Catholic baby names

Birth announcement: Zita Fidela!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , , ,

A mama I did a private consultation for last spring emailed me to let me know what they ended up naming their daughter: Zita Fidela!

She writes,

“… we named her Zita Fidela (fee-DAY-lah). She was born April 24th, 2015 at 11:38am after a five hour labor, my first daytime baby. She weighed 7lbs9oz at birth. She’s a big girl now though, crawling all over and starting to eat food. Time flies. Zita is a super sweet baby and very much adored by our whole family. She is nearly always joyful and smiling.

How did we choose? My husband really wanted to name her Annalise. I think Annalise is a lovely name, but I didn’t like it with our last name, and Zita’s next oldest sister, only 18 months older, is Anastasia, which I felt was too similar to Annalise. We do call Anastasia, Tacy, but still…I was just not comfortable with Annalise. I had had Stella, Cecilia, Zita and Salette as top contenders, but I didn’t feel “right” about any of them. I wanted the name we chose to be just “right” as soon as I saw it. I wanted to be feel really comfortable and in love with the name, and I just wasn’t feeling it for any of those names. Then I was checking their popularity, and I found that Stella was in the top 100 last year. That killed it for me. I don’t like to do popular. (Yes, I know I have a kid named Sam…which I am okay with…but….). Then I remembered how we’d chosen our son Henry’s middle name, Gerard, as Henry was born on St Gerard’s feast day. I looked up the saint for the day, April 24, and it was St Fidelis of Sigmaringen. Read about him, he’s very cool. Remember how I wanted a name saint who was a strong champion for the faith? St Fidelis is your man. Fidelis for a girl would be Fidela, right, and then suddenly it came together. Zita Fidela. I had said whispered quite a few names to my little girl over the past few hours, listening to myself say them and wondering if they fit. When I said that one, I had that knowing feeling I had been waiting and hoping for. I texted it to my husband (at home with the other kids), hoping so hard, because I knew it was the one. And he liked it. We still had the “Are you sure? You’re really sure?” conversation the next morning when we filled out her birth certificate, but that was just because neither of us wanted to insist on a name the other didn’t want.

We are hopeless nicknamers, it seems, so we call her Little Z a lot. Also Zezu (zee-zoo) and most recently, Henry, age 5, christened her Tooch and it’s stuck a little.”

What a beautiful story!! Zita’s big sibs have the amazing names:

Maria Antonia
Henry Gerard Marie
Vincent Alexander Marie (Vinnie, Vin, Vince, Vincie)
Anastasia Evamarie (Tacy)
Samuel Quentin Marie (Sam, Sammy)

Beautiful, right? I haven’t heard Zita at all on today’s babies — Zita’s parents seem to have done the seemingly impossible in finding a truly unique but still saintly name! And Marie in each of the boys’ names! I love that so much!

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

Spotlight on: Judith

sanctanomina Spotlight , , ,

Kerri and skimac both recently asked for a spotlight on Judith, which surprised me at first, and then as I thought about it I got a little excited about it — I’m a big fan of underused or undiscovered biblical names, and while Judith is certainly not undiscovered, I feel like these days it’s definitely underused.

Judith reminds me of Ruth, being biblical and with the -th ending that’s an uncommon ending for a girl’s name, and I’ve been loving Ruth lately, so that association automatically makes me warm to Judith. Kerri called it a “sturdy” name, and I do think it has that feel — it definitely holds up to any variation of the Supreme Court test (i.e., you can definitely picture a woman named Judith as a judge, Judge Judy notwithstanding). (And really, I think Judith is better for a judge than Judy.) (Actually, now that I think about it, and in a weird coincidence, former New York State Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye has been on my mind because she died yesterday, yet I’d scheduled this post for today earlier this week and wasn’t even thinking of her when I started writing this, nor when I mentioned the “Supreme Court test.” She’s actually a great example of what I think of when I think of Judith — she was “the first woman named to the highest court in New York and the first to serve as the state’s chief judge — a job she held longer than any of her 21 male predecessors.” Successful, professional, perhaps a little bit stern.)

Judge Kaye was also Jewish, and I think that’s an association many have with the name Judith as well (in fact, the name’s meaning is given as “a woman from Judea” or “a Jewess”), though it’s certainly not inappropriate for those who are not Jewish — I also know Catholic and non-Catholic Christians named Judith. But the ones I know are grown-up women “of a certain age” — I don’t know any little girls! According to the SSA, it was most popular (in the top 100) from 1934 to 1964, peaking at #4 in 1940, which make it a popularity contemporary of names like Carol and Barbara — both of which we’ve talked about before as perhaps ready for a comeback. (Carol: here and here and here; Barbara: here and read subsequent comments too.) It’s been on a downward trend for years, coming in at #952 in 2014. So it can truly be considered an unusual and fairly rare choice, which is pretty exciting.

The Book of Judith in the Bible provides us with a pretty great role model in Judith — as one of my bibles says in its intro to the Book of Judith:

“The Book of Judith is a vivid story relating how, in a grave crisis, God delivered the Jewish people through the instrumentality of a woman … The beautiful hymn of the people honoring Judith (15, 9-10) is often applied to Mary in the liturgy.”

This is the hymn:

“When they had visited her, all with one accord blessed her, saying:

‘You are the glory of Jerusalem,
the surpassing joy of Israel;
You are the splendid boast of our people.

With your own hand you have done all this;
You have done good to Israel,
and God is pleased with what you have wrought.

May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty forever and ever!’

