Catholic baby names

Baby name consultant: Saintly, different first initials, easy to spell

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Caitlin and her husband are expecting their third little one, gender unknown (another green bean!). Their daughters are named:

Claire Camille
Margaret Joyce (called Maggie)

Beautiful names! Caitlin writes,

“Their middle names are our paternal grandmothers’ first names. We’d like to continue that tradition, so we have the following names left to work with:

Jacqueline
Shirley
Paul
Francis
William
Warren

We’d like all of our children’s first names to be their patron saints. We gravitate towards classic English/Irish/Scottish names to tie in with our cultural heritage and our last name — Burch … We would like to do different first initials for everyone … And it has to be easy to spell.”

To give you a further idea of their taste, for boys Caitlin and her husband have considered:

James
Thomas
Henry
Patrick
Peter
George
Benedict

And for girls:

Alice
Beatrice
Helen(a)
Felicity
Jane
Julia
Agnes

Lots of names to work with! After much thinking and musing and taking to my Baby Name Wizard book for ideas, I came up with several ideas for each gender — I always shoot for three, but I had four for each that seemed so spot on to me that I couldn’t narrow it down any further:

Girls
(1) Alice
I was so excited to see that Caitlin and her husband had discussed Alice! It was the first one I had on the list I’d made for her as I was reading her email! I love Alice as a sister to Claire and Margaret/Maggie, and from their family names, I really like the idea of Pauline for Paul — Alice Pauline has such a lovely ring to it, I love it.

(2) Lydia
Lydia is one of my favorite names, and I was delighted to see it pop up in my research. I love that it looks short-ish like Claire but has the same number of syllables as Margaret. I quite like Lydia Shirley or Lydia Jacqueline or Lydia Frances (for Francis of course).

(3) Louisa (nicked Lucy?)
Both Louisa and Lucy seemed like good options for this family — luckily I don’t think they have to choose! Lucy is such a natural nickname for Louisa in my opinion. Louisa totally has the Brit feel of Claire and Margaret, and Lucy is spunky and sweet. Louisa Jacqueline? Louisa Pauline? Louisa Frances?

(4) Eleanor or Violet
Charlotte and Eleanor were names that seemed spot on as sisters for Claire and Margaret, but Charlotte repeats the C initial, and at the time I did this consultation for Caitlin I was still of the opinion that Eleanor is not a saint’s name (I’ve since revised my thinking — there’s a good argument that it can be considered to be related to Helen(a), which was on the list of names Caitlin and her husband have discussed). Both Charlotte and Eleanor pointed me to Violet, and as soon as I saw it I thought it would work well — it can be considered Marian, which is so awesome. I really like Eleanor Frances, Eleanor Pauline, Violet Shirley, Violet Pauline, and Violet Frances.

Boys
(1) Henry
Like with Alice, Henry was my #1 suggestion for Caitlin even before I read that it’s one of the names they’ve discussed! Woo! I love Henry, and it seems a smashing brother name for Claire and Margaret. I like it best as Henry William, and Henry Francis has a really nice flow to it, but it always makes me think of Betty’s second husband in Mad Men (Henry Francis). I learned recently though that I’m dating myself by being influenced by Mad Men, so maybe it’s a non issue? It’s very handsome!

(2) Samuel or Benjamin
Samuel and Sam (Sam!) are great great names and a perfect fit for a brother of Claire and Margaret/Maggie. I like Samuel Francis best, but Samuel Warren works too. And Benjamin has a similar feel to me, and is a bit closer to the feel of Claire and Margaret than is Benedict (from their list), in my opinion. Benjamin Paul is nice because Benjamin is so long and Paul so short; I like Benjamin Francis a lot too.

(3) Edward or Edmund
I love Sts. Edward the Confessor and Edmund Campion — how to choose?! Haha! They’re both British-y, and they both have really cute nickname options (Ed/Eddie, Ted/Teddy, Ned … my dad even had a friend named Edward who went by Zeb!). Edward Francis, Edward William, Edward Warren, Edmund Francis all sound great to me.

(4) Joseph
What else to say? Joseph is classic, masculine, saintly, just. Joseph Paul, Joseph William, and Joseph Warren all work well; I’m not including Joseph Francis because of the ph and F running into each other, but I don’t hate it.

Those are my ideas! What do you all think? What other ideas do you have for a brother or sister to Claire and Maggie?

