Italian names

Baby name consultation: Short, soft but strong names with good meaning for baby boy

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , ,

Happy feast of St. Mary Magdalene! Here‘s an article I wrote a few years ago in celebration of her feast day in which I offer some of the ways that she has popped up throughout history.

Today’s consultation is for Hannah and her husband who are expecting baby no. 2 — a little boy! Little Mister joins big sister:

Rafaella (“We named our daughter Rafaella and call her both Ella and her given name. Rafael is a family name on my side of the family, and it ended up that we found out she’s a girl on the heavenly birthday [not her official feast day but the day she died] of the only female St. Rafaela in the Church – St. Rafaela Porras Ayllón. It was one of our top two names and then it ended up that God already knew she was a Rafaella.”)

Isn’t that an amazing story?? And such a beautiful name!!

Hannah writes,

“Right now we have two names we are thinking of choosing between, Leo Dominic and Peter Ambrose. I think we both like Dominic as a middle name for Peter too. Both names are ones that were not on our radar as possible baby boy names with our first pregnancy, and were not names we were considering when we found out this one is a boy. 

After finding out, my husband had a dream that our son was 6 months old and we were still throwing out possible names to name him. One of those names was Leo. The morning after his dream, and before he even told me about it, the name Leo popped into my head. 

The name Peter came to me just before I became pregnant, or it could have been within the first week before I knew I was. I had never considered it as a possible name for us before.

I like the name, but I don’t like the nicknames for it. 

At the moment, it doesn’t seem we’ll have a name for our son until we meet him when he’s born … but it would be nice to have it narrowed down beforehand.

I am looking to see if there are other names we should be considering. Especially if they’re shorter and have good meanings behind them. It is also a plus if they can’t easily be nicknamed.

One of the top boy names we had last time was Dominic, but after finding out we’re having a son, it doesn’t feel right for this little boy.

Sebastian, Jacob, Gabriel, and Theodore are other names we have tossed around. We like Sebastian but it’s a bit long. We love Jacob but I’m not a fan of the meaning. We like Gabriel, but I don’t like any of the nicknames. It’s also another archangel name. We both do like Theodore with the nickname Theo.

It seems our naming style for a boy is a bit different than for a girl. Top names for a girl were Serafina, Evangeline, Magdalena, and Agnes. Agnes being the only one out of the ordinary in that list!

Our top names for this boy turned into Leo, Peter, and Jacob. We do like that they are shorter. I like that they sound softer like our daughter’s name, and also strong.”

Names they can’t use include (though Hannah particularly loves Andrew nn Drew, Benjamin, and James):

  • Andrew
  • Jonathan
  • Stephen
  • David
  • Timothy
  • Michael
  • James
  • Thomas
  • Benjamin
  • Nathan
  • Charles
  • Daniel
  • Robert
  • Patrick

This was fun to work on! I loved reading about Hannah’s husband’s dream and that she was thinking about the name Leo even before her hubby told her about it! Leo certainly has all the things they’re looking for: shorter, good meaning, not easily nicknamed (though it might be helpful to know that I have a bunch of Leos in my family and while the younger generations are able to enforce the full Leo, the olders tend to go by Lee!), and I think it goes great with big sister Rafaella. Leo Dominic is a really handsome combo!

Peter is also a great name! I especially like it paired with a more unexpected middle name like Ambrose; I also quite like Peter Dominic. I have a friend whose son is Peter Damian, after Doctor of the Church St. Peter Damian, which I’ve always thought was a cool combo. That said, Peter does seem less well suited than Leo, based on the fact that it’s not a shorter name (though technically does have the same number of syllables as Leo), it’s easily nicknamed (and Hannah doesn’t like the nicknames), and it doesn’t have that “biblical-ish name dream” story that Leo has … I wonder if they might like the variant Pier, either as an unexpected nickname for Peter, or as a given name? Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati is the inspiration here, and though his devotees tend to get upset about people using Pier to honor him, since he went by Giorgio in life, I wouldn’t let that stop this anyone who was interested in using Pier — we use parts and variants of Saints’ names all the time to honor them (e.g., Charles and Lolek for St. John Paul II).

In addition to Leo and Peter, they have a great list of possibilities! I thought I’d offer my thoughts on them, in case they’re helpful:

  • Dominic: While I love Dominic — it’s one of my very favorites! — I’m not too disappointed that they’re not really considering it for a first name for this baby, since I think siblings Rafaella and Dominic come across as having a heavy ethnic feel — Italian-ish or Spanish, Latinate of some kind. That doesn’t have to be a problem! I actually really love it when families lean into their heritage when naming their babies! But I didn’t see any evidence in Hannah’s email or in her last name to suggest that she or her husband have heritage of that nature? Again, that doesn’t have to be a problem — Catholic parents often choose names of beloved Saints outside of their own family heritage! I love that we have such a wide pool of names to choose from! But it might make them feel boxed in to use Dominic after Rafaella — siblings Rafaella, Dominic, and Jacob sound a little jarring, for example. (Again, that doesn’t have to be a problem! There’s no reason they can’t choose names that sound jarring together, and honestly, many people wouldn’t even notice! I just want to be sure I share all the thoughts that I think are relevant.)
  • Sebastian: Sebastian is long! It’s got lots of fun nicknames like Seb, Sebby, Bastian, and Bash; my kids also have a friend Sebastian who goes by Baz. But if they’re trying to stay away from nicknames, Sebastian probably isn’t the right name for them!
  • Jacob: Though Jacob was buried in the list of names Hannah and her husband have discussed, later on in her email Hannah said that Leo, Peter, and Jacob are their top frontrunners. I love the name Jacob! Like with Peter, I like the idea of an unexpected middle name for Jacob, since it’s such a familiar name. Also, I know they prefer not to use a nickname, but I think Jake is one of the very best! So friendly yet strong. (As a side note, Hannah said James is a name she likes, though they can’t use it because it’s a cousin’s name — I just wanted to point out that Jacob and James are the same name! Jacob is the Hebrew and James is the Latin.)
  • Gabriel: Gabriel is one of my very favorite boy names ever! However, with big sister Rafaella I like it better as a middle for this family, at least for this baby immediately following Rafaella (never the heavy Archangel influence!). Peter Gabriel would be great if the music association doesn’t bother them! A name that I thought might be able to take Gabriel’s place on their list is Gideon — there isn’t a natural nickname for it (though I’ve been partial to something like Gideon Louis with the nickname Gil) and he’s a huge hero in the Old Testament.
  • Theodore: I’m not surprised Hannah and her hubby like Theodore and Theo, since Leo is high on their list! Based on their preference for shorter names that don’t nickname easily, I would say Leo is a better fit for them, however, I also have a friend who recently named her son Theo (not Theodore), so that’s an option, too. Also, I think it’s the kind of thing where they can use either Leo or Theo(dore), not both, so they’ll want to give some thought to which one they like better, or which one they’d be sorrier to lose.
  • Even though they can’t use Andrew/Drew, Benjamin, and James, I’m glad Hannah mentioned that she loves them, as they gave me extra information to use in my research.
  • I’m also glad she mentioned the names on their girl list! Serafina, Evangeline, and Magdalena all have a similar feel to Rafaella in my mind; Agnes is a little surprising, but I’m seeing it more and more. Though it’s very common for parents to prefer different styles of name for their girls versus their boys, I think there’s also usually a sense of not wanting the two styles to clash, so it was helpful to see what they’re thinking for a future daughter.

Alright! On to new ideas! I did my usual research in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I also paid special attention to names that are shorter, have good meaning, and aren’t easily nicknamed, as well as names that I thought fit their preference for “soft but strong.” Based on all that, these are names that I think Hannah and her husband might like:

(1) Joachim nn Jake

Okay, despite the fact that they’d prefer not to nickname, I just had to mention this idea! I absolutely love the name Joachim and tried to convince my husband of it through several of our boys. Not only is this the name we honor Our Lady’s father under, but I had thought that the nickname Jake really “made” this idea! (We couldn’t use Joe.) Since they love Jacob, I thought I’d throw that out there.

(2) Caleb

Jacob was a big inspiration behind this idea, too, as Caleb is a style match for it and I often see that parents who like Jacob also like Caleb. Caleb is one of the sweetest, softest boy names I know! While it’s generally considered to derive from the Hebrew word for “dog,” which isn’t the greatest meaning, there’s also a theory that it could mean “whole, all of” plus “heart,” which is wonderful. Even the dog meaning isn’t bad — St. Dominic is known as the hound of heaven, so Caleb Dominic could actually be very meaningful to anyone with a Dominican sensibility!

(3) Bennett

Since they can’t use Benjamin, there’s a good bet they can’t use Bennett, either, because of the shared Ben nickname, but if there was a chance they could use Bennett, I think they might like it! It’s a medieval diminutive of Benedict, so it’s got great faith connections, and I think it has that softer feel they’re looking for.

(4) Matthias

I was excited to see that Matthias is a style match for a bunch of names they like, first and foremost Rafaella! It’s also a match for Dominic, Serafina, and Evangeline — that’s amazing to me! It’s one of my favorite biblical names, and I often think of it as having Catholic character because Matthias was chosen by the apostles — the first “Church council”?? 😉— to replace Judas.

(5) Milo or Miles

Milo is a style match for Leo and another name I think they’d probably like to consider if they didn’t already have Ella: Elliott. I have always loved Milo’s amazing meaning: “devotee of the Virgin Mary” via an Old Irish name with that meaning that Milo has traditionally been used as the anglicized version of (Maelmhuire). I also think Milo has a softer feel while still being squarely masculine. However, I worry that Milo might take Leo and Theo out of the running, so the variant Miles might appeal to them more — it shares the same Marian meaning as Milo, as it, too, has traditionally been used as the anglicized form of Maelmhuire. Miles can also take the added meaning of “soldier” as the Latin for soldier is miles. Very cool for a little boy!

(6) Oliver

Oliver showed up so much in my research for this baby! It’s a style match for Leo, Sebastian, Theodore, and Madeline (standing in for Magdalena, which doesn’t have its own entry in the BNW; Madeline’s matches have often seemed to me to be similar to what Magdalena’s might be); additionally, I know a little Oliver who has brothers named Benjamin and James, so it definitely seems like a name Hannah and her husband would like! I would also definitely put it in the “softer” category.

(7) Simon

This is another match for Leo, and one that I would consider “softer.” I know of two little boys named Simon Peter — maybe that’s how they can work Peter in? As a middle name for Simon? (For what it’s worth, both little Simon Peters I know use it as a double first name!)

(8) Tobias, Tobiah

Tobias is a match for Dominic and Evangeline — it’s always fun for me to see a name that is a match for both boy names and girl names on parents’ lists! It’s the Greek form of Tobiah, which they might also like — the “ah” ending gives it a softer feel. Tobias and Tobiah mean “Yahweh is good,” which is great!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Rafaella/Ella’s little brother?

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!

Baby name consultation: Mary, family, strength, beauty, and nickname options for baby no. 3’s name

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , , , , ,

Happy Monday! There are a bunch of holy people celebrated today — some that jumped out at me are two popes (Pope St. Adrian III and Bl. Pope Eugene III), St. Morwenna, and St. Sunniva of Bergen.

Please remember that as of July 2 (as I wrote in the post that day), I’m suspending consultations indefinitely due to various things going on in my life (all good!). I will continue to post consultations I’ve already done for those families who want public posts, and I have some birth announcements and other things to post this summer as well; I also always keep you all in my prayers! 🩷🩷🩷

Today’s consultation is for Annelise and her husband, who are expecting their third baby very soon! This little one is a green bean (=gender unknown) 🌱 and joins big sibs:

Mariana Catharine (“She is named after both my mother and great grandmother – both Catharina Maria – with her own unique twist on the family tradition. Mariana also catches my husbands paternal grandmother Mary and mine and my MIL’s middle name, Marie. I love that her name is not only three of my favorite saints, Mary, Anne and Catherine, but also so deeply rooted in our family and Austrian heritage on my mom’s side. She chose her own nickname – Mari. Which suits her perfectly! If she had been a boy, she would have been James William“)

Henry James (“While I was pregnant with him, he came to me in a dream and told me his name. When I woke up, I very excitedly told my husband I met our baby and not only is it a boy but he told me his name. Every fiber of my being knew we had to go with this name for him. When he was finally born, holding him was surreal because he was absolutely the same baby as in my dream. His name carries a lot of family significance on my husband’s side. My husband is named after his grandfather Hale James [“Jim”], who was named after his father James Hale. My husband loves that our Henry has the same initials [HJB] as his grandfather, who passed not long before Henry was born. While Henry the 8th gives the name some bad PR, there are a few wonderful Saint Henry’s we love! And James goes without saying. We love the nickname Hank and our Henry really brings it to life. He is all things boy, tough and wild! If he had been a girl, he would have been Lillian Alexandra“)

Mariana Catharine and Henry James are such attractive combos and I love that they have faith and family significance. Mari and Hank are such sweet sibling names!

Annelise writes,

“For this baby, I’ve been feeling my heart connect to only one name – Maddalena. Which is both wonderful and challenging. I love that this name, like Mariana, has so much familiarity to it and yet is very unique. It sounds both new and old at the same time. It’s a beautiful connection to Mary Magdalene, who’s feast day is in July, and is full of nickname potential! The cons are that my husband isn’t a big fan. His worries are that it is too long, too easily misspelled and worries if it is too similar to Mariana. He would prefer the more common, Madeline. 

When it comes to boy names, we love the idea of using my husband’s middle name as the middle name. Christopher is also my husband’s father’s middle name. Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree on a first name we both like that works well with Christopher. So we aren’t fully committed to this idea.

Stylistically, I am drawn to romantic, lyrical names for girls and regal, traditional names for boys. I care very little about how popular a name is and actually prefer, especially for girls, more unique names with strength, beauty and nickname options. I love when a name has deep religious significance, family and personal ties. My own name is Annelise Marie. I grew up with a unique name and nickname (Lissi) and loved it. I love that it calls to Saints Anne, Elizabeth and Mary. My own name has that unique but sounds familiar feel that Mariana and Maddalena have. 

My husband, however, is drawn to names that sound very familiar and aren’t too exotic. He would happily choose from the 25 most popular names in the US, while I read those as a list of names to avoid, particularly for girls! lol He is on board with using first and middle saint names.” 

Some names that Annelise likes include:

  • Diana
  • Louisa/Louise
  • Cecilia
  • Elisa 
  • George
  • Owen
  • Otto
  • Michael
  • Charles 

Some names her husband likes include:

  • Cecilia
  • Charlotte
  • Delaney
  • Mackenzie
  • Michaela 
  • John/Jack
  • Charles 

Some family names that might be nice to include are:

  • George
  • William
  • John
  • Michael
  • Quinn (could be for boy or girl)

Saints they love include:

  • St. Padre Pio
  • St. Anne
  • St. Mary Magdalene
  • St. Clare
  • St. Teresa
  • St. Azelie 

Some additional considerations:

“Mary has always been my guiding force. I feel profoundly called by her and close to her. Some of her titles I love are Our lady of the Mystical Rose, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of Heaven, Queen of All Saints. 

