Marian names

Birth announcement: Remember Ocean Terebinth!

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Happy Tuesday, everyone! Here’s another belated birth announcement for a Sancta Nomina baby!

Longtime readers will remember Katheryn’s and her husband’s amazing taste in names as evidenced by the names they chose for their children: the first four explained here, and birth announcements here, here, and here. I’m excited to share that they’ve since welcomed another baby girl, to whom they gave the incredible name … Remember Ocean Terebinth!

Katheryn writes,

“I absolutely love her name, and love it more and more as she grows. We went back and forth for awhile on her name and were originally going to name her Ocean Memorare but one day my husband said, ‘I actually like Remember better than Memorare, and as a first name.’ When he said that it just clicked! I went ahead and copied what I put on Instagram for you. 

REMEMBER ‘Zakar’ is the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for when God remembers. Instead of meaning to recall something forgotten, like we commonly use the word, it means to bring someone to mind and act on their behalf; to take action on a promise. Every instance where God is said to remember someone it involves an action. When Hannah (1 Samuel 1:19-20) and Rachel (Genesis 30:22) finally conceived after many years of infertility, it says that God remembered them and they conceived. 

Remember is also after the Memorare prayer ‘to remember,’ a prayer that has special meaning to us in our infertility journey. It is also in honor of the year of the Eucharist: ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ (Luke 22:19)

OCEAN is after Our Lady Star of the Sea and the ocean of divine mercy. 

TEREBINTH is her botanical name since all our daughters have one. The terebinth tree is a landmark tree because it grows huge and alone instead of in groves.  It is a tree that grows slowly but has a wood that is so strong it is almost indestructible. It remains green even in times of drought and can even regrow from its stump after being cut down. In the Bible David fought and defeated Goliath in The Valley of the Terebinth.  It was under a terebinth tree that the three visitors came to Abraham and told him that Sarah would finally conceive a son and be holding him within a year. It was also under a terebinth tree that Gideon was called by God to be a great warrior. The terebinth tree is a symbol of strength so her patron saint is St. Joseph under his title ‘St. Joseph most strong.’

She is our remembrance of God’s faithfulness and His intimate Abba love for us, that He is a Father who sees and remembers us by keeping His promises to our hearts in His best timing and way. The miracle of her life is a landmark of faith that we can return to when we need to be reminded of Whose we are and what He can do.”

Aren’t the different elements of Remember’s name amazing?! I’ve come to expect no less from Katheryn and her husband — each of their kiddos’ names are so deep with meaning and connections to our faith.

Congratulations to Katheryn and her hubby and big sibs Verity, Gethsemane, Bosco, Hyacinth, Exodus, Zephyr, and Sojourn, and happy belated birthday Remember!!

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: Unexpected middle name for Mary

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Maria and her husband are expecting their fourth baby — their third girl! This little lady joins big sibs:

Samuel Albert (Sam) “Samuel was born a few months after my husband became Catholic, and about nine months later I converted as well. We landed on his name quite easily. We knew we wanted a name that had spiritual significance for us and connected to our faith tradition. At the time that was biblical names. We loved the meaning of Samuel ‘God hears’. As a bonus, we  loved the literary connection of of Samwise from Lord of the Rings and that character’s loyalty and friendship.

Albert is a family name on my husband’s side. It is both my husband’s middle name, and his father’s middle name, and was his grandfather’s first name. In naming our first child, we realized connecting our children’s names to those that came before them was significant to us.”

Phoebe Grace “Phoebe checked all the previous boxes for us: faith connection with being a New Testament biblical name and not overly popular, unique but not unheard of. We loved the meaning “bright, or radiant” and the poetic connection to the moon, something that reflects light in the dark. (What a metaphor for Christian life, the moon reflecting the light of the sun.) Phoebe seemed like a bit of a risk. I thought people’s feelings would probably be polarizing, but I loved it and I thought it was charming and we went for it!

Grace is my mother’s name, and it was such a privilege to honour her when naming my first daughter.”

Anna Frances “Anna was named because of the biblical connection to the Prophetess Anna, who was one of the first people to recognize Jesus as the Saviour. How nice that it means, ‘Grace’ which gave her a connection to her sister’s name and my mother’s name again. We loved it because it was timeless and not overly popular. My husband’s mother’s middle name is Ann, so it was also a nice way to honour her. I’m also a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, so I liked the little connection to that name as well. 