And all the people answered, ‘Amen!’“

I’m not sure I could go so far as to saying Judith is a Marian name, but the ties of the name Judith to Our Lady as revealed in this passage are beautiful — I could easily see someone choosing Judith as an offbeat homage to Mary.

There are also several Sts. and Blesseds Judith, several European royal women (including an empress and several queen consorts), and another association that I came across recently is that in the Protoevangelium of James, which is not canonical, but is nevertheless considered authoritative enough to give us the names by which we remember and honor Mother Mary’s parents, Judith was given as the name of St. Anne’s maid-servant. How cool!

Behind the Name gives several variants of Judith (Jutta, Judyta, et al.), but you know it’s the nicknames I get most excited by! Judy is super cute, but maybe still feels a little dated? It has its own history as a given name, peaking a few years later than Judith but dropping out of sight quicker, so it might have a little more of a date-stamped feel, but it’s not the only option: Jody/Jodie are possibilities, according to behindthename, which makes me also think of Jo and Josie (especially, maybe, with an S middle name? Judith Siena, for example, could easily be Josie) … or maybe pair it with an N middle name for Junie or Juno? Maybe Judith Noelle? Even Julie for something like Judith Louisa? Am I scaring you yet? Haha!

What do you all think of Judith? Would you consider it for your daughter, or have you? Do you know any little Judiths? Do they go by a nickname, and if so, what? Or older Judiths as well — I’d love to hear of non-Judy nicknames.

Updated to add: Howwww could I forget Jude as a nickname?? The spotlight I did on Jude was really the impetus for this spotlight! Thanks to Mary-Agnes for the reminder! Jude as a nickname definitely modernizes Judith I think, do you agree?

Birth announcement: Cara Maeve!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , , ,

Molly’s consultation posted back in October, and yesterday their sixth little girl arrived! She’s been given the gorgeous name … Cara Maeve!

Molly writes,

“Cara Maeve, born January 6, 2016 at 1404. 8 pounds 2 ounces … She came out and she just wasn’t a Quinn. Lol!!!“

Isn’t that just the most amazing combo?? It’s another example (like Rosemary from last week) of parents saying they’re thinking about a certain style (in this case, a unisex surnamey first name, although Cara was also on their original list) but ending up with something different. When the name’s right, you gotta go with it! And Cara Maeve is all kinds of right. Consider that Cara means “friend” in Irish and “beloved” in Italian (and “friend” and “beloved” are so close in meaning), and Maeve, according to babynamesofireland.com (my go-to for Irish names and meanings), can mean “cause of great joy,” which is a Marian title: Causa Nostrae Laetitiae, Cause of Our Joy. So Cara Maeve is packed full with beautiful faith-y significance.

Congratulations to Molly and Brian and big sisters Reilly, Kaitlin, Anna, Maura, and Meagan, and happy birthday Baby Cara!!

cara_maeve

Cara Maeve

(There’s no announcement on Molly’s blog yet, but if you keep checking I bet there will be one soon! 😉 )

Sancta Nomina goes audial

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty , , , , ,

So this posted today:

podcast_image-01.05.16

Hosted by these lovely ladies:

podcast_image2-01.05.16

Can you believe it? I barely can myself! So exciting! I’m sure you’ll have as much fun listening to Haley, Christy, and I chat about name as I had doing the actual chatting, and you’ll get to hear the name ideas I have for them if they’re blessed with more babies — be sure to let me know if you agree or disagree with my ideas, and what others you would offer based on the names they’ve already used for their kiddos!

Let’s Talk About Catholic Baby Names with Kate Towne

(When you click the link you’ll see there’s even a crazy pic of the paper I’d written my ideas for them on — that’s how I do consultations! Old school paper and pen, lots of arrows and doodling and notes in the margins. I will just say there’s an extra lot of doodling on this paper because I had it in front of me while I was talking to them, and if I have paper in front of me I.will.doodle.)

Baby name consultant: German name needed for Little Sister

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , ,

Hellooooo 2016!! 😀

This new year is starting off with a really fun consultation from one of my very first and wonderfully loyal readers:

Alyssa and her husband Klaus are expecting their second baby, a little girl! She joins big brother:

Konrad Wolfgang

Which is such an amazingly fabulous name! It’s bold, traditional, saintly, and I love how unapologetically German it is, and how they just own it!

Alyssa writes,

“I’m very excited to have just found out we are expecting a baby GIRL in March! … Here’s some info about our family:

My husband’s name is Klaus Wolfgang and for obvious reasons he really likes German names. It’s the only thing he really claims as his “style.” Our son is Konrad Wolfgang, which began as a compromise name as Klaus wanted a Klaus, Jr. but I really wasn’t going for it. So we compromised and he agreed that if the baby could have his initials, he would settle for “not a junior” and of course it had to be German. So we happened upon Konrad and fell in love. It suits him perfectly and we get lots of compliments on it. We love that it is a saint’s name, along with Wolfgang, and we found out after he was born that it was actually his great-grandmother’s maiden name, too. So, bonus points for the family connection!“

I love every single detail! I also really love that the compromise Alyssa and her hubs worked out was that they wouldn’t do the Junior he wanted, but they would use his initials — and with both Klaus and Konrad being super German, and Wolfgang being their shared middle name, it really really works as a pseudo Junior. Nice job!

“For this baby our “rules” are — must be German or have German usage, and can not start with a K. So far we only have two real contenders: Louisa and Mabel. I don’t believe either of them are saint names, which is a little disappointing to us. But I really like them both!