Baby name consultant: Ideas needed for #5 green bean

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Laura and her husband are expecting their fifth baby! (“Green bean” because they don’t know if they’re having a boy or girl. Like “Team Green.” I’m kind of crushing on calling the babe a green bean! Is it weird? Or really cute? I’m thinking cute!)

She writes,

“You must get tons of these requests all of the time, but if you have time, could you say a little prayer for our little one on the way and maybe even suggest a name or two?“

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — it is nothing short of a privilege to play a role in naming a baby! You all have given me such joy by asking me for my thoughts/suggestions/ideas, and be assured I pray for each of you and your babies.

Back to Laura! Her other kids are named:

Isabella Jane (called Bella)
Christian James
Gabriel Wayne
Quinn Michael

So many of my favorite notes are hit with this sib set!

Since Laura told me they’re “totally drawing blanks” and “kind of at a loss,” I tried to come up with some extra names for them (I always shoot for three, but was able to come up with four for girls and five for boys):

Girls
(1) Juliana
As you all know, I almost always start with the Baby Name Wizard book when coming up with suggestions, as it provides a list of boy and girl names similar in style/feel/popularity for each entry. Since Isabella is Laura’s only girl, I used the girl suggestions for her name as inspiration more than the boys’ names, and Juliana was a top suggestion for her. I love it for this family — I think it fits in so well with all the other kids.

(2) Hannah or Anna
Hannah was a match for a bunch of the names I looked up — both names they’ve used already and ones that seemed like a good fit. It’s soft and sweet, and Hannah’s story in the Bible is so great. Hannah is a form of Anna, and Anna popped up in my research as well, so it seemed a perfect suggestion.

(3) Lily
Lily reminds me a lot of Quinn — short and punchy; it’s also similar in style to a lot of names that seem like ones Laura and her husband would like. It’s also Marian, which you all know is probably my very favorite kind of name!

(4) Sofia/Sophie or Fiona
These two seem so similar in sound to me that I included them as part of the same suggestion. Sofia (or Sophia) or just Sophie as a given name is really similar to Isabella in my opinion — pretty, feminine, and popular — while Fiona brings in the Irish feel like Quinn. I like them both, a lot.

Boys
(1) Owen
Owen is far and away my first suggestion for this family for a boy. Quinn feels a little bit like an outsider, with a different style and feel from his brothers, and I feel like Owen bridges that gap really nicely.

(2) Nicholas (nicked Cole?)
Nicholas leans more toward the feel and style of Christian and Gabriel to me, which is great, but using a nickname like Cole brings Quinn right back in again. I love Nicholas nicked Cole (we seriously considered it for my youngest).

(3) Austin
Laura’s taste reminds me a lot of one of the consultations I did a while ago where the family has an Austin and a Christian and one of the daughter’s middle name is Isabel. Austin is fun because it started out as a contracted form of Augustine — so it’s heavy hitting saint-wise without hitting you over the head with it. And it’s got that British Isles feel that I could see Quinn fitting in easily with.

(4) Luke/Lucas
Luke and Lucas both showed up a lot in my research as similar to a lot of Laura’s picks and other names that I suspected might be ones she and her hubs might like. They’re great, solid names — Biblical like Christian and Gabriel, short and punchy like Quinn.

(5) Jude
I was particularly interested in the boy names that the Baby Name Wizard suggested as similar to Quinn, and one of my faves was Finn … but that’s out since it rhymes with Quinn, so I looked up Finn and saw Jude and immediately thought it made a lot of sense for this family. (In case it’s helpful, the others similar to Quinn are Donovan, Reid, Owen, Wyatt, and Griffin.)

I thought I’d share the other names I almost suggested but ended up deleting for whatever reason, in case they’re helpful: Abigail, Chloe, Colin, Caleb, and Charles nicked Charlie.

Those are my ideas! What do you all think? What else would you suggest for Laura’s new little baby-on-the-way?

Birth announcement: Jack James!

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I did a private consultation for Veronica not too long ago, and she emailed me to let me know the baby’s been born: Her baby #2 is a little boy named Jack James! He joins big brother Jerome Michael. (Now, come on — can you get any more handsome or classic than Jerome and Jack?? She actually said, which I just absolutely loved, that she and her husband “both love the sweet meets cool factor of Jack” — is that not a bang-on perfectly exact description of Jack?? So great!!)

