Christmas names

Baby name consultation: A Christmas-due-date baby is being born TODAY — help please!

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Meredith from Daily Divine Mercy and Catholic Sticker Club is having her baby TODAY — her fifth baby and fourth boy! She and her husband are still trying to nail down a name and would love to hear your ideas! This little guy joins big sibs:

Jackson Solomon (Jack)
Theodore James (Teddy)
Clara Faye
William Harrison (Will)

Just a stunning bunch of names, right?! Jackson Solomon, Theodore James, and William Harrison are so handsome and sophisticated, and Clara Faye is so lovely. Nice job!

Meredith writes,

“We thought we landed on a name but are second guessing now … Our top name at the moment is Lincoln David … This was almost 100% … But now hubby is second guessing. We disagree on a lot of names.“

The names on Meredith’s list include:

Lawrence
Gabriel
Lincoln (hubby’s on the fence about this one)

Her husband’s list includes:

Abraham (Meredith isn’t a fan)

And they both like:

David
Joseph
John-David
George

Alright, so the first thing I tried to do was nail down what Meredith and her husband’s taste in names is, as evidenced by their other children’s names and those they like/are considering: I get a really strong Presidential vibe with Jackson, Theodore/Teddy, William, Harrison, Lincoln, and Abraham; a strong Old Testament vibe with Solomon, David, and Abraham; and a sort of colonial feel (I’m not sure that’s the right word … English? Pilgrim? There’s certainly some overlap there) from Theodore, Teddy, William, Clara, Faye, David, Joseph, George, and Abraham. I love all those styles, and I’m so impressed how they put them together in such great combinations!

I’m really taken with Lincoln David — I think it goes perfectly with their other boys’ names and their daughter’s as well. If they end up going with it, I’ll be thrilled! But if one or both of them are legitimately cooling on it, then I’m hoping some of my ideas here (and yours!) might be helpful.

Before listing my new ideas for this baby, I thought I’d offer some thoughts on the names currently on Meredith’s and her hubby’s lists, in case they’re helpful:

  • Lawrence: I think maybe I’d consider Lawrence to be the outlier here. It doesn’t have an English feel and it’s not biblical or presidential, though it’s certainly handsome. I don’t love the nickname Larry with their other kids, but I’ve seen Lance used, which I think is a better fit with their others (though it still has a mismatched feel to me).
  • David: A handsome, classic, biblical name that fits in well with the names they’ve already used. It’s also Marian, via Our Lady’s title Tower of David — and Christmas-y too!
  • Joseph: I love Joseph!
  • Gabriel: Since hubby doesn’t care for Gabriel, I would recommend crossing it off the first-name list (maybe he’d be okay with it as a middle?).
  • Abraham: Similarly, since Meredith doesn’t care for Abraham, I would recommend crossing it off the first-name list (maybe she’d be okay with it as a middle?).
  • John-David: In general, I’m a big fan of double names for boys, as I love that they generally take two names that on their own aren’t unusual and give them an unexpected sparkle. However, in this case I’m not sure John-David is a good idea for this family, since Jack (and, by extension, Jackson) is a variant of John.
  • George: George is a great name! However, if I’m being nitpicky, I really like how their other boys have long names that trim down to friendly nicknames, which isn’t as easy with George. That said, Georgie is adorable, and I’ve always loved Geordie (said like Jordy) as well — it has traditional usage as a George nickname. I’ve seen Geo too, which is really cool.

Okay, now for my new ideas! You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard, as it offers, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Based on that research and my own namey mind, these are my ideas:

(1) Charles
Meredith didn’t mention whether or not they’re okay with repeating initials, so maybe they’d rather not have Clara and Charles, but otherwise Charles is a match for Clara, William, and George, and Charlie’s a match for Jack — a great fit for this family! Cal is another possibility as a nickname for Charles that I quite like with Jack, Teddy, and Will (though is Cal too similar to Clara?).

(2) Henry
Clara, William, and George are also style matches for Henry! I can see Henry fitting in really well with their boys (and Clara too), and I also like Hank, if they wanted to nickname Henry. One tiny hesitation that I feel I must mention, though, is that Will’s middle name, Harrison, means “Harry’s son,” and Harry is a variant of Henry.