The middle name will definitely be Marie, as is customary with almost all of the girls in my family and of course I’m happy that it honors our Blessed Mother. I REALLY tried to talk Klaus into Edelweiss (nicknamed Ada) because throughout this pregnancy I’ve had a strong devotion to Ven. Edel Quinn. I actually hadn’t heard of her until your blog post a while ago! So I looked her up and really took to her story and her mission. Unfortunately, Edelweiss is just too out there for him. I understand, but am still a little disappointed. I was thinking about trying to sneak it in as a second middle name but since two middles aren’t really customary in either of our families, I fear it may come off as a little pretentious. What are your thoughts on two middle names? Any other suggestions on girls names?“

There are so many fun things to talk about here! German names; are-they-or-aren’t-they-saints-names; to use a second middle name or not? Let’s dig in!

I really like working on consultations for families wanting really ethnic names. I’ve learned so much about names and cultures from doing them! So I was excited to focus on German names or names with German usage for this family.

I love both Louisa and Mabel! Regarding the saintliness of Louisa — I’ve found a St. Louise who’s also known as St. Luisa and a Bl. Louise who’s also known as Bl. Louisa, both of which can work for patrons for a little Louisa, as can any of the Sts. Louis (de Montfort is a personal fave), and Louisa and Louise are the the same name, really, just linguistic variants (Louisa is the “Latinate feminine form of Louis” and Louise is the “French feminine form of Louis,”) but I do get that it’s kind of a bummer that “St. Louisa” doesn’t yield any results.

As for Mabel, it’s kind of an exciting option because Mabel is a medieval feminine form of Amabilis, which is the name of a male saint, BUT it’s also part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis (Mother Most Amiable, where amiable=lovable). So Mabel’s a Marian name! I would be so over-the-moon excited if I discovered that a name I loved but didn’t think had any saintly connection turned out to be a Marian name! I would think using a Marian first name would knock out Marie as a middle name, but maybe I’m wrong? There’s not really anything weird about Mabel Marie, and in fact it reinforces the Marian connection (like: “Mother Most Amiable, Mary”), but Alyssa and Klaus could also see it as an opportunity to use a different middle name. Like Edelweiss! I just died over the idea of Edelweiss nicked Ada, love love love!!! And that Alyssa has a devotion to Ven. Edel Quinn is amazing! Since her hubs isn’t into using it for a first name, I wonder if they would consider using just Ada as a first name? It’s sweet and spunky on its own, I think, and a fun connection is that the day after I sent this info to Alyssa, I discovered it was the feast of St. Ada! (And yes, you better believe I emailed her right away to let her know — how crazy is that?!) Otherwise, I love the idea of Mabel Edelweiss. Gorgeous!

If they don’t like that idea, though, of course I totally understand. It’s really cool that Alyssa’s family has a tradition of the girls having Marie as a middle! Another way to perhaps keep with the tradition but use another name (like Mabel) might be to re-form it as “all the girls in our family have a Marian name for either their first or their middle name.”

Which brings me to the question about two middle names. I don’t think two middle names are a bad thing! I’ve never really thought of them as pretentious either, though I could see that … something like Sebastian Roderick Maximilian does sound kind of … uppity. But something like Julia Janine Marie doesn’t to me — I would be more likely to assume the parents tried to get in two honor names. Full disclosure: three of my five siblings have two middle names! It can be kind of a hassle with official forms and such, as forms aren’t set up (in America) to take more than one middle name, so the second middle often gets dropped. I don’t think that’s necessarily a deal breaker though — I actually think it can be freeing, because you can do whatever the heck you want with the second middle name (and the third, fourth, etc., if you so choose) if you think of it more like your child’s “real” name as opposed to their “legal” name. It’s an interesting distinction — for most people, they’d probably say their real name *is* their legal name — that’s the definition of “real name.” But Alyssa and her hubs could absolutely have their baby’s legal name be Louisa Marie, and her “real” name be Louisa Marie Edelweiss, and they can bring her up knowing that, and it’ll just be part of her identity, separate from what the government knows. I don’t know, maybe it doesn’t make any sense, but it seems maybe sort of thrillingly subversive! (And now you know just how big of a name nerd I am! Haha!)

I was excited to see what other ideas I could come up with for this little girl, based on Konrad, Mabel, and Louisa, using my trusty Baby Name Wizard book (both the names listed as similar to those Alyssa and Klaus like, and its list of German names), and the list of German names at behindthename.com as well. I have five names that I think they might be intrigued by:

(1) Some form of Adele
I was absolutely amazed to see that Adela was listed as similar to Louisa, and Della (a diminutive of Adela) was similar to Mabel, both of which remind me of Ven. Edel Quinn because apparently her parents intended to name her Adele but the priest misheard and thought they meant Edel, like a diminutive of Edelweiss. So Adele and related names could be a really nice nod to Ven. Edel! Some other variants with German usage include Aleida, which I thought was really pretty (though I did read there’s a character by this name on Orange is the New Black, which I’ve never seen, so I don’t know if it’s a bad association, or neutral?), and Adelheid (though I personally prefer the variant Adelaide, which loses the German flavor though), and Adelais, which I thought was quite pretty.

(2) Eleanora/Eleanore
This would have been my first suggestion if it wasn’t for the connection of Adele to Edel, because Eleanor was listed as similar in style to Louisa; Elinor to Konrad; and Nell (a traditional nickname for Eleanor/Elinor) as similar to Mabel! Wow! The German variants were listed on behindthename as Eleonora, Eleonore, Leonore, Lore, and Nora. I like them all for this family. The El- also kinda reminds me of Edelweiss/Edel.