Veronica also said she wouldn’t mind if I shared the suggestions I’d offered her, which were focused on girl names, since Jack James was their chosen name for a boy from the beginning. She’d written,

“We both prefer traditional Catholic names but are willing to mix in a little trendy so long as the name still has a nod to our Catholic identity. So for a girl I am incredibly stuck between Vienna Marie and Genevieve (unsure of a middle name here). My husband loves Vienna and I’m only struggling because it was our #1 pick for Jerome Michael if he turned out to be a girl and I almost feel like my love of it came and went with his birth! My grandmother was Marie and so the middle name would be to honor both her and the Blessed mother. So I’m considering Genevieve Marie as well but I don’t know how well that flows together. I like Genevieve Therese a lot more because of my husbands grandmother and my mom’s late twin sister(both of whom are Patricia) and my love of St Therese of Lisieux … I’m hoping basically for some feedback on the name Vienna to maybe make me fall back in love with it. If you could find a Catholic connection I’d be sold! I should mention that both Vienna and Genevieve don’t particularly resonate with us for any reason other than how they sound/feel. Well and I love that they both have a “v” in them.”

As I told her, I actually love the name Vienna, and I wonder why it doesn’t get more use? It’s a place name, which is a popular style right now, and it begins with V and ends in A, both of which are also big hits right now.

I love Genevieve too, one of my personal faves, and I think Marie flows fine with it. Genevieve is such a French name that I think most French-y names would pair well with it, like Marie or Therese as she’d mentioned. Veronica also said her husband’s grandmother and her mom’s twin sister were both Patricia – I could see the French Patrice flowing quite well with both as well. Vienna Patrice or Genevieve Patrice?

In hoping to come up with some ideas to maybe make Veronica “fall back in love with” Vienna – one idea I had was Genevieve with the nickname Vienna. It totally works! Almost all of Vienna’s letters are in Genevieve! Or if she needed something just a little more obvious, maybe Genevieve Ann (Ann is Veronica’s middle name, so a nice nod to her!) or Genevieve Anna? Then there’s Vie- from Genevieve and –nn or –nna from Ann/Anna, and she wouldn’t have to choose between Genevieve and Vienna. And if she felt like she just couldn’t warm up to Vienna still, her hubs could still use Vienna as a nick, and she could use the full Genevieve always, or have her own nick for her, like Evie or Vivi or Genny.

Another idea is the name Vivienne. It’s so similar to Genevieve, with all the V’s and N’s and I’s and E’s, and it’s also French, and Vienne or Vienna makes even more sense as a nick for Vivienne than it does for Genevieve. Or they could consider Vianne instead (like the character in Chocolat), which is kind of like a mashup of her first and middle names, and kind of sweet since Jerome shares his first name with his dad.

However, I did actually come across a Catholic reference to Vienna that I suspected Veronica would love! I’d never heard of St. Francis of Paola until I was doing this research, and his is a beautiful story – but what really caught my attention is this bit:

“His parents, Giacomo and Vienna d’Alessio, were remarkable for the holiness of their lives. Remaining childless for some years after their marriage they had recourse to prayer, especially commending themselves to the intercession of Saint Francis of Assisi. Three children were eventually born to them, eldest of whom was Francis.” (source)

How lovely! The mother of a saint, who herself was known for her holiness. A lovely namesake for a little Vienna.

Veronica had also asked for other suggestions for girls (and I can always come up with suggestions!), so I took to my Baby Name Wizard book which lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar to the entry in style/feel/popularity – I looked up all the names they’d used and were considering, as well as some other ideas of my own. I always shoot for three suggestions, and I did so here, plus a bonus one that I’ll list first:

(1) Other V names
Because Veronica had specifically said that “both Vienna and Genevieve don’t particularly resonate with us for any reason other than how they sound/feel. Well and I love that they  both have a “v” in them,” I thought some other V names might be of interest to them, especially the super Catholic ones, like:

— Evangeline (this is pretty popular in Catholic circles these days, and is often listed as similar to Genevieve and Vivienne … Evie is a sweet nickname for it, and I’ve seen Lina too)

— Avila (after St. Teresa of Avila of course … I actually loved this one for them because it’s a place name, like Vienna, and has the V in it too, and is super Catholic)

— Vesper (I was working on a consultation recently for a mom who is considering Vesper for a girl because of its “evening prayer” meaning. I love it!)

