Happy four-days-before Christmas, everyone! Are you all familiar with the O Antiphons? As the U.S. Bishops explain,

“The Roman Church has been singing the ‘O’ Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative ‘Come!’ embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.”

Today’s antiphon is O Radiant Dawn:

O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.

Beautiful! You can find the rest of them here, and an article I wrote for Nameberry about baby names inspired by the O Antiphons here.

Speaking of names for a Christmastime babe … today, I have such a fun consultation for you! This baby has actually already been born and named, but the mama and I really wanted you all to have access to the consultation, in case it’s helpful to you. As the mama said, “There’s no way you can put that much effort into all this and not get a juicy post out of it!” 😂 I will post the birth announcement in the next couple of days, so check back before Christmas!

Sheri and her husband were looking for help naming their fourth baby, second daughter. Baby Girl joins big siblings:

Finnian Anthony

Roanan Michael

Zeda Zelié (pronounced ZEEdah ZAYlee)

So cool, right? What a great bunch of names!!

Sheri wrote,

“We’ve never had a problem figuring out names for our kids because they just kinda ‘came’ to us, and felt right right away. Perhaps the oddest one is Zeda, but that’s my grandmother’s name, obviously quite unique and Great Grandma Zeda is just the best. She’ll even watch my kids for me at her apartment at the drop of a hat, and she’s 80. However, we kinda want to avoid names similar to, well, pretty much anyone we know (in my defense, Finnian was NOT as popular as it is now 10 years ago. I didn’t know any Roanans either!).”

(Isn’t that funny how that happens? I was just thinking the other day about two baby girls I encountered with names that, at the time, I thought were so old fashioned — Lillian [25 years ago, when I was in college] and Evelyn [when my 19yo was in preschool] — that are now mainstream and even popular!)

Sheri continues,

“That said, we HAVE kinda settled in on the first name of IVY. Why? Well, it was the first name that we thought ‘Oh that’s not bad, I don’t know any Ivys,’ and I had an acquaintance suggest it to me because she’s our 4th kid. Get it? Roman Numeral IV is 4, so… IVY! I’m hoping it’s not too obvious a pun to be cringy for starters, but for… seconders? It still just doesn’t seem complete! So we’ve been bandying about various middle names and nothing seems to just ‘click’ like the rest of our kids’ names. We’ve run out of saints that we’re really close to, and others just don’t seem to ring right (like Catherine, or Elizabeth… Even Mary/Marie or Josephine just seem to fall flat). And I don’t want to leave it up to fate and give her the name of the saint whose feast day she’s born on, because I like to celebrate feast days separately from birthdays with the rest of the kids, and that doesn’t seem fair. That also kinda leaves out all the fun names you could use to hint toward her December birthday (Holly, Noelle, Emannuella), because with Ivy it seems little TOO on the nose. And what feast day/saint would we commemorate then?

So I also considered double-barreling either her first or middle name. Ivy Grace? Oh right, we aren’t big on virtue names (and I have a whole family of friends who are Mary-something, so that’s out too), and I kinda liked Ivy Rose, but Rose locally is becoming a pretty popular, and then she also just sounds like a variety of flower. And then a two-part middle name seems to get cumbersome with 3-letter Ivy. Ivy Catherine-Marie? Goodness.

And here we are. My husband has had a few ideas, but again, nothing has been an ‘oh! YES’ feel of a name. I kinda thought of doing just I.V. as initials, but I’m not overly familiar with I or V names (Isla Victoria? Iris Veronica? Ehhh). I just have a feeling that her name overall is going to be something balanced and rare; not a made-up name, but something not used in ages … and I haven’t found it yet. I like references to botanicals or the moon… but everything I’ve found just seems too… looney! We know we don’t want a common name — if one of us suggests a name, more than half the time we say ‘Oh I know someone with that name’ even if they aren’t familiar acquaintances, so obviously we’ve been pretty frustrated and stuck on ideas.”

Two final details that I used to help with ideas:

• Sheri and her hubby were “grade school (8th grade to be specific) sweethearts” who grew up “at St Mary of the Assumption in Lancaster Ohio, which was just designated a minor basilica!”
• The older kids are calling the baby Jellybean (so cute!)

Isn’t this so fun?? Sheri even hilariously said, “I think you’re earning your 50 bucks this time around, sister!” But you all know I love a good challenge!!