(3) Francis
Francis is a match for Lawrence and Frank for George — I feel like Francis definitely has that gentlemanly feel of the other boys’ names, and Frankie’s an adorable nickname for a little guy! I also love Finn as a nickname for Francis.

(4) Oliver
Despite the fact that Oliver only showed up in my research as a match for Theodore, I’m loving it for this family! Jackson, Theodore, William, and Oliver are amazing together, and Jack, Teddy, Will, and Ollie are great as well.

(5) Bennett (or Benedict?) or Benjamin
I don’t normally include middle names in my research, but I thought Harrison really felt like their style, so I looked it up to see what names the BNW would list as similar and Bennett is one — Bennett is a variant of Benedict, so I like that saintly connection, and Bennett also has usage as a surname, which fits in with their Jackson/Harrison/Lincoln names. But maybe they’d like the full Benedict? I love that as well, and Benedict Cumberbatch has certainly given it a British sheen, which fits in nicely with the other kids’ names. Ben is a great match for Jack, Teddy, and Will as well. If they prefer Benjamin, though, I won’t be disappointed! Benjamin is such a great name, and it’s Old Testament like Solomon, David, Joseph, and Abraham.

(6) Jude
There are a bunch of super-Old Testament names that match the super-Old Testament names Meredith and her hubby have used (Solomon) and that her hubby likes (Abraham) like Ezekiel, Ezra, Judah, and Moses. While those names can fit in with a Pilgrim-type feel and I wouldn’t hate them as first names for their son, I sense that Meredith would rather put names like that in the middle. But Judah made me think that Jude might be a possibility for them for a first name. Like with Benedict Cumberbatch, Jude Law and the Beatles have given Jude a Brit feel, and it’s certainly got a nice saintly connection.

(7) Gideon
Finally, Gideon’s a match for a name Meredith loves that her hubby doesn’t (Gabriel) and a name her hubby likes that she doesn’t (Abraham), which might make it the perfect bridge name between their two styles. It’s biblical, of course, and to me it also has a strong historical/colonial-type feel, as there’s a historic figure local to my area named Gideon Putnam who was born in 1763 and died in 1812. I’ve always loved the name, so I was excited to see it match up with this family’s style!

Those are my ideas for first names for this baby, and there were a couple names that I thought wouldn’t do as first names, but that they might like to consider for the middle spot: Frederick (Fred/Freddy wouldn’t do well as a brother to Teddy) and Emmanuel (perfect for a Christmas baby! And similar to Solomon and Abraham in style). I don’t know how they choose middle names (maybe they reserve that spot for family names?), but if they just choose names they like, then I thought I might offer some first+middle combos, in case they’re helpful. These are just combos that I thought went well together (using both names I suggested and names they’re already considering):

Charles Ezra
Charles Emmanuel
Charles Gabriel
Henry Abraham
Henry Emmanuel
Henry Gabriel
Francis Judah
Francis Jude
Francis Lincoln
Oliver Francis
Oliver Henry
Oliver Lawrence
Benedict Moses
Bennett Moses
Benjamin Oliver
Benjamin Lawrence
Jude Frederick
Jude Emmanuel
Gideon Joseph
Gideon Lawrence

I’ve also done a bunch of posts/articles on Advent and Christmas names that might offer some helpful inspiration — they’re all listed in this post.

And those are all my thoughts/ideas/suggestions for Meredith’s baby boy! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Jackson/Jack, Theodore/Teddy, Clara, and William/Will’s baby brother?

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 — a perfect🎄Christmas gift🎄 for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Birth announcement: Noelle Katherine!

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I posted a consultation for Gwen and her husband last summer, and I’m so happy to share that their baby girl has arrived and been given the beautiful and long-loved name … Noelle Katherine!

Gwen writes,

“I just wanted to follow up and though I did push hard for a couple of the names on your list my husband and I landed on Noelle Katherine! She was born on her due date 12/5/18. We still haven’t landed on a firm nickname and are just letting time decide (Noey and Noelley are frontrunners … as well as just calling her Noelle 😉 ).”

