Catholic baby names

Birth announcement: Molly Kathleen!

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A mama who I worked with privately not too long ago emailed me to let me know her baby has arrived! She writes,

“It’s a girl! Our sweet Molly Kathleen arrived yesterday at 11:04 am weighing 7lbs. We are so grateful to God for her! Her big brother Brendan is really upset that we didn’t name her Jesus (or as he says “zeezus”) but we think Molly fits her so well! Thanks for all of your help with her name!“

How wonderful!! I just love the combo Molly Kathleen, and it’s so perfect as a little sister to Brendan (how cute is he, wanting her to be named Jesus! Haha!). Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Molly!!

Baby name consultant: Theologian + science/nature?

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Janelle and her husband are expecting their fourth child this summer, a boy, and “are in the midst of our perennial argument about the name.” Their other kiddos’ names are:

Elanor Elisabeth
Peter Pascal
Inessa Irene

Janelle writes,

“We clearly have a first – middle alliteration thing going on that we would like to keep but in addition to that we also like a solid spiritual meaning and a familiar but not trendy first name with an unusual middle for the boys (reversed for the girls obviously). Bonus for my husband–a theologians name for the boy. Bonus for me–a nature or scientific reference (Elanor: flower from LOTR, Peter: rock, Inessa: genus of skipper butterflies and the coolest version of Agnes ever). We got lucky with being able to have both of these with Peter but I’m realizing that I may have to let mine go this time.”

How great are the science connections with Elanor, Peter, and Inessa?? And I love the middle names paired with each one.

One option they’ve discussed is Andrew Augustine, but they’d still like to consider other ideas. And kind of an add-on thought is that they “initially talked about having #4’s name start with C so that our family would be EPIC (see the completely unplanned acronym from the kid’s names) but then wondered what we would do if we had #5 and neither of us loved the name Christopher which was the only boy name that came to mind starting with C. So we scrapped that idea.”

There’s nothing I love more than a challenging challenge! I did a little research into science/nature names for boys, keeping in mind also that Janelle’s husband likes theologians — I really wanted to find names that would work for both of their preferences, and that have a “solid spiritual meaning and a familiar but not trendy first name with an unusual middle.” I think I did a decent job — I always shoot for three suggestions, but I ended up with four here:

(1) Charles Caspian
I kind of really liked their idea of EPIC initials! So even if they decided it was too much/too stressful to do a C name this time because of the unknown options for a possible fifth baby, I wanted to suggest a combo for it anyway. Charles is for St. John Paul II (birth name Karol=Charles), theologian extraordinaire, and Caspian is both the Caspian Sea and Prince Caspian from Narnia. (If they did decide to have a fifth baby, I thought maybe an S name? So the kids could be “The EPICS”? For baby #6 though, I don’t know!)

(2) George Jasper
I know George and Jasper don’t start with the same letter, but since they have the same sound, they sound alliterative. Fr. George LeMaitre was the priest who came up with the Big Bang Theory (yay for priest scientists!), and Jasper is not only a gemstone but is also the name (either as Jasper or its variants Casper and Gaspar) traditionally associated with one of the Three Wise Men. Two extra bonuses: Pope Francis’ birth name was Jorge (=George), and a nickname for George can be Geo (like geology!).

(3) Nicholas Neri
At first I thought the scientist Tesla’s first name was Nicolas, but when I looked him up to be sure I saw it’s actually Nikola, which I suspect is a bit too exotic for this family’s taste? Especially with their boy style being a “familiar” and “not trendy” first name. Still, Nic(h)olas can work as a namesake for him, and of course there’s St. Nicholas, and Neri for St. Philip Neri — I’m not sure he can be classified as an actual theologian, but he did study theology and he’s a great saint.