First off, Zeda Zelié made me think of a particular idea: would it be fun for sisters to share a pattern of same initials for the first and middle names? Going with the Ivy idea for a minute, I like the idea of something like:

• Ivy Immaculata
• Ivy Inez/Ines/Inessa (variants of Agnes)
• Ivy Isabel/Isabelle/Isabella
• Ivy Ignacia/Ignazia

All of these match the feel of Zeda’s middle name Zelié, which I think of as particularly Catholicky Catholic. Immaculata for Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception of course (Immaculée is another variant Sheri and her hubs might like, and is French like Zelié); Inez/Inés/Inessa for St. Agnes; Isabel (or Isabelle, Isabella) for any of the Sts. Elizabeth; Ignacia/Ignazia is for St. Ignatius (of Loyola or of Antioch).

So let’s spring off of that to talk about Ivy for a minute. I love Ivy! I love that it is, indeed, perfect for a fourth baby, but not in a weird on-the-nose kind of way (NOT “cringy” in my opinion). Sheri’s I.V. idea is a good one, too — in fact, I remember hearing about an Isabella Verity (I think that was the combo) who went by Ivy and I remember thinking that was amazing! I really like Sheri’s Isla Victoria and Iris Veronica ideas, too, so maybe my taste is just off enough from hers that my ideas won’t land? But I had a lot of fun trying to come up with I.V. ideas just in case I hit on something she hadn’t thought of that hit just right. These are my favorite ideas for I names:

• Imogen: this is my favorite idea for this baby. When I was looking for ideas, I wanted to consider Finnian’s and Roanan’s obvious Irish-ness while also respecting the fact that Zeda isn’t Irish. Imogen is originally a misspelling of Innogen, which is thought to derive from the Gaelic word for “maiden,” which makes me think of Our Lady. Even though it has Gaelic roots, it feels mostly British, I would say, which I think makes it equally plausible as a sister to Finnian and Roanan as well as to Zeda (which itself makes me think “British” because of Catherine Zeta-Jones).

• Isolde: The literary Isolde was an Irish princess, so this, too, feels like a good sister for Irish-named brothers, while not being too Irish (especially since the original Tristan and Isolde was first recorded in French).

• Irene: I’ve been seeing Irene a bit here and there, and I like that it has the long I sound in the beginning, which makes extra sense of the nickname Ivy if they were to do Irene V___. It also has the awesome meaning of “peace.”

• Inez/Inez/Inessa: I mentioned this above as a possible I middle name for Ivy, but I also like any of them as a first name. I like that Inez has a Z like big sister; Inés is the Spanish form and is properly written with the accent, which might make this one better for the middle (and another nice connection to Zeda’s middle name Zelié); Inessa is so pretty and unexpected (a family I’ve posted about a few times on the blog has an Inessa, which the mom also pointed out is the name of a kind of butterfly! How pretty! That family also has a matching-initials theme — I’m sure you’d love to read through all their posts! Their Inessa’s full name is Inessa Irene. Gorgeous!).

Those could work as middles for Ivy, too, if they like the I.I. idea. I particularly like Ivy Imogen (Ivy could be the faith name here, as Ivy is in my book of Marian names because “Kenilworth ivy (Cymbalaria muralis) has also been known as Tears of Mary”).

My favorite V names include:

• Vesper: I really love this one because it means “evening,” which can nod to Sheri’s love of the moon, and it also has pretty cool faith significance, in that “Vespers” is a familiar Catholic term (it refers to Evening Prayer because of “vesper” meaning “evening”).

• Verity: Verity means “truth,” which also makes this one a great Catholic name! But is it too much of a “virtue name,” like Sheri said you doesn’t care for?

• Violet: A beautiful botanical name that I included in my book of Marian names because the “violet flower (Viola odorata) has been called Our Lady’s Modesty, and has also been considered to represent her humility.” They could also consider the French Violette, which they might like if it helps with pronunciation of the whole first+middle combo, since they could stress the -ette, and connects to the Frenchness of Zeda’s middle name.

• Vivian/Vivienne: This name means “alive” and like with Violet, they could do the trimmer Vivian or the frillier French Vivienne (which can also change the stressed syllable to help with the flow of the first+middle combo, and connect with Zeda’s middle name).

• Vianney: For St. John Vianney; I’ve posted about a couple little girls with this name: this family has a Vianney Jean-Marie and this one has a Vianney Violett.