Noelle Katherine is just gorgeous! It was a combo that was already high on their list before I did their consultation, and it has family significance (Katherine is for hubby’s grandma) and a “special story” in that Noelle is a Christmasy name for a Christmastime baby — both of those elements were important to Gwen and her hubs. They did a great job!

Congratulations to the whole family, including big sibs James and Evelyn, and happy birthday Baby Noelle!!

Noelle

Noelle Katherine

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

Birth announcement: Christian Gabriel!

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You might remember Josh and Mari’s family, as I’ve posted three consultations and two birth announcements for them since I started the blog! I absolutely LOVE seeing the Sancta Nomina families grow!! I’m thrilled to share that the baby boy I posted name ideas for this past summer has been born and given the awesome, handsome name … Christian Gabriel!

Josh writes,

“He’s finally here! We decided to go with Christian Gabriel and he looks just like his older brother Charlie did at that age. Born 12-8-18 and everyone is doing well.

Thanks again for the naming help — lots of good ideas and Cassian was a close second!“

Christian Gabriel was the name his older siblings favored from the beginning — how sweet that that ended up being the chosen name! And since the baby was born in December, Josh and Mari expressed interest in having his name have a connection to the season — I’d say Christian Gabriel is a slam dunk. And born on the feast of the Immaculate Conception! So many wonderful details of this baby boy’s birth and naming!

Congratulations to Josh and Mari and big sibs Ariana, Audrey, Caleb, Amelia, Anne-Catherine, Charles, and Anessa, and happy birthday Baby Christian!!

FullSizeRender

Christian Gabriel

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

CatholicMom articles–December and January

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Happy Friday everyone! I wanted to be sure to share the links to my December and January CatholicMom articles. Enjoy!

Here’s December’s: The Most Famous Reindeer of All

And January’s: The Special Things Women Are Given

catholicmom_screen_shot-december2018.jpgcatholicmom_screen_shot-january2019.jpg

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 — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

Advent and Christmas names

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Christmas Eve is just a week away and my boys are EXCITED! Seeing their wonder and awe is the absolute best. ❤

I’ve done several posts in the past with ideas for Advent and Christmas names, which I wanted to be sure to share here again, in case you have a little one coming any time! Check these out:

Names for a Christmas Baby here on the blog

Names for an Advent Baby at CatholicMom

Holy Family Names for Christmastime Babies at CatholicMom

Names for a Yuletide Babe: The O Antiphons at Nameberry

There’s also this tag for “Christmas names” here on the blog, which brings up birth announcements and name spotlights for names that I think can be Christmas-y, and for generally getting your mind focused on the birth of Jesus, there’s this piece I wrote last year for CatholicMom that I’ve been thinking about recently, regarding His naming.

If it’s helpful for naming a boy, I’ve always loved the combo Luke Emmanuel for a Christmas baby — if my Luke had been born around now, it would have been a strong contender.

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 — a perfect Christmas present for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

Baby name consultation: Baby no. 8 needs a name in the established theme

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(I just wanted to let you all know that yesterday’s book signing was such a wonderful event! My editor and a videographer from Marian Press came to interview me on camera and take some photos — once they’re available I’ll be sure to share them! In the meantime, here are two I shared on Instagram:

Such an awesome display as you first walked into the shop! My dear friend Jan, who owns my local Catholic shop, The Giver of Life Gift Shoppe, had it all set up for me and the bebe to stay nice and cool while chatting with customers and signing books. ❤ You can buy my book on The Giver of Life Gift Shoppe’s web site, if you’d like to support their efforts.)

I’ve had the great privilege of posting two consultations (here and here) and two birth announcements (here and here) for today’s family since I started the blog — so fun to be able to do another consultation for this growing family!

Josh and Mari are expecting their eighth baby — their third boy! He joins big sibs:

Ariana Camille
Audrey Caroline
Caleb Daniel
Amelia Clare (“Millie”)
Anne-Catherine Gianna (“Gianna” or “Gigi”)
Charles Michael (“Charlie”)
Anessa Corinne

I just love all the names they’ve chosen, such a handsomely named bunch of kids!

