
• Damien – St. Damien of Molokai, my dad used to go build for the remainder of his colony.

Aelred Dominic John (this is the son we lost)
• Aelred – St. Aelred the English St. Bernard, Spiritual Friendship author, one of our sons’ favorite lullabies is Robert Burns’ “A Red Red Rose” – he was due in June. http://youtu.be/y8R1kmcoQZk
• Dominic – St. Dominic, OL of the Rosary, meaning (belonging to God)
• John – my husband’s brother (has all daughters), patron, meaning (God is gracious)

Henry Andrew James
• Henry – St. Henry Walpole & Bl. John Henry Newman
• Andrew – St. Andrew of Scotland, my husband’s middle name, he was conceived the day after praying the St. Andrew Christmas Novena
• James – St. James the Great, my grandfather’s name, his nickname is “Camino” (he’s the path God chose for our family)

And the names they’d considered if this baby had been a boy:

George Ignatius Eliot
Charles/Maximilian Joseph Louis

Just sighs of happiness all around! Great great names.

So, to start, I love Moira Immaculee Clare, a really lovely name. I’m so surprised that Genie knows multiple Moiras! I don’t think I’ve ever met any in real life, being more familiar with Maura, which is my first suggestion — perhaps they’d consider changing to Maura Immaculee Clare? I know a little Maura who goes by Molly. Maybe that would be different enough to distinguish from the other little Moiras they know, but close enough to still feel like that got to use their beloved name? Secondly, when it comes to Irish and Scottish names, I tend to not worry about, for example, sisters Moira and Josephine not matching in style — especially in Ireland, which is what I’m more familiar with, families often have a mix of super-Irish names and others, usually saints. I know a family with a Kevin, Michael, and Dermot, for example, and another with Mary and Padraic, and another with Robert and Maeve. So I think it’s totally fine.

I know Mary isn’t as exciting as Moira, but I wondered what they’d think of that? Mary Immaculee Clare is wonderful, and Molly can still be used as a nickname. Or maybe Molly Immaculee Clare? My sister is just Molly and my sister-in-law is Molly and I grew up with multiple girls named Molly/Mollie — just that, not as a nickname for Mary or another variant. Maria is also quite well used in the British Isles/Ireland (you could even pronounce it like Mariah if you wanted to be really British and confuse everyone! 😀 I have a friend who gave her daughter the middle name Maria, with Maria pronounced Mariah). Or Mariah itself? I’ve always loved it.

I posted the other day about the idea of reserving names for future babies and something one of the commenters said that has really stuck with me — and I think might be helpful here — is “which name would I be sadder not to use?” In that example, a family had chosen Felicity for a girl, only to discover they were expecting a boy, and someone had suggested Felix, which would mean they couldn’t/wouldn’t use Felicity if they ever had a girl. Would they be sadder to never get to use Felicity? For Genie, would she and her hubs be sadder/would it bother them more to cross Moira off their list, or to use a name that might bother another family and potentially be seen as not fitting with future sisters?

Regarding Evangeline as having an obscure connection to Mary, I don’t know of any official (though obscure) connections, but I think one could make a case for it, since Evangeline means “good news” and Mary was the first hearer and the bearer of Good News — perhaps she could even be thought of as the First Evangelist? I’ve often said that intention matters the most, more than a name’s actual meaning etc., so if one’s intention is to honor Mary with Evangeline and you feel you have a good way of making it all connect, I say go for it!

I didn’t know about the martyr of Compiegne, Sr. Charlotte of the Resurrection! I did a post a while ago on patrons for Caroline/Charlotte, and my heaviest focus was on the male saints (JP2, Borromeo, etc.) — I’ll have to add this new Charlotte! It’s actually a really strong style match for a lot of the names Genie and her hubs like, and with the new baby princess being Charlotte, they’ve got a great Anglophile connection there!

As for Marian derivatives, there are so many! They’ve done a great job already with Moira, Immaculee, Marie, Hope (OL of Hope), and Rose. Others that might interest them include Grace; Marian (always makes me think of Maid Marian, not a bad association!); Maureen/Mairenn; Miriam; Perpetua; Assumpta and Carmel, both of which are used in Ireland; Regina and Caeli, as well as some others I include below in my “official” suggestions.