(4) Thomas Tarcisius or Thomas Tesla
If Janelle and her husband like the idea of Thomas Tarcisius, I might suggest Thomas as the science name, for Thomas Edison, and Tarcisius as the religious name — St. Tarcisius is one of my favorite saints and a great patron for a little boy. He wasn’t a theologian, but he did give his life to protect the Eucharist. So yeah. I’d say you could make the argument that if theologian=one who specializes in knowledge of the divine, St. Tarcisius was an unofficial theologian. 😉 One fun thing about Tarcisius name-wise is that in Canada, the municipality of Saint-Tharcisius in Quebec is named after him, and that spelling — Tharcisius — paired with Thomas would be extra alliterative: Thomas Tharcisius. T(h)errific! 🙂

Thomas can also, of course, be for St. Thomas Aquinas, “THE Theologian,” as my husband calls him! Paired with Tesla, that’s a pretty heavy hitting religion/science combo.

Some other names that I thought could be helpful/inspirational included Dietrich (von Hildebrand, theologian) and Reginald (Garrigou-Lagrange, theologian), and if they had a fifth baby in the future and decided to go the S route next time, I recently discovered that the biblical Silas is also likely nature-y via Silvanus. According to Behind the Name, “[Silas is] Probably a short form of SILVANUS. This is the name of a companion of Saint Paul in the New Testament. Paul refers to him as Silvanus in his epistles,”* and Silvanus is a “Roman name derived from Latin silva “wood, forest.””

Those are my ideas! What do you all think? Can you think of other alliterative first name-middle name combos for a boy that pair a theologian with a science/nature name? Can you think of a good first initial to follow EPICS if they’re blessed with a #5 baby (and decided to use S names for him/her) and then have a sixth as well?

After I’d finished all this, I also found an awesome consultation by Appellation Mountain’s Abby over at Nameberry in which the parents were looking for a scientific name for their son. I didn’t include any of the ideas here, but maybe you’ll all be inspired by some of the ideas, both in the list Abby offered and in the comments.

*Do note that BTN goes on to say, “… though it is possible that Silas was in fact a Greek form of the Hebrew name SAUL (via Aramaic).”

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

A new-to-me saint’s name

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty

I was reading Withycombe tonight and came across a name I’d never noticed before: Aglaia. Are you familiar with this name? It’s pronounced “ah-GLY-ah” and means “splendor, beauty.” It was the name of one of the three Graces AND a 4th century saint! It seems the French form Aglaé (ah-GLAY) might be more familiar? I like the sound of the French form better, but it does have a very algae look to it, non?

What do you think of Aglaia/Aglaé? Do you know anyone with one of these names?

Marian name spotlighted over at Appellation Mountain

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Abby at Appellation Mountain is discussing Aranza today, one of the fastest-rising girl’s names of 2014 according to the SSA stats and a diminutive of the Marian name Arantzazu. It’s a pretty great write-up, be sure to check it out!

What do you think of Aranza? Do you know anyone in real life with this name?

Birth announcement: Sylvia Rhea!

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I posted Sylvia’s name consultation on May 4, and on May 19 she posted on her blog, Tales from the Mommy Trenches, that she’d had her baby that morning! Sylvia wrote,

“Sylvia Rhea Bass arrived bright and early this morning! … As for her name, Scott and I finally arrived at an agreement in the eleventh hour. In the Cuban tradition, all eldest daughters are named after their mothers. The way they distinguish between the mother and the daughter is that the daughter’s name is in the diminutive. For example, my great grandmother’s name was Maria Matilde, and my grandmother was named after her and called “Matildita.” My grandmother has friends (named after their mothers) who still go by “Sarita” or “Blanquita” even though they are in their advanced years. Anyway, we missed the boat on our eldest daughter (as well as the second and the third), but when Scott wanted to name this one after me, I thought it was a sweet nod to the Cuban tradition to have our own “Silvita.” As for Rhea, my family knows I have always been a Greek mythology nut, and Rhea is the titaness mother of Zeus. When Scott stumbled across that name, we knew it was the one. All of our girls go by their middle names, and this one will be no different.“

If you remember, her other girls are Gloria Ruth, Victoria Rose, and Elena Wren. What wonderful names Sylvia and her husband have come up with!! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Rhea!!