Josh writes,

“As we’ve discussed before, we have an A-C theme going with our girls, and the boys have C first names with family middle names (Caleb Daniel with my middle name, Charles Michael with Mari’s brother’s middle name).

We also like to pick names with a saintly connection in the birth month, although this is not a requirement.

Some thoughts we’ve had, some of which we previously considered with Charles:

First:
Christopher
Christian
Clement
Kolbe

Middle:
Gabriel
Emmanuel

Our kids have expressed a liking for Christian Gabriel, which we also like, but want to think on it.”

Of course I love the names they’re considering — Christopher and Christian are both great names for a Christmastime baby, and Christian Gabriel is an amazing combination, I really really like it. I also love that they’re considering Emmanuel for a middle name — not only does it follow the middle name theme they have with their other boys (and Gabriel) in that it ends in -el, but it’s obviously very Christmasy as well. Josh said they’d like to have a connection to a saint in the month of birth if possible, but with the month being December, it would be so neat to have a Christmas connection as well! (There’s also a St. Christian of Perugia with a feast day on Dec. 1.)

Clement and Kolbe are both wonderful also, and there are two Sts. Clement with feasts during December that I could find: St. Clement of Alexandria on Dec. 4 and St. Clemente Marchisio on Dec. 16. I know that St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast is in August, but something like Kolbe Emmanuel would tie into December/Christmas nicely.

Since they have an ends-in-el theme going with their boys’ middle names, and they’ve already used Daniel and Michael and are considering Gabriel and Emmanuel, I just wanted to add the following to their list for the future, in case they’re helpful:

  • Samuel
  • Nathaniel
  • Raphael
  • Joel
  • Axel
  • Abel
  • Ezekiel
  • Reuel (like Tolkien — his name was John Ronald Reuel [J.R.R.] Tolkien)
  • Noel (for another Christmas option)

I know they’ve drawn from family names for their older boys’ middle names, so maybe ends-in-el isn’t something they care about continuing, but I thought it might be helpful to offer these ideas anyway.

In terms of first names, I turned to the Baby Name Wizard, as I always do, looking up all their older kiddos’ names and the names they’re considering to see if there are any other C names that are similar to their style. Then I went to CatholicSaints.info, and looked up each day in December to see which saints have December feast days, looking for those that begin with C. Based on all that, these are my additional suggestions for this family beyond their already excellent list of Christopher, Christian, Clement, and Kolbe:

(1) Cassian
I really like the name Cassian and the nickname Cash, so cool! St. Cassian of Rome’s feast day is Dec. 1, and St. Cassian of Tangiers’ feast is Dec. 3.

(2) Colman
I like Colman since it’s got that same “kole” beginning sound as Kolbe, but begins with a C. St. Colman of Clonard and St. Colman of Glendalough both celebrate their feasts on Dec. 12.

(3) Cormac
Cormac’s an Irish name like Colman, and St. Cormac celebrates his feast day on the same day as the Sts. Colman mentioned above (Dec. 12)! I like that Cormac allows for the nickname Mac.

(4) Cyril
I’m not sure if going with a soft C sound is something Josh and Mari would like to consider, and there aren’t any Cyrils with feast days during December, but I wrote an article on names drawn from the O Antiphons — the antiphons said during Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours in the week before Christmas — and one of the names I included was Cyril, as it means “Lord,” which connects with the O Adonai (O Lord) antiphon.

(5) Colin or Cole
Both Colin and Cole can be nicknames for or variants of Nicholas — a pretty sneaky-cool way of honoring St. Nicholas (feast: Dec. 6) with a C name!

(6) Cooper (Cupertino?)
This is 100% inspired by my research in the BNW — I didn’t find the BNW to be terribly helpful for this family, but I did like the idea of Cooper, which is a style match for Colby (Kolbe doesn’t have its own entry, and I thought the matches for Colby could be helpful). I’ve seen at least two devout families use Cooper — one as a given name, and one as a nickname for Cupertino, both in honor of St. Joseph of Cupertino. I thought that was such a neat and unexpected idea! Since it doesn’t have a connection to December, the December connection could come through the middle name, like Cupertino Noel or Cooper Emmanuel.