— Verity (this means truth, which of course is as Catholic a meaning as you can get)

— Evelyn/Eveline/Evelina (the Evelyn names actually stem from a variant of Avila – cool right?)

— Violet (such a sweet name, and can be considered Marian: “The lowly violet was associated with humility and became known as Our Lady’s Modesty. It was said to have blossomed when Mary said to the Angel Gabriel, who had come to tell her she was to bear the Son of God, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.”” (source)

— A couple others that I thought she might like: Viva, Avalon, Evienne

(2) Eleanor nicked Ella
I’m always interested when I see overlap in style of names in the Baby Name Wizard, so when I saw that Eleanor was similar to Genevieve and Ella to Jack, I thought it was a potential winner.

(3) Susanna nicked Anna
One of the names that was listed as similar to Jerome is Yvonne, which I noticed right away because of the V. I didn’t think Yvonne was quite right though, so I looked it up to see what names were listed as similar to it, one of which was Suzanne. I also looked up Yvette, and Suzette was listed as similar. And Anita was another listed as similar to Jerome, which is a diminutive of Ana, so with all that I thought maybe they’d like Susanna, perhaps with the nickname Anna?

(4) Adrienne, Colette, Margot
These last three sort of jumped out at me, not because they overlapped with a lot of their names, just because for whatever reason I thought they might like them. Probably because they’re French, and for some reason I’m hung up on Veronica and her husband liking French names because of Genevieve, and because I suggested Vivienne, which is also French. Weird is an understatement for how my namey mind works! Anyway, I thought I’d mention them. Adrienne is saintly via St. Adrian, which is also the name of several popes. Colette is a sweet name, and the name of a saint as well. And Margot has recently been on my radar as kind of fun and funky. It also makes me think of Jerome for some reason, not sure why!

Thanks to Veronica for giving me the okay to share all this with you! Congratulations again to the whole family, and happy happy birthday Baby Jack!!

Max’s big sibs

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When I posted the birth announcement yesterday for Hallie Lord’s #7, Maximilian Joseph, I noted that I’d love to list her other little ones’ (awesome) names but I didn’t think Hallie would be comfortable with that. Then the lovely lady herself tweeted them to me and said I could list them here! Woo! Check these out (I included Max so you can see the whole set together. *swoon*):

Daniel Francis

John “Jack” Paul

Sophia Kay

Lucy Jean

Zelie Olive

Charles “Charlie” Benedict

Maximilian Joseph

I love love love them, each one! ❤

(If Miss Hallie is reading, and has nothing better to do with her time 😛 I would be over the moon to hear how and why each combo was chosen! But of course a mama of a newborn doesn’t have time for that.) (Unless she loves the idea? I’d be all about that, with my little bundle snoozing on my chest and someone who actually wants me to talk about names. But we all know I’m a little nutty that way. 😉 )

Baby name consultant: Sporty, uncommon, traditional, ethnic — help!

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Cailan and her husband are expecting their first baby, a boy! Cailan writes,

“I tend to prefer uncommon names that are somehow linked to our heritage (Irish and Portuguese for me, Polish and German for him), but my husband prefers traditional names … We are both Notre Dame graduates (that’s where we met), Catholics, and huge sports nuts. One of the tests for any name we come up with is how conducive it is to cheering at future sporting events! … I am mixed race — my mom is Irish and my dad is from Macau. My heritage has always been something I’m very proud of, and our child will carry my last name as a second middle name as a testament to his beautiful mixed race background … I am partial to Irish names, but my mom’s side is a big, Irish Catholic family and a lot of favorites are already taken (Kellen, Brian, Liam, Kieran, Beckett). Our family is really close so those names are automatically off our list … The baby’s middle name will be Francis because Steve has loved that name forever and always dreamed about it as his son’s middle name. I’m okay with it, and like the idea of naming him after Pope Francis.”

So many awesome things to take into consideration!! Cailan shared the list of her husband’s favorite names:

Charles (Charlie)
Edward (Eddy or Teddy)
Daniel (Danny)
Thomas (Tommy)

And her current favorites:

Patrick (Patch)
Finian (Finn)
Gabriel
Cillian
Theodore (Theo)
Jaime

She also notes that, “In the past we’ve also thought about Henry and Anthony, but couldn’t come up with a nickname besides Tony.”

This was a fun dilemma to work on! I especially love how important it is to have a name that “yells well” at sporting events! 😀 And all the lovely family considerations, just wonderful.