Hard no list: While we both love Charles, we simply can’t do it with our last name.

[Annelise’s grandfather recently passed.] His passing was expected … but has not come easily. He was an extraordinary man and so well loved by his family. 

I think it would be wonderful to honor him somehow in naming this baby.” His full name included Floyd, Eldo, and Quinn.

Additionally, Annelise shared a portion of her family tree with me, which I had such fun looking through — so many great names on there!

I also really loved hearing the names Annelise and her husband would have given each of their older kiddos if they’d been the opposite sex — James William and Lillian Alexandra give a good sense of their style. I know some people consider the names their children would have been named to be off limits going forward — I’m assuming that’s how they feel?

As for the names they’re considering, I’d love to offer my thoughts in case they’re helpful:

  • Maddalena: This is, indeed, a gorgeous name! I like how Annelise characterized it as “both new and old at the same time,” and I love that St. Mary Magdalene’s feast is in the month she’s due. I would love to help figure out a name in her honor that Annelise and her hubby both like! I’m interested that he thinks it’s too similar to Mariana — I’m sorry to say that I had a similar thought when I first read it, especially because the “r” in Mariana would sound more like a “d” for Spanish speakers, which is something I think of because we have a large population of Spanish speakers where I live. But that may not be their situation, which would certainly make Maddalena less problematic from that perspective. If we put aside for just a second the fact that Annelise has “been feeling [her] heart connect to only” Maddalena as a first name (which is definitely an important consideration!), some possible solutions or compromises between you and your husband could be:
  1. Maddalena as a middle name: Moving Maddalena to the middle spot could make Annelise’s hubby feel more okay with them using this form that she prefers. If they did so, they could use a first name that they both agree upon and really just leave Maddalena as the seldom-seen middle name, or they could incorporate Maddalena into the everyday call name. For this family, my favorite idea would be Mary Maddalena. It’s an old but traditional practice in several Catholic cultures (Irish, French, Spanish, Italian) for every daughter in a family to have a form of Mary as their first name, even if they exclusively go by their middles. Considering that Mariana already has a Marian first name, they could consider Mary Maddalena as their second baby’s given name (first + middle), and call her by a nickname of Maddalena. If you used Lena, there’s no issue at all with Mariana and Maddalena being similar — Mari and Lena are great together! You could also do something Rose Maddalena and do a mashup nickname from the first + middle like Romy or Reina.
  2. A different form: Maddalena and Madeline are sort of the two ends of the spectrum regarding the names to honor this Saint. I wonder if something more in the middle would be agreeable to them both? I’m thinking Magdalene (or Magdalen, Magdalyn) — it’s not as familiar as Madeline but not as potentially problematic as Maddalena (especially in terms of not being as similar to Mariana). It also has more of a surname feel, like Delaney and Mackenzie on Annelise’s husband’s list. Another option is Magali, which I don’t see often — I knew a woman with this name a long time ago, it’s the Occitan (French) form.
  • Cecilia: Because Annelise and her husband have pretty different lists except for Cecilia, which they both share, Cecilia is definitely high on my list for them! I love it as a sister to Mariana and I love it on its own, but I also love the idea of something like Mary Cecilia as mentioned above.
  • Louisa/Louise: Both lovely names, but they made me think of two other names that I would think of as a closer match for this family: Lucia for a girl and Louis for a boy. I wonder what they would think of those?
  • Diana: I find this one surprising! But when I consider that Annelise prefers “regal” names for boys, Diana makes sense. I don’t love that it has the same ending as Mariana though.
  • Elisa: This is one of my favorites for this family because of its connection to Annelise’s name! I love that Mariana has “ana” like her Anne, and using Elisa for her second daughter would give both her girls a nice connection to her. Because she likes “romantic and lyrical” names for girls, including the very Italian Maddalena, I wonder what she would think of the Italian form of Elizabeth, Elisabetta? Elisa could still be the nickname.
  • Charlotte: Even though Annelise don’t have this on her personal list, Charlotte is a style match for Louisa, and since they both like Charles but can’t use it, maybe Charlotte is a good compromise?
  • Delaney, Mackenzie: These names Annelise’s husband likes are definitely different from the ones she likes, but they gave me an idea for some that might be good compromises — I’ve included those ideas in my list of “official” suggestions below.
  • Michaela: I’m interested by Michaela — it can have a Delaney/Mackenzie feel (as in McKayla), but in the spelling Michaela it has a more traditional feel. I’ve actually always loved it and had it on my own list.
  • Christopher as middle name: I love their tentative plan of using Annelise’s hubby’s middle name for the baby if they have a boy! It’s so meaningful that it’s also her father-in-law’s middle name. Since she said they haven’t been able to agree on a first name they both like that works well with Christopher, I wondered what they’d think of considering Hale as a middle name? It’s a middle name that would clearly be for Annelise’s husband’s side of the family, and it has a totally different sound and rhythm from Christopher, which might mean that it would work well with names that wouldn’t work well with Christopher.
  • George: This definitely fits into the “regal, traditional” feel Annelise prefers for boys. Georgie is such a fun nickname, and I also love Geo and Geordie.
  • Owen: I loved seeing Owen three times in Annelise’s family tree! I’m not sure what I think about it for a first name for them, though … it has a different feel from George and Charles, for example … I have always loved St. Nicholas Owen — I could see loving them using it in that way (as a middle name for Nicholas, as a direct nod to that Saint, while also looping in their family name), or as a middle in general.
  • Otto: Otto is very cool, but this helps me articulate a thought I’ve been trying to formulate: the mix of ethnicities they have represented in their name lists is unexpected, especially given their very English surname. Even though Mariana is listed in Behind the Name as Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Czech, Bulgarian, and Ancient Roman, I think it, and similar names like Juliana, have been used enough that they don’t come across as obviously ethnic. Maddalena, however, is clearly Italian, and if then if they add in Owen, which has a more Irish feel, and especially Otto, which has a very German feel, people who pay attention to names might take notice. I know Annelise has German and Austrian ancestry, so Otto totally makes sense for them! I guess I’m feeling like Otto calls names like Maddalena into question more, which I’m not sure they want to do. Or maybe it doesn’t matter to them! And it doesn’t have to necessarily! (** ETA: Annelise subsequently shared with me that she had a very international upbringing, which has definitely informed her taste in names. So cool! **)
  • Michael: Michael on Annelise’s list and Michaela on her husband’s is interesting … Michael is certainly solid, handsome, and saintly for a boy!
  • Charles: I’m so bummed that they both love Charles but they can’t use it! I wonder if the variants Carlo (like for Bl. Carlo Acutis — soon to be St. Carlo!) or Karol (St. JP2’s birth name) appeal to them?
  • John/Jack: John with the nickname Jack seems like a perfect name for this family. John has the “regal, traditional” feel that Annelise prefers, and Jack feels like her husband’s style. John is probably my top choice for this family of the names Annelise and her hubby are considering! It also has the amazing quality of going well with all kinds of middle names — it can serve to “normalize” the more out-there middle names, too, in the same way that I’ve always thought Mary as a first name does for girl names. When I was looking through Annelise’s family tree and saw a relative named John George, I immediately loved John George as a combo for them! But I also love John Christopher! And John Pio! And John Charles! I think John Christopher nicknamed Jack is what I would recommend — it seems like a name that hits all the right notes (family, faith, and a name that both Annelise and her husband are likely to like).
  • William: I really love names that work to honor both sides of the family!
  • Quinn: I love Quinn as a possible middle name! I’m not as much of a fan of it for a first name for them — if they were doing all Owen-type names, then yes, definitely Quinn! But with Maddalena and Otto in the mix as well, I would prefer Quinn in the middle. George O’Quinn, John O’Quinn, William Quinn, and I love Mary Quinn for a girl (sounds like Mary, Queen)! This is a nice, easy way to honor both Annelise’s mom and her grandfather.

Speaking of, I want to spend a minute talking about Annelise’s grandfather specifically and her family tree more generally — I have so many ideas to share! First off: her beloved grandpa. I had so much fun thinking about his name! I looked it up to see if the meanings of any of his names might be helpful, and Behind the Name says Floyd is a variant of Lloyd, which means “grey.” Grey! What a cool name! I think it could work for a boy (for a first or middle) or a girl (probably more as a middle — the new Hunger Games book/movie has Lucy Gray Baird as one of the main characters, and she goes by the double Lucy Gray, so I wouldn’t do that that combo [though I love it!], but Maddalena Grey is a very intriguing combo!) But only if Annelise was sure to feel like her grandpa was represented in a meaningful way if Grey was used somehow!

Then, Eldo: I’m so intrigued by Eldo! It’s kind of a mystery name! It’s not in Behind the Name’s database (I consider Behind the Name to be the most trustworthy in terms of name meaning, origin, etc.) so I had to venture out into sites of questionable reputation and found that it could be of Aramaic origin via South India meaning “birth of Christ” (source, source) (would be cool if Annelise or her hubby had any ties to India in their family!), or it could be of Spanish/Galician/Portuguese origin meaning “happy, joyful” (source). Both of those meanings are amazing! They inspired some of my suggestions below. Also, Christopher could nod to Eldo if they accept the “birth of Christ” meaning!

Then, further in Annelise’s family tree, I found some really lovely names and combos, some of which also inspired some ideas below. It was cool to see Cecilia — a name they both love, and it’s also a family name! Regina is a middle name for one of her ancestors, which means “queen” and has a long, impeccable tradition of being used for Catholic girls in honor of Our Lady. It could be used in honor of Queen of Heaven and Queen of All Saints, as Annelise noted she loves those titles. Other variants include the Spanish Reina (RAY-na) and the French Reine (REN). Could be cool for a middle name! Ooooh and I’m just thinking, they could use Reina as a mashup-type nickname for Rose/Rosa Maddalena, which would get Mystical Rose, St. Mary Magdalene, and any of Our Lady’s titles as Queen in one name! Gah! I’m loving that idea!

Speaking of Marian titles, Annelise said that some of her titles that she most likes are Mystical Rose, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of Heaven, and Queen of All Saints. I wonder if she would ever consider Rosa Mystica as a first + middle combo? Any of the Rose names could honor that title (Rose, Rosa, Rosemary, Rosalie), and could also honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, too. They’re considering John for a boy, which could also nod to Our Lady of Guadalupe because of St. Juan Diego (Juan is the Spanish form of John). And I already mentioned some ways of working in “queen” (Regina, Reina, Reine), but the “of heaven” part could be fun to play with: Regina Caeli is “Queen of Heaven” in Latin, with Caeli said like CHAY-lee — I’ve seen some families name daughters Caeli (first name) in honor of this title. Celeste means “heavenly,” so that could work too: Regina Celeste, Reina Celeste, Celeste Regina. Annelise and her hubby both like Cecilia, and the very similar Celia, which can work as a nickname for Cecilia but is also its own name with separate etymology, means “heaven” — maybe that? Celia Regina, or mixing it up to something like Celia Rose or Celia Rosemary, could be lovely and meaningful from a Marian perspective.

Okay! On to new ideas! As noted, I was inspired by Annelise’s family tree, and I also did my usual research, looking up Mariana as well as the names they’re considering in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I really tried to harness a “romantic, lyrical” feel for girl names and a “regal, traditional” feel for boy names. Based on all that, these are my ideas:

Girl

(1) Elena

This idea was inspired by a couple things. I didn’t think of it until I saw Annelise’s ancestor Helen Regina in her family tree, and thought that was such a beautiful combo! Helen didn’t seem quite right for this family, though, nor Helena or Helene, but the variant Elena seems perfect! Then I realized that Elena has the same sound as the end of Maddalena, so maybe Elena could be a good compromise between A. and her husband! (They lose the St. Mary Magdalene connection, but they could make up for it with a variant of Mary somewhere: Maria Elena, Mary Elena, Elena Marie, etc.) If they like the idea of mirroring the full Helen Regina combo, Elena Regina and Elena Reine would both do nicely.

(2) Natalia, Natalina, Noel(le)

This was originally inspired by the possible meaning of Eldo being “birth of Christ,” since the Natalie and Noel names literally refer to Christmas Day. Then I saw Natalia in the BNW as a style match for Mariana! Like Mariana, Natalia is very pan-European, having usage in lots of different countries and languages. I couldn’t help but notice that a specific Italian variant is Natalina, which nearly rhymes with Maddalena (depending how you say the “lena” part), but might provide enough differentiation from Mariana that Annelise’s husband would be okay with it? Then of course Noel and Noelle. They could certainly consider them for the first name spot, but I feel like they’d be a more natural fit for them in the middle spot.

(3) Matilda

Annelise has an ancestor named Mary Matilda, which I loved right away! Matilda is also a style match for Louisa on her list! It’s a little clunkier than Mariana and Maddalena, but a beautiful name nonetheless with some sweet nickname options.

(4) Stella(maris)

Estella is a match for Louisa, which didn’t feel quite right to me for this family, but made me think Stella might be perfect. Then I found that Henry, Jack, and Charlie are all style matches for Stella! While I love the trimmer Stella, I wondered what they’d think of the fuller Stellamaris? It refers to Our Lady’s title Star of the Sea, and is also seen as Maristella, which I would have suggested in a heartbeat if it wasn’t so similar to Mariana! I also have a friend who named her daughter Stella Marissa as a nod to Our Lady, Stellamaris.

(5) Saintly surname-type names

Because of the surname-y Delaney and Mackenzie on Annelise’s husband’s list, I wanted to try to think of names that might be similar, but with saintly significance and hopefully a “romantic, lyrical” feel. Avila came immediately to mind — it’s not technically a surname, but serves a similar role in St. Teresa of Avila’s name. Another is Salette, from Our Lady of La Salette — I did a consultation for a family considering Salette (dropping the “La”) and I thought it was brilliant and so pretty. Bessette is another, from St. Andre Bessette, and has the added feature of looking like a French diminutive of Elizabeth. Annelise and her hubby might also like to look through the girls’ names in this family — there’s a definite saintly surname feel in a few of them, like Vianney, Clairvaux, and Lourdes, and all of them done in an ultra-feminine way. (That link goes to the original post I did on them; here [this baby had some scary health issues at birth, in case any of you can’t handle reading that kind of stuff right now!], here, here are birth announcements for subsequent babies. Amazing namers!)

Boy

(1) Edmund

As soon as I saw Edmund in the list of names similar to Louisa I knew I had to include it on the list! It has that regal, traditional feel I think Annelise is looking for, with lots of nicknames options: Ed, Eddie, Ted, Teddy, Ned. St. Edmund Campion is great! Edmund Christopher is very handsome to me.

(2) Arthur

Arthur is a style match for Louise, and again, once I saw it I was like yes! What is more regal and traditional (especially from an English perspective) than Arthur?? I thought they might particularly like a nickname I’ve been seeing for Arthur: Bear, because of Arthur’s possible and mostly accepted meaning of “bear.” (I love the nickname Bear so much that I tried to convince my husband of Benedict Gerard with the nickname Bear for our youngest!) There are several Blesseds with that name. I think this is a name that wouldn’t pair well with Christopher — do you all agree? Arthur Christopher has repeated ending sounds, but some people quite like that. If these parents like Arthur but not Christopher with it, maybe they would consider Arthur Grey? Or, I also really like Hale from Hubby’s family — Arthur Hale is handsome too!