So now, onto those suggestions! Not that I think they really need any, their list is amazing! But I thought these might strike the right notes:

(1) Annabel
Given Genie’s husband’s love of all things Scottish and her hope for a Marian name, Annabel was one of my very first thoughts for them! Behind the Name says Annabel is a “Variant of AMABEL influenced by the name ANNA. This name appears to have arisen in Scotland in the Middle Ages” … Amabel is a “Medieval feminine form of AMABILIS,” who was a fifth century (male) saint, but Amabilis is a “Late Latin name meaning “lovable”” — the very name used in the Marian title Mater Amabilis — Mother Most Amiable (where amiable=lovable). How great is that?? A pretty specifically Scottish Marian name! I love Annabel (could also spell it Annabelle), mostly for its Marian meaning, but also because visually it connects to St. Anne, one of my personal patrons and of course the patroness of this blog.

(2) Eva or Eve
I was thinking of Aoife for them, and I do love it, but I suspect they’d want something a little easier to work with, and Genie’s idea of Evangeline made me think of it. Eva can be pronounced EE-va or AY-va and goes back to Mary as the New Eve. They could also consider just Eve — I had a convo on the blog recently with a mom who was considering Eve, for Mary, but worried it wasn’t Marian enough and asked for any ideas for a middle that would help remedy that … I suggested Eve Immaculata, which just has a beautiful, meaningful ring to me, and the mom responded that she also really liked Immaculee, and given that Immaculee already features prominently in Genie’s girl list, it seems a great idea. They might also want to consider Evangeline for a first name?

(3) Rosemary/Rosemarie, Rosary
I had a friend in Ireland years ago named Rosemarie and I loved it. I also love Rosemary. Nicknames for both can include Romy or Rory/Rorie, which are the kinds of nicknames I love — a little offbeat, but with a great, solid, traditional given name. And Rosie/Rosey are of course really great nicknames.

A reader on the blog actually named her daughter Rosary! I love love love it! That family had some Irish names for their other kids, so I thought Genie might be interested in checking them out. Little Rosary herself has the full name of Rosary Brigid Elise, and her mom recently said that she often calls her Rose.

(4) Lourdes
One of the great things about the Irish (and I know I’m focusing a lot on the Irish, but I’m just not as familiar with Scotland — I hope my thoughts are transferable!) is that they use holy names of all kinds, ethnicities, languages, etc. I know of Irish girls named Jacinta and Philomena and Gemma — especially in the old days I think, they just used a lot of names of our faith, no matter where they came from. So Lourdes (as with Carmel above) strikes me as just the kind of name they might use, if they wanted to use a Marian name. I’ve written a bit about the family at the blog My Child I Love You, because the parents have scrumptious taste in names, and their youngest is Lourdes Marie Talbot. I could see Lulu and Lola working as nicknames for Lourdes, and I even think Lucy could work! Especially with a middle name like Cecilia — Lourdes Cecilia has all the sounds of Lucy. And Genie’s baby is actually due right around the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes! (The Lourdes I mentioned above was born on that same feast day!)

(5) Stella
Finally, Stella. It’s one of my favorites — I feel like I suggest it to everyone! It’s from the Marian title Stella Maris — Star of the Sea. Stella on its own is a lovely nod to Our Lady, or perhaps they’d prefer to use Stella (first name) with Maris (middle name). Or, Haley from Carrots for Michaelmas has a daughter Gwen with the middle name Stellamaris (all one word). And a reader of my blog named her daughter Maristella, which is a totally legitimate variant of the Marian title (birth announcement here, and I posted a pictureposted a picture of Our Lady, Star of the Sea on my Instagram that had “Ave Maris Stella” underneath). I kind of love the connection of the sea to Ireland and Scotland! My grandfather was born and raised in Ireland, in a coastal town, and he worked his way to the U.S. on a ship; the UK’s Apostleship of the Sea has “Stella Maris Masses” said for the seafolk in places including Aberdeen and Glasgow. So cool, right?

And those are all my thoughts and ideas for Genie’s little baby girl! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest?

Ann or Anne?

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I posted some photos of a beautiful stained glass window depicting St. Ann(e) on Instagram earlier this evening (here and here), and found it notable that “St. Ann” was written beneath her image, and then “In memory of Mrs. Anne Quinn” — both spellings on one window.