(3) Greta
This is one of my very favorite German names, and when I saw it listed as similar to Konrad, I knew I had to suggest it. It could work as a nickname for Margaret/Margareta, or it could be a given name on its own. The Margaret names mean “pearl,” which is always so great too — I’d feel so lucky to have pearls be “my” gem, you know? And the name Pearl was listed as similar to Mabel!

(4) Hildi
I couldn’t let a German consultation go by without suggesting Hildi! I’ve been pushing it on everyone recently, haha! It’s in honor of St. Hildegard of Bingen, who was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict. Such a big deal to have a female Doctor as a patron saint! I’m pretty sure Hildegard’s a bit much, though, and I know a little one named Hildi for St. Hildegard and I always think it’s just the sweetest. If Hildi feels too nicknamey, Hilde and Hilda are both full names, but I think Hildi works on its own just fine.

(5) Liesl
I know you’re going to laugh, but Edelweiss make me think of Liesl because of the Sound of Music! Haha! I love the name Liesl, and if we had any German I’d totally try to use it! Being that it’s a short form of Elisabeth, it’s got a saintly connection, and it kind of reminds me of Louisa sound-wise. Alyssa and her hubs could also do Elisabeth with Liesl as a nickname.

And those are my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for a little sister to Konrad in a very German family?

Birth announcement: Susanna Grace!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , ,

You all likely know by now that I will absolutely break any blog fasts for a birth announcement, and I’m excited to post one today!

I posted a consultation for Karra and her husband last month, and Karra emailed me to let me know her baby girl has arrived and has been given the gorgeous name Susanna Grace!

Karra writes,

“I had our beautiful baby GIRL on November 27th, the day after thanksgiving!  We named her Susanna Grace after much much much much much much debate.  And actually she was not named for over 24 hours!!!  I kept saying to my husband, we need to name her because we keep calling her “the baby” or just “her.”

At the time of her birth, we had it narrowed down to Susanna, Mary, and Mary Beth (Mary Elizabeth).  Since she was born on the feast of St. Catherina of Alexandria though, we then considered Mary Cate (Mary Catherine).  And then Juliet was thrown in for good measure.  I thought my husband was leaning more towards Mary and I was leaning more towards Susanna…until he said that Susanna was his top choice.  I kept asking if he was sure and he assured me he was…I think it was after playing with first and middle names that we threw out there “Susanna Grace” and it just kind of fit perfectly.  I don’t know why I never paired these two names together before!

Anyways, I thought I would update you!  I appreciate all your help and suggestions, I read the post and comments several times during that 24 hours after her birth searching for inspiration!“

I’m just in love with the name Susanna Grace, and I also love that little Susanna has a virtue name in the middle like her sisters. Well done, Mom and Dad!

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

Baby name consultant: Unusual Marian name for Baby Girl #2

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , ,

(I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!)

Tara and her husband are expecting baby #2, a little girl! Big sister is:

Kateri Cynthia

Which I just die over, how beautiful!! Tara writes,

“Naming our daughter took a while, but once we heard the name we agreed immediately. Her name is Kateri Cynthia. We picked Kateri for a few reasons. 1. We found out we were pregnant when we were chaperoning a service trip to a Native American reservation and 2. My husband’s mother’s name is Catherine (Cathy) and his sister’s name is Kathryn (Kate). We wanted to name her after her grandmother, but adding another Catherine to the family seemed a bit much. We loved that Kateri was a lovely saint and gave a nod to my mother in law. Kateri’s middle name is Cynthia after my mom.”

I love love all this! A fun fact is that Kateri is the Mohawk form of Catherine — St. Kateri was named for St. Catherine of Siena at her baptism.

Tara continues,

“Where we’re struggling is if our second child is a girl. We know we want a Marian name, and we think we’ve landed on Stella Maris. My husband, however, prefers Stella as a first name, with Maris as a middle name. I’m sort of liking Stella Maris as a double first name, but I can’t come up with a middle name that sounds good with this combination. Any suggestions for a middle name with this combo? I’m also open to hearing other Marian suggestions that are a little on the unusual side (we like traditional boy names and not-so-traditional girl names, and we’d prefer to keep the middle name as a saint’s name as well.)“

As you all know, I loooooove Marian names, so I felt like rubbing my hands together with glee over this dilemma!

Okay, first off, I love Stella Maris — what a gorgeous Marian title, and a really stunning combo for a little girl. But Tara’s right — it’s hard to pair middle names with! I said it over and over, trying to figure out a rhythm for the middle name that worked with the unusual rhythm of “Stella Maris” as a double-barrel first name. My favorite suggestion for Tara and her husband is: Anne. Stella Maris Anne has a great flow with their last name (which I won’t mention for privacy reasons — you’ll just have to believe me!); Anne doesn’t make the full name too long; and how lovely to have Mother Mary and her own mother in the same name!

Otherwise, I thought a two-syllable middle name with the stress on the second syllable sounded the best to my ear. The ones I came up with are mostly a little offbeat for these days, but maybe they’ll hit the right notes:

  • Annette
  • Annique
  • Janine
  • Jeanette
  • Mairead
  • Elise
  • Elaine

Another way to work with the title Stella Maris but solve the middle name issue is to use the variant Maristella. It’s a totally legit variant of the Stella Maris title — you can see a beautiful holy card with that version here  — and Tara and her hubs could still use Stella as the everyday call name. It takes a middle name a bit easier than Stella Maris as well — something short like Jane or Clare would be lovely with it, but long can work too — this mama named her baby Maristella Katherine!