First, some thoughts about their current ideas: it seems to me that Cailan and her hubs already have a few options that are a good mix of both their tastes, like:
— Patrick Francis, “Patch” — Patrick absolutely has the same feel as her husband’s favorites, so I’m surprised he’s not okay with it. Patrick Francis as a full name is stunningly handsome and traditional, and Patch is the kind of nickname I go for — something a little offbeat that can jazz up an otherwise “normal” name.
— Theodore Francis, “Teddy” — Theodore/Theo’s on Cailan’s list, but Edward/Teddy is on her husband’s — what about combining them into Theodore/Teddy? Or, if she just hate Teddy, but can get her husband on board with Theodore/Teddy, maybe they can both agree that Cailan will call the baby what she wants (Theo) and her hubs can call him what he wants (Teddy) and I bet it’ll all eventually shake out to one nickname that they both like equally.
— Anthony Francis, “Ty” or “Ace” — Cailan said they’d both talked about Anthony but don’t love Tony — I thought Ty could easily be a nickname for it, or even Ace, with the A of Anthony and the -s ending of Francis.

I did come up with a few more ideas though — usually I shoot for three, but in this case there were five I thought were promising:

(1) Francis as a first name, nicknamed Finn
This is far and away my favorite suggestion. They’ve both agreed to use Francis already, and Cailan loves the nickname Finn, which I totally think could work as a nick for Francis (just like I suggested for Grace). One of the fun things about putting Francis in the first name spot — a substantial nod to Cailan’s husband’s taste — is perhaps the middle could be all hers! I’m loving the idea of Francis Finian (Finn makes double sense here as a nick!), Francis Cillian, and Francis Liam (a nice way to use an otherwise unusable but loved family name).

(2) Michael, nicked Milo or Miles
Michael is totally like the other names Cailan’s husband likes, and is totally traditionally used in Ireland. I’d suggested Miles as a nickname for Maximilian for Grace, but when I’d looked into Miles’ history, I discovered that one theory is it started as a nickname for Michael. How cool! And Milo is even jazzier. I just love interesting nicknames for formal, traditional names — this is one of my faves for sure.

(3) Timothy, nicked Ty (or even Tadhg?!)
Timothy’s another, like Michael, that’s traditional and traditionally used in Ireland. Ty could work as a nickname here, like I suggested for Anthony, or — if they were feeling really bold and Irish! — Tadhg! It’s probably my favorite Irish boy’s name — it’s used as the Irish form of both Thaddeus and Timothy. It’s said like the first syllable of “tiger,” like Ty with a hard G on the end. Awesome name. (I’m SURE Cailan’s husband will hate this though! Haha! That spelling’s killer too.)

(4) James, nicked Jamie
Cailan has Jaime on her list, and Jamie’s a traditional nickname for the very traditional James, so I wonder if there’s a compromise there? I think it’s worth noting though that even though Jaime in Spanish is male, Jaime in English is considered feminine, so I would recommend changing the spelling to Jamie. James nicked Jamie is a great option I think.

(5) Connor
Finally, all my other ideas focused on balancing Cailan’s taste and her husband’s taste through formal, traditional names with quirky/unusual/interesting nicknames. But Connor was inspired more by Cailan’s taste — I thought Connor might just have enough of a traditional feel for her husband, and enough Irish for her. Connor Francis is amazing.

I think all these suggestions fit their “conducive to cheering at future sporting events” requirement, and “Irish” as a theme is totally appropriate since Cailan and her hubs met at Notre Dame!!

Those are my ideas! What do you all think? What other names would you suggest for Cailan and her husband?

Birth announcement: Maximilian Joseph!

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I have it on good authority (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) that author/blogger/speaker/sweeter-than-pie and Edel co-founder Hallie Lord has given birth to her little boy! Welcome Maximilian Joseph!!

What a name! She’s been referring to baby Max for months, so I knew Max- was the name, but I certainly didn’t know the full combo, and I love it. St. Maximilian Kolbe’s one of my very very favorites, as is our good St. Joseph. Wonderful wonderful name for a little boy. (I love a good hashtag, and I saw one that someone left in a comment on Hallie’s photo: #CatholicToTheMax hahaha! Love it!! 😀 )

I’d love to share with you her other kids’ names, since — as I can gather from bits and pieces here and there over the years — they’re pretty awesome, but I can’t find any one post that refers to them all in a namey way (and I don’t even think I know them all), which says to me that maybe a full-out name-identifying post isn’t in her comfort zone. (Like your friendly Catholic-name-blogger who pseudonyms her own kids’ names on the blog. 😛 )

Congratulations to Hallie and her husband and older kiddos, and happy happy birthday Baby Max!!