(3) Felix

This was originally inspired by Eldo’s possible meaning of “happy, joyful,” but then I was excited to see that it’s a match for Otto and Eliza (similar to Elisa). I’ve been seeing some little Felixes here and there, it’s a cool name!

(4) Alexander

I did a quick general search online for “regal” names for boys, just to see if anything jumped out, and Alexander was on the list, which reminded me that Alexandra was going to be Henry’s middle name if he’d been a girl, and I wondered if they’d be interested to switching it to a boy’s name? Alexander is saintly and papal and has some cool nickname options in addition to the familiar Alex like Xander, Zander, and Sander. Sandy is a traditional nickname that isn’t used much anymore, but my boys have a friend named Sandy whose given name is Alexander and I love hearing it.

(5) Bates, Hart

These last two are taken from Annelise’s family tree, both names that I think are so cool and could work as either first or middle names. Bates is the first: I’ve always loved that Bates is a medieval diminutive of Bartholomew, giving it impeccable faith credentials in an unexpected way.

The other is Hart: I worked with a doctor a long time ago in a previous career whose son was named Hart — his wife’s maiden name. I loved that! A hart is a male deer (stag), and the “ard” part of names like Gerard and Bernard are actually the Old German element “hart” which means “brave, hardy,” both of which gives it a really masculine spin. I also love that it sounds like “heart,” which gives it an affectionate feel. There’s also this birth announcement I did for parents who named their son Gerhardt and call him Hart. Love, love, love!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little sister or brother of Mariana and Henry?

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!

Baby name consultation: floral, literary, possibly Brit, probably not too Italian-y for baby girl’s name

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , , , ,

Happy feast of St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria! I hope my American readers had a good 4th of July! Please pray for America! 🗽🙏

Be sure to note that as of July 2 (as I wrote in the post that day), I’m suspending consultations indefinitely due to various things going on in my life (all good!). I will continue to post consultations I’ve already done for those families who want them, and I have some birth announcements and other things to post this summer as well; I also always keep you all in my prayers! 🩷🩷🩷

Today’s consultation is for Jessica and her husband, who are expecting their fourth baby — a girl! Little Miss joins big siblings:

Gianna Catherine (“Gianna is my confirmation saint [I converted in college] and also a patron of our family. I knew after learning her story that I would want to name a daughter after her, so once we found out that our first was a girl, that was that! My husband and I met through pro-life work during our college years, and after we married, I pursued a degree in Catholic Bioethics, and Gianna’s patronage covers the whole gamut of issues important to us [the department at the university where I earned my degree was officially christened The St. Gianna School of Health Sciences soon after I graduated]. The middle name Catherine was chosen both for how well it flows with Gianna and also because we wanted to honor St. Catherine of Sienna, another strong Catholic woman who served the Church in an entirely different way than St. Gianna. We mostly call her Gianna or some other non-name-related nicknames, but a lot of relatives call her Gigi or G [we do as well, but not as frequently]“). 

Dominic Ivan (“To be perfectly honest, the main reason we chose Dominic was that it was one of the only boy names we both liked. I used to joke that we would struggle to name any future boys, but the joke is on me now because we’re having a girl and struggling anyways. But we both liked the name Dominic, and a bonus was the connection to St. Dominic and the Order of Preachers, whose charisms we appreciate. It also paired well with Gianna’s more Italian-style name, and is a fairly common name in Croatia, where my father’s family is from. Ivan is my husband’s grandfather’s name – once I suggested Ivan as a middle name, my husband really liked the idea and that also helped push Dominic to the top. We had been considering some other names like Thomas or Damien, but felt that Dominic Ivan flowed better than the alternative options. We also mostly use his full name, but occasionally shorten it to Dommy (Or Doodle, but I doubt he wants that nickname to follow him into adulthood] 😂”)

+Stella Mercy (“We named our miscarried baby Stella Mercy.  We lost her right around the start of Advent, so a star-related name seemed appropriate, and I have always loved the name Mercy.  My husband didn’t like the idea of a unisex name [even though we lost her too early to know the sex] but I like to think that her name could also be Stella Clement if, in fact, she was a boy. The meaning would be the same“)

Absolutely fantastic names!! And two consultations for families with a little Dominic in one week!!😍

Jessica writes,

“So this little rainbow baby will be our third here on earth, but our fourth to name. I have always been into baby names, and as a kid I used to read baby name books and make long lists of names – for book characters but also for future children. So now that I’m actually in the baby-naming phase of life, I feel a lot of pressure to pick the perfect names! We both prefer names with strong meaning, or family names. I am also very picky about the cadence of a name, and how well the whole name flows together, as well as just the first/last combo (since that’s what they’ll most often be called).  Our last name is very short and choppy. Most single-syllable names are out because they don’t sound good, and any name that ends with D also doesn’t work (I like Marigold and Adelaide but they’re just too clunky with [last name].)

My husband and I have a decent amount of baby name style overlap, although I am definitely more accepting of unusual or less common names.  I tend to throw out a bunch of name ideas and he whittles down our list by vetoing the ones he doesn’t like (like Aveline, Linnea, or Calliope).  Our last name is very simple (and boring! – I say that with full agreement of my husband too 😅) so I wouldn’t mind going completely ‘out-there’ with names but my husband is skeptical of names he doesn’t hear super often.”

Sounds familiar! 😅

Names they’re considering include: 

  • Clara (“this was our top choice for a while but my husband says it’s not clicking as well as he thought it would; it’s a family name on my side and I also really love the connection to St. Clare [who was born Chiara, which is the Italian form of Clara]“)
  • Lydia (“this was our girl name pick when pregnant with Dominic. It’s still one of Hubs’ favorites but I’m not as sure about it anymore, but we love the biblical Lydia and her association with the early Church and hospitality“)
  • Maisie (“we would use it as a nickname, probably with Mary Therese or Margaret as the full name. Hubs prefers it as a nn for Margaret, but his mom and my grandmother are both Mary, so it feels like it would be a missed opportunity to pick Maisie but not honor the multiple Marys in our lives“)
  • Josephine (“my husband really likes the nickname Josie, I’m worried it’s too sing-songy with our last name. Also this is nitpicky, but my name is Jessica, and our older daughter is Gianna, so it feels like a lot of repletion of the J/G sounds in all the girls“)
  • Felicity (“we both like the cadence of the name, and especially the nickname Lissie. The one hang-up we have [and we’re not sure if it’s even a real concern] is that some friends in the area just had a girl in April and named her Felicity. We have no issue with anyone in our circle using the same names as our kids, and we’ve said as much to friends who mentioned liking the names Gianna and Dominic, but I know that not everyone feels the same way about ‘stealing’ baby names and we want to bring it up casually with these friends and see if it would be something that bothered them before we lock anything in“)

Additional names that Jessica likes but her hubby doesn’t:

  • Adeline
  • Emilia
  • Rosalie
  • Violet
  • Elowen 

Names already used in their family (basically a “no” list) include:

  • Julia
  • Mikayla
  • Emma
  • Anna
  • Ellie 
  • Charlotte
  • Allison
  • Lilly
  • Emily
  • Elaine
  • Evelyn (nn. Evie with a long E)

Some final considerations:

“Gianna and Dominic both have saint names (and vaguely Italian names) but we didn’t necessarily intend that as a requirement – so I’m a little worried that we might lock ourselves into a theme if this baby also has a saint name (or a name that’s too Italian sounding I guess). My favorite boy name for the future is Tristan, which is not a saint name, so it’s on my mind, and names like Clara, Lydia, and Maisie seem like a good happy medium – biblical or saint associations without being overtly a saint name. We could easily name future children after saints or not, without anyone ending up being the odd one out.  

Baby girl is due in early November, so if there are any late Oct/early Nov feast days that might be relevant, that would be interesting to know! Also we are both very into theology and literature – my husband is a huge LOTR fan (although he still won’t sign off on the name Eowyn 😅). One of the reasons I felt drawn to Maisie early on was the connection to Maisie Ward, a Catholic theologian and writer connected to the Oxford movement in England. I mentioned that my ancestry is mostly Croatian and Italian, but my husband’s ancestry is German and Ukrainian, so we’re open to names more from that region. Also my husband is a big anglophile and probably wishes he lived in England, so we love a good British name too!  I know that’s all over the place, but maybe it can help with some inspiration!“

I absolutely love Jessica’s older kiddos’ names! Gianna Catherine, Dominic Ivan, and Stella Mercy (/Clement) are all so beautiful, meaningful, and full of faith significance! I loved reading all the background behind each one.

I laughed over Jessica’s characterization of their family’s surname as “boring” and I tend to fall in the same mindset she has of balancing that kind of thing out by “going completely ‘out there’ with names,” but I also really like how she articulated her husband’s reservations: “skeptical of names he doesn’t hear super often.” That’s one of the best explanations I’ve heard for why so many husbands (in my experience) are reluctant to consider certain names, and also why so many seem stuck on names that their wives describe as being “names of girls they went to high school with.”

I love their list of ideas, and I’ll start by offering my thoughts on each one, in case they’re helpful:

  • Clara: This is a great and less-expected way to nod to St. Clare, a beautiful name! I get, though, that sometimes a name that has been a top contender for a while might start to feel … stale? To one or both parents?
  • Lydia: It sounds like what’s happening with Clara for Jessica’s husband is what’s happening with Lydia for Jessica! It’s a great name, and I loved her explanation of what they love about the name including “her association with the early Church and hospitality.” I’ve also always loved that purple would be a Lydia’s own personal color!
  • Maisie, Josephine: Okay, I’m putting these two together because I think there might be a solution here that would involve both of these names! Jessica mentioned that her love of Maisie began in part with Maisie Ward; also that her mother-in-law and her grandmother are both Mary; also that Josie LastName sounds too sing-songy to her; also that having another girl’s name start with the J sound seems overmuch. I know Jessica’s husband prefers this as a nickname for Margaret, which I get, since in origin it is a diminutive of Margaret, but I wonder if he — and Jessica — would be open to Mary Josephine nicknamed Maisie, especially when they find out that Maisie Ward’s given name was Mary Josephine?? It seems to bring together/solve all the things Jessica listed! (Except for the Margaret thing, which I am sorry for, but it would allow Jessica’s husband to call their daughter Josie if he wants! Moms and Dads sometimes have different nicknames they use for their kids.)
  • Felicity: Oh man, I love Felicity for this family! But I also get Jessica’s reservations about using it without making sure that it’s okay with the other family they know! If their friends give their blessing, I really do love Felicity as Gianna’s and Dominic’s sister. If their friends aren’t okay with them using it, I wouldn’t think it’s totally off the table — maybe just shelved for now. You never know what the future brings — that family might move away, or Jessica and her family might, or a few years’ difference in ages between two Felicitys might diffuse any issue.

I’m glad Jessica included the list of names she likes but her husband doesn’t — I was interested by the number of flower names (Marigold, Linnea, Rosalie, Violet) and tried to keep that in mind while working on this. I also love that Jessica’s favorite boy name is Tristan — funny enough, it’s a style match for Dominic according to the Baby Name Wizard book! (affiliate link) And though it’s not a Saint’s name, I did include Tristan in my book of Marian names (not an affiliate link!). This is what I wrote:

“Though Tristan seems to have originated as a variant of the name Drustan, which is unrelated to Our Lady in any way, the Latin word tristis (“sad”) played a role in its evolution from Drustan to Tristan due to the old and well-known tragic story of Tristan and Isolde. Its sad connotations give the name a great connection to Our Lady of Sorrows.” (230)

Also, I’ve heard before from readers that they don’t want to saddle their children with names that have a tragic connection (whether Our Lady of Sorrows or even the martyrs! [That one surprised me!]), but Theresa wrote a beautiful piece on her choice of Our Lady of Sorrows as her daughter’s patron, in which she wrote:

“This, I think, perfectly illustrates who Our Lady of Sorrows is and a Catholic view of sorrow. It is hope, instead of despair, in the face of tragedy. It is fortitude in the face of upset and chaos. It is trust in the midst of darkness. And it is gratitude in the midst of hardship.”

I love that! So I absolutely love Tristan as a possibility for a future son. I also like Jessica’s thought that Tristan “and names like Clara, Lydia, and Maisie seem like a good happy medium — biblical or saint associations without being overtly a saint name. We could easily name future children after saints or not, without anyone ending up being the odd one out.” In fact, I might suggest characterizing their children’s name style (including Gianna and Dominic) as simply “Catholic,” which removes all pressure to use only Saints’ name and opens up so many other things that can all go together under the style umbrella of “Catholic.”

Okay! On to new ideas! I did my usual research in the Baby Name Wizard, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity — I looked up the names Jessica and her husband have already used and those they like. I loved the extra info about her and her husband’s shared interests in theology and literature (me and mine too!), including LOTR (it was an inspiration behind my first suggestion below!) (also, that’s an affiliate link, and the boxed set, including The Hobbit, is only $20 today!), and her husband’s Anglophilia. There are posts here on the blog that address each of those things that I used in my research, and I want to be sure to list them here in case any of you would like to look through them, too:

  • Birth announcement for a baby whose mom introduced me to Maisie Ward and who has a similar aesthetic to this family
  • Profile of a family who names with a literary + Catholic sensibility — they’ve already used fantastic names, and there are some additional ideas, too (an update to a post I’d done on them several years earlier, which is referred to in the posts below)
  • Several posts I’ve done on Catholic literary names: here, here, here.
  • Consultation for a family living in England, the parents of whom are converts and whose dad is a former Anglican Clergyman-turned-Catholic-priest. They had a “preference for three-syllable Old-World catacomb-y names” that would also fit in in England — Dominic was on their list! Woo! There’s also this birth announcement I did for them a couple years later for their next baby, which includes the name they chose for the baby the consultation had been for.
  • The mom of a mama I did a consultation for did a post fifteen years ago on the very unusual names her kids have, inspired by Tolkien and Lewis.

Based on all that, here are my new suggestions for Jessica and her hubby:

(1) Elanor

When reading Jessica’s email, I immediately knew I wanted to include Elanor in my suggestions for her! I was initially inspired by Elowen, as Elanor is also a LOTR name, but a more accessible one. Seeing all the flower names that she likes inspired me, too, as in LOTR, not only is Elanor the name of Sam and Rosie’s baby girl, but it’s also the name of a little flower. The fact that it means “sun star” in Sindarin could make it perfect as a little connection to the baby that came before, their Stella, but that’s only if they like that connection — otherwise they can ignore that. I will admit I’m a little hesitant because of Ellie and Elaine on the list of cousins, but it’s so perfect otherwise (in my opinion — they may disagree!) that a way they can work around that is by using Nora as a nickname, which is a common and traditional nickname for Eleanor and has usage in Italian, German, and Ukrainian, making it a nice nod to both Jessica’s and her husband’s heritages, or another more unexpected idea like Lore (a German contracted form of Eleanor) or something made up like Linny or Nori.