Those are my new ideas for Josh and Mari’s little boy, but I wanted to repeat some from past consultations as well, specifically:

  • Conrad: St. Conrad of Offida’s feast day is Dec. 12.
  • Casper: Casper’s traditionally assigned to one of the Three Wise Men (or its variants Jasper and Gaspar, depending on where you’re looking), and the Wise Men’s feast is January 6 — this might be a good option if the baby is overdue and comes in early January. Even if the baby comes in December, if they liked the idea of a Christmas name, Casper might still suit, since their feast is during the season of Christmas (which ends on the feast of the Epiphany, which was Jan. 6 in the old calendar but has since changed in many places to the Sunday following, I believe.)

Speaking of early January, I also looked up the feast days through Jan. 6, just in case the baby comes past his due date, and would add that Sts. Colman mac Ronan and Colman Muillin of Derrykeighan also have their feast on Jan. 1.

There were also a few C names for saints in December that I didn’t think were really their style, but I thought I’d list them here just in case:

  • St. Crispin of Africa, Dec. 3
  • St. Cyran of Brenne, Dec. 4
  • St. Cyprian of Perigueux, Dec. 9 (I kind of like Cyprian actually …)
  • St. Peter Canisius, Dec. 21 (maybe Canisius as a first name?)

And those are all my thoughts/ideas/suggestions for Josh and Mari’s little guy! What do you all think? What other ideas would you offer them?

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady, is now available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon! It’s a perfect for expectant mamas, baby showers, and just because. Click here to read reviews and endorsements (and if you feel moved to leave a review on Amazon, it would be greatly appreciated! 🙂).

Merry Christmas!

sanctanomina Housekeeping

All you all ready for Christmas?! We’re getting there!

I just wanted to let you know that if you were expecting your Black Friday consultation before Christmas, check your email! Please let me know if you don’t have an email and expected one!

I also wanted to leave this list of my past Christmas-y name posts in case you’re expecting a little one in the next two weeks!

Names for a Christmas Baby here on the blog

Names for an Advent Baby at CatholicMom

Holy Family Names for Christmastime Babies at CatholicMom

Names for a Yuletide Babe: The O Antiphons at Nameberry

And this tag for “Christmas names” here on the blog, which brings up birth announcements and name spotlights for names that I think can be Christmas-y.

I’m signing off until Tuesday, when I’ll post my weekly consultation (a day late, because of Christmas being on Monday). I hope you all have a wonderfully merry and blessed Christmas!! ❤

 

 

Birth announcement: Belén Marie-Guadalupe!

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I’ve been so eager to post today’s birth announcement! It’s the absolutely perfect one to post right before Christmas! 🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁

Our dear Lindsay from My Child I Love You, who so graciously agreed to be profiled back in August and shared her little ones’ name stories, has had her tenth born baby — a beautiful baby girl who has been given the most beautiful name … Belén Marie-Guadalupe!

(Belén is the Spanish form of “Bethlehem” [which , as my mom was just telling me recently, comes from the Hebrew for “house of bread,” and how perfect is that as the name of the place where Baby Jesus was born?!])

Lindsay writes,

“We weren’t even going to name her Belén. We had a completely different girl name, but when we saw her, we knew our original name wasn’t the one, but didn’t know what to name her.

After that first night, I mentioned to John the name Belén. He did some research and discovered its Spanish origins. That sealed the deal with her being born on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe — one of the dearest to my heart ♥♥

So, her name came very easily!!

What is funny about her name is that both John and I were convinced 99% she was a boy she we didn’t really need a baby girl name. God’s provisions always provide even at the very end. We both knew her name almost instantly after a moment of research.”

Is that just such a wonderful story, and an amazingly perfect name for this little girl, given the time of year she was born and the specific feast day?! (And how much are you all dying — like me — to know their previous girl name, as well as their boy name?! 😂 Maybe someday she’ll tell us!)

Congratulations to Lindsay and John and their other kiddos Dominic, Lillie, Rose, Zellie, Vianney, Clairvaux, Damaris, Kapaun, and Lourdes, and happy birthday Baby Belén!!