As for other Marian names that are unusual, I came up with a bunch:

(1) Apparition sites
Some of the Marian apparition sites make great names — some of my favorites are Liesse, Salette (after La Salette), and Lourdes. The first two are not very used as names, but Lourdes does have some use — the mom who writes the blog My Child I Love You named her youngest Lourdes. Lola and Lulu are great nicknames for it!

(2) Variants of Mary
Miriam and Meike are my two thoughts for this category. Miriam is a bit more common, but it’s just lovely. Meike is a recent favorite of mine — it’s a German and Dutch diminutive of Maria, and it’s said like Micah. So cool!

(3) Names from Marian titles
There are lots here:

  • Amabel comes from the title Mater Amabilis, and Annabel is a variant of Amabel. Amabel, Annabel, and another variant Mabel could all work
  • Araceli is Spanish for “altar of the sky/heaven” and refers to Our Lady
  • Caeli or Coeli from the title Regina Caeli/Coeli—Queen of Heaven
  • Immaculata or Immaculee — from Immaculate Conception, of course — Immaculée Ilibagiza is a famous bearer, and I know a little one with Immaculata as her middle name, and another with Immaculata as her first
  • Mercedes is Spanish for “mercies,” from the title Our Lady of Mercies
  • Perpetua is a name on its own with its own saint, but it can also refer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help

(4) Words associated with Mary
My ideas here included:

  • Fiat, from Our Lady’s “let it be done”
  • Pieta, from the sculpture of Our Lady holding the body of Jesus
  • Tilma, from Juan Diego’s tilma

(5) People associated with Our Lady
In general I don’t think of names like Bernadette or Lucia being “Marian,” although I do think a good argument can be made for them to be so considered, since they call to mind Our Lady. But I did feel I had to suggest Jacinta — Kateri and Jacinta have always seemed like sister names to me, and I love it for this family. Something like Jacinta Mary would have a real double Marian whammy, or even Mary Jacinta as a double. Thinking of that reminded me that Bernadette’s given name was actually Marie-Bernarde (I’ve also seen Bernarde-Marie, but I think Marie-Bernarde is what I’ve seen most often), and that also seemed like a double Marian whammy to me. And Marie-Bernarde made me think of Marie-Azelie, which is what our brand new St. Zelie Martin (mother of St. Therese) was named at birth. So Azelie doesn’t have any Marian connection that I know of, but if one was going to consider a French double starting with Marie, that’s a sweet one.

Those are all my suggestions for this little baby, but as an added fun challenge, Tara asked,

“As a side note: any good saint names that are too weird for kids, but might be good for a dog? We’re also getting a puppy and struggling with names!“

How fun! It’s true that it’s hard to find saintly names that might be better for pets than kids. But I was thinking that some last names might work, like:

  • Duchesne, from St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne
  • Hofbauer, from St. Clement Mary Hofbauer
  • Guzman, from St. Dominic (de) Guzman (extra cool is that he’s known as the “hound of heaven” and is often depicted with a dog)
  • Last names for living people too, like Bergoglio or Ratzinger (though maybe Ratzinger’s better for a cat? Haha!)

Place names related to saints could work too, like:

  • Assisi (St. Francis loved the animals!)
  • Padua (St. Anthony of)
  • Prouille (said PROO-ee; known as the “cradle of the Dominicans” because the first Dominican house is there) (I was having fun with the Dominican theme!)
  • Molokai (St. Damien of)

And faith-related words would work too, like:

  • Boon — a boon is a favor or a blessing, especially received in answer to a request
  • Rex or Fido — yes! Those classic dog names! Rex is “king” and could refer to Jesus; Fido means “I am faithful” in Latin

Those were all my ideas! In a fun twist, Tara let me know today that they’ve actually chosen their baby girl’s name and announced it to their family and friends (=chiseled in stone!), so instead of this being a traditional consultation in which I ask you all for suggestions, it’s more of a guessing game — based on all that’s here, what would you guess is the name Tara and her husband have chosen for Kateri Cynthia’s little sister? (I’ll let you all know with a bonus post on New Year’s Eve! I might even be able to scare up a little prize for anyone who comes up with the chosen first name. 🙂 )

(If anyone knows this family, please don’t spill the beans!)

(No word yet on the puppy’s name, so if you have any suggestions in that regard, please share!)

(This is the last parenthetical comment, I promise. 😉 )

 

Birth announcement: Elias David!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , , ,

A mama I did a private consultation for not too long ago has let me know her baby boy has arrived — the handsomely named Elias David!

She writes,

“… we welcomed our newest family member Elias David Haag on Dec 7 and are absolutely head over heels in love. We feel so lucky to have two such precious little boys in our family. Big brother Isaiah is just smitten with him and can’t stop giving him kisses.”

Aren’t Isaiah and Elias just the best brother names?!

Another fun tidbit is that little Elias was due around the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and his parents liked the connection between Eli and Joachim — how cool!

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

elias_david

Elias David

Birth announcement: Gabriel Nicolas Peter!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , , ,

A couple weeks ago our reader Isabelle, who blogs from England at A Piece of the Continent, left a comment on the Jude spotlight saying that her son is named Jude (“Jude René Marc, always a bit of English and a bit of French”) and that she was expecting another boy any day, and still contemplating names for him. I told her I’d love to know what name they ended up choosing, if she didn’t mind sharing, and yesterday she let me know that her littlest guy had been born and they’d named him Gabriel Nicolas Peter!