(2) Eloise

While Elanor is my favorite El- suggestion for this family, and one that I offer even knowing that Ellie and Elaine might make it problematic, I can’t not include Eloise on this list for the sole reason that it was a huge style match for them according to the BNW! It’s a match for Adelaide, Adeline, Rosalie, and Violet! Similar to Elanor, they’d need to find a non-El- nickname — Lola and Lulu could work. Also, as far as I know, there’s no Saint named Eloise (though there is a Bl. Helwisa, also known as Eloisa and Heloise), and the strongest connection to the faith that I know of is the story of theologian Peter Abelard and his wife Heloise (Eloise is a variant of Heloise) — I don’t know how well known that story is among Catholics or the general population, but I read it years ago and it’s still a dominant thought for me regarding Eloise.

(3) Zelie

St. Gianna is linked with St. Zelie in my mind as two women who served the world and their families through work, and Zelie is distinctly not Italian, so it’s a nice addition to this family’s names from that perspective. An additional inspiration is that many, many people consider Azelie (St. Zelie’s given name) to be French for “azalea” (I just have to add that I’ve never been able to confirm that — according to Google translate, azalée is the French for azalea, but if you do a general search for “is azelie French for azalea” you’ll find lots of sites that say so), which could be a nod to Jessica’s love of floral names.

(4) Cora(lie)

Cora is a match for Stella and Clara, and since Clara isn’t feeling quite right to Jessica’s hubby but Cora’s so similar, maybe Cora would feel like a fresh take? I’ve known many families to choose it because of cor meaning “heart” in Latin — they use it for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and/or the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is so lovely. Then I saw Coralie as a match for Rosalie, and thought that might be even better! With Jessica’s hope of moving away from Italian-feeling names, Coralie feels closer to that goal than Cora does.

(5) Phoebe

This is another name I wouldn’t have thought of for this family, but it’s a match for both Lydia and Maisie and has an early-Christian biblical association like Lydia. I just heard from a mom who I’d done a consultation for that they’d named their baby girl Phoebe and are calling her Bee, which is so darling!

(6) Beatrice, Beatrix

Speaking of Bee, I wonder what they would think of Beatrice or Beatrix? Beatrice is a match for Violet and Josephine, and it’s literary and saintly; I also included Beatrix in my book of Marian names for this reason:

“As the word Beatrix in Latin means ‘she who blesses, makes happy, delights,’ the name Beatrix can easily refer to Our Lady, who blesses us all and is the Cause of Our Joy (Causa Nostrae Laetitiae)!” (42)

Beatrix has the added fun element of being the name of Beatrix Potter — British + literary! I love Bea or Bee as a nickname, and Trix and Trixie are cute, too.

(7) Natalia

Natalia is a match for both Dominic and Tristan, so while I wouldn’t normally have included it, since it seems to lean into the Italian-ish feel rather than out of it, the fact that it’s a match for Jessica’s two favorite boy names — who themselves might normally feel mismatched as brothers (though I and the BNW don’t agree with that) — seems a big deal! It or its variants also have usage in other languages, including Croatian, German, Italian, and Ukrainian, making it a real pan-European name (I always love pan-European names!), and they could have fun looking into the diminutives for it in those languages for nickname possibilities. Natascha is a German diminutive and Natalka is Ukrainian, for example. Its nickname Talia has separate origins as a Hebrew name, and Lia sounds like the biblical Leah, both of which tip it a little closer to Lydia. Tilly could work, which has a “Lissie” feel. Some nice options!

(8) Avila

My last idea is inspired by Aveline on the list of names Jessica likes but her hubby doesn’t. Aveline is, in origin, a diminutive of Avila, and Avila is all “St. Teresa of Avila” to Catholics, but isn’t her actual name, so I thought it might be perfect! Avila as a name derives from Old German, which is a nice nod to Jessica’s husband’s heritage; Avila the city has a different etymology and is considered Spanish today (being a city in Spain).

Those are all my “official” suggestions, but there were a few others that I wanted to include in this final note, just in case. One was Willa — it’s one of the names that the “literary + Catholic namer” I linked to above used for her daughter, after Willa Cather, who wasn’t Catholic but whose fiction is considered consistent with a Catholic outlook. I’d done a spotlight post on the name a while ago in which I took some liberties in assigning it a connection to “willow” — that botanical connection and Jessica’s love of floral names made me think she might like to consider it! They could consider Willow itself, of course, but that didn’t seem to be their style as much as Willa.

Another name I saw in the literary posts was Philippa, which feels SO British to me! She’s the main character in Rumer Godden’s In This House of Brede (affiliate link), about a cloister of Benedictine nuns, and the nickname Pippa is to die for. I could see the connection to the royal family being a big selling point to Jessica’s husband … but also a negative? I wanted to mention it anyway. It also feels like Lydia to me because of the apostle Philip and the Letter to the Philippians.

I also quickly went through the list of feast days and memorials from October 21 to November 10 at CatholicSaints.info, which is my favorite source for all that stuff. These were the ones that jumped out at me:

Oct. 22: John Paul II — names in his honor include Caroline, Karoline, Karolina, Charlotte

Oct. 24: Anthony Mary Claret — I like that “Claret” could connect to Clara

Oct. 27: Martyrs of Avila (some)

Oct. 28: Martyrs of Avila (others)

Oct. 29: Chiara Badano (another nice connection for Clara)

Nov. 2: Margaret of Lorraine

Nov. 4: Charles Borromeo

Nov. 5: Beatrice of Swabia

Nov. 6: Beatrice of Olive

Nov. 7: Eleanor of Portugal

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Gianna, Dominic, and +Stella?

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!

Baby name consultation: Second baby girl needs a pretty, Italian-ish name

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , , ,

Happy Tuesday of the week of July 4th! Happy feast of lots of titles of Our Lady: Our Lady of the Garden, Our Lady of Madhu, Our Lady of Montallegro, Our Lady of the Grove, Our Lady of the Leśniów Spring, Our Lady of the Visitation, Our Lady of the Way of Leon, and Our Lady of Vaussivieres!

Unfortunately, as of today, I’ll be suspending baby name consultations indefinitely, as I will have a very busy fall and probably the entire upcoming school year (some new professional things, and sending my second son off to college! My mama’s heart and mind can only take so much! I started Sancta Nomina three months after my sixth was born; my oldest was 9. Now my oldest is going to be a college junior, and my next boy a college freshman, and my baby [boy no. 7] will be in first grade, and I can’t even believe how big all my boys are!). If you’ve already sent me a request, no worries — I will honor all of those I received as of midnight last night. If I’m able to resume consultations in the future, I will let you know here on the blog! In the meantime, the Catholic Baby Naming Discussion Facebook group is a great option — it’s got lots of members and is very active, with several posts a day by mamas looking for name help and lots of people eager to offer their ideas/thoughts/suggestions. Thank you to all of you who have invited me into your baby name conversations! I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your families and helping you find names for your little ones that connect to our faith.

I also want to note that I celebrated my tenth blogiversary last week! Wow!! What a fun decade it’s been!! If you’d like to read my first post ever, click here.

I won’t be gone from the blog altogether, but do note (as many of you have discovered!) that my ability to read and reply to emails in a timely manner is getting less and less. I do apologize to anyone who’s left waiting longer than you’d like!

Today’s baby name consultation is for Kate from Kate Scimeca Art (such beautiful, faithy art prints!) and her husband as they prepare to welcome their fourth born baby — their second girl! This little lady joins older siblings:

Dominic Andrew

Lucia Marie

Vincent James

+Francis Joseph (in heaven)

Such attractive, saintly names! Kate writes,

“So far, we chose saint names that seem to suit our Sicilian last name pronounced SKIM-uh-ka. We like the Italian-ish sound to the names, and we like the kids to have an easy patron saint to turn to. To us, the boy names need to feel strong and the girl names need to feel pretty. 🙂

We chose Dominic very quickly and easily right after the 20 week ultrasound when we found out he was a boy; no special devotion from us – just loved the strong sound of the name! Andrew is my husband’s middle name and my grandpa’s middle name. For Lucia, that was our top girl name had Dominic been a girl and we still both loved it two years later so we named her that right away after the 20 week ultrasound again. 🙂 We like to connect it to Saint Lucy and Sister Lucia from Fatima. Marie is my middle name, my mom’s middle name, and my grandma’s middle name. Vincent was harder for us to name. We couldn’t agree until after he was born. My husband wanted Anthony, but I don’t like the nickname ‘Tony’. I really wanted Solanus (with the nickname ‘Sully’) after Blessed Solanus Casey, but that name was a little too ‘out there’ for my husband. Vincent was both of our second choices, and of course we have no regrets since we see now how it suits our son perfectly. His middle name James is his other grandfather’s first name. I think we tend to like names that are classic but not boring – generally not too unique that they’d cause difficulties in life but not so common that they feel dull to us – and again, a natural connection to a saint. And we like middle names to have some kind of family connection. We do call Lucia ‘Lulu’ a lot and Vincent ‘Vinny’ sometimes but we never call Dominic by a nickname.”

The names they’re considering for their baby girl include:

  • Avila Clare (“I wanted to name Vincent this if he was a girl. It just sounds so pretty to me! We have no connection to the middle name Clare, though, and I worry that Avila might be too unusual? Though hopefully not as ‘out there’ as my love of the name Solanus!“)
  • Gianna (“My husband’s pick. I just don’t love Gianna for some reason. I really don’t think I’ll change my mind.”)
  • Gemma (“I love this one! I much prefer it to Gianna. My husband feels the same way about this one as I feel about Gianna – just doesn’t click for him but I think he can be convinced, hah. Saint Gemma’s birthday is our wedding anniversary.”)
  • Camilla (“We both like this one – it’s very pretty. I feel like we wouldn’t use a nickname. I’m not sure about Catholic saints with this name though.”)
  • Juliet (“This one came to us out of the blue. We both like it and favor the nickname ‘Jules’ but aren’t certain about Catholic connections with this one either!“)
  • Stella (“We both like it but aren’t sure since our last name also starts with S.”)

Middle name ideas include:

  • Anne (“It is a tradition in my family to give as a middle name to the second daughter, like my sister and aunt both have this as a middle name.”)
  • Marguerite (“Marguerite is my mom’s first name and my husband has a grandmother Margaret. This one is my preference and I think my husband’s as well. We are up for bucking the Anne family tradition because we think this name is so pretty. To us, Anne just doesn’t sound as good with our first name preferences but ‘Camilla Marguerite’ as an example sounds so lovely to us.”)
  • “I guess we’d never use Mary/Maria since we used Marie as a middle name. I also don’t love Catherine/Elizabeth/Caroline because they feel too common even though they’re very beautiful.” 

It goes without saying that I LOVE their older children’s names! Dominic, Lucia, Vincent and +Francis Joseph are so attractive and full of faith significance, I love them! I also love that they fit in nicely with this family’s Sicilian heritage and surname, while also being able to connect to other cultures: e.g., the Spanish St. Dominic and the Portuguese Sr. Lucia. These parents have done a great job!

As for the names they’re considering for this baby, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on them in case they’re helpful:

  • Avila Clare: What a beautiful combo! I think it’s a really nice fit for this family in that it’s a Spanish place name, which is one of the reasons I mentioned the pan-European nature of their older kiddos’ names — it’s great to choose names that can fit together even when coming from different countries/cultures/languages. The fact that Avila ends with an -a can give it a vague Italian-ish feel, too. I feel like Lucia Marie and Avila Clare are really well matched as sister names! I don’t think Avila is too “out there” at all — I see it with some regularity in the families I work with (here’s a birth announcement for an Avila Rose!), both on already-born daughters and on lists of names for consideration. I think it’s so lovely! And the possible nickname Ava really makes it very familiar if they decided they wanted to do that. I also don’t think it’s a problem at all to not currently have a connection to the name Clare — I really do think that sometimes Saints find us through our taste in names! This family could absolutely cultivate a devotion to St. Clare of Assisi, and it’s extra nice for them that she’s an Italian Saint!
  • Gianna: It’s so interesting that Kate doesn’t love this name — it does seem like the kind of name she would choose! But I’ve had that same feeling many times, when a name seems like it would be perfect for our family but I just can’t get there.
  • Gemma: I’ve also had the experience where I liked a name and was sure I could bring my husband around, haha! I also LOVE that St. Gemma’s feast day is their anniversary!! That’s amazing!! It’s also really cool that in the Baby Name Wizard book (affiliate link), which lists style matches for each entry, the matches for Gemma are mostly British-y feeling, so even though she’s obviously a legit Italian Saint, they would also introduce a different European feel into their family, which can open more possibilities going forward (if they’re so blessed). My preference is always to try to help parents find a name that they both equally love (or at least both equally accept), and I never want to interfere in baby name conversations between parents — only help — but between you and me 😊 , I really like this option for this family!
  • Camilla: This is a really pretty name, too! Though Kate said they likely wouldn’t use a nickname, it is pretty cool that both Cammie and Milla/Millie could work, which are nice options. But the full Camilla is lovely too! I also love that Kate and her hubby both like it! As for Catholic Saints, there are two Saints and a Blessed; St. Camilla Battista Varano was a Poor Clare, which immediately makes me think Camilla Clare would be lovely!
  • Juliet: Oh man, Juliet is one of my very, very favorites — I love seeing it on their list!! Like Gemma, it has a somewhat Brit feel, but of course the original Juliet was Italian, so it works nicely for this family! I did a spotlight post on Juliet here, which provides some good faith connections! (Don’t mind me saying in it that Jules isn’t my favorite nickname — if Kate and her hubby love it, I’m thrilled!!)
  • Stella: This is another great option for this family, and since I’m a fan of alliteration, I don’t mind Stella Scimeca at all! Maristella is a longer option that gets away from the S-S at least formally, though if their daughter always goes by Stella as a nickname/everyday call name, then a non-S formal name doesn’t really help with that. I wouldn’t cross it off their list if it was up to me, but they’ll have to decide how they feel!
  • Anne: Ooh, I am a big fan of family traditions, but I’ve also been in the spot to not like how a particular name works as a middle name for a first name we like. I wonder if Kate and her husband would consider a compromise of sorts by using a different Anne name? There are so many variants and related names like Annabel(le), Annika, Hannah/Anna, Annette, Anita, Nancy, and so many others. Using one of those could be a cool way to freshen up the family tradition and balance their chosen first name better?
  • Marguerite: It’s hard for me to argue against Kate’s mom’s name, especially when it can also nod to her hubby’s grandma and it’s also the name they both prefer! I wonder if they would consider a double middle name? Marguerite Anne or Anne Marguerite? Those combos are giving me gorgeous French princess vibes — it makes me want to add a hyphen in the manner of French royalty or French Saints! Marguerite-Anne and Anne-Marguerite are beautiful!
  • Mary/Maria: Though Kate said they wouldn’t use these because they already used Marie, I do just want to throw out there that it’s a very traditional Catholic practice to give each daughter in a family a variant of Mary as part of their name, so if they want to include a Marian name, there’s no reason not to! If they don’t want to, that’s totally fine too!
  • Catherine/Elizabeth/Caroline: Just a thought — I wonder if Kate would like these better if she considered the Italian or Spanish versions? Caterina, for example, is gorgeous, and can nod to St. Catherine of Siena and Kate herself as well! Elisa, Elisabetta, and Isabella are all beautiful, and Karolina is one of my favorite ways to honor St. John Paul II (since his birth name was Karol).