Be sure to hop on over to Sylvia’s blog to check out more photos and the birth story, but she said I could post one here. 🙂

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Sylvia Rhea

Leprechaun names

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Our reader (and my mum) irishnannie has her own blog connected with her book, Finney Hides the Pot o’ Gold (the first in the The Adventures of Finney the Leprechaun series), and not only is it thoroughly Catholic (it’s written in Finney’s voice, speaking to children, teaching them about God and how much He loves us and other truths of our faith), but it’s also all in rhyme! (Which is just amazing to non-poet me, and so fun to read out loud. My boys love hearing about Finney’s shenanigans.)

Anyway, today’s post is called “Namin’s” and it’s all about Finney’s family’s names! He’s got quite a few relatives and all with gorgeous Irishy Irish names. Pronunciations are explained too, which is always the kicker with those kinds of names. I think you’ll enjoy reading about Finney and his family!

Thank yous all around!!

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My very first thank you goes to our fallen soldiers, all those who died for me and mine. I’ve thought of you often today, and prayed for you and your families, and told my boys about you and your demonstration of the greater love. Happy Memorial Day to you all!

Thanks also to Jenny‘s readers who hopped over here to take a gander at my suggestions for her, and to leave your own! Such good ideas, and such thoughtful responses! Aren’t name conversations the very best??!! ❤

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And my final thank you to Nameberry for posting another of my name articles: Problematic Baby Names. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that too! And any others you might add to the list?

I hope you all have a great start to your week!

Baby name consultant: Uebbing Baby Quattro

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Do you all know Jenny from Mama Needs Coffee? She’s a hardcore JP2 girl, which is all I need to know (soul sisters and such). Also, she posted last month looking for help naming her fourth baby, which, you know, is what I live to do, and someone kindly suggested my blog (!!!!), and I followed up with an excited Yes please! and Jenny said Sure and here we are. So exciting!!

Jenny had provided all the relevant details (I almost wrote “deets” and then decided I’m neither young nor cool enough) in her post, like …

… her other kiddos’ names:

Joseph Kolbe

John Paul Francis (born a whole year before the election of the current pope — nice job with the middle name!)

Genevieve Therese nicked Evie (or “Evie doll,” which is the sweetest)

(Aren’t they wonderful!)

… and names they’re considering for this wee beb (with her own commentary):

Francesca (“for Frances of Rome, Francis of Assisi, and dear Papa Francesco“)

Rose (“for Rose of Lima, my Confirmation saint. And because her godfather is a native Peruvian from Lima, so how can we not?“)

Zelie (“Dave will never let me get away with this one but I’ve loved it for years and now she’s gone and is getting herself canonized the same year our baby is due. COME ON. And yes, I’m aware there is going to be a Catholic ghetto baby boom of little Z’s running around as a result. But I still love.”)

Elizabeth (“my sister’s name, and my best friend’s. I’m not in love with any particular St. Elizabeth, but I could cultivate a devotion to the Son of God’s Aunt, I suppose.”)

Grace (“A little popular, but it’s just such a sweet name. And it looks pretty next to Genevieve.”)

Luke (“meh. I’m fading on this one. But I’ve loved the name since I first saw Star Wars at age 12, and what child doesn’t want that kind of honor associated with his moniker? Plus, the Gospel of St. Luke is my fav.”)

Benedict (“we love our retired Papa“)

Reid (“family name on my side, Dave hates it, probably not a real contender“)

Anthony (“we love St. Anthony of Padua, our boys have an inexplicable devotion to him all their own, but I just don’t love the name. Daddy is a bigger fan than me. I’d consider Antonio because Italy, but then I’d punch myself for giving some poor kid the name Antonio Uebbing for life.”)

… and her due date:

Early August

… and her gut instinct:

“I think the girl’s names are a much more realistic list of actual contenders at this point, which means we’re probably definitely having a boy.”