Isabelle emailed me some more details, which I just love:

“We chose our boys names mostly because of the saints associated with them, for Jude, we LOVED the association between Saint Simon and Saint Jude (my husband is Simon) and Gabriel felt just perfect for a Christmas baby, without being too obviously Christmassy. (A friend of ours pointed out the they were both heroes from Thomas Hardy novels, which was completely unintentional. She suggested “Angel” for the next boy, to follow the trend, but I had to point out that having an Angel and a Gabriel in one sibling set is just, no!)

Another thing we had to bear in mind is how the names translate between French and English (“Jude” was very strange for the French set, although easy enough to pronounce, and they were a bit thrown by it — my great-aunt, a dominican nun (!) point-blank refused to admit that it was the name of an apostle :). I think they are relieved with Gabriel!

The middle names however, strictly follow the French tradition. It’s very rare in France for parents to choose middle names simply because they like them, most of the time, they will be a nod to a family member/godparent (I have my grandmothers names — Chantal and Anne-Marie — as middle names, my little sister has her godmother and our great aunt’s religious name — Claire and Marie-Johannes).

So Jude is Jude René (after my grandfather) Marc (after my brother, his godfather), and Gabriel is Nicolas (after my father) and Peter (after my father-in-law).”

Isn’t that all wonderful?? Gabriel is SUCH a perfect name for a Christmas baby! I also love that this note references Thomas Hardy, a great-aunt who’s a Dominican nun, French traditions with middle names, and alllll of those gorgeous names! Jude, Simon, Gabriel, Chantal, Anne-Marie, Claire, Marie-Johannes, René, Marc, Nicolas, Peter … I love seeing beautiful names all together!

Congratulations to Isabelle, Simon, and Jude, and happy birthday Baby Gabriel!!

gabriel_nicolas_peter

Gabriel Nicolas Peter

Baby name consultant: Saintly, musical, Irish, not “plain”

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , , ,

Laura and her husband are expecting their second baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown). They already have:

Clara Louise

Which, beyond being just gorgeous, classy, and classic, is meaningful to Laura and her hubs because, as Laura writes,

“St. Clare and St. Francis are very special saints to me, and I entrusted prayers for my husband and myself to them back when we were still dating. Clara is also a nod to my favorite piece of classical music, The Nutcracker. (Hubby and I are both musicians.) Louise is my maternal grandmother’s middle name. We call her Clara-Lou and Lou-Lou as a “nickname.” I had Clara picked out when I was 11! I loved the meaning: “clear/bright/illuminated famous warrior.””

Beautiful, right? Such meaning! Laura continues,

“We’re not planning on finding out the gender this time around, and are just having an impossible time thinking of a girl’s name that we both like! What’s more, in all of my girl-name research, I’ve come to think my lined-up boy’s name is too boring.

Our top contender is: Rosalie Caoilfhinn (KEE-lin). I love that it’s a nod to our Irish heritage. (We’re both German/Irish). My husband is not totally thrilled with Rosalie, and I have my concerns about whether Rosalie is too cute for a teenager to wear. Also, I dislike Rosie, Rose, Lee and Ros, as nicknames.

My husband really likes Diana, for which I don’t care. It has too strong a mythology/princess connection for me.”

Some of the names Laura likes that her husband doesn’t include:

Anessa Coeli (“I love that Agnes is St. Clare’s sister, but Agnes is a tough name for a little girl. “Lamb of heaven” just tickles me pink but hubs thinks it’s horrid-sounding.”)
Anita/Antonia/Annette
Elizabeth/Elsabeth/Ilse/Ilsa/Ailis
Carina/Corinne
Maria Lise
Bonnie Josephine
Eibhlín/Aibhlín
Eithne (“Gaelic pronunciation of en-ya“)

And “names initially suggested by my husband, but when I reminded him of them, he hated them” (!):

Alice
Marian
Miranda

For the boys, Laura says,

“… my first boy plan for forever was William Thomas. It’s in honor of both my grandfathers, and also my father, William “Bill.” I simply adore Saints Thomas More and Thomas Becket. “Will” was my planned nickname. Now, however, these names sound so…plain to me! And Liam is the name of a good friend’s son.

My boy name problem is the opposite of my girl name problem. I love too many! Arthur is a top pick if I have a second son. Pascal, Andrew, Paul, Bernard, Peter, Augustine, Éamon, Mark, George, Kieran, Kevin, Francis (though the F.F. is a big problem for my husband), Patrick, Seamus … I can’t even list all of the boys names that I like!“

I don’t know about the rest of you, but not only is Clara Louise amazingly lovely, some of Laura’s other ideas had me practically drooling, they’re just so beautiful. Like Anessa Coeli! My husband wouldn’t go for a name like that either but it’s so my taste — a little offbeat, a great rhythm, and packed full of faith-y meaning. Love it! (It also reminded me of this consultation, with their Inessa.)

I love too that they’re into the Irishy Irish names, I would totally have gone that direction if my husband had been open to it (he’s not. At all.).

Rosalie Caoilfhinn blows me away with its beauty. What a great combo! However, I do think that a possible nickname is sort of a must, especially if they’re worried that Rosalie won’t wear well at certain ages. I was trying to think of alternatives to Rosie, Rose, Lee, and Ros and thought of Ree (like Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman), and also a traditional nickname for Rosemary is Romy, which I’ve always liked — Caoilfhinn is an awesome middle, but I wonder if they’d consider Rosalie M__ nicked Romy?