So I asked how many prefer Ann or Anne and have gotten several responses (Anne by a landslide, which was my grandmother’s spelling, and the one Anne Shirley vastly preferred, and the spelling I always unconsciously default to, though I’m delighted that one follower let us know her middle name is Ann, which is the spelling of my best friend from growing up’s middle name, and she’s an amazing person, so — good company!). I also posted a poll to Twitter and so far everyone’s voted for Anne (three people).

I looked them up, and Anne is the “French form of ANNA. In the 13th-century it was imported to England, where it was also commonly spelled Ann.” Indeed, Ann is described as the “English form of ANNE (1). In the English-speaking world, both this spelling and Anne have been used since the Middle Ages, though Ann became much more popular during the 19th century.” I checked out the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources to see if there was additional info, and discovered the name Tanneken! It’s a diminutive of Ann(e) — I’m loving it! It’s totally the kind of nickname/diminutive that I go nuts for.

Any of you who haven’t yet commented on IG or voted on Twitter — which spelling do you prefer and why?

I wrote about the Kimye baby for CatholicMom.com

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Oh yes I did. Check it out:

The Naming of Saint West

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(Isn’t that one of the nicest pictures of them you’ve ever seen? I love how soft and pretty her hair is, and how happy they look.)

I’d love to know what you think of the article! I’m a little bit controversial in it. (I mean, as controversial as Catholic baby naming can be.) One of you may have been quoted in it (not naming any names, I think you’ll you know you are. 😉 ).

 

 

Do you reserve names for later use?

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The consultation I posted on November 23 was for a family that had picked out Felicity for a girl — a beloved name, full of meaning for them — only to discover they were having a boy.

Grace commented, “My suggestion is Felix! Since she was really excited about Felicity’s meaning and saintly pedigree, Felix really seems the perfect alternative to me! Popular in the UK, Spain, and Germany, it definitely has a hip, continental thing about it while not being unusual or hard to pronounce, and the x-ending makes it flow very well into middle names beginning with either a vowel or a consonant! I think it’s super awesome for them,” which several of us agreed was a great suggestion.

Sarah commented, “We did this with our first. We loved Natalia for a girl, but he was a boy. Naming him Nathaniel kind of nixes a future Natalia. That said, we loved Nathaniel enough to where there are no regrets. I think it just depends on how much they love Felix. If it hits all the right notes, great. If Felicity still makes their heart sing and Felix is just okay, then I say save Felicity,” which I loved, especially this bit: “If Felicity still makes their heart sing and Felix is just okay, then I say save Felicity.”

I’d commented, “My only worry with Felix is that it knocks out Felicity for the future … which brings up a whole other issue, which maybe I’ll do a post on sometime — what are all your thoughts on reserving names for possible future babies? Have you/would you and why or why not? Felix now at the expense of Felicity later (potentially) is a perfect example …”

I have a small example of that in the naming of my own kids: The first name we decided on for a girl has been the same through all my pregnancies — it’s an honor name for my mom and my grandmother and it won’t change. The middle name has changed several times though, most often in order to honor my mother-in-law in different ways; we’ve also discussed variants of her name as a first name possibility for a second daughter. Then we decided to give our youngest boy a first name that was a variant of my mother-in-law’s name, which knocks out of consideration the variants of her name we’d considered for a first name for a girl. I felt the tiniest of twinges at our decision but really. Six boys, no girls — holding a name in reserve for a second girl seems kind of silly when a first girl hasn’t happened and may never. Also, like Sarah said, I love the male variant we chose for my youngest, so I don’t really miss the possibility of using the feminine variants.

I’d love to know what the rest of you think! Do you/have you/would you save names for future use that knock possibilities out of consideration for this baby right here right now?

 

 

 

Baby name consultant: Baby #5 from across the world

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Though I’ve done consultations for parents living outside of America, today’s the first time I’ve gotten to post one on the blog! Today’s mama is Chelsea from New Zealand, editor of Restless Press (which posted an interview with me last week) and blogger at Grow the Roses.

She and her husband Joseph are expecting their fifth baby on earth, little brother or sister to:

Zelie Rose
Gianna Beryl
Theodore Ignatius Tutonga
Dominic Joseph John

All of which are so my taste, I love them all!