(Hehe!)

And then we had a nice little email back and forth, in which she also said:

“I’m leaning more toward Francesca Rose after reading everyone’s comments, but still totally stumped for a boy. (and it’s probably a boy, all I want is green chile and salsa verde doritos and hot sauce on everything and I’m gaining like a freight train. ha.) … I’d name another kid after [Pope St. John Paul II] if I could get away with it – Karol maybe? Ha.”

So this is what I have to say about all this:

Okay, first off, a couple thoughts about her current ideas: Jenny said she’s leaning toward Francesca Rose for a girl after reading everyone’s comments. It’s beautiful! And so meaningful, with the Frances of Rome/Francis of Assisi/Pope Francis connection and the St. Rose of Lima—Jenny’s-Confirmation-saint-and-baby’s-godfather-being-from-Lima connection. And her love of Italian! (She loves Italy.) Francesca Rose is just great. But since she said she’s “leaning toward” it rather than fully embracing it says there’s an opening for new thoughts … first, I wondered if the Italian Rosa would pique her interest as a first name? Or maybe Rosana/Rosanna?

I was also very intrigued by Jenny’s love of Zelie and Elizabeth, as my first thought was — Zelie as a nickname for Elizabeth! And I was totally patting myself on the back for coming up with the best most unique idea ever … and then I read in the comments on her post our own dear reader Mandi at 3:59 on 4/11: “Maybe a more formal name with Zelie as the nickname” and Kate at 10:34 on 4/12 suggesting Zelie as a nick for Elizabeth. So I’m not as unique as I thought BUT it’s also great support for a great idea! What do you all think?? Is it too weird?? I just love this idea and it totally works! Ellie is a nick for Elizabeth; Z is in Elizabeth; shuffle up the letters … And this way Jenny honors her sister and her best friend and Zelie Martin all with one name; she gives her husband a longer name he can use or nick as he likes, and Jenny can have as her nick a name he otherwise wouldn’t go for. Seems like a win-win to me!!

As far as patrons, there are so many great Sts. Elizabeth, but I’m just crazy recently for Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur. What a woman!!! Since Elisabeth was French, Elizabeth could be in her honor as the English variation of her name. Or maybe stick with the spelling Elisabeth? Especially with having French Genevieve already? Elisabeth loses the obvious Zelie connection, but there are so many other great Eliz/sabeth nicks. Tess and Liddy are two of my favorites, and I have a sister Elizabeth who goes by Betsey. Another traditional Eliz/sabeth nickname is Lily, which is my second Eliz/sabeth thought for Jenny (after Elizabeth/Zelie) — Genevieve and Eliz/sabeth nicknamed Evie and Lily? Such sweet sister names! I love that Lily is Marian too. Whew that’s a lot packed into one name. 🙂

Another thought about Zelie — if not for a first name, I’d make a strong argument for a middle! Either Zelie or Azelie because, like Jenny said, COME ON, it’s her canonization year!!!

Finally, Grace — it is so sweet, yes popular, yes pretty next to Genevieve. It’s Marian and virtuous and Catholicky Catholic. It is quite a bit shorter than Genevieve, which maybe Jenny and her hubs like? My aesthetic sense tends to prefer a longer name especially for a girl, since their one girl has a longer name, but my aesthetic sense matters very little here of course. If Jenny was concerned about this too though, she could easily do something like Mary Grace, even if she only ever calls her Grace or Gracie. Sisters Genevieve and Mary Grace called Evie and Grace or Evie and Gracie are lovely together and a bit more balanced length-wise.