Another nickname idea for Rosalie Caoilfhinn, which may just complicate things rather than make them easier, is Róisín, said ro-SHEEN, which I like as a nickname for this combo because it kind of takes a little from Rosalie and a little from Caoilfhinn sound-wise. It’s an Irish name meaning “little Rose” and was used as a middle name by this family.

They could also do just Ro — I have a friend named Rosey who sometimes goes by Ro and I always think it feels really affectionate.

With the boy names, I kept coming back to Laura’s comment that her boy names now “sound so…plain to me!” so I focused pretty heavily on finding names that wouldn’t sound “plain” — to me, for a boy, that means “more unusual,” whereas for a girl I’d think it would mean “frillier” maybe. The fresher a name sounds — the more uncommon — I think the less plain it seems. So when I was thinking about boy names, not only did I have some name suggestions, but I also had some strategies that I thought Laura and her husband might find helpful. Like:

  • Alternate versions of names they like
    For example, Laura said the name she’s loved and planned forever is William Thomas — it has loads of meaning for her in her family and saint-wise as well. What if she considered Wilhelm or Willem instead? Or Tavish, Tam, or Tomek? I’d probably think of doing one “normal” paired with one “unusual” name, rather than have them both be alternates, like William Tavish or Willem Thomas. Wilhelm and Willem can both take her planned nickname Will as well, so it would only mean a slight tweaking of their plan and still a clear nod to Laura’s dad. Looking at the other names they like, Andrew could become Ander; Paul could become Pavel; Peter could become Pierce or Piers; with their love of Irish could totally do Caoimhín instead of Kevin … you get the idea, and there are other variants besides those I listed — behindthename.com and dmnes.org are great resources for that kind of thing!

(I interrupt this broadcast to tell you of a major name FAIL on my part, in regards to Laura and her husband’s name ideas: Their last name begins with an F, and all the while I was working on this for them, it never once occurred to me that William Thomas F__’s initials would be WTF. Fortunately, one of Laura’s friends caught it and pointed it out. You guys — I really think it’s important to run your name ideas by some people before birth! And not just me, clearly. Relying on my opinion/advice will apparently have your child ending up with initials that will torment him or her for life. :/ )

  • Unusual nicknames for “plain” first names
    Another way to jazz up names that you think are a little too plain is with an unexpected nickname. I was thinking about William and Laura’s idea of Will, and thought even if Will just changed to Wills, like the prince, it might provide enough sparkle for them to feel content with it again, you know? Wills is one more letter than Will, but it has a whole different feel to me — a little international and just … unexpected. I also saw that a Dutch nickname for it is Pim — I love that! I’ve mentioned here a bunch of times about Francis and Gregory, two names that I personally *intellectually* like — I know they’re great, traditional names with great saintly patrons — but if I were to use them I’d need just a little something, and the idea of the nickname Finn for Francis and Rory or Gus for Gregory does that for me. I’ve seen Packy and Patch for Patrick, which are so fun and different. And Pasha for Paul is so sweet!
  • Double names
    Double names are much more unusual for boys than they are for girls, and even pairing two “normal” names together really packs a punch — I’ve written about John Henry recently, for example. John Paul’s always a great example — on their own, John and Paul are solid and traditional and may even be characterized as somewhat “plain,” but put them together and it’s a totally different name. Mark Bernard’s striking me right now as kind of a cool combo from Laura’s list — I like the repeated “-ar” in both … double names can be a bit clunky for everyday, but Mark Bernard, for example, has less syllables than some of the really long boy names like Alexander or Nathaniel and is the same length as Augustine on their list.

Alrighty, on to my other name suggestions. As you all know, when I’m doing a consultation I almost always start by looking through the Baby Name Wizard, which has the amazing feature of listing, for each entry, boy and girl names that match the entry in terms of style/feel/popularity. I looked up all Laura and her husband’s name ideas for both boys and girls and wrote down all the style matches and then looked for patterns and overlap and came up with seven ideas for girls and eight for boys:

Girls
(1) Something to do with Anna
I always take notice when the same name and/or its variants starts showing up as a match for several of the names a couple likes, and in this case, it was all sorts of Anna versions. Anna itself was the one listed most often, but Anne, Anita, Annika, Annabelle, Amabel (which is not an Anna name but is where Annabelle most likely originated from, and has a great Marian connection as well), and Aine were also. The last one, Aine, really jumped out at me because of their love of the Irish names, especially Eithne, which is so similar, but maybe Aine is just different enough for Laura’s husband? They could spell it with a fada as Áine or without, or they could spell it Anya, which I don’t mind at all as it (1) makes the pronunciation more obvious and (2) I think it helps remind people that Clara has musical/balletic ties because Anya has a Russian feel which always makes me think of the ballet. (And now you’ve gotten a glimpse inside my weird namey head where associations make loads of sense to me and probably don’t to anyone else! Haha!) Something like Aine/Anya Roisin would be really pretty.

I was really interested to see Amabel and Annabelle listed because, first of all, as soon as I saw Annabelle I immediately thought there’s a good chance it’s the kind of name Laura would like. And Amabel, the origin of Annabel(le), is a medieval feminine form of Amabilis, which means “lovable” and was the name of a (male) saint. “Lovable” is such a great meaning for a little one! But wait — there’s more! “Mater Amabilis” is a title of Our Lady — usually translated as “Mother Most Amiable” but amiable literally means lovable — so Amabel (and therefore Annabel/Annabelle) can be considered Marian! I LOVE finding stuff like that out!

The other Anna names are great too, of course, but Annabelle and Aine were really the ones that seemed like great ideas for this family.