A total name post

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Okay, it’s not a total name post — it’s the two-part story of Bosco Patton‘s birth! BUT it includes some namey stuff (like how he was almost named something different! And how his initials are BIP! Which, I know, we could all figure out on our own, but I hadn’t thought of them at all, and seeing them typed out made my namey heart sing. BIP! So cute!!) so … I just love birth stories, but wouldn’t feel justified linking to them here if they didn’t have some name connection, so thanks Grace for thinking of us!! 😀

(I will say … the oooonly quibble I have is that we don’t know what their chosen girl’s name was. I know I know, it’s their secret and I get it.) (But I’d love to know. 😉 )

Bosco’s Birth Story (part one)

Bosco’s Birth Story (part final)

Spotlight on: Atticus

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(I put all the giveaways in the mail this morning — look for them at the end of this week/beginning of next! And please let me know if yours doesn’t arrive!)

You’ve all likely heard the news by now, right? Beloved Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird — who actually had a whole bunch of babies named after him (name story given here, several noted in the comments here, and quite a few celeb babies who may or may not have been named for the character but there’s a high likelihood he was at least part of the inspiration) because of his goodness, and who inspired a baby name book (one of my faves: A is for Atticus: Baby Names from Great Books by Lorilee Craker) — has been shown, in Harper Lee’s new book released today, Go Set a Watchman, to not be the virtuous man we all thought him to be. (Disclaimer: I haven’t read the novel, so all my info is coming from what I read in various places, but mostly here: Review: Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ Gives Atticus Finch a Dark Side.)

What a devastation for so many parents! My husband and I ourselves even considered Atticus when naming our boys, in large part because of the reputation of goodness and justice it carries because of the Mockingbird character. For us, however, a literary character, no matter how beloved, couldn’t have been the only reason to choose a name, and so I had cause years ago to look up whether Atticus is a saint’s name, and therein lies the balm for the parents of little Atticus-es: Atticus the Saint!

Parents who named their children for a good man in Atticus Finch can rest assured that St. Atticus is even better a person to be named for: he was real, for one thing, and has already finished the race and won the crown. From CatholicSaints.Info:

“Atticus supported the Macedonian heresy (i.e., the Holy Spirit is not God), opposed Saint John Chrysostom, and worked against him at the Council of Oak in 405. When John was exiled fromConstantinople, Atticus assumed the bishopric in 406. He eventually realized his error, repented his opposition, and submitted to Pope Innocent I‘s rulings. He remained as bishop, but a virtuous and orthodox one, and an opponent of heretics.”

His feast day is January 8. (I do believe he’s profiled in Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, Second Edition by Matthew Bunson, though I haven’t read it myself.) (It’s definitely on my wishlist!)

You know me — I have to have a good nickname figured out before deciding on a name — and Atticus confounded me for a while. I didn’t care for Atty because of its similarity to the feminine Addy (though I’ve seen some parents of Atticus-es saying they use Atty), but then in various places I’ve seen Ace, Gus, and Kit — all of which I think are great!

What do you all think of Atticus? Does the new Harper Lee novel tarnish it for you? If so, does its saintliness redeem it? Do you know anyone who named their son Atticus, and if so, what do they think of all this hubbub?

Baby name consultant: Isabel, Maggie, Julia, Olivia, or … ?

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Jennie and Matthew are expecting their fourth baby, a girl. Jennie writes,

“We seem to be stuck at an impasse with a few names we like, but none that we can really agree on … We tend to like fairly traditional names. I really love a lot of the flowery vintage type names, but my husband tends to like the more classical names (not that the two are necessarily mutually exclusive).”

This baby girl will be joining three siblings:

Hannah Claire
Abigail Elizabeth (often goes by Abby, but not always)
Lucas Francis (called both Lucas and Luke)

I love their style! Currently, their top favorites for baby girl #3 are:

Margaret (we would most likely call her Maggie)
Isabel
Julia (We also like Juliet, but wonder if she would get too many Romeo jokes)

Says Jennie,

“Lately, I have been favoring Isabel, although one of my best friends has a daughter with the same name, so I am slightly hesitant to use it. I also wonder if it would fit with the style of our other children’s names?
My husband’s favorite of the list is Maggie. I like it and definitely think it would fit well with our other kids’ names, but I also think it is a tiny bit boring (no offense to any Maggies out there). We like the name Julia, but our kids have a cousin named Julia. She’s a little bit older than they are and lives in a different state, but nonetheless, I’m still unsure if we should use it.