Okay! On to new ideas! As I mentioned, I did my usual research in the Baby Name Wizard, looking for names that are similar to the style they’ve shown that they like (through the names they’ve already chosen and those they’re considering). I also really leaned into their preference for pretty girl names! Based on all that, these are my ideas:

(1) Chiara

This is a little bit of a cheat idea since they already have Clare on their list as a middle name possibility, but Chiara is the Italian version and has gotten some attention in recent years among the families I work with in large part because of Bl. Chiara Luce Badano and Servant of God Chiara Corbella Petrillo — two wonderful models of the faith and certainly both named after St. Clare of Assisi, who would have been known as Chiara. This is a style match for both Gianna and Gemma, so maybe it’s a nice compromise for Kate and her husband?

(2) Emilia

Emilia is a style match for Lucia — it’s always meaningful to me to find style matches for the older children’s names as opposed to the names on the parents’ list! My favorite thing about Emilia is that it’s the name of St. John Paul’s mom, whose cause for canonization is open; for this family, I also like that it has pan-European usage, which fits in so nicely with their other kids.

(3) Siena

I’d already had Siena on my list for this family because of Avila, since it’s also a saintly place name and an Italian one at that (most familiar because of St. Catherine of Siena [Dominican], but there’s also St. Bernardine of Siena, who was Franciscan and is known as *the* promoter of the Holy Name of Jesus). But another fun thing is that I know a family who purposely leaned into their Italian heritage when naming their two daughters — they named them Emilia and Siena!

(4) Natalia

Natalia is a style match for Dominic and it’s long been one of my favorite names! Though Kate’s having a July baby, I love that Natalia’s meaning is literally “Christmas” — “the birth of Jesus.” So beautiful!

(5) Rosa(lia)

When I saw Rosa listed as a style match for Lucia, I immediately knew I wanted to include it in my list of suggestions! It also made me think of the longer Rosalia, which is a particularly Italian long form. The Rose names are always so lovely, and I love that they are Marian, too.

(6) Seraphina

Seraphina wasn’t listed as a style match for any of the names I looked up for this family, but I saw it as I was flipping through my BNW and I was like yes! Seraphina! I think it’s one of the prettiest girl names, and since that’s one of Kate’s criteria, I definitely wanted to include it! It refers to the angels (specifically the seraphim), and as such I think it can nod to Our Lady’s title Queen of the Angels, though there are also a few other holy women with this name. An Italian spelling is Serafina, which is also really pretty.

(7) Philomena

I wanted to see what names are style matches for Seraphina to be sure I wasn’t totally off the mark by suggesting it, and saw Philomena listed as one of them, which, again, made me go yes! Philomena is one of those obviously Catholic names, which is a characteristic I love, and speaking of love — its meaning is “to be loved,” which is so special! Like with Seraphina/Serafina, an Italian spelling is Filomena.

(8) Zita

Even though Seraphina and Philomena can hold their own length-wise with Dominic and Vincent, it didn’t escape my notice that Lucia and the girl names on their list are shorter. Zita is one of the shortest, and specifically Italian! There’s the St. Zita most people know about, but many of the families I work with have been loving Servant of God Empress Zita. I do too!

(9) Caeli

This is a Latin name I see from time to time in the families I work with (this family has a Caeli Rose, gorgeous!), and I love it! It means “of heaven” (like in Regina Caeli = Queen of Heaven) and in Church Latin is said CHAY-lee.

(10) Felicity

I know I’ve already given more ideas that they bargained for, but just one last one: Felicity is a style match for Gemma and Juliet (a little bit more of that “Brit” feel), such a beautiful name.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Dominic, Lucia, and Vincent?

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!

Baby name consultation: Italian but not too Italian for baby boy no. 2

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , ,

Happy feast of the Annunciation! Today’s consultation is perfect for this beautiful feast because the baby’s big brother’s name is Gabriel! In fact, he has the so-handsome combo Gabriel Joseph!

Mama Julia writes,

“For the new baby — we found out we were pregnant a few days after the passing of a priest named Fr. Roman, who was something of an important person in my husband’s life, and I just had the random thought — oh, if it’s a boy, what if we named him Roman — after this priest, and also I found it to be a unique name with super cute nicknames: Romie, Romeo, Rome. I raised the idea with my husband and he seemed to like it – but he isn’t too sure about it. I think because using the exact same name means we are naming the baby after this particular priest, which seems maybe too onerous??

Then somewhere along the line I just clung to the name Roman John Paul — St. John Paul II is definitely a key figure in my life as I spent years studying at the JPII Institute in D.C., and my husband and I invoke his intercession every night (along with St. Joseph, and the archangels Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael…).

However, I’m also toying with the idea of using John Paul as a first name. I love what you quoted in the intro of [your book of Marian names] from the Catechism, about one’s Christian name as being a model of one who lived a life of fidelity to the Lord — and obviously John Paul is stand-out in this regard.

Other boys names that have come up:

  • Raphael — perhaps Raphael Rocco (Rocco is my father-in-law’s name, and it would be nice to honor him) … so I also wondered about John Paul Rocco
  • Giulio — my husband also really likes this name (and it also happens to be the name of a professor who was integral to his life).. I think Giulio Michael could be good if we had a third son… and I like the nickname Jules for a boy 😍
  • GianPaolo — as an Italian variant of John Paul (we are Italian Canadian), however we’re leaning away from intense Italian names since Gabriel is not Italian. E.g., we also like the name Serafino, but it’s way too Italian haha
  • Gio / Giovanni – for my husband’s grandfather (John)
  • Benedict — my husband really likes this, but I don’t. Even though I like Pope Benedict …
  • Dominic — again, a pick from husband, but I’m not feeling it

I’d love suggestions for middle names if we use John Paul as a first name … I’m not keen on JP as a nickname but I knew a John Paul and no one ever called him John Paul … which might be an incentive for using it as a middle name rather than first name — to keep its integrity while still being named after a saint?

For girl’s names — we always considered using both our grandmother’s names: Adelina Teresa. I’m named after my Nonna Maria (Julia Maria), and my husband’s sister has both her Nonna’s names (Carmela Teresa). Adelina would be for my Nonna on my mom’s side — who is incredibly important to my life/my faith journey. I don’t necessarily like the nicknames for Adelina (I don’t like Addie) but I think Adele or Delle is cute (my Nonna’s legal name is Adele). I don’t think we would use a nickname for Adelina though (for instance, we don’t refer to Gabriel as Gabe).

We also really like Beatrice and would call her Bea (since it also follows the Italian pronunciation), and I think it’s so pretty (also love the meaning of bringer of Joy). However I cannot think of a good middle name. I wanted a one syllable middle name … my mother-in-law’s name is Rosemary but I don’t think I would want to use Rose just yet. I love the name Grace but my husband has vetoed that one. I’m also so torn between using Adelina or Beatrice since I love how unique Beatrice is, but I think I may regret not naming a first daughter after my grandmother, especially if we only ever have one girl?! So hard to know. I think it’ll all depend on the feeling once the baby is born!

Other girls names that came up: Sophia / Sophie, Chiara (after Chiara Corbella Petrillo), I also really like Noel (Noelle?) if it was a Christmas baby … my husband likes Elizabeth (because he loves the Queen) so that name would be a contender if we ended up having more girls after using the names Beatrice and Adelina haha …. it would be such a blessing to have four children BUT that is in God’s hands 😉

In terms of preferences, I think we like Catholic / Biblical inspired names, but nothing TOO intense or that screams biblical (like Jeremiah, Nathaniel, Isaac, Isaiah, etc.) We like Italian-inspired names, but not Spanish / Hispanic (a lot of the names in the Marian book are beautiful but too Spanish for us).
Some fun ideas that I don’t know if we’d use but perhaps for inspiration: I like the idea of Pio / Pia; and I like the Italian Agnese (after Agnus Dei / lamb of God).

Names we likely won’t consider because they are already family names (i.e. siblings, cousins, close friends): Luca/Lucas, Carmela, James, Lily/ Liliana, Noah, Cristina, Isabella, Sophia, Anthony (is Mark’s middle name — so actually this could be a contender for a middle name), Leo, Andrew.”

First off, I have to commend Julia and her husband on their excellent taste in names! I, too, have always loved the name Gabriel! I think they did an absolutely fantastic job with their first baby.

It was interesting to see that they have a definite Italian sensibility (and a last name to match), but also want to “lean away” from intense Italian names because of Gabriel not being Italian. One of the things I’ve noticed about Italian Catholic families (and Italian families who aren’t necessarily into the faith) is that there are some names that *feel* Italian, even though they’re not. Some I would have suggested to this family in this vein if they hadn’t already used/they weren’t already on one of their lists (list of names they’re considering and list of names they can’t use) include Joseph, Dominic, and Anthony — none of those are Italian, but they have good usage among Italian American families — I’m assuming it would be similar for Italian Canadian families? So that might be a direction they’d like to go, and it was a big inspiration to me when I was making my list of ideas for them.

I also think Gabriel fits right into that, so even though it’s not Italian, I definitely think Gabriel is a fine brother name for explicitly Italian names. In fact, one of my favorite things about Gabriel is that it goes so well with so many different kinds of names! It fits well with biblical and not biblical, with super saintly names and those that aren’t so obvious, and with more ethnic names as well as with names that I think would be more familiar to the English-speaking Canadian ear.

Before getting to those new ideas, I wanted to offer my thoughts on the specific names they’re currently considering, in case they’re helpful:

  • Roman: I absolutely love Roman for this family!! I think it perfectly hits all the things important to Julia: it’s a perfect brother name for Gabriel style-wise; it’s Italian(ish) without being over the top, and as such allows for more Italian-y names in the future if they like (but doesn’t box them in); and it honors a significant person in Julia’s husband’s life. We name babies after people all the time, from the living (especially family members) to the deceased (family members and Saints) and there’s no reason a person dear to you that isn’t family can’t be honored the same way.  I’ve known many people who have named their babies after non-family members, including priests — this is an example of a family who was considering the name of a priest close to them for their baby’s middle, and I’ve had several other families who have done so as well, for both firsts and middles. I think for Julia it probably feels a little more obvious because Roman isn’t as familiar as some other names. But I wouldn’t let that stop them! To me, this is the name to beat.
  • John Paul (as a first or middle): So even though I said I think Roman is the name to beat, how can I not love John Paul??!! I think Gabriel and John Paul are perfect brothers! However … because these parents like Italian names and might like to use some obvious ones at some point, I’m reluctant to vote too hard for John Paul for their second baby. One of the things I love about Roman is that it doesn’t move their style *away* from their love of Italian names (while not being too obvious just yet), but I think John Paul does (at this point in their baby naming). Does that make sense?

I also want to say I, too, love the full John Paul and I know some John Pauls who go by the full John Paul. It does require firmness and consistency on the part of the parents while the child is young and then on the part of the child himself when he’s older (and he may not agree at that point anyway and prefer to go by JP or something else).

Regarding middle name possibilities, it’s a funny thing with John Paul because it already looks like a first+middle (and you can totally use it that way, even if you call him by John Paul), so an actual middle name ends up looking like a second middle name, which can be annoying for some parents. I actually posted about one family’s way of dealing with this issue here. I think one way to set the middle name apart from John Paul is to use a name that’s not very first-namey, like a family or saintly surname. I really like the idea of John Paul with Julia’s maiden name, for example! I also like the idea of putting a super Italian name in the middle when you use a more English first name, like John Paul Serafino.

  • Raphael: Of course I love Raphael, but I always kind of feel like *one* archangel name is enough in a family, first-name wise, unless one is willing to do all three, and then what if there’s a fourth (or more) boy? I do think that if this family uses Raphael for boy no. 2, right after Gabriel, that it feels like a theme and Michael would be the obvious next boy, and if they don’t use Michael for boy no. 3 it will be weird, but if they do use Michael it will be weird, and do they even like Michael as a first name?? I could be being very weird about this, maybe there’s no issue here at all, haha! If they love Raphael, they should definitely go for it, but I would vote for at least shelving it for this baby.
  • Rocco: I love the idea of Rocco, and as a middle name it’s perfect in general and also specifically for a name like John Paul as it loops in Italian-ness. But I also love it as a first name — I wonder if Julia and her hubby would consider it?
  • Giulio: It’s so interesting to me that Julia said she thinks “Giulio Michael could be good if we had a third son” — given what I said earlier, I think Gabriel, Roman, and Giulio would be a perfect way and order in which to include their love of Italian names in a balanced, not too-intense way. I was also amazed that Jules showed up in my research as a style match for Adele! Very consistent with Julia’s style! I also love that it’s a nice nod to her.
  • GianPaolo: Given that they’re “leaning away from intense Italian names,” I would think GianPaolo wouldn’t be the right choice for this baby for a first name, but I’d love it as a middle! Especially for a first name that isn’t Italian or Italian-ish at all.
  • Gio/Giovanni: Would John Paul as a first name with the nickname Gio serve the dual purposes of honoring JP2 and Hubby’s grandfather?? That would be really cool!
  • Benedict: Hmm … I’m wondering if the Italian Benedetto or Benito would appeal to Julia more? It would still of course have the saintly connection and the fantastic nickname Ben (which is a perfect brother name for Gabe — I’ve seen Gabe and Ben paired up in a few families, usually Gabriel and Benjamin but in Catholic families I often see Benedict). Bennett is a variant that I often suggest, but it feels too far from your Italian style. If you liked it, though, Bennett GianPaolo might be a perfect combo! Two great popes, a great way to use the super Italian GianPaolo, a way of using Benedict without using Benedict.
  • Dominic: As I mentioned above, this totally would have been on my list for this family if it wasn’t already on their list! My dad had a friend named Dominick growing up and they called him Dommy, which I think is darling. Nick and Nico are also possibilities. (I feel moved to share, with Rocco on their list and in light of Julia’s husband loving Benedict and Dominic, that I know brothers Rocco and Agostino — I could see her hubby loving Augustine or Agostino!)
  • Adelina Teresa: This is just so beautiful!! I love the connection to both grandmothers, and Adele and Delle are sweet (I especially love that Adele is Julia’s grandmother’s actual legal name).
  • Beatrice: Another beautiful name! I love Bea, too. This reminded me of a family I did a consultation for who has a similar love of their Italian heritage and incorporated it into their baby naming. Their first is George Francesco, to give you an idea! Their second is Beatrice Lucia Marie, and funny enough, they did the same thing with Beatrice’s name that the mom of John Paul that I linked to above did with his — just like John Paul’s middle name is only on his baptismal certificate, so also is Beatrice’s second middle Marie. Some one-syllable middle names possibilities include Clare, Mae, Faye, Kay, Joy (or would that be too weird with the meaning of Beatrice?), Eve, Liv, Kate, Nell, Tess (this could honor Grandma Teresa as well), Veil, Pearl, Ruth, June, Jane, Jude, Belle, Pax.
  • Sophia/Sophie: Beautiful! But it’s on their no list, right?
  • Chiara: I love Chiara! It’s one of the Italian names that’s more familiar to English speakers, which I think is that sweet spot for this family. Might they be interested in Clare or Clara as English versions that still point directly to Chiara Corbella Petrillo?
  • Noel(le): When I was reading Julia’s email, this felt like an unexpected choice to me, like it was outside their style, but my research showed that it’s considered a style match for a few names that are consistent with their taste, including Roman! I wanted to suggest Natalia, but with Natalia and Noel(le) meaning the same thing, it would be an either/or kind of thing, and I suspect Julia likes Noel(le) better.
  • Elizabeth: Such a solid, classic name! It has a thousand and one nickname options, so it can really fit whatever aesthetic you’re going for. The connection to the Queen is pretty cool — they could lean into that, and amp up the Marian connection as well, by doing something like Elizabeth Regina.