Chelsea writes,

“With all of them we have a modern saint (last hundred or two hundred or so years, relatively recent canonisation). Zelie is named for St Zelie, Gianna for St Gianna Beretta Molla, Theodore for Blessed Theodore Romzha and St Ignatius (husband loved the name, and wouldn’t let it go so he got two saints), and Dominic for St Dominic Savio and St John Houghton (whose feast day he was born on, so that got added in as we couldn’t let that slip for a Houghton baby!).

For middle names we have done a family connected name, but we both come from huge families, with ancestry from all around the world so no shortage of options. Joseph’s grandmother comes from the Cook Islands (hence Tutonga). But there are also Scottish, Irish, Jewish (all old testament prophets), English, Polish, French … in the family. So chances are we find a name and its somewhere in the family tree! Girls we have seem to have gone with more romantic old fashioned names and boys with strong saints.”

I asked Chelsea about Tutonga, as the Cook Islands are completely unfamiliar to me, and I loved her response:

“The Cook Islands are in the middle of the Pacific. My husband’s grandmother was born there, raised in the Rarotonga royal household, but descends from the King of Atiu, an island about an hours flight from Rarotonga (the capital and biggest of the many islands). His grandfather was sent over to Rarotonga in the 1950s as the postmaster, when there weren’t many non-islanders over there, married his grandmother and brought her back to New Zealand and they’ve lived here ever since. My husband and I went over to Rarotonga and Atiu with his grandparents in 2007 for a big family reunion and learnt much of the history of the area and family. Atiu is where he proposed.

Names are passed down or given in their culture. My husband was never given a Cook Island name as a child, and while we were there his grandmother looked for a name for him … He was given the name Tutonga (which we gave to Theodore), who was the scout on the war boats as the Atiuans went from island to island.”

How cool is that? I love learning about new cultures, and learning about them through the lens of names is my favorite.

These are the names/saints Chelsea and Joseph are considering for this baby:

Antonia nicked Annie, for Blessed Antonia Mesina
Chiara, for Chiara Badano
Elodie, for St Alodia (Chelsea loves “french names, but not sure if fits with others or not”)
Marietta

Gabriel
Kolbe (but her hubs doesn’t care for it)

First off, my thoughts about Chelsea and Joseph’s current ideas:

I’d not known about Bl. Antonia Mesina until their email — what a girl! Definitely a great patron, and Annie as a nickname is awesome.

Chiara is one I would have suggested for them if they didn’t already have it on their list, I love her.

I think Elodie’s a great name for this family! It’s French, as is Zelie, and Theodore has some French usage, so I think it fits in fine.

Marietta surprised me! It’s a pretty name, and a pretty rare Marian variant currently, as far as I know — at least here in the U.S. — but not it’s not unknown. It also made me think of Majella — I wonder what they’d think of that? It’s used a decent amount as a girl’s name, after St. Gerard Majella. The pronunciation I believe is most prominent is mah-JEL-la, and it’s an anglicization of the Italian Maiella (my-EL-lah), which is also a really pretty option (though less recognizable as connected to a saint I think?).

I love Gabriel, I think it’s a great fit for this family.

Kolbe is great too, but since Chelsea’s hubs doesn’t care for it, I wonder if they would be interested in Colman? It’s totally different from Kolbe in that it’s not related to St. Maximilian and it’s not a surname, but the Kol- reminded me of Colman, and St. Colman is an Irish saint. Maybe?

I’m always a little less confident when doing a consultation for someone who’s not from America, as I have no idea what’s popular/common/outdated/ugly in New Zealand, for example. Also, I rely pretty heavily on the Baby Name Wizard book for inspiration about what names are similar to others in terms of style/feel/popularity, but it’s all based on American stats. Fortunately though, Catholic saints belong to the whole world! So hopefully these ideas are helpful. I came up with five for each gender (besides Majella and Colman listed above):

Girl

(1) Kateri
I’ll start with the girl name that I think might be least interesting to Chelsea and Joseph, as St. Kateri Tekakwitha is a Native American saint. But it’s one of the first names I thought of for them because here, families who have girls named Zelie and Gianna often have Kateri on their lists. Despite it being a Native American name, I don’t know of any other usage than by Catholics. Additionally, Kateri chose it when she was baptized because it was a variant of Katherine/Catherine and St. Catherine of Siena was her patron. So lots of good stuff going on with the name Kateri! Pronunciation is always an issue — I don’t know if there’s one particular way New Zealanders might say it, but here there are a few different acceptable pronunciations; I wrote about them (and Zelie and Gianna too!) here.