A few names that we like, but that are out for various reasons: Genevieve, Josephine, Emma (and Emily), Amelia, Lily, Madeline, Catherine and any variation of Mary (sad, I know, but my husband has a sister named Mary and refuses to use the name because of her). I also want to try to stay away from another Old Testament girl’s name, despite the fact that there are a few I like.

We are also stuck on a middle name. I was rooting for Faustina, but my husband says “no way.” I also like the more common Grace and Rose, but we would prefer a strong feminine saint name. We were thinking of Avila or Siena. What do you think?

First off, some thoughts about Jennie and Matthew’s current ideas and answers to their questions about them:

Isabel is lovely! It’s my favorite of the Isabel(le/a) names, sweet and sophisticated all in one. Regarding whether it fits with the other kids’ names — you all know that I usually start my consultations with the Baby Name Wizard book as it offers, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in style/feel/popularity. According to the BNW, Isabel definitely fits with the other kids! It’s listed as similar to both Lily and Madelyn, which are similar to all three of your kids’ names. Nice job, Jennie and Matthew! The other kids’ names are all biblical, but then Isabel is too, as it’s a form of Elizabeth. It’s a nice way to take their style in a new direction. I will just caution that since Elizabeth has already been used as Abby’s middle name, namiacs (like me) would notice that you technically used the name twice, but there’s certainly no rule against it, and most people will never know Abby’s middle (unless they/she tells them), and Elizabeth and Isabel look so different that many may never even notice.

Re: Margaret/Maggie, I agree Maggie is just adorable. I wonder, if Jennie worries that Maggie is too boring, if Magdalene or Magdalena would spice it up enough for her? It’s a New Testament name, so like with Isabel, it adheres to their established style while also taking it in a new direction. And Madeline is a variant of Magdalene, so it would kind of like be using Madeline (which Jennie said she liked) but not (since she said they couldn’t use it). Though Maggie could be the everyday nickname, Jennie would have the fun of knowing that the full first name is unexpected.

Re: Julia and Juliet, again, just lovely. Julia’s a New Testament name as well, and Juliet is a diminutive of Julia (though it’s true that it’s usually used on its own), so it’s possible to name the baby Julia and use Juliet as a nickname (which might help with cousins having the same given name), or they could name her Juliet knowing that they’re giving her a variant of a New Testament name, which all ties back into the established style. (And no, I don’t think Romeo makes Juliet un-doable. I love Juliet!)

So really, of their three current ideas, I don’t think they can go wrong!!!

I love Avila and Siena (and Faustina, Grace, and Rose) as middle names (or first names) for girls, absolutely wonderful, all! I like the sound of Isabel Avila, Margaret Avila or Margaret Siena, Magdalene Siena, Julia Siena, Juliet Siena. Some other strong feminine saints that they might like to consider include Therese (of Lisieux), Edith (Stein), Edel (Quinn), Chiara (Luce Badano), Maria (Goretti) … I’m sure I can think of a million more if none of these was quite right …

As for new suggestions – I basically just looked up all the names they’ve already used and those they said they like (including the ones that can’t be used) and tried to find names in the overlapping areas. These were the results (I always shoot for three suggestions, but came up with five):

(1) Olivia
Olivia was the only name that was listed as similar to Hannah, Abigail, and Lucas. How cool! It’s not biblical as a name, but certainly there are loads of lovely references to olives in the bible, which to me make a nice connection with the other kids’ names. A mama I did a consultation for recently named her daughter Olive in large part because of how much she loved Psalm 128:3: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your home, Your children like young olive plants around your table.” (She actually used the middle name Faustina, and loved the connection between St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy, and the writings of St. Oliver Plunkett, who she took as the baby’s patron, which talked about divine mercy.)

(2) Caroline or Charlotte (nicked Callie?)
Charlotte and Caroline were all over the spreadsheet I made of my research for this baby! They, as a name family, had hands down the most similarity to the names Jennie and Matthew like than any other name. Even the nickname Callie was included, showing up as similar to Maggie. I love these names because of their connection to St. John Paul (born Karol=Charles), and I know a bunch of people who have considered and/or used Karoline or Karolina, so that’s an option as well.