Speaking of aesthetic, I briefly touched on these earlier but I want to say a little more here: one strategy for weaving together Julia and hubby’s Italian names and non-Italian names in their children is by bestowing an English name but using an Italian(ish) nickname. Like Elisa for Elizabeth or Gio for John Paul. On the flip side, they could bestow an Italian name and use a nickname more familiar to English speakers, like Rocky for Rocco or Addy for Adelina (though I know Julia said she doesn’t care for Addy). Another strategy is to balance a more English name with a very Italian middle name and vice versa, like John Paul Serafino or Noelle Annunziata (Christmas + Annunciation in one! I love this combo). I think keeping these strategies in mind will help any name they want to use feel like it fits in their family.

Okay! On to new ideas! I started by doing my usual research for you in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. As expected, some results were super Italian and some had no Italian connection at all. I’ll be interested to see what these parents think of these!

Girl

(1) Maria

Unsurprisingly, I am a HUGE fan of naming for Our Lady, and I often think of a Mary double as being a perfect way to tie together two stylistically different names. For this family, I would immediately suggest Maria as a first name (or middle). I know many girls and women whose first name is a form of Mary but who go by their middle name, or go by the two names together, so using Maria as the first name doesn’t have to mean their daughter goes by Maria (though it’s lovely!). Maria Noelle is one combo that I immediately liked — it helps Noelle make sense in a family with an Italian last name and possibly Italian-y named siblings (not that Noelle needs to “make sense” — this is just me looking from the outside in and considering what I would think is a cohesive whole. But that doesn’t need to matter to them at all!)

(2) Juliet

I went back and forth on whether to include this idea or not, and obviously decided to do so. I absolutely love the name Juliet, and I love that, like Roman, it’s Italian without being *Italian*. Anyone familiar with the story knows that Romeo and Juliet was set in Italy! I also love that it is a huge nod to Julia, but in a different way than a straight Junior. Juliet is a diminutive of Julia, so it’s kind of perfect for the daughter of a Julia! I did a post on patron Saints for Juliet here. Maria Juliet would also be lovely, and another nice way to nod to Julia. I do realize that Juliet might knock out Roman (too close to Romeo, right? Especially if they use the nickname Romeo?), and also Giulio/Jules, so it’s a little bit of a throwaway idea — I love it, so I wanted to include it, and if Julia and her hubs love it, I’ll be thrilled, but I’ll totally understand if they don’t, and I included a couple extra names on this girl’s list to make up for it.

(3) Caterina (or K/Catherine)

St. Catherine of Siena was Italian, of course, so her name was actually Caterina. I’ve always loved it, what a gorgeous name! Caterina nicknamed Cate or Cat is wonderful with Gabriel in my opinion, as is K/Catherine (if they prefer). I also saw on Behind the Name that Catia is an Italian diminutive of Caterina — I’d never seen that before! I have always loved Katia/Katya, so cool to see an Italian version! Catherine nicknamed Catia would be that English given name/Italian-y nickname idea I had. Also, even though Julia said she’d love a one-syllable middle name for Beatrice, St. Catherine was called Euphrosyne, which means “joy,” when she was a child, so I immediately thought of Beatrice Catherine or Beatrice Caterina as being meaningful. Or Caterina Joy!

(4) Stella, Maristella

Another style match for this family is Stella, which I quite like for them. It’s got good usage among Latinate families (Spanish-speaking, Italian-speaking, etc.), but it’s also got good usage among English-speaking families with no Latin heritage. Our Lady’s title Star of the Sea (Stella Maris in Latin) is such a wonderful connection for Stella, and I also wanted to suggest the longer Maristella, which is that title flipped and pushed together. Isn’t that a gorgeous name?? I’ve done birth announcements for three Maristellas, one of whom has a sister Noelle! The others are here and here, I know you’ll all love to see what the siblings are named.

(5) Camilla

I’m always surprised when Camilla shows up in my research for families, as I’ve never really felt like I have a good handle on what style it is. But according to my research for this family, it fits right in with the names they like! It’s a match for Raphael, Dominic, Adele (as Camille), Sophia, and Noelle (as Camille) — that’s pretty incredible! It’s a beautiful name with sweet nickname options.

(6) Lucia

I was inspired to add Lucia to the list after looking up Baby Beatrice’s birth announcement above and remembering that Lucia is her first middle name. The loo-CHEE-ah pronunciation is specifically Italian, and they can use Lucy as a nickname if they like or if they think it would be easier for everyday usage. However, I do want to share that I know a couple who both come from Italian families, and they named their first daughter Luciana, with the CH pronunciation, and they call her LOO-chee, which I think is so fantastic, that they just leaned into their heritage.

(7) Zita

My last idea for a girl is Zita. This may be too Italian for this family! But I want to make an argument that it’s *not* too Italian, and my big piece of evidence to support that is Servant of God Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary, “the last empress and queen of Christendom” (source). To be fair, she was from Italy, but she’s usually discussed in the context of her beautiful marriage to her husband, Bl. Karl, and their position as monarchs over Austria-Hungary, which dilutes the Italian-ness a little bit. There have been a few Sancta Nomina babies named after her!

Boy

(1) Carlo

My very first idea for a boy when reading Julia’s email was Carlo! Bl. Carlo Acutis has increased the usage of this name among non-Italian families (and Italian families) — he’s an amazing patron for a little boy, and I love that Carlo can nod to St. John Paul, too, since his given name was Karol — both Carlo and Karol are variants of Charles (and actually, a fun detail is that John Paul was named Karol after the very Bl. Karl married to SOG Zita I mentioned above! How cool!). I know a little Carlo whose brother is Reid, so using that one family as a data point, Carlo can go with any kind of name!

(2) Vincent

Like Joseph, Anthony, and Dominic, Vincent is a name that I consider to be one commonly used by families with Italian heritage, so I had to include it! Vince and Vinny are familiar nicknames, but I personally love the full Vincent. So handsome!

(3) Sebastian

I’m always most interested in the names that are style matches for the existing older sibling (s), so I was interested to see that Sebastian is a match for Gabriel! And further interested to see it’s also a match for Dominic! I’ve seen Seb and Sebby, Bastian, and Bash as nicknames for Sebastian, all of which I love.

(4) Nicholas

I would describe Nicholas as being on the outer edges of the non-Italian names that are favored by Italian families, like Joseph, Anthony, Dominic, and Vincent—it’s got such broad usage that it’s hard to pin it down to any one heritage, but it certainly fits in! I suggested Nico above as a nickname for Dominic, and it’s even more obvious for Nicholas. Nick and Nicky have that same friendly feel as Gabe and Ben in my opinion, and the full Nicholas is very handsome.

(5) Hugo

I like to include at least one unexpected idea, which I think Hugo qualifies as! It’s a style match for Adela, which I included in my research as a compromise between Adele and Adelina, since Adelina doesn’t have its own entry and Adela’s matches were different from Adele’s. Roman and Rafael (that spelling) are also matches for Adela! So I was glad to add Hugo to the list. It’s a name my husband and I seriously considered — I think it’s sweet and sophisticated at the same time. There are several holy Hugos, some of whom have ties to Italy.

(6) Santino nn Sonny

I mentioned above Laurence with the nickname Enzo as an idea of an English name with an Italian nickname, and I also wanted to include this idea of an Italian name with an English nickname. You all likely know that Santino nicknamed Sonny is a character in “The Godfather,” which could ruin this for Julia and her hubby, but if not, I loooove it! Santino means “little Saint” and Sonny is such a great nickname! I couldn’t not mention it. My no. 6 boy had a Santino nn Sonny in his preschool class several years ago, I loved hearing his name!

I also thought that, because Julia’s baby is due so close to Easter, she might like to look through my Names for the Glorious Mysteries post.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little brother or sister of Gabriel Joseph?

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!

Birth announcement: Georgia Katherine!

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I posted a consultation for Zoey’s little green bean back in March and I’m thrilled to share that her baby GIRL has arrived and been given the absolutely perfect name … Georgia Katherine!

Zoey writes,

“Our baby girl finally decided to join us on Sunday (5 days late!) and we are completely overjoyed, and totally surprised to have a daughter! We named her Georgia Katherine 😊

I broke my own ‘rules’ since I originally said no K/Catherine but it turns out that name really grew on me! Katherine was also my husband’s grandmother’s name and I love being able to use the short form Kate to give her a real southern sounding double barrel name — Georgia Kate! 

Also, my husband was insisting on a Italian name, remember his family is super Italian, so we have also been calling her Gia! I don’t know how we did it but we found the perfect name, and oh it suits her so well! She’s also already gotten other cutesy names like Princess Peach 😆

On an even more interesting note, my nana did end up passing about two weeks before Georgia was born, I had already totally fallen in love with the name and just could not get on board with using one of my nana’s name(s). I started kind of feeling guilty but knew she would love having another great grand no matter the name. Well while my dad was going through some of her things, he found an obituary from 1902, which belonged to my nana’s great-great-grandfather and within it his wife was mentioned — Georgiana Maria. So she got a family name from my nana after all!! It totally feels meant to be, like God gave me this name knowing it was for our little girl. My dad found this the day after she was born. 

Thank you so much for all your help in the naming process!“

Isn’t this amazing?? When I read that Zoey had written, “I don’t know how we did it but we found the perfect name,” I thought yes! Exactly! This is the perfect name for this baby! It’s such a perfect fit with her big brothers’ names, and the family connection totally gave me goosebumps (my mom calls them “holy bumps”!)!

Congratulations to Zoey and her husband and big brothers Austin and Elijah, and happy birthday Baby Georgia!!

Georgia Katherine

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself 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!

Baby name consultation: Italianish name that doesn’t end in a vowel and isn’t easily nicknamed for baby boy no. 2

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Merry Christmas, everyone!! And happy feast of St. Stephen!!

I posted a consultation for Christi and her husband a year and a half ago for their son, and I’m excited to both give you all the update on his name and share my thoughts/ideas/suggestions for their new baby boy on the way! He joins his big sister and big brother:

Anastasia Therese

Domenick Vincent called Deo

I absolutely looooove these names!! Deo as a nickname for Domenick was my idea — I was so excited that Christi and her hubby loved it!

For this new baby boy, Christi writes,

“I’m writing to you again for help as we are expecting another boy (due May 3) and I’m driving myself crazy obsessing over what we’ll name him! You were so helpful in naming our second, Domenick Vincent nn Deo, and I’m hoping that you can provide some thoughts/ feedback for baby #3. As a reminder, our daughter is Anastasia Therese.

As you might remember with Deo’s consultation, Gianni was/ still is at the top of our list. My husband is a little more sold on it than I am though (I can’t decide if it’s TOO Italian for us or not!). With a very overtly Italian last name, I feel like it’s hard to match both a non-Italian first name (for example, I really like Bennett or Brody, but they just don’t go with the naming style we’ve established) OR a suuuuper Italian first name (for example, Alessandro). None of our kids ‘look’ Italian (blonde/ light brown and blue eyes haha) so I feel like it just doesn’t fit.

We would love to use Joseph for the middle name (Joseph is a beloved family name and St. Joseph the worker’s feast is right around  my due date) though it’s not an official decision. I struggle with Gianni Joseph though, as it reminds me of G.I. Joe, haha! Am I overthinking that? That’s all I can hear now. 

Other names that we like/ are considering:

1) Romeo- I feel like this is Italian without being too Italian, but is it too bold? Any kid with that name has a lot of association coming in with his name. Also Joseph again doesn’t really flow with this for a middle (Ro Jo?! haha).

2) Sebastian

3) Malachi

4) Valentino- I really like this but I can’t decide if we can commit to calling him by his full name (we are trying to avoid nicknames this time around)

5) Angelo- I like this, husband not as much

6) Amelio/ Emilio- We were considering Amelia if it was a girl (Amelia is a family name), so we were throwing around the idea of making Amelia masculine (I’ve never seen it written Amelio though). I don’t like the traditional Emilio spelling as much

We’ve considered but won’t use:

Maxim/ Massimo, Adrian, Julian, Apollo, Gabriel 

I’m wondering if there are other names like Domenick/ Dominic that go well with an Italian last name but don’t end in a vowel? I think that might be the silver bullet we are looking for. Would love your thoughts on that!!“

It was so fun for me to come up with name ideas for Christi’s new baby boy! It was definitely a challenge, which I LOVE!