As for the boy ideas … Luke is hard to beat! The Gospel and the Skywalker are of course amazing reference points (reasons why it’s one of my faves too!), and it’s such a good match as a brother to Joseph and John Paul. Benedict I love for Papa Benny, like the Uebbings do. I want to give that man all the love I possibly can! I’ve found for myself and for others who consider Benedict that it’s not so easy to pair a middle name with it, as middle initials F, M, and J are really out unless you’re willing to saddle your boy with dirty initials. (So unfortunate!) That’s one of the reasons I love Reid on Jenny’s list — it screams “middle name” to me, as it’s a family name that she loves and her hubs doesn’t. The middle is the perfect spot for such a name! And there’s nothing wrong with initials B.R. Benedict Reid is very handsome! Benedict is like a forty ton Catholic wrecking ball, and Reid prevents the building from being blown to bits. (Does that make sense?)

Finally, Anthony. Jenny’s the second mama I’ve done a consultation for recently whose husband and kids love St. Anthony but mom’s not feeling it! I would totally put it in the middle, and if it’s in the middle, I would totally switch it to Antonio per Jenny’s preference.

Alrighty! The Uebbings have great taste and some great ideas here, but I can always come up with new ones. 😉 I have four for girls (I usually shoot for three but the last one snuck in there at the last minute), and I actually came up with six for boys, which I thought seemed appropriate since she said they’re having a hard time with boy names.

Girls
(1) Caterina or Catherine

As you all know, when I do a consultation, I often rely heavily on the Baby Name Wizard and its amazing feature where, for each entry, it lists boy and girl names that are similar in style/feel/popularity as the entry. It’s usually the first place I start when looking for ideas, and one name that showed up often for names the Uebbings have used and ones on their list of possibilities as well is Catherine/Katherine. I’m loving Catherine-with-a-C for them, after St. Catherine of Siena; it’s long, like Genevieve; and it’s got great nickname options (Cate/Kate, obviously!! 🙂 And Cat is sweet too). But I’m also loving Caterina, which was Catherine of Siena’s actual name, and Jenny loves Italian everything right?? Caterina is gorgeous. Genevieve and Catherine or Genevieve and Caterina? Lovely!

(2) Chiara or Claire/Clare/Clara

Okay, so I made a case for Genevieve needing a long-named sister, and now I’m suggesting Chiara or Claire/Clare/Clara. These names are just too good to pass by! Chiara especially, as it’s Italian, and what St. Clare of Assisi’s actual name was, and Bl. Chiara Badano Luce is ah-MAAAZing, a great great patron for today’s little girls. And even though it looks short, it’s actually three syllables like Genevieve, so … looks can be deceiving and all. I think it’s a great possibility. But if they like the idea of a Clare name but not Chiara, I also love Claire, Clare, and Clara (or Claira, as was used by one of our reader mamas recently).

(3) Karolina, Karoline, Caroline, Charlotte

Jenny said, “I’d name another kid after him if I could get away with it – Karol maybe? Ha.” I’m saying, nothing funny about that! Do it!!! I personally don’t recommend Karol for a boy, not for a first name — in the middle is fine (I know a little Peter Karol and a little Joseph Karol) — but what about for a girl? I’ve seen Karoline and Karolina storming up the Catholic name charts (I know one little Karolina, said like the state), but I also know an adult Karolina who’s from Poland (she says karo-LEEN-ah), and Caroline-with-a-C is totally legit as a JP2 honor name, since Karol is Charles and the Carol names are feminine variants of Charles. Charlotte is nice because it’s French, like Genevieve, but (though not necessarily “but”) it’s the new Baby Princess and loses a good deal of the visual and audio connection to Karol.

(4) Bernadette

Bernadette is inspired of course by the French Genevieve, but also by Jenny’s thought of Elizabeth, because I know someone who was going to name her daughter Bernadette and call her Betsy! How great is that?!

Boys
(1) Charles

My very first boy suggestion goes to our Great John Paul — if Jenny wants to honor him again, and especially if she doesn’t want to it be really over-the-top obvious (since she already has a John Paul), Charles is the name for her! I love Charles. It’s so handsome and distinguished, and Charlie is a great, solid, boyish-yet-manly nickname. If they don’t love it as a first name, it’s a great middle, especially for Benedict — the initials B.C. are fine and Benedict Charles is amazing! And two papas in one! (St. Charles Borromeo is also pretty great.)