(3) Helen(a) or Eleanor (nicked Ellie or Ella?)
Helen, Helena, and Eleanor all share similar sounds and nicknames, so I’m grouping them together here. They all did quite well in my research, as did Ellie and Ella. St. Helena is a great patron saint for a little girl too, so if you didn’t care for it in the first name spot, maybe in the middle, since she was a strong female saint?

(4) Sofia/Sophia or Sophie
I started with Olivia, because it was the only name that fit all three of the other kids’ names’ style, and then listed the name that had the most similarity to Jennie and Matthew’s entire name list (Charlotte/Caroline), then the second most (Helena/Eleanor), and now the third most – both Sofia and Sophie scored high for this family, with Sophie being just a bit closer to their style. As with Olivia, Sophie isn’t a biblical name, but it is a biblical idea – there’s even a book of the bible named Wisdom. St. Madeleine Sophie Barat is also a great saint, so maybe Sophie as a middle name if they didn’t care for it as a first?

(5) Miscellaneous
There were a bunch of names that did well for Jennie and Matthew, but not well enough to include in my top suggestions. But I wanted to list them anyway:
— Chloe (New Testament)
— Cecilia/Celia (great saint)
— Lydia (New Testament)
— Evangeline (biblical idea, and has similar feel to the names they like but can’t use — Genevieve and Josephine)
— Violet (can be considered Marian, maybe a nice workaround for the Mary issue?)
— Grace (they’d thought of it as a middle, but maybe they’d like to consider it for a first name? Also Marian)

** Between when I emailed Jennie back with my ideas and today, she wrote me this:

“One recent development is that the name Olivia is currently really growing on me. And I like the combination of Olivia Benedicta because “Benedicta” means blessing and I believe the Benedictine order has an olive on their crest, so the two names go together. Also, our daughter’s patroness would be St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein) whom I really like and admire … my only reservation about Olivia is its huge popularity. Help!“

I loooooove the idea of Olivia Benedicta!! What a great combo!! I would absolutely encourage Jennie and Matthew with this choice — I love the much-beloved and familiar Olivia paired with the heavy duty Benedicta, just wonderful!!

As for “much-beloved” — Olivia is indeed super duper uber popular right now — take a look:

olivia

So popularity is definitely an issue. My usual fallback in such cases is to suggest the name Livia. It’s so similar to Olivia, but much much less popular. Though it looks like Olivia with the O hacked off, it’s actually a name in its own right, with a long history of use going back to ancient Rome. It also has some Irish connection, in that the River Liffey, which flows through Dublin, has been personified in literature (a character in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake) and art (a sculpture in Dublin) as a woman named Anna Livia, a play on the river’s name in Irish: Abhainn na Life. Livia also allows for the great Olivia nicknames of Liv and Livvy. I think people might have a tendency to think I’m crazy when I suggest Livia instead of Olivia — like, will it really make that much of a difference?? — but it does to me, so … there you go! 🙂

livia

Another name I sometimes to suggest to those who love Olivia but not the popularity is Avila — it’s got similar letters and sounds as Olivia and I think it could take the nicks Liv and Livvy AND it’s on Jennie and Matthew’s list as a possible middle! But it has a very different feel than Olivia, and while an argument can be made for Olivia having biblical connections via the abundance of olives in Scripture, there’s no biblical connection with Avila, and so it takes it that much farther away from the style of big sibs Hannah, Abigail, and Lucas. It’s also quite similar in appearance to Abigail. (It hasn’t been in the top 1000 in recent years, so no popularity graph to show.)

In this case, though, where one of the things that’s appealing about Olivia to Jennie is the olive connection, neither Livia nor Avila would likely work, since they have no connection to olives. So then I would suggest Olive itself. It’s risen somewhat rapidly in popularity over the last few years, but is still fairly uncommon:

olive

It too can take the nicknames Liv and Livvy (you all know how I am about nicknames! And Liv/Livvy is my favorite part of Olivia — they’re just so sweet! So being able to retain the nicks even while using a different name would be a plus for me).

So those are all my ideas/thoughts/suggestions! What do you all think? What comments do you have about the current ideas (including Olivia Benedicta), and what other suggestions do you have for Jennie and Matthew?