Okay, first off, my thoughts on the names Christi and her hubby are already considering, in case they’re helpful:

  • Gianni Joseph: Christi is too funny with her G.I. Joe reference!! I know they loved Gianni when they were expecting Deo as well. For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t have thought of G.I. Joe at all when seeing Gianni Joseph! Especially since I’m sure Joseph wouldn’t be part of his everyday name, and most people in his life won’t know his middle name, you know? That said, I totally understand having something in your head that’s “all you can hear now,” it’s a real thing! If they really want to know my thought, I would say naming their son John Giuseppe solves their problems! They’d have John, who they can call Johnny, thus retaining the sound of the name Christi and her hubby love; they’d have a super Italian name tucked in the middle so it’s not too much, and it honors the Saint they want to honor; and they’d avoid the G.I. Joe connotation. On paper, it seems like the perfect solution! However, I know that even if this all seems perfect on paper, Gianni and Johnny do feel like different names … that Italian spelling gives Gianni a certain something …
  • Romeo: I love that they’re considering Romeo! I have long loved Romeo for a Catholic baby, ever since I found out that Romeo and Roman both mean “from Rome,” and in medieval Italian also meant “pilgrim to Rome” — such beautiful meanings for a baby boy being raised in the faith! Of course, I do understand Christi’s worry about the associations with Romeo. Roman is a nice option, but although I know they were considering it last time, the fact that it’s not currently on their list makes me think they’ve decided they like Romeo more. Another option might be to use the original Latin form Romaeus. Romaeus introduces yet a third “feel” to the name, joining the feels of Romeo and Roman, which are different from each other while being such similar names. Christi mentioned the possible problem of Ro Jo for Romeo Joseph — I actually think Romeo Joseph sounds very handsome! And I would never think to land on Ro Jo! But thinking about nicknames for Romeo, and for Romaeus, I feel like it’s not at all crazy to consider Roman as a nickname for both Romeo and Romaeus, which could also help tone down the Shakespeare association with Romeo and the heaviness of Romaeus.
  • Sebastian: Christi had Sebastian on her list last time, so I know she loves it! It’s funny because on the surface of her email, it seems that she and her hubs are looking for an Italian name, but if I took the Italian part out of the equation, sibs Anastasia and Domenick would have me looking for similarly long, heavy-hitting, saintly names, and Sebastian would absolutely make that list. I wonder if they’ve considered the Italian variant Sebastiano? They could still use any of the Sebastian nicknames (Seb/Sebby, Bash), and they’d have the Italian feel they love. (Though, since they seem to want to have a little distance from “super Italian,” Sebastian might be the better way to go.)
  • Malachi: As with Gianni, Romeo, and Sebastian, Malachi was on their list last time. It’s a very cool name! Just so different from the other names they like — it doesn’t have that heavy Catholic feel of Anastasia/Domenick/Sebastian and it doesn’t have the heavy Italian of Gianni/Romeo, it’s sort of in its own category. If there were other names they liked that were similar in style to Malachi, I could see keeping it on the list or using it this time, but as it is, I guess I feel like this is a name they’ll always like but never use. I still like my alternative idea from last time that was inspired by Malachi: Melchiorre. It’s the Italian variant of Melchior, which is the name one of the Three Wise Men has traditionally been known by, and it was one of St. John Bosco’s middle names. I think they could still do the Chi nickname that they like, or Mac, which is a nickname I always like for Malachi and I think it could do fine for Melchiorre.
  • Valentino: Another name from their list last time — it’s nice to see the consistency! It *is* a big name to not have a nickname for, but an awesome full name if they can commit to using the full name every time. I wonder if they’ve considered using the anglicized Valentine?
  • Angelo: I love the angel names, from their actual names (Gabriel, etc.) to the literal angel names (Angelo, Seraphino, etc.). I also love Angel as a nickname for it — I don’t see that on boys too much where I live, but it’s not unheard of among Spanish-speaking families, and the main male protagonist in the classic novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles was Angel, which I always thought was cool.
  • Amelio/Emilio: I’ve never seen the spelling Amelio either, though behindthename.com does have a user-submitted entry for Amelio, saying it’s an Italian masculine form of Amelia. Since they don’t like Emilio as much, I guess I’m hoping that they’ll have enough ideas between their own and any I offer that they like that they can save Amelia for a girl!
  • Maxim/Massimo, Adrian, Julian, Apollo, Gabriel: It’s helpful for me to know Christi and her husband have considered these and crossed them off their list!

Before getting to new ideas, I also want to discuss briefly two things that Christi said: (1) that they’re hoping not to use a nickname this time around, and (2) that they’re wondering about names like Domenick that go well with an Italian last name but don’t end in a vowel.

Regarding the first one, I think their best bet for a non-nicknamed name would be something shorter — I think it will be very hard to avoid nicknames for names like Sebastian and Valentino! Of course, if they’re firm and consistent, they can have a fair amount of success with that when their boy is small; much less so as he grows up, unfortunately (at least in my experience!). So my advice would be to not hold on too hard to the hope of no nickname, and certainly don’t let it sway them from choosing the name they love the most. (Gianni avoids this problem entirely!) And in fact, I kind of disregarded the no-nickname thing altogether when I was compiling my list of ideas for this family! I think the right given name/nickname combo might be exactly what sways Christi and her hubby toward one name or another (like Domenick/Deo).

Regarding the second point, I laughed when I read that Christi would love to know what names are like Domenick in terms of going well with an Italian last name but don’t end in a vowel, because they love so many names that end in a vowel!! At the same time, I thought it was a pretty brilliant thought (as Christi put it, “the silver bullet”), and I definitely went on the hunt to gather name ideas that fit.

One last thought before moving ahead — I just wanted to point out that several ideas I had last time I still love for this family! In fact, whenever I’m doing a second (or more) consultation for a family, I always try to come up with ideas without any interference from the previous consultations — I start fresh, as if it’s the first time I’m considering the family and their taste, and only after I come up with a list do I look back to make sure I’m not repeating any or anything like that. Very often, I’ll discover that my “fresh” ideas have a huge amount of overlap with the previous consultation(s), which is both encouraging and frustrating, haha! Anyway, when I made my list for Christi this time, feeling that I’d really come up with some great ideas, I later discovered that they were basically all names I’d suggested before. Gah! So anyway, I wanted to list them here again to make sure Christi didn’t forget and to share with all of you in case they’re helpful for your own naming:

  • Pier, Piero
  • Dante
  • Orlando
  • Christian (doesn’t end in a vowel, although Christi had said she likes Cristiano, which is also awesome, and I continue to love that these names would honor Christi nicely — as well as Jesus Himself!)
  • Anthony with the possible nickname Ty (doesn’t end in a vowel! I mean, not really. Not the way Christi meant, with all the ends-in-o Italian names. Anthony and Domenick and Johnny and Joseph and Vincent are all part of those super-Italian-but-not-Italian names!)

Ok! On to my new ideas! Unfortunately, I’m finding my trusty Baby Name Wizard book to be increasingly out of date, and since the author doesn’t seem to be intending to publish a new edition any time soon, I’ve been trying to go with my gut more. For Christi, I also looked up Italian Saints as well as (and I know you’ll all get a kick out of this!) characters’ names in The Godfather, Sopranos, and Mickey Blue Eyes to get a good sense of which non-Italian names nevertheless have a stereotypical Italian feel especially when paired with a very Italian last name (like Johnny). And I definitely considered Anastasia’s and Domenick’s names outside of the Italian sphere for inspiration. I’m excited about my ideas for this family!

(1) Benedict or Benedetto

One of the things I found is that the anglicized versions of names that also have an Italian variant are very common in Italian families. Their Domenick is a perfect example, as the Italian variant is Domenico. From that perspective, the heavy-hitting Catholic names are perfect! Benedict is absolutely a name I’d consider to fit with the feeling of Anastasia and Domenick, and St. Benedict of Nursia (the Original St. Benedict) was actually an Italian Saint! Benito is a short form of the Italian variant, Benedetto, that could be a great nickname for Benedict to pull in the Italian more. And/or they can use the full Italian Benedetto! Benedetto is great in that it can take the totally non-Italian nickname Ben/Benny, or the Italian Benito, OR Bennett!! Christi said she “really likes” Bennett but doesn’t feel like it goes with their naming style — Benedetto nicknamed Bennett could help solve that problem! And it’s totally not a stretch either, because Bennett is actually the medieval short form of Benedict! So much perfection here (if they want it to be)!

(2) Augustine or Agostino

Domenick/Dominic and Benedict would always be joined by Augustine in my mind as heavy-hitting, monastery-type names (which is a vibe I LOVE). If they were to choose Augustine, I would 100% try to sell them on using Gus as the nickname — not only is it totally adorable, but it has that Old World feel that I associate with very ethnic European names. That said, we have friends who have really leaned into their Italian heritage — like this family, they have a very Italian last name — and both the dad and the son are Agostino. The son goes by the full Agostino, so it’s totally possible! The dad goes by Auggie, which can help “hide” the Italian-ness if they want to. And I think Gus can work for Agostino as well!

(3) Francis, Francesco

One of the names that’s often given to Italian-American male characters is Frankie. Such a great nickname! They could certainly do Francis — saintly, heavy hitting, the name of an Italian Saint, doesn’t end in a vowel — or they could do the full Francesco with the nickname Frankie. Love love love.

(4) Salvatore

Salvatore is definitely an Italian name, and it definitely ends in a vowel, and in Italy you would hear that vowel, but in America, it’s as if the vowel doesn’t exist, so it might be perfect for this family! My sons have a friend named Salvatore whose parents call him the full Salvatore all the time, but my boys call him Sal. It’s a fanTAStic name! Very Old World, very faithy (I mean, “savior” — come on! Such a great Jesus name!), rare but easy and friendly. I love it.

(5) Capistran or Capistrano

I went to a Franciscan college and one of the dear friars that I loved was Fr. Capistran. What a cool name! It was for St. John of Capistrano, a Franciscan Italian Saint; my friar friend went by Fr. Cap — I LOVE Cap as a nickname!! They could do Capistran, like him, which would given them that doesn’t-end-in-a-vowel name that still has great Italian roots, or they could do the full Capistrano, which would also allow them to use Cap as a nickname.

(6) Cupertino

I was a little bit on a last-name kick (in which I include place names, like St. John of Cupertino, since the “of Cupertino” part basically acts as a surname), inspired by how Christi said she likes Bennett and Brody (they both have traditional usage as surnames) but they don’t fit her style — I was determined to find a couple of options that would! St. Joseph of Cupertino is the Saint that inspires this name, and I’ve seen him used as baby name inspiration before — I know of one couple who named their son Cupertino as a given name and calls him Cooper as a nickname, and another couple who named their son Cooper with St. Joseph of Cupertino as patron. I think Cupertino would be cool for this family, and Coop or Cooper would be such sweet nicknames!

(7) Bosco

I couldn’t not include one of my very favorite saintly Italian surname names, which has lots of good usage outside of Italian families, which starts with a B like Bennett and Brody, which might make it perfect (even though it ends in a vowel), and it’s short enough that it likely wouldn’t get nicknamed! I love Bosco, I think it’s such a fun and spunky name, and obvious to anyone who has a working knowledge of the Saints who it refers to. There are a few Sancta Nomina families who have sons named Bosco: here, here, here.

Those are my seven “official” suggestions, but I came across a few more in my research that I wanted to be sure to list, just in case:

  • Corrado is the Italian variant of Conrad, and St. Conrad of Piacenza is an Italian Saint. But Corrado! What a cool, cool name!
  • Cajetan is the English version of the Italian name Gaetano. I’ve always loved the name Cajetan, and St. Cajetan himself. Caj is a cool nickname!
  • Gennaro is the Italian for St. Januarius, and my sisters went to school with a boy named Gennaro — I grew up loooving his name and determined to name a son Gennaro, even though I have no Italian blood at all!
  • You probably know that Santino nicknamed Sonny is a Godfather character, so maybe a little too on the nose, but Santino means “little Saint” and Sonny is such a fantastic nickname, I just had to suggest it! One of my boys went to nursery school with a little Santino who went by Sonny and I absolutely loved it.

And those are all my ideas for Christi’s baby boy! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the baby brother of Anastasia and Domenick-called-Deo?

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation from either Theresa or myself 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!

Baby name consultation: Saintly, possibly Marian name needed for baby no. 5!

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Happy Monday, everyone! Enjoy this week’s consultation by Theresa Zoe Williams!

Mama Sarah writes in for help naming her fifth child, a little green bean. Baby will join big siblings:

Liam Henry

Josephine Elizabeth

Isaac David

Naomi Evangeline

She says:

“Always a fan of Saint names, especially saints who had a special love for Mary.

Plus James (grandpa), Patrick (husband’s patron saint), Alice (an aunt who passed away this year). I feel kinda funny taking names from a country that we have no heritage from… but that is not an absolute. Our backgrounds are from Poland, Germany, Ireland, England, France, and Omaha Indian. We like names that have a good nickname too.”

So many fun things to consider!

Names they like but aren’t sold on:

“Boys- Maximilian (after St. Maximilian Kolbe), James, Felix, Patrick, Ezra. Leaning towards Maximilian James or Felix James. Looking for more options…

Girls- Gianna Catherine (both saints with feast days near my due date, plus I have a special place for St Catherine of Sienna), Veronica Catherine, Zita Rose, Viviana Therese, Annalice Catherine. Open to other options, just haven’t had anything really stick out as a winner.”

I love so many of these names.

Names they can’t use:

“Pretty much have crossed off any top 10 names and anything difficult to spell or not phonetic.”

Additionally, they cannot use:

  • Matthew
  • Joshua
  • Benjamin
  • Michael
  • Samuel
  • Benedict
  • Luke
  • Noah
  • Cameron
  • Caleb
  • Ryan
  • Cyrus
  • Thomas
  • Blaise
  • Peter
  • Simon
  • Abigail
  • Rachel
  • Julianna
  • Audrey
  • Ruth
  • Zoe
  • Kathleen

On to names!

First, about the names they like but aren’t totally feeling.

Maximilian — I love this name for them. I love that it’s Polish and connected to a very Marian saint. It goes so well with their other kids, too. I especially love Maximilian James.

Felix — I love that this is their other frontrunner right now. Goes great with their other kids and has the bonus of meaning “happy” which is just such a bright, fun meaning for a kid. Felix James is incredibly handsome.

James — I like this in the middle spot for them and I love that it’s an honor name. I really feel like
this has to be their son’s middle name if they have a boy. It’s just so loaded with goodness for
them.

Patrick — Great, solid name that goes well with the other kids. I love that it honors dad in a different way. You just cannot go wrong with a little Patrick.

Ezra — I wasn’t expecting to see this on their list and I’m so glad it is! It’s fun and unique but still fits in with the other kids. I can see why this doesn’t feel like “the one” though.

Gianna- I was surprised to see this on their list because it’s so different from their other girls’ names. That’s not a bad thing! It would definitely widen their taste. I felt this way about most of the names on their girl list, actually. Gianna Catherine is a beautiful name and I love the connection to saints’ feasts near Sarah’s due date and her love of St. Catherine of Siena.

Veronica — Great name, surprised to see it on their list, think it goes well with their other girls. I
love the nickname Vera for this name, too. Veronica Catherine is so chic.

Zita Rose — Completely and utterly surprised by this name in a good way. They’re actually a little more daring than their other kids’ names and facts Sarah gave me imply!

Viviana Therese — Beautiful name. I love this expanded version of classic Vivian and gives their taste in names a much more romance language vibe than their current kids. It fits right in and yet expands their taste at the same time.

Annalice — At first I was confused by this spelling of Anneliese but then realized the “Alice” portion is to honor their aunt who passed. I love this. I think it’s a really sweet spin on a name that fits right in with their other kids. Annalice Catherine is just so full of meaning and gorgeous. This would be at the top of my list for them. The only thing is that they’ll constantly have to spell and correct pronunciation of it for the rest of her life.

On to some new ideas! Let’s start with the girls.

(1) Emilia

Two things gave me this idea for them, their Polish heritage and that their other two girls have middle names that begin with E. Servant of God Emilia Wojtyla was Pope St. John Paul II’s mother. So she’s Polish, an almost saint, and her name begins with E. This name is also a little more romance-language inspired than their current kids’ names but like the ones on their not quite list. Catherine Emilia and Annalice Emilia are both beautiful. As a bonus, here are some other E names I thought they might like in the middle spot: Edith, Esther, and Eleanor.

(2) Miriam

This is an Old Testament name like Naomi and also a form of Mary, putting it on par with Josephine. I loved that this form of Mary gave them an Old Testament connection and is less popular than other Mary variants. Miriam Edith, Miriam Emilia, Miriam Esther, Miriam Eleanor, and Miriam Catherine are all really stunning and go beautifully with their other kids’ names.

(3) Tamar

I was thinking of different Old Testament names that fit with Josephine and Naomi and this one came to mind. She was a daughter-in-law of Judah and a daughter of King David, which I thought was a cool connection to Sarah’s husband David, like Isaac is a cool connection to Sarah. Servant of God Dorothy Day named her daughter Tamar Teresa and I’ve always thought that’s beautiful. Tamar Catherine and Tamar Emilia are also really beautiful.