(2) Jacinta
Jacinta also has the same feel to me as Zelie, Gianna, and Kateri — I don’t know many people in English-speaking countries besides Catholics who use it. It’s one of my personal favorites, and my Confirmation name, love it.

(3) Madeleine, or Sophie, or Madeleine Sophie, or Magdalen(e)
Madeline was listed as similar to Dominic in the Baby Name Wizard, as was Sophia, and Sophia was listed as similar to Gabriel as well, all of which made me think of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. I love both Madeleine and Sophie (I guess she went by Sophie, and her feast day in France is known as St. Sophie’s Day) and could see either/both working for this family. I like that it’s French, but not prohibitively so, if that makes any sense.

Madeleine made me think of Magdalen(e), as all the Madeline/leine names are variants of Magdalene. I think Magdalen(e) comes across as more obviously Catholic than does Madel(e)ine, and it allows for Maggie as a nickname, which is sweet, and reminds me of Chelsea’s idea of Annie for Antonia.

(4) Edith, Teresa, Benedicta
This was mostly inspired by the “relatively recent canonization” theme they have going on. St. Edith Stein is one of my favorites, and Edie is a really sweet nickname. If they didn’t care for Edith/Edie though, her religious name was Teresa Benedicta, so either Teresa or Benedicta would be great as well (and Teresa is also the spelling Mother Teresa used, which is great for a baby who will be born in the year she’s canonized; it’s also the spelling of St. Teresa of Avila. Lots of great Teresas!).

(5) Faustina (Faustine?)
Faustina is also inspired by the “recent canonization” idea. St. Faustina’s given name was actually Mary Faustina, which I also love for this family, especially since they don’t yet have a Marian first name for their girls. Since Chelsea likes French names, maybe they’d like to consider Faustine instead? The family in this post has a Faustine, so lovely!

Boy

(1) Xavier
As soon as I saw Kolbe on Chelsea’s list, I thought of Xavier. It’s a surname, and it’s Catholicky Catholic! Also, as a fun connection, after I’d already scribbled down Xavier as an idea for them, I looked up saints connected to New Zealand and discovered that St. Francis Xavier is its patron saint! I mean, come on. How cool and relevant!

(2) Edmund, Campion
I was particularly interested to find name ideas that went with the style/feel of Theodore, as I thought it struck me as just a little different than the other kids’ names, and I’m not even sure why. Edmund was listed in the BNW as a style match, and I thought it was a great suggestion because of St. Edmund Campion, such a great saint and patron! And he was canonized recently, in 1970.

St. Edmund, and Kolbe from their list, both made me also think of Campion as a first name idea. I’ve seen it used as a first name for boys, in honor of St. Edmund, and I’ve always liked the nickname Cam for a boy.

(3) Sebastian
Sebastian has a really gentlemanly feel to me, which reminds me of Theodore (Grace totally nailed it with naming two of her boys Sebastian and Theodore!), and of course it’s super saintly. The original St. Sebastian is definitely a favorite with the boys I know — they are all delightedly horrified by the images of St. Sebastian pierced by arrows. 😀 But he’s a pretty old saint, so I looked to see if there were any of more recent canonization, and discovered Bl. Sebastian Obeso Alario, beatified by Pope Benedict in 2012 — he was martyred during the Spanish Civil War.

(4) Blaise
St. Blaise is pretty old, but I think it’s a great name for a boy, since it sounds so fiery and speedy. Apparently, it’s also a French name, which I hadn’t realized, though Blaise Pascal makes sense of that. All of which means I had to suggest it, despite it not fitting into the “modern saint (last hundred or two hundred or so years, relatively recent canonisation)” parameters!

(5) Jasper, K/Casper/Caspar, Gaspar
Jasper was a surprise for me — apparently it’s a style match for Theodore and Edmund, which I wouldn’t have thought. I do love it — it’s the name traditionally associated with one of the Three Wise Men. K/Casper/Caspar and Gaspar are variants of it, so sometimes you’ll see those names given as the Wise Man instead of Jasper. Either way, I think they’re all great names! There are some recent Blesseds and Saints Gaspar/Caspar.