Frances was chosen mostly because my husband wanted to honour St. Francis de Sales, and I also liked the connection to Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi. Also quite conveniently, Frances is a family name on my mother’s side of the family for many generations, and so it fits quite perfectly into place.”

Such wonderful names!! I love them all!!

Maria writes,

“For all our children we wanted to steer clear of names that were very popular or trendy, but wanted names that were both somewhat unique and had a ‘timeless’ quality. I definitely consulted Baby Name Wizard’s 100 year rule. 

We have landed on a first name for our baby girl: Her first name will be Mary. (Considering nicknames like Mae or Mair).

My husband has wanted to use the name Mary for awhile, and it has certainly grown on me as my connection to Mary has grown after my conversion from a Protestant to a Catholic. Although the name is, of course, very common in Catholic circles we are the only Catholics in our family and it’s not extremely popular overall on the charts so that works for us! Having done three biblical names so far, it is nice to do one for the fourth although that wasn’t a deal breaker for us. 

Also given my name is Maria, It is a nice connection to my third daughter in that way. I was also accidently named after my paternal grandmother.  Her name is Mary but she always went by a nickname so my Dad didn’t actually know this till after I was born and named! That is the one side of the family we’ve not honoured yet in our baby naming, so how perfect is that! My grandmother is in her 90s, and I recently traveled across the country to see her and attend my grandfather’s funeral. I told her that we were naming the baby Mary at that time, which was special.”

I don’t usually get consultation requests from parents who have already chosen a first name! But Maria’s “dilemma” is right up my alley! She continues,

“We are stumped for a middle name! 

Here’s a few of our thoughts:

– We checked all our boxes on the first name, and things are wide open! Mary has the faith connection and the family connection all in one. That being said, I love for a name (even a middle name) to have some significance and meaning behind it. A good ‘story’. 

– Because Mary is extremely traditional, I really wanted to find a middle name that was a bit unexpected and ‘fresh’ feeling. My husband liked names like Elizabeth and Catherine, but I really want to avoid anything that feels like it normally ‘goes with’ Mary or has that traditional double name feel. Rather uncharacteristically I had names like, ‘Wilder’, ‘Lark’, and ‘Gray’ on my ‘there’s no bad ideas in brainstorming’ long list. 

– I’m not sure how I feel about names that end in the same sound as Mary. Lucy was on our short list before for both girls, but I *think* I’m drawn to names that end in other sounds. 

Names that got to the short list: 

– A name with an ‘Elizabeth’ connection. My name is made of names derived from both Mary and Elizabeth (Maria Elyse). If her first name is Mary, I thought a version of Elizabeth might be a nice connection. It’s like having ‘the visitation’ captured in a name. I also love Pride and Prejudice and am secretly hunting for a ‘literary’ connection for this babe. The closest I got was: Elle, Ella, Isabel, Lise. None have so far really settled into being ‘the one’. 

– A name with an ‘Eve’ connection. I love the idea of Mary being the new Eve, and the connections between Mary and Eve. Ideas were: Eve, Eva, Ava, and maybe Evelyn (although I don’t think Evelyn is actually technically related to the name Eve…)

– Aveline – In my search for a more unusual middle name I stumbled across Aveline. Connection to the city of Avila, and therefore St. Theresa of Avila. I like that it is unusual and unexpected, and I think it sounds lovely with Mary. 

– I am drawn to some alliterative middle names – contenders were Mae, and Magnolia. These were the first ones that really made me feel excited like I did with our previous children’s names.  I think Mae is really a short form of Mary, so wasn’t sure that would fly. I thought maybe Magnolia could honour Mary Magdalene. Also worried it’s a little too quirky.  I’m not sure! Our other kids names have quite a depth of meaning, and I’m just not sure this fits the bill in the same way.

– Other names we’ve considered but didn’t quite sparkle for us: Charlotte, Lucia, Cecelia. 

Names we can’t use due to pets: Penelope, Eloise, Pia.”

I love that Maria and her husband have chosen Mary for the first name for their new baby!! It’s such a simply beautiful name. I love, too, that Maria and her baby will share a variant of Mary as first names! And that story about Maria’s paternal grandmother being Mary but her Dad not knowing is amazing. Wow!! Maria mentioned Mae and Mair as nicknames they’re considering; I also wanted to offer that Molly and Polly are both traditional nicknames for it.