(4) Phoebe

This one came up while I was looking for Biblical names and thought it was a great fit for them. It means “bright, pure”, so it has a similar meaning to Catherine and is the name of a saint who was a friend of St. Paul’s (you can read about her in Romans). It stretches their naming style just a little bit without going crazy but still fits in really well. Phoebe Catherine is beautiful but the meanings may be a little redundant. If they think that’s the case, I also love Phoebe Esther and Phoebe Emilia.

(5) Tabitha

Another name that popped up while I was researching Biblical names. She was the woman restored to life by St. Peter and I’ve always thought that was really cool. Tabby is a cute nickname and Tabitha Catherine, Tabitha Emilia, and Tabitha Eleanor are all really stunning.

Now for the boys!

(1) Dominic

When Sarah said they like saints who honor Mary and already had Maximillian on their list, this was the next name I thought of. Mary gave the Rosary to St. Dominic and he founded the Dominicans. As a plus, the name means “of the Lord” which is super cool and sweet! Dominic James is such a handsome name and fits right in with the other kids.

(2) Bruno

I thought of this name because they said they have German heritage. Little known fact, but Bruno is actually a German name! Even though places like Italy and Spain use the name quite a bit, too. St. Bruno founded the Carthusians. The name means “armor, protection” or “brown” and I think the armor meaning is particularly cool for a little boy. I like that this name is short and sweet like their other two boys. Bruno James is cool and grounded.

(3) Louis

The next Marian saint that came to mind was St. Louis de Montfort who is famous for writing a consecration to Jesus through Mary and True Devotion to Mary. The name also means “famous battle” which is cool for a little boy. I’m super fond of the nickname Lou, too. The only drawback here is if they care if any of their kids share initials. A Liam and a Louis might be too much for them? Louis James is so classically handsome.

(4) Edmund

I was looking up Polish saints and Bl. Edumnd Bojanowski came up. He founded or co-founded four religious congregations devoted, in some way, to Mary, which I thought was cool for them. The name Edmund means “rich protection” and doesn’t rank in the 1000 of baby names. Edmund James is stunning.

(5) John Paul

Maybe a little obvious? Personally, this is the only double first name I like. The obvious connection here is to Pope St. John Paul II who was extremely Marian and, bonus, he was Polish. John means “Yahweh is gracious” and Paul means “small, humble” and I just think they’re so powerful together. John Paul fits right in with their other kids, too, and John Paul James has a beautiful, strong rhythm and flow.

These are my suggestions. What do you think?

I’m back on hiatus from doing consultations (though check back from time to time, as I hope to open up a few spots here and there as I’m able), but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

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!

Birth announcement: Annunziata Lucille!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , , ,

I had the great honor of posting birth announcements for Teresa and her husband’s first two babies (here and here), and got the best email the other day in which Teresa let me know they just welcomed a third baby — a little girl with the beyond-amazing name … Annunziata Lucille!

Teresa writes,

“It’s been about a year and a half since I last emailed you … announcing the arrival of our second (Benedict Campion Marie), so now I’m here to share we welcomed a little girl to our family! Annunziata Lucille.

I don’t remember how I came across Annunziata, but when I did I knew it would be her name. The annunciation! Our Lady’s beautiful response to God’s will! What’s not to love. I pray that our daughter will also have a beautiful response to God’s will in her life. I often sing the Angelus in Latin to her (the first line has her name! Sort of!) What a gift that her name alone encourages me to prayer. So far we’ve been calling her Nunzi, [big brother] Emil likes to call her Baby Nunzia. Occasionally we also call her Annunzia.

Lucille is a family name, my grandma’s, my aunt’s middle, my middle, my niece’s first and another niece’s middle. I think I’ve known my whole life that if I had a daughter she would have the name Lucille.

We had a home birth this time and my Aunt (Miriam Lucille), was planning to come from California to stay with us for a week, and we were all hoping she would be here for the birth to help with the boys. She picked her birthday to come, which also ended up being Nunzi’s birthday! Isn’t that just providential?

Thank you for always being excited to hear name stories and celebrate new life with us!“

Isn’t Annunziata Lucille a simply stunning name?! And Nunzi is such a sweet nickname!! I absolutely love Teresa and her husband’s somewhat eclectic naming style that is also held tightly together by virtue of each name being totally, impeccably tied to our beautiful faith. You know I love bold Catholic naming!!

Congratulations to Teresa and her husband and big brothers Emil and Benedict, and happy birthday Baby Annunziata!!

Annunziata Lucille with her big brothers ❤

I’m back on hiatus from doing consultations (though check back from time to time, as I hope to open up a few spots here and there as I’m able), but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

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!

Baby name consultation: Strongly saintly+Marian names for baby no. 4

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Please keep in your prayers the family of longtime Sancta Nomina friend Rosie from A Blog for My Mom — her two month old baby girl, Margaret Mary, died a few days ago. There are efforts to support the family, if you are willing and able — links are included in this post.

Here’s the latest consultation from Theresa Zoe Williams:

Mama Lucy writes in:

“I am pregnant with our 4th child. Praise God! This babe is due in February 2022. We are not yet sure what gender this baby is, and I’m out 100% sure we will find out before birth! Our names for a boy and girl were set before we were even married, but the third was debated (mostly only by me ha!) until I saw her face.”

This baby will join big siblings:

  • Michael Dominic
  • Clara Marie-Therese
  • Gianna Marie-Rose

She writes:

“Our girls have the Marie- _____  middle so that each one would be sure to have a Marian name. We kind of stole it from Louie and Zelie Martin. We also like that they will always share that even if their last name changes down the road. We have unintentionally gone with Italian saints for the girls first names so far, and I’d like to break from that so to not get too stuck on it. It’s not that we only like Italian names. Those just happened to feel right.

If we have another boy we’d like another strong saint first name (St. Michael) and a nod to Mary with the middle (st. Dominic spreading the rosary). Michael’s initials are MDW just like my husband’s and his father’s. I do love the name Jackson though and would love a baby Jack, maybe you could help find a saint connection? 

The only other non-canonized saint on our (very long) list is Anna Mae. This was my paternal grandmother’s name, and I love It but we have a lot of short a sound in or girls and the “Anna” in Gianna already. Am I overthinking? Names do not have to be canonized saints but we’d love a connection to our faith. Virtues, places, etc. I LOVE nicknames. Our first two mostly go by their first names but Gianna goes by Gigi, Geeg, and Geeger, and my husband and I both Love that she has multiple nicknames. We’ve discussed having a Lily Marie-Catherine and calling her Lily-Cate in the past. I also have a devotion to the miraculous medal. Catherine Laboure is another Catherine I’d love to honor. Like I said though, so many Catherine’s in the family already.”

Names they cannot use:

  • Caroline
  • Louie
  • Catherine (“So many variations in our family, but my confirmation saint was Catherine of Alexandria and I‘d love to honor her somehow“)

Names they like but don’t feel like the one:

  • Joseph
  • Peter 
  • Benedict
  • Karol (“as a middle“) 
  • George (“if Gianna was a boy she was going to be George Karol, two saints we love + GK for GK Chesterton who is one of my husband’s favorite authors“)  
  • Bosco (“nicknamed Bo“) 
  • Augustine (“I love Gus and Auggie!“) 
  • Sebastian (“Bash! I saw on this blog and loved!“) 
  • Jackson/Jack
  • Zelie
  • Beatrice (“my husband loves that a girl named Beatrice is what inspired Dante’s writings“) 
  • Anna Mae
  • Vianney (“I love St. John Vianney but we don’t like John, but again with that short a sound/ann“) 
  • Felicity (“husband is not a huge fan, I need nickname suggestions“)
  • Lily
  • Alice 

So first, I thought I’d give some thoughts on names they said they like but don’t feel like “the one”.

Joseph– Great, strong name, especially in this year of St. Joseph. Has a built-in Marian connection, too! Lots of great nickname potential here, too, including Joe, Joey, Joss, and Seph.

Peter– Another great, strong name literally meaning “rock”. Doesn’t get more solid than that! I love this name because it has so many faith and pop culture connections but is still fairly underused. I love the nickname Pete, too.

Benedict– I see a pope theme emerging! Another really great, strong name with lots of nickname potential. If they named their son Benedict Joseph, they could also call him Banjo, like a slur of Ben Joe. (Someday, someone will take me up on this and it will be glorious!)

Karol– They said they like this in the middle spot and, with their other kids, I agree. Pope St. John Paul II had a huge and very public Marian devotion, which is wonderful. Karol is also the Polish form of Charles, meaning “army, warrior” which is super cool for a kid of the faith. I love all the connections here.

George– On the rise but still fairly uncommon. I love this name. Nicknames here can be Georgie, Geo, Jory, or, a little bit of a stretch, Rory.

Bosco– This veers a little bit from their strong names for boys in that it’s not traditional or classic but is still very strong and is a trendy surname name. I think this is a really cute name, especially with nickname Bo, and St. John Bosco is a lovely patron.

Augustine– Can’t go wrong with this one, although it’s not a classic name but it is still very strong. I LOVE the nickname Gus and Auggie is super cute, too. Fun fact, this name means “exalted, venerable” which is cool considering St. Augustine is a Church Father and a Doctor of the Church.

Sebastian– Love this name and it has been growing in popularity. This would bridge the gap between their son’s name and their daughters’ names really well, too. I LOVE the nickname Bash! It just reminds me so much of a little boy.

Jackson/Jack– Super popular and trendy but because they’re such good, strong, classic names! They asked for a faith connection for these. Jack is a diminutive of John and Jacob (through the French Jacques) so any saint John, Jacob, or James (Jacob and James are etymologically the same name) can be patron! Lots and lots to choose from! Jackson could mean “follower or devotee of [insert patron saint John, Jacob, or James]” which is a cool connection. Jack has also come into being a slang term for a man which could then relate it to the Italian Guido and there’s a super cool Servant of God Guido Shaffer who could be patron. He was a Brazilian doctor, seminarian, and surfer, and has been proposed as the eventual patron saint of surfing.

Zelie– Super on-trend, rising Catholic name. I absolutely adore this name. It’s got the cool Z beginning and the lovely -ee sound ending. St. Zelie was also amazing and this brings them away from the Italian saints like they said they wanted

Beatrice– One of those clunky cool old names coming back. This is another Italian name, though, but just so lovely and I don’t think it has a very immediate Italian connection. It means “voyager, traveller” which is what we’re doing in this life. In this way, it could be a cool nod to St. Therese who said, “The world’s thy ship and not thy home.” There’s a St. Beatrice of Rome and several other Blessed Beatrices.

Anna Mae– I love this combo and I don’t think Anna is too close to Gianna. The one thing for consideration here is that Mae is a form of Mary, so they’d have to figure out a different way to do their Marie- middle name. Maybe Anna-Mae in the middle and a different first?

Vianney– This was super unexpected! St. John Vianney is a lovely patron but I just didn’t expect this for a girl! They could do nicknames Vi or Annie with this name for her, too.

Felicity– Great name that’s rising in popularity. They were wondering about nicknames for this so I’m assuming they thought of Lissy and didn’t like it. Flick and Flicka are two unexpected nicknames and a Hungarian diminutive is Zita (I know this is also an Italian name and might defeat their trying to get away from Italian names rule). Another nickname could be the literal “Happy”, which is the meaning of the name or “Lucky” which is another meaning of the name.

Lily Marie-Catherine nn Lily-Cate– Oh my goodness! I read this and I just felt like this is “the one” for them! It checks all of their boxes! It moves them away from Italian saints, gets their love of Catherine in there, stays the course with all of their girls having Marie- middle names, and has a lovely nickname! I really think this one is it for them.

Alice– Another clunky cool old name making its way back. I like this for them and with their other children. It’s a short form of Adelaide and there are a couple Sts. Alice or Adelaide to take patronage from.

On to new suggestions! Let’s start with the boys first.

(1) Joachim/n

This uncommon names means “Yahweh establishes” and is the name of Mary’s father. I think they might like this best in the middle but it does shorten to Joe, which is an especially cute nickname in this year of St. Joseph. Their love for Karol made me think they might like this name. It’s still strong, just not classic, and gives them more leeway in naming any future children. It opens up their style a bit without going completely left field. Again, though, I think they may like this in the middle best.

(2) Gabriel

It doesn’t get much more Marian and classic, strong than this name! It means “God is my strong man”. Gabriel was the archangel at the Annunciation and is also the name of St. Gabriel Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows, giving it a double Marian punch. This would mean that two of their sons would have the same names as Archangels, though.

(3) Luke

St. Luke wrote the most Marian Gospel, which is what gives this name its Marian connection. It’s simple, sweet, and classic. I don’t think they could go wrong with this name and it fits so nicely with all of their other children.

(4) Thaddeus

He was the apostle also known as Jude and the name means “heart”. The nickname Thad is adorable, too! Likewise, an unofficial suggestion is Theodore. I think they may like this one for the same reasons and it has lots of nickname potential like Theo, Ted, and Teddy.

(5) Gerard

I always think of this name as a Marian name since he is the patron saint of expectant mothers. It’s classic, underused, and strong. I really love this name for them. It has a ton of nickname potential like G/Jerry, G/Jer, or, starting to stretch it a bit, Gordo or Rory.

Now for girls. This one was a little harder for me because their tastes lean Italian but they wanted to get away from that. I cast my net really wide for these suggestions and I think they’ll like what I’ve thought up.

(1) Alexandria

I thought of this one because of their love for St. Catherine of Alexandria. It gets one of their Catherine names in without using Catherine and is more unexpected. There’s TONS of nickname potential here: Alex, Ana, Ria, Alexa, Lexi, and even Alix or Alice! This name has the flourish like their other girls’ names without being an Italian name, which I think is something they’ll appreciate.

(2) Sophie

It’s a French name! And it means “wisdom”. There are lots of Sts. Sophia to take patronage from and I thought it would be cool to use a French name to honor an Italian saint, like they’ve done before. However, there’s also the French Bl. Madeleine Sophie Barat for patronage!

(3) Zoe

A Greek name and saint! St. Zoe of Pamphylia was a mother who lived in the 3rd century and watched her whole family be tortured and martyred. She’s an incredible, little-known saint. Zoe was also the birth name of St. Catherine Laboure. This name came to me because of their love of Zelie, it’s got all the same things going for it, plus it’s the Greek word for the spiritual life.

(4) Madeleine

Another French name! It’s the French form of Magdalen, so she could take her patronage there. St. Mary Magdalen also accompanied Mary to the cross, so it’s a solid Marian name, too. There’s also St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. Sophie Marie-Madeleine or Zoe Marie-Madeleine are just so swoony to me!

(5) Charlotte

I took their love of the name Karol and kind of ran with it. I thought they might like the feminine, French form Charlotte. There are lots of Venerable Charlottes, most of them martyred in the French Revolution. One other stood out to me, though, Ven. Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Mary, making it a Marian name in another way.

These are my thoughts. What does everyone else think?

I’m currently on hiatus from doing consultations, but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

During my hiatus, please don’t forget about 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) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!