Given all that, some I.V. combos that I think are beautiful are:

• Imogen Violette
• Irene Vianney
• Inessa Verity

Another idea is to use a middle name that doesn’t start with a V but has a prominent V sound in it, that could still make sense of Ivy as a nickname for an I first name with one of these middle names. Names like:

• Maeve: As mentioned a couple times already, I liked the idea of working in an Irish (ish) element in order to loop in Finnian and Roanan’s Irishness. Maeve is a familiar Irish name, so you don’t need to worry about mispronunciations, and I included it in my book of Marian names because:

“I’ve seen people bestow it on their daughters in honor of Our Lady, mistakenly considering it to be a variant of Mary, but I do believe it can be considered Marian in a different way: the Baby Names of Ireland website … presents one of the meanings of Maeve as “cause of great joy,” which is similar to Our Lady’s title “Cause of Our Joy” (Causa Nostrae Laetitiae). Additionally, it would not be out of bounds for parents to combine the names Mary and Eve into Maeve.”

Its prominent V sound could work nicely with an I name to lead to the nickname Ivy!

• Eve, Eva, Ava: Speaking of Eve, why not Eve? Or Eva or Ava (which is a variant of Eve). Our Lady’s title New Eve is a nice connection for this!

• Naomh or Niamh: Niamh is the Irish name that’s more familiar of these two — it means “bright,” which is a great meaning; it’s often anglicized to Neve. Naomh is a newer name and means “holy,” which is also a great meaning! I think this could be anglicized as Neve, too, or Nave. I spotlighted them both here.

• Aveline, Evelyn: Of the two, I prefer Aveline for this family, as it’s more unusual, but Evelyn, which is a variant of Aveline, is also a possibility.

• Genevieve (I think you could even use Ivy as a nickname for Genevieve!), Evangeline: These might feel a little too familiar for Sheri, but I like them both because of their Vs, and their length could be perfect for a really short name like Inez. Inez Evangeline nn Ivy sounds pretty amazing to me!

• Xavier: I know this might seem like a really odd addition, but there is precedent for a girl to have this name: Mother Cabrini, who is St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. Certainly she took inspiration from St. Francis Xavier — Sheri can do the same for her daughter. I don’t know what Sheri’s preferred pronunciation is — ex-ZAY-vyer and ZAY-vyer pronunciation are equally legitimate — though I had the ex- pronunciation in my head when I put together the combos below. I also like that Xavier as a middle name would mean Zeda has the cool Z initial and new baby girl would have the cool X.

• Imogen Eve
• Imogen Eva
• Imogen Niamh
• Imogen Naomh
• Imogen Xavier
• Inez Evangeline
• Inessa Maeve
• Isolde Evangeline
• Irene Xavier

So much fun to make such beautiful combos!

I also wanted to discuss Sheri’s idea of adding to Ivy to make a double first name, since she said Ivy doesn’t feel complete, but shes doesn’t care for virtue names, and Ivy plus any flower name feels too floral. Also, I agree with her that a double middle name feels like a lot with the tiny Ivy (though I love a long single middle name with it because it’s so tiny!). So I came up with a list of names that I thought could work! My very first idea was Ivy-Jane, which I was really gung-ho about, until I remembered that Sheri has a niece with a similar construction! Gah! I like these others (I’m using a hyphen because I think it makes it more obvious that it’s a double-barreled name and not a first+middle, but of course they don’t need to use a hyphen if they don’t want! But, if Sheri and her hubby like the I.I. initials idea that I suggested above, using the hyphen will allow I to be the initial for the entire first name combo):

• Ivy-Kate or Ivy-Cate: I’m not biased because Kate is my own name! Except, maybe I am! I have often thought how much I like Kate as the second part of a double name and considered doing something like that with any daughters I might have as a way of nodding to me without using my full name Katherine. Ivy-Kate or Ivy-Cate (the C spelling feels fresher, maybe?) can nod to any of the Sts. Katherine/Catherine and don’t make a possibly weird “phrase” when coupled with Ivy.

• Ivy-Cara, Ivy-Chara: Cara means “beloved” in Italian and Chara means “happiness, joy” in Greek and “friend” in Irish.

• Ivy-Laine or Ivy-Lane: This could be venturing too close to cutesy? I like the image it brings to mind, though.

• Ivy-Reina, Ivy-Reine: Reina and Reine mean “queen” (Spanish and French respectively), and are said RAY-na and REN. These could nod to Our Lady, Queen (Regina). (Is it weird to think you could also have fun with these combos being “green Queen”?)