One of the things Maria said is exactly what I would think as well: that since they “checked all [their] boxes on the first name … things are wide open” for the middle! And also, I would totally do what they’re thinking of in terms of finding an unexpected middle name. I’ve often said that Mary as a first name makes any first+middle combo sound Catholicky Catholic, and I myself would be leaning toward Wilder/Lark/Gray-type names instead of the beautiful but well used Elizabeth and Catherine. This is such a fun challenge!

Before I get on to new ideas, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on the names they’re already considering, in case they’re helpful:

  • A name with an “Elizabeth” connection: I absolutely love this idea for all the reasons Maria mentioned — finding an Elizabeth connection was one of my first priorities when I was trying to come up with ideas!
  • A name with an “Eve” connection: This is also a great idea, but I admit it pales in comparison to an Elizabeth name in my mind — I just love the Elizabeth idea! But it did inspire some of my ideas below!
  • Aveline: This, too, is beautiful, and Mary Aveline is stunning. Funny enough, Maria mentioned Evelyn in the “Eve” section, noting that it’s not actually etymologically related to Eve — but it is to Aveline! It was derived from Aveline! I’m not sure how that helps this family in any way, but it’s a fun thing to know!
  • Alliterative middle names: I, too, love alliterative combos! Maria’s right about Mae being a short form of Mary … I can also see what she means about Magnolia maybe being too quirky … it made me think of Marigold right away, but Mary Marigold wouldn’t work … I absolutely don’t want to steer them away from Mary as a first name, but I did wonder if Marigold as a first name might appeal to them? Mary/Mari could be her nickname, and I have a few readers (here, here, here) who named their babies Marigold with Our Lady, Queen as patron and the feast day of the Queenship of Mary (August 22 — same month as Maria’s due date!) as her name day. Even though Marigold and Magnolia are similar, I kind of feel like Marigold is the tiniest bit more grounded? Probably because of knowing a few little ones named Marigold, and Edith on “Downton Abbey” named her baby Marigold. All that said, I think Mary as a first name is the absolute perfect first name for an unexpected and even bold middle name, so I wouldn’t cross Mary Magnolia off their list! If they intend to call the baby Mary plus a nickname of her middle, then the full middle name can be as crazy as they want because very few people will ever really know what it is. Mary Mae is a fine nickname for Mary Magnolia; they could also do something like Mary Nola or Mary Lia as nicknames. I like Maria’s thought that Magnolia could honor St. Mary Magdalene; if she’s special to her, maybe a variant of her name might also appeal? Madeline/Madeleine and Magdalen(e)/Magdalyn/Magdalena would be lovely with Mary.
  • Names that end in the same sound as Mary: With Mary as the first name, I agree that I would lean away from a middle name that ends in the same sound — Mary Lucy sounds almost comical (though I know someone with a double name similar to Mary Lucy and it’s been fine for her. Anything can work if you want it to!). Maria said they’ve considered Lucia and didn’t care for it; I wonder if a different variant like Luz/Luce, Lucille, Lucinda, or Lux might work? Mary Luz and Mary Lux might especially touch on the Wilder/Lark/Gray feel that Maria was thinking of.

Okay! On to new ideas! They range from more “normal” to very bold, so hopefully something here will excite Maria and her husband! I normally look up the names the parents have already used and like in the Baby Name Wizard but in this case, since they’ve already chosen a first name, I focused instead on going through the M section of the BNW to see if there were any other alliterative options that jumped out at me, going through my own book of Marian names with the same goal in mind and to look for others that might appeal to Maria and her hubby, and jotting down ideas I had as I went about my day with their dilemma in mind. Based on all that, these are my ideas:

(1) Mary Bennet(t)

This is my favorite idea! I think it checks almost all Maria’s boxes if she’s open to thinking that it does. It has a connection to the Visitation in that Bennett is a medieval diminutive of Benedict, which is the word that’s used to translate Elizabeth’s words to Mary into Latin (“blessed are you among women” is benedicta tu in mulieribus in Latin). That also gives it a connection to Elizabeth (not as explicit as using a variant of Elizabeth, but still a connection if she wants it to be). And it has a literary reference, specifically to Pride and Prejudice! They spell it Bennet, of course, but it’s all the same name. And the fact that it’s predominantly a masculine first name and a surname gives it that unexpected/bold quality that Maria might be looking for.