Belén Marie-Guadalupe

Prepare ye the way of the Lord (Advent names)

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I’ve had “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” in my head the last few days, which is such a lovely Adventy thing to have in my head now that Advent has begun, and what better way for a name blogger to celebrate Advent than by making a list of Advent names!

At least, that was my intention — and not just Advent names, but *new* names, not the same names everybody has written about forever and ever for babies born this time of year — but I had a hard time coming up with anything new! So many of the names that could qualify as Advent names are also legitimately Christmas names, and I’ve written about Christmas names a few times already (see the end of the post for a list), so I didn’t want to rehash or repackage the same names over again. (Also, even though I didn’t package it that way my Nameberry article from last year is explicitly Adventy, since it refers to titles of the coming Messiah as noted by Isaiah in the context of the O Antiphons — it’s all prophecy and anticipation about Christmas.)

That said, I just have to say that I think there are some Christmas names that just *are* Advent names, and no Advent list would be complete without them, like Mary, Joseph, Emmanuel (is O Come O Come Emmanuel not one of the most Adventy of songs?), Gabriel, John and Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Belén (the Spanish for Bethlehem) or even Bethlehem itself, so if you’re looking for an Advent name, don’t ignore the lists of Christmas names.

I was able to come up with a few new ideas though, and this site was incredibly helpful, as it explained a bunch of things about Advent that I actually didn’t already know, like how the first Sunday of Advent is set (it’s not actually the Sunday after Thanksgiving, as I might have mindlessly thought for a long time … I mean, it *is* the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but that’s not how it’s set of course, since most of the world doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving but they do celebrate Advent), and also what each of the candles means and represents. Based on those things, as well as some of my own ideas, here are some Advent names that you may not find on any list of Christmas names:

Andrew: Currently, the first Sunday of Advent is set on the first Sunday near the feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30). Did you already know that? I didn’t! How cool!

Catherine: This is definitely a little bit of a stretch, but St. Catherine of Siena was known to be so joyful as a child that she was nicknamed Euphrosyne, which is Greek for “joy,” and between the “Rejoice” of Gaudete Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent, when we light the third [pink] candle) and the fact that the third candle is called the Candle of Joy, a Joy name is quite appropriate for Advent (it’s already on lists of Christmas names). You could certainly use Euphrosyne, but I thought Catherine might be a bit easier!

Isaiah: This Old Testament prophet foretold the coming of the Messiah and shared all those amazing titles of the Messiah as remembered in the O Antiphons (see my Nameberry article for more on those).

Lydia: Lydia in the New Testament was a seller of purple cloth — this could be a subtle connection to the three purple candles of the Advent wreath.

Old Testament ancestors of Jesus: I wrote about Jesus’ genealogy here and here — using one of His ancestors’ names is a neat way of nodding to the centuries of preparation for the first Christmas.

Rose: Of course Rose always refers to Our Lady, but it can also refer to the pink candle on the Advent wreath, lit on the third Sunday of Advent aka Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete=Rejoice).

And jumping out of alphabetical order, maybe the craziest+coolest idea: Rorate Caeli/Coeli. As explained by the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent:

“(Vulgate, text), the opening words of Isaiah 45:8. The text is used frequently both at Mass and in the Divine Office during Advent, as it gives exquisite poetical expression to the longings of Patriarchs and Prophets, and symbolically of the Church, for the coming of the Messias. Throughout Advent it occurs daily as the versicle and response at Vespers. For this purpose the verse is divided into the versicle, “Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum” (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just), and the response: “Aperiatur terra et germinet salvatorem” (Let the earth be opened and send forth a Saviour”). The text is also used: (a) as the Introit for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, for Wednesday in Ember Week, for the feastof the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin, and for votive Masses of the Blessed Virgin during Advent; (b) as a versicle in the first responsory of Tuesday in the first week of Advent; (c) as the first antiphon at Lauds for the Tuesday preceding Christmas and the second antiphon at Matins of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin; (d) in the second responsory for Friday of the third week of Advent and in the fifth responsory in Matins of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin.”

The nickname Rory could totally make Rorate as a first name doable! What do you think? Crazy? Cool? Both?