(2) Leo

Leo is an amazing name! It’s handsome and classic, it’s papal (Pope St. Leo the Great!), and I know of at least one (very Irish) family who loves it but won’t use it because it comes across as “too Italian” for them.* Um, do you understand “too Italian”? I’m sure you’re either (1) no such thing! Or (2) awesome, bring it!

(3) Dominic

Dominic has that same heavy-hitting feel as John Paul and Benedict — there’s no denying that a little Dominic’s a Catholic boy! It’s also, like perhaps Leo, one of those names that can come across as very Italian. St. Dominic is one of my personal faves (I’m a life-professed lay Dominican).

(4) Gregory

I love what the Baby Name Wizard has to say about Gregory: “Popes, saints, and Gregory Peck! Can a name get any more distinguished?” I love that! Not only that, but Gregory is a Pope St. the Great, like John Paul and Leo. Love it! I suggested this for Grace Patton, with the nickname suggestions Rory and Gus (especially if the full name was something like Gregory Louis or Gregory Stephen — all the G’s and S’s) … I’m not feeling Rory for Jenny, but Gus I love.

(5) Samuel

Samuel is biblical and handsome, and Sam is one of the most amazing nicknames imo. It’s also a name that showed up in my research as similar in style/feel/popularity to some of the Uebbings’ other favorites.

(6) Gennaro

This was a last-minute add-on after I did the spotlight of the name Gennaro and totally thought of Jenny. My only hesitation with it — and I guess it’s kind of a big one — is that it’s got the same soft-g/j initial sound like the other Uebbing kids. They probably don’t want to feel locked into that going forward. (But if they liked that theme, I could totally come up with a bunch of good names for future babies that start with soft G or J!!! :))

And those are all my thoughts for Uebbing Baby Quattro! What do you all think? Is there anything else you would suggest for them? Thanks to Jenny for letting me weigh in!

*Lest any Irish fams now think Leo is “too Italian” for them, please know that my family is super Irish and also super into Leo — there are several going back generations.

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

Last names as first names

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I was thinking about how last-names-as-first-names are pretty popular as a baby name style, and have been for a while. Obvious surnames like Oakley, Hunter, Flannery, and Tennyson are used for both girls and boys. Others have been around so long that they’ve lost their surname feel, like Tracy and Sidney. My grandfather’s first name was his mother’s maiden name, and my sister-in-law’s middle name is her mother’s maiden name. I actually found the “Last Names First” section of the Baby Name Wizard online here, which gives an awesome listing of trade names and British Isles surnames — lots of fun options to look through!

Catholic baby naming also has the last-names-first-names subset, and it’s one of my favorites. I tried to think of all the ones that I know have been used as first names, it’s a pretty fab list:*

Aquinas

Avila

Cabrini

Clairvaux

Goretti

Jogues

Kolbe

Liguori

Loyola

Magdalene

Serra

Seton

Siena

Talbot

Vianney

Xavier

What names can you add to the list? I’m interested in surnames that *could* be used as first names without being too weird, but I’m most interested in names that you’ve actually heard used. Lay them on me!

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*I was just telling someone about my blog today, and he asked if my posts are mainly lists of names, and I said, “Oh gosh no, I hate name lists, I much prefer commentary.” And then here I go, my very first post after talking to him is a list. 😛

Birth announcement: Claira Jane!

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I was so delighted to hear from a mama I’d done a consultation for a couple weeks ago — her baby girl is here! She writes,

“Hi Kate! Our DAUGHTER was born about 2 weeks ago – Claira Jane! She was unnamed for a few hours – couldn’t decide between Claira and Abigail – but it all worked out! Thanks again for helping us to focus in on names for this sweet baby girl!“

Isn’t Claira Jane just the sweetest?!! Nice job Mom and Dad! Congratulations to the whole family, and welcome to the world Baby Claira!!

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Claira Jane