And those are all my ideas for Chelsea and Joseph’s littlest one! What do you all think? If any of you are from New Zealand or are familiar with the names in common use there, I’d be particularly interested in knowing if your impressions of the names are different from mine — are there any here that make you say, “Absolutely not!”?

Birth announcement: Beatrice Catherine!

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I did a consultation for Liz and Kevin not too long ago, which would have been a public post if the baby had come a little late, but instead she came a little early! Liz emailed me today to let me know her baby girl has arrived, and she’s been given the gorgeous name … Beatrice Catherine!

Liz writes,

“She’s here! Based on all your suggestions and inspiration, we went with a name that  kind of found us!

Beatrice Catherine was born Jan. 14, 2016 at 6:16pm (8 days early!!!)
7 lbs. 1 oz, 19 in. long!

Her middle name is the namesake of her maternal grandmother, and her first name of course to honor the Saint of the same name and is inspired by the character, Beatrice, in Dante’s Paradiso, part of the Divine Comedy. Beatrice shows Dante heaven 🙂 The name also means ‘bringer of joy’ and with the 2015 we had last year, she truly has brought so much joy to us!!

Thank you so much for everything you do, you helped us so much!!“

Isn’t that just an amazing name?? I see Beatrice talked about, but I rarely see it chosen — I love seeing it! Beatrice joins big sisters:

Ava Elizabeth
Gwendolyn Marie

I just love this sister set! Ava, Gwendolyn, and Beatrice … *sigh* !!

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

beatrice_catherine

Beatrice Catherine

and her amazing-looking can’t-possibly-have-just-given-birth mama (!)

Spotlight on: Ruby

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Julie asked me to do a spotlight on Ruby, which I’ve been really loving in the last couple of years, so I’m delighted to do so! She was specifically hoping for faith-based references beyond the mentions in Proverbs in some translations referring to the value of Wisdom (3:15; 8:11; 20:15) and a good wife (31:10) as being greater than rubies (other translations say “corals,” “jewels,” and even “pearls” instead of rubies — this is a pretty good explanation of why).

This web site said, “The ruby has long been seen as the gem of passion, love, and courage for its vibrant red tone” and this site said rubies signify “friendship, fire, love, royalty, happiness, the opening of the heart,” all of which got me thinking about the courage and blood of Jesus and the courage and blood of the martyrs, and the Passion of Christ and His love for us, and His Sacred Heart, so I did a little research down that path and discovered several products with actual rubies used for Jesus’ heart (e.g., Sacred Heart medal; Sacred Heart with Ruby pendant), and several instances of “ruby” being used instead of “red” to describe the color of an object having to do with the Sacred Heart (e.g., Sacred Heart of Jesus Rosary with Ruby Crystal Beads; Sacred Heart Ruby Chaplet).

As for “ruby” and “red” being interchangeable, I found that “ruby” comes from the Latin ruber, meaning “red,” I loved this description of the reason behind red vestments:

“Red has a dual imagery: On one hand, red symbolizes the shedding of blood and is therefore used on Palm Sunday (when Christ entered Jerusalem to prepare for His death), Good Friday, any other commemoration of the Lord’s passion, the votive Mass of the Precious Blood, the days marking the martyrdom of the apostles (except St. John), and the feasts of other martyrs who offered their lives for the faith.

On the other hand, red also signifies the burning fire of God’s love. For this reason, red vestments are won on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and tongues of fire rested on their heads; for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation; and for the votive Masses of the Holy Spirit.” (source)

I really wanted to find the significance of rubies in art, but couldn’t find anything — do any of you know?

So I’m totally loving the idea of Ruby for the Sacred Heart or for Jesus’ Passion and Death or for the martyrs, and I like that Ruby could also be sort of a Holy Spirit name, based on the red of the tongues of fire that descended upon the Apostles … using Ruby in these ways feels similar to the usage of Cora for the Sacred Heart, and Halle as part of Hallelujah: they require a little explanation but the intention behind the name is impeccable (and you know how I feel about intentions).