(2) Sylvie
Both Sylvia and Sylvie showed up several times in my research, but my gut is saying Sylvie is more their taste than Sylvia. I personally love Sylvie — I feel like it’s the Sophie less traveled — elegant but sweet.

(3) Juliet
Julia, Julie, and Juliet were all big winners here style-wise as well, but as with Sylvie vs. Sylvia, I suspect that Juliet would be Laura’s favorite of those. I think Clara and Juliet are amazing as sisters — even though Juliet’s a literary name rather than a musical name, I think it evokes a similar artsy, cultured, feminine feel as Clara. Love it!

(4) Harriet
I’m not sure what I think about this suggestion. It doesn’t feel like Laura’s taste to me, but the Baby Name Wizard is saying it fits her style. It tied with Anna as having the most mentions in the lists of names that were similar to the other names she likes! Behindthename gives the traditional Harriet nicknames as Etta, Ettie, Hallie, Hattie, Hatty, and Hettie, all of which I like on their own as a given name, so maybe Laura and her husband would prefer one of those? Or maybe they do like Harriet? I do think it’s one of those names that’s coming back on the heels of Alice and Matilda-type names, so we’ll probably see more little Harriets running around soon!

(5) Lydia
We talked quite a bit about Lydia recently! It’s not going to deter me from suggestions it though. I’ve always loved Lydia — it’s biblical (the name of a woman who sold purple cloth — how cool for a little Lydia girl to have a color of her own!), and the nickname Liddy is too sweet. It was also a style match for Clara (as well as others on their list), which was a great plus!

(6) Frances
I’m loving Frances recently. In Dwija’s consultation I wrote, “Frances [is] fairly uncommon for a first name for a girl as far as I can tell, though Francis is all over the Catholic name stats for boys. Frannie and Frankie are sweet nicknames, and the full Frances is serious and bookish in all the best ways. Frances can be a nod to any of the Sts. Francis, but of course there are loads of female namesakes.” That’s pretty much what I want to say here too! Clara and Frances seem so well matched to me as sisters too, probably because Frances reminds me so much of Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, which makes me think of great books for girls, in which I include Heidi, whose beloved friend is Klara. So. Once again, the weird ramblings of my mind. 🙂

(7) Miscellaneous others
There were a lot of names I came upon that I thought would exactly fit the part of Laura that loves Anessa and Elsabeth and Eithne but they weren’t overall style matches, just names that might have been listed as similar to just one name that’s on their list, but I couldn’t not list them here, even just as a P.S. Interestingly, most of them were listed as style matches for Pascal: Allegra, Aida, Ariadne, Elodie, Melisande, Ophelia, and Esme. A few Irish names too, like Mairead, Eimear, Catriona or Riona, and Aoife — names I consider to be a bit more accessible because they don’t have any b’s or h’s and they’re not seventeen letters long, haha!

Boys
(1) Frederic(k)
Frederick was far and away the biggest hit for Laura and her husband in terms of style matches — it was listed as similar to Rosalie, Josephine, Frances, and Arthur. It reminds of Chopin (and his spelling, Frederic, is a nice one and a little different without being crazy, especially for musicians!), and it can take the German nickname Fritz, which could be really fun. I also know a little Frederick who goes by Erick.

(2) Gilbert
I’ve long loved Gilbert Blythe but not his name … but more recently it’s been growing on me. I love the nickname Gil, one of my faves, and there’s Gilbert and Sullivan too. (So sorry if my musical references are making you musicians out there roll your eyes — I’m not a musician so my thoughts are really amateurish! But I’ll offer any connections that come to my mind, just in case.)

(3) Jasper or Casper
Both of these names refer to one of the Three Wise Men, whose known by one or the other depending on what you’re reading. I love them both, and they’re certainly not “plain”! Jasper is similar to Augustine and Josephine, and Casper to Elsa.

(4) Oscar
Oscar is similar to similar to Clara (!), Elsa, and Alice, and it’s offbeat and saintly with both Irish and German usage — what a great option for this family! I spotlighted it here.

(5) Tristan
Tristan has always had an artsy feel to me, probably because of Tristan and Isolde but also because it’s one of those “softer” names for boys, which I quite like. It’s also Irishy, which is a great bonus!

(6) Tadhg
I already mentioned Caoimhín, and I thought I’d suggest my very favorite Irish boy name: Tadhg. It’s said like “tiger” without the -er, and Tadhg is sometimes Anglicized as Thaddeus (and sometimes as Timothy, but my favorite is one of the Irish Martyrs who’s known as both Bl. Thaddeus Moriarty, OP and Bl. Tadhg Moriarty, OP). Tadhg has such a cool look and sound to me, and I like that it can be a name on its own, or conceivably used for a “nickname” for Thaddeus or Timothy (or really a “call name,” since it’s not technically a diminutive of either Thaddeus or Timothy).

(7) Style matches for Elsa
Like with the Pascal matches for girls, I thought the boy matches for Elsa were all right up Laura’s alley (some of which I’ve already mentioned): Oscar, Leo, August, Hans, Felix, and Casper.

(8) Style matches for Pascal
And once again Pascal seems a great benchmark for what might be considered “not plain.” All these seemed like they might be intriguing to Laura and her husband (some I already mentioned): Alistair, Aloysius, Artemas, Atticus, Augustine, Cassian, Dashiell, Gideon, Joachim, Leander, Leopold, Matthias, Milo, Jasper, Orlando, Phineas, Raphael, Thaddeus, and Tristan.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest as a little brother or sister to Clara Louise, based on all the characteristics Laura and her husband like?