In a fun twist, Haley from Carrots for Michaelmas tweeted me (tweeted to me?) yesterday asking about my Advent names post, which was so weird since I was thinking about this as-yet unwritten one! But then I listened to her and Christy’s latest Fountains of Carrots podcast and realized they had mentioned it there, and I think they were referring to that same O Antiphons Nameberry article I’ve referred to several times here.

This is another post and article I wrote about Christmas names, which also contain good Advent ideas:

Holy Family Names for Christmastime Babies (Catholic Mom)

Names for a Christmas baby

And this post is the most comprehensive I’ve ever come across, containing both familiar and surprising ideas (not written by me): Christmas Baby Names

What do you think of these Advent names? Would you consider them for an Advent baby, or are they too un-obvious for your taste? I’d love to know what unexpected/new names you can add to the list!

Names for the Joyful Mysteries

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Yesterday was one of my very favorite feast days and the first of the Joyful Mysteries, which makes today the perfect Tuesday to post names associated with them! And also, Dwija’s little Helen was discharged from the NICU yesterday and is home with her family, happy and thriving. Joy all around!!

Today’s post is a continuation of my Mysteries of the Rosary series, having already done names for the Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries, and your comments have been invaluable — keep them coming!

These are the Joyful Mysteries (read more here) (and here’s how to pray the Rosary):

The Annunciation by Gabriel to Mary (yesterday’s feast!)
The Visitation of Mary to Her Cousin Elizabeth
The Nativity of Jesus
The Presentation of the Baby Jesus in the Temple
The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

Names associated with the Joyful Mysteries might include:

Girls

Angela, Angeline, Angelica, Archangela, Angel — the angel names all point to St. Gabriel

Annunziata — an Italian name referring to the Annunciation

Annunciación — a Spanish name referring to the Annunciation

Christina, Christine, Christiane/a, Kristin, etc. — the Christ- names refer to Jesus in the last three Mysteries

Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elise, Elisa, Eliza, etc. — for St. Elizabeth, Our Lady’s cousin

Emmanuelle, Emmanuella — for Jesus, especially in the Nativity

Felicity, Felicitas — means “happiness,” for the Joyful Mysteries

Fiat — for Our Lady’s agreement to what Gabriel announced (“let it be done”); Amy suggested Fiat recently, and suggested the particular first name-middle name combo Marian Fiat

Gabrielle, Gabriela — for St. Gabriel

Jane, Joan, Jo(h)anna — for St. John the Baptist, who leapt in his mother’s womb for joy at being in the presence of his Unborn Savior

Josephine, Josefa — for good St. Joseph

Joy, Gioia — means “joy” in English and Italian, respectively

Joyce — behindthename says it originally came from a name meaning “lord,” and that its more recent popularity may be related to its similarity to the Middle English word for “to rejoice.” “Lord” or “rejoicing” — it’s all good for a Joyful Mysteries name!

Mary, Maria, Marie, etc. — for Our Lady, of course

Natalie, Natalia — literally refers to Christmas Day

Noel, Noelle — French for “Christmas”

Presentación — a Spanish name referring to the Presentation

Seraphina, Serafina, Seraphine — refers to the angels (specifically the seraphim, but I think the angelic meaning is what most people think of)

 

 

Boys

Angelo, Angel — see the Angel names above

Annunziato — see Annunziata above

Baptista, Baptiste, Battista, Bautista — alone or in combination with a John name, for St. John the Baptist (these are all listed as masculine by behindthename, but they could easily be used for girls as well, as I don’t think they come across as masculine [or at least not exclusively so] in America)

Christian, Christopher — see the Christ- names above

Emmanuel — see Emmanuelle above

Felix — see Felicity above

Gabriel — of course!

Jesús — it’s not considered reverent to use the name of Jesus in English, but it is in Spanish

John — for St. John the Baptist

Joseph — see Josephine above

Noel — see Noel above

Ryan — means “little king,” which especially calls to mind the Baby Jesus

Seraphim — see Seraphina above

What others can you add to this list? (There are lots more Christmas names, which I’ve posted about a few times — I just included the ones here that seemed particular to what I think of when I’m meditating on the Mystery of the Nativity.)

+ My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. +