As I’ve mentioned before (here and here), I once saw Ruby used as a nickname for Rebecca and I fell head-over-heels for that first name/nickname combo! I thought of other ways of getting to Ruby as a nickname and came up with ideas like:

Rosa Beatrice
Ruth Abigail (although why you wouldn’t go with Ruthie is beyond me)
Roma Benedicta
Regina Kolbe

But I definitely think “just Ruby” could work with the beautiful connections I mentioned above.

What do you think of Ruby? Would you use it on its own as a given name, or would you prefer it as a nickname? Do you know any little girls named Ruby?

Baby name consultant: Time keeps flying for Ana Hahn

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When I met my husband he was a devout Evangelical, and not long after we started spending time together, I asked him to read Scott and Kimberly Hahn’s Rome Sweet Home, and when he decided to seriously investigate the teachings of the Church, he handed me a list of books he wanted to read and asked if I would order them for him and they were, almost all of them, books by Dr. Scott Hahn. I will be forever grateful for the role the Hahns played in the life I’ve been blessed with.

So when I discovered Ana Hahn’s blog Time Flies When You’re Having Babies a few years ago, I was initially really starstruck that this is Scott and Kimberly Hahn’s daughter-in-law! And her husband Mike is *the* Michael from the (really well-named) Hahn kids mentioned in the books!

But of course, as I read Ana’s blog, she became Ana of Time Flies When You’re Having Babies! and I became starry-eyed over herself, a young, faithful, Catholic wife and mom and writer who’s funny and very honest and I’ve loved reading about her and Mike’s romance and marriage and her kids’ births (I posted when her son was born) and her recipes (I’ve been meaning forever to try The Mostly Coffee Smoothie) and homemaking (basement reno!) and I felt compelled to email her almost a year ago about this post, which I so identified with. Also the photos/grams/whatever the younguns are calling them (did I see “IG’s” recently?).

When I discovered that she was expecting another baby, I was so excited (as always!) to consider what names she and Mike might like, and I was delighted (as always!) when she agreed to let me do a consultation post. Ana also hasn’t been feeling well, so I’m hopeful this will be a fun diversion for her (it would be so for me!).

Ana and Mike’s other babies have the amazing names:

Naomi Therese
Bernadette Martha
Ignatius John* (home with Jesus)
Lucy Josephine
Joseph Pio

I love them all, each one. Wonderful wonderful names. I also love how they’re kind of eclectic — Old Testament, New Testament, Church Father, French, Super Saintly — I’m guessing that Ana and Mike just go with the name that feels right, which is a great way to do it. It makes it a little harder to predict other names they might like, since the only theme I can really see is “Catholic,” which is the BEST! But also, as we know, really really huge. But! I’m never not up for a good challenge! And so I present you with my ideas for Baby Hahn:

Girl

(1) Judith
I was sure to post the spotlight on Judith last week because I had it in mind for Ana and I wanted to be able to refer to it in my consultation post for her. Naomi really inspired the idea of Judith, and I loved the connections to Mother Mary and St. Anne that I found when I was researching it.

(2) Miriam, Mary Clare, Mary Jane, Rosemary
I could make each of my Mary Names ideas their own number, but then this would be a very long list, so I thought I’d group them together. I love Miriam for the Hahns — like Judith, it was also inspired by Naomi. I’d thought of Clare/Clara and Jane and Rose as ideas on their own, but pairing them with Mary seemed a better fit for some gut-instinct reason (which means nothing, really — my gut’s not always right!). I love Mary Clare, Mary Jane, and Rosemary — each lovely, feminine, saintly, and Marian.

(3) Magdalen(e)
I was reminded the other day that Marlene Dietrich’s given name was Maria Magdalena (Marlene is a contraction of it, and was said “mar-LAY-nuh”), which was reminding me that Magdalen(e) has as much a European flavor to me as biblical, which fits in with the Frenchiness of Therese, Bernadette, and Josephine and the biblical-ness of Martha, John, and Joseph. And of course it’s Super Saintly like all of them, including Ignatius, Lucy, and Pio. And Maggie is the sweetest nickname! Lena could also work, as could Magda, both of which I really like. (My suggestion of (Mary) Clare above and Magdalen(e) here is reminding me of Philip Rivers’ baby girl Clare Magdalen(e), which is a gorgeous combo too.)