(2) Mary Eliot/Elliot/Elliott/Eliette

Another name that might be perfect is Elliott (in whatever spelling!). Like Bennett is derived from Benedict, Elliott is derived from Elijah, giving it a nice faith connection (I included Elijah and its variants in my book of Marian names because of Elijah’s connection to Our Lady of Mount Carmel). Spelled Eliot, it can have a literary connection to T.S. Eliot. One of my readers has a daughter named Eliette, which is a feminine variant derived from Elijah. And Maria can think of it as having a connection to her name as well in that Eli- are the first three letters of Elizabeth.

(3) Mary Bessette

Bessette isn’t actually related to Elizabeth — it’s a surname derived from a French word “designating a small wood of birches” — but Bess is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth, so I don’t think it’s crazy that Maria and her husband could choose it based on the idea of “little Bess/little Elizabeth.” It comes with a saintly connection, too, in St. Andre Bessette — he’s great!

(4) Mary Evett(e)

My first few ideas were inspired by Maria’s desire for an Elizabeth connection; this one is inspired by her love of an Eve connection. Evett is a medieval diminutive of Eve that I included in the boy section of my Mary names book because it’s a surname and it reminded me so much of Evan and Everett, but it can also be feminine, as is probably most obviously seen in its variant spelling Evette (like Yvette, but Yvette derives from a different name). Other spellings/variants of the surname are Evatt, Evatts, Evetts, Evitt, and Evitts.

(5) Mary Majella/Maiella

I wanted to offer some alliterative options that Maria might like. The first is Mary Majella — Majella is the surname of St. Gerard Majella, patron of expectant mothers and a name that has some decent usage among Catholic girls especially of the older generations. I like the ending of “ella” could be considered a nod to Elizabeth. Majella is how St. Gerard is traditionally know, but that’s the English spelling and pronunciation — in Italian he’s St. Gerardo Maiella, and Maiella is a viable option too and so pretty! It’s said may-EL-la or my-EL-la as opposed to Majella’s ma-JEL-la.

(6) Mary Margo(t)

I thought Mary Margaret was too traditional for Maria, similar to Mary Catherine and Mary Elizabeth, but maybe a less common variant of Margaret would work? I like Margo/Margot — Mary Margo(t) is a cool combo.

(7) Mary Maeve

Since Maria was drawn to Mary Mae but knows that wouldn’t quite work since they’re the same name, what about Mary Maeve? Maeve is an Irish name said the same way as Mae but ending with the “v” sound (MAYV). If either Maria or her husband have Irish heritage, this could be really nice! A lot of people are intimidated by Irish names, but since Maeve is said just like it looks and it’s also currently no. 104, it’s one of the easiest Irish names to work with.

(8) Mary Amata

Finally, I’m including Amata simply because I love how it sounds with Mary. It’s in my book because it means “beloved,” which is such a great meaning, and Mary is called Mater amata (“beloved Mother”) in the hymn O Sanctissima.

Other names I thought about for Maria include Liesse, Quinn, Peyton, Cruz, Campion, Fulton, and Kolbe.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest as pairing well with the first name Mary?

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!

Birth announcement: Joseph Mark Clement!

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I posted a consultation for Sara and her husband back in March, and Sara has let me know that their baby boy has arrived and been given the tremendous name … Joseph Mark Clement!

Sara writes,

“Baby boy arrived a bit early on Holy Saturday! We ended up picking Joseph Mark Clement. Thank you for giving us the confidence to pick Joseph! Victor was a close contender as well. Many of our friends and family have asked or commented about how much they like the name, and especially ask about Clement. It’s a great way to introduce the idea of Divine Mercy … We love the meaning and people and saints wrapped up in this name. The bigger kids have really latched onto JoJo, so I think that will be his day to day name for now. (When he is sad Dad sings to him about how little bro JoJo has woes and must be rocked to and fro.) Thank you again for all your help and encouragement!“

I absolutely love hearing the joy in the “voice” of parents letting me know about the name they ended up choosing for their baby — it’s such an amazing thing to give such special and meaningful names to their little one! Joseph Mark Clement is so great!!

Congratulations to Sara and her hubby and big sibs Adelaide, Francis (in heaven), and Benedict, and happy birthday Baby Joseph!!

Joseph Mark Clement

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: Easy-to-pronounce, short(ish), familiar-but-not-common name needed for baby girl

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Many thanks to you all for sharing your Mary name stories! Please keep them coming!