Okay, on to new ideas! Since Sheri and her husband have mostly decided on Ivy as a first name (which I wholeheartedly support, either on its own or with any of the alternative ideas I suggested above), these might not be helpful at all, which is totally fine! I really just wanted to be sure they had lots of ideas associated with their taste and the things that are meaningful to them, as well as names that might feel perfect as the sister to their older kids. I was looking for names that fit Sheri’s “balanced and rare,” not made up but “something not used in ages” criteria that might also have something to do with botanicals or the moon. I used the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as usual, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and went with my gut as well. These don’t check off all the boxes, but they’re pretty close I think! I also only have five names instead of the promised seven, because I included so many ideas above:

(1) Avila

If the sound of Ivy is what draws Sheri and her hubs to it, I thought other names with a similar sound might appeal. Avila came to mind right away — it’s the kind of name I’d generally put in the same category as Zelie, in terms of “very Catholic” and “somewhat unusual.” St. Teresa of Avila is a Doctor of the Church, which is so cool for a little girl! (This could also work as a V-prominent middle name with an I first name.)

(2) Ivelisse

Another name that could hit the Ivy note in an even more perfect way for this family is the name Ivelisse. I know a woman named Yvelise, which I always thought was gorgeous — I looked it up to see if there’s an I variant, and there is! Though Behind the Name has this name ultimately deriving from Ivo, which is the name of some male Saints (Ivo/Ives/Yves), and is thus related to Yvette and Yvonne, I also saw that the -elisse ending could be considered an elaboration of Yves using Elise — a French short form of Elizabeth. So they could think of Ivelisse (or Ivelise) as including St. Elizabeth (which Sheri listed as a possible saintly connection, but one that didn’t “seem to ring right”), and could use Ivy as the nickname!

(3) Maisie

Maisie is a diminutive of Mairead, which is the Irish form of Margaret, and has traditional usage as a given name in its own right. I like that it has the Irish feel of Finnian and Roanan while sharing the Z sound of Zeda. Margaret means “pearl,” so this name can nod to Our Lady because she’s referred to as “Pearl of Virgins” in the Litany of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.

(4) Ailís, Ailish; Eilís, Eilish; Eilidh

These names are also inspired by the Irishness of Finnian and Roanan, but also by the long I in Ivy. Each of these can have the long I as the first syllable: Ailís, anglicized as Ailish, is from Alice; Eilis, anglicized Eilish, is from Elizabeth. (I say “can have the long I” because I’ve also seen the long A sound as the first syllable. If any of you like these ideas, you might want to do your own research to be sure of the consensus re: pronunciation and be sure you’re comfortable with others’ opinions about this.) Going off Irish for a sec to Scottish, Eilidh is a diminutive of Eilionoir and “also taken to be a Gaelic form of Helen” and can be anglicized Eily, which is so similar to Ivy (but also to Isla, which Sheri already said she didn’t love. So maybe this idea isn’t a great one!).

(5) Selene or Selena

Finally, Sheri’s love of the moon made me think of Selene, which means “moon” in Greek; Selena is a variant. I really like how Ivy Selene and Ivy Selena sound as first+middle combos! And, for that matter, the Helen(a) names (including Eilidh above) are said to mean “torch” or “corposant” (St. Elmo’s fire), but Behind the Name says they’re also “possibly related to” the Greek selene (“moon”).

Finally, I had a few middle name ideas that weren’t connected to anything discussed above, but are related to those two miscellaneous details Sheri included that I mentioned in the intro:

• Ivy Assumpta: I love how this flows! It’s inspired by how Sheri and her hubby grew up at St. Mary of the Assumption (and bonus Behind the Name considers Assumpta to have Irish usage!) (It’s very possible Sheri is sick to death of my Irish connections at this point!)

• Ivy Julienne or Ivy Juliet/Juliette: These are entirely inspired by their “Jellybean” nickname for the baby! The similar Jilly is a not-untraditional nickname for the Julia names, so I thought it might be a sweet (sweet! Like candy! Like jellybeans!) nod to the baby’s in-utero nickname to include something similar in her middle name. I like Julienne and Juliet or Juliette the best of them as middles for Ivy.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? Feel free to offer any ideas that you think might be helpful to any readers who share a similar taste in names! Or any guesses about what you think Sheri and her hubby ended up naming the baby! Stay tuned for the birth announcement!

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation here.

For help with Marian names, my book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!