(4) Frances
I’ve been crushing on Frances recently — a little girl named Frances is more unexpected to me than a little boy named Francis, and it’s got the cutest nicknames: Francie, Frankie, Frannie. If the Hahns don’t like it for a first name, I would really love to see it in the middle spot — I think it works so well with so many names!

Boy

(1) Martin
Martin is overwhelmingly my strongest suggestion for a little boy. Again, it’s just a gut-feeling kind of thing — I love Martin as a brother to the older Hahn kids! And Martin Hahn sounds very handsome. St. Martin de Porres is a personal fave, but I also love that it could honor our new Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin. Marty’s super cute too!

(2) Gerard or Jerome
I really would love to see Gerard get more love. St. Gerard Majella is so amazing! And such a blessing to mamas during pregnancy and labor and delivery. Jerry might be a problem, feeling dated as it does, or it could be vintage cool! If Jerry’s a problem, I think Jed could totally work as a nickname. How cool is that? And Jed could so easily become … Jedi! Ahh! That’s probably crazy. Right? (Maybe Gerard Isaac –> Jedi … so cute!!! And crazy. Yes. Crazy.) (But I’m kind of digging it! 😀 )

(Also, Majella would be a pretty idea for a girl!)

Like Martin, Jerome is just a gut feeling for me for the Hahns. It’s saintly and sophisticated and traditional. Like Gerard, Jerry’s a natural nickname, but I also think they could do a Jed/Jedi kind of thing if it was paired with a middle name like David or Daniel.

(3) Gregory
I know you’re all thinking, “Gregory again?” I do feel like I’ve suggested it a lot! Including to Grace Patton, who’s friends with Ana in real life. But it’s a great name! I’d suggested the nickname Rory to Grace, and I’ve thought Grey and even Gregor could work as nicknames, but I don’t feel like any of those are Ana and Mike’s style. I kind of like Greg for them! Greg Hahn. That’s solid! And Gregory is just so impeccable — don’t forget what the Baby Name Wizard says about it: “Popes, saints, and Gregory Peck! Can a name get any more distinguished?” Love it!

(4) Benedict
I love Pope Emeritus Benedict dearly, and think naming a boy Benedict is such a nice homage to him. Ben and Benny are just great nicknames too. But maybe Benedict’s too close to Bernadette? If so, I would love it in the middle spot. Martin Benedict Hahn has a particularly handsome ring to it … 🙂

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Baby Hahn? A very big thank you to Ana for letting me post this, and I know you’ll all join me in praying that she feels better soon!

*I hope it’s not inappropriate to keep inserting my own stories in here (so sorry Ana!), but there are a lot of connections that are making me feel like God is extra close to me today, through Ana and this consultation. Like Ana, the baby I miscarried was my third baby as well; like Ana, I feel strongly that it was a boy; like Ana, we named our baby Ignatius. She mentions in her miscarriage post that her brother-in-law had done a report on St. Ignatius of Antioch the day she felt like she was sure the baby was a boy — St. Ignatius of Antioch is who we named our baby after, as it’s my husband’s Confirmation name, chosen because St. Ignatius of Antioch’s writings on the Eucharist were the final and biggest reason he decided to convert.

 

Birth announcement: Avila Rose!

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It’s a two-birth-announcement day! Hooray! 😀

Tanya’s consultation posted at the end of September, and she emailed me today to let me know the baby arrived this past week! They gave her the beautiful name … Avila Rose!

Tanya writes,

“We had so much fun ( and a little stress) trying to find a name for her.  We enjoyed sorting through all your advice and suggestions. In the end we couldn’t agree so we decided to just wait till she was born. We ended up going with Avila Rose. Although we did break the double vowel pattern of our other kids names we feel that Avila still goes well with all the sibling names. Whether we have any more kiddos or not naming trends continue to fascinate me and I will def keep following your blog.

She was 8 lbs 10 oz and born at 4:28 on the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 6th). We all adore her already.”

I loooove the name Avila, and I’m so excited to see it used for this beautiful baby! And paired with Rose is so lovely! Tanya posted her birth story, if you’re into that kind of thing. (I am! I so am.)

Congratulations to Tanya and Mike and big sibs Keira, Israel, Nairi, and Samuel, and happy birthday Baby Avila!!

Avila Rose