Gabrielle and her husband are expecting their fourth baby — their second on earth and their third little girl! This little lady joins big siblings:

+ Mary Evelyn (“We lost her early in pregnancy on August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption, and I always knew Mary carried her into Heaven with her“)

Chase Erik (“We chose his name to mirror my husband’s [Christopher Erik]. My husband is about 50% Norwegian which is reflected in the spelling of Erik. We wanted a first name that was easy to say and spell, something that was unique but also sounded familiar. Chase has St. Christopher as his Saint like my husband“)

+ Joanna Rose (“We lost her early in pregnancy as well on Psalm Sunday. In the Gospel of Luke, Joanna is mentioned as being one of the few present in addition to Jesus’ disciples for Christ’s resurrection, and we knew this was the name for her. She is also named after St. Rose of Lima because even though we didn’t get to see her in her full form, we knew she was beautiful“)

Aren’t these wonderful names? I love the significance behind each one, each so thoughtfully chosen. Mary Evelyn and Joanna Rose are absolutely lovely for their little girls in heaven, and Chase Erik is such a handsome combo for their son!

Gabrielle writes,

“Names we’ve discussed for this baby but don’t feel quite right: 

Marie/Maria – We like the idea of honoring Mary because she is due in May, but maybe feels a bit too similar to Mary. 

Amelia – We like the name in isolation, but don’t feel that it goes well with our last name and also seems to becoming a bit popular. 

Emily – Pretty, but perhaps a bit too simple. I am also having trouble seeing her grow into this name beyond a young girl. 

Lucy – Pretty name, and one of the women mentioned in the Canon. Also has a nice meaning of “light.” My mom’s name is Lucine (I’m 50% Italian, 50% Polish) and baby girl is due on May 12th. The Feast day of Our Lady of Fatima is celebrated on May 13th. Lucy feels a bit popular though, and I am also having trouble seeing her grow into this name beyond a young girl. We aren’t a fan of Lucia and don’t think it goes well with Chase. 

Ava – We like the name, but it seems to blend in right with our last name because of only being one syllable with the double ‘a’. Something longer would hold it’s own better we think. Also means “birdlike” which is a drawback.

Avila – Sounds a bit better with our last name, but still a lot of ‘a’ sounds. We are considering Therese for a middle name, so being named after 2 different Teresa/Therese’s feels like a bit much.

Josephine – Definitely drawn towards this I think because we love the name Joanna as well as St. Joseph, but also have a feeling it might be too formal or not the right time. 

Lily/Lilian – Lily was our girl’s name for Chase, but it doesn’t feel right now. I have been hearing it more here and there which I think has turned us off. 

Sophie – My husband is fond of this name, but I feel it is too informal perhaps, and I don’t care for Sophia. 

Susanna – She is also mentioned in the same Gospel passage with Mary Magdalene and Joanna which seems kind of cool. We aren’t sure if it sounds quite right though because of the rhyme with Joanna and are debating if we like the nickname Susie. 

Clare – This is probably the name my husband and I collectively seem to like the best. It feels a bit more uncommon, but also familiar. Easy to say. It is another “C” name (Chase & Clare) which we were initially hesitant about. The spelling is a bit of a sticking point, but we don’t feel that it is a deal breaker. Most Americans spell the name “Claire,” but I think we would use the spelling after St. Clare of Assisi. 

Some family names we can’t use: 

Camille, Nicole, Christina (my middle name), Teresa, Alexa, Cora, Jenna, Moriah, Ashley 

Saints we have devotion to: 

– St. Therese of Lisieux – considering this for the middle name of this child pronounced TER-REZ. She has been instrumental in my life and the medical practice that has been helping us with some extra steps during this pregnancy is named Little Flower Family Medicine, so I feel that she has been interceding for this baby from day 1

– St. Michael – Michael would be the name of this baby if we were having a boy. We haven’t found a female take on this name that we like. 

– We love the Holy Family and are open to honoring them. My husband is fond of St. Thomas Aquinas. 

Random tidbits: 

– I am sensitive to having a difficult name to pronounce. Having to spell your name for people I don’t think is as big of a deal. Growing up I got a lot of people who would try to call me Gabby because they had difficulty pronouncing my full name, or people would often just mispronounce it. 

– We have kind of gravitated with a bit shorter first names because our last name is longer.

– For girl names, it seems I am drawn more towards sophisticated and feminine names, and my husband is drawn more towards sweet and simple. But we try to meet in the middle like anything!“

I got excited when I read that Gabrielle’s husband is half Norwegian and that she herself is half Polish — my husband is half Norwegian and half Polish, so I was excited that some of my research into his heritage might be helpful to this family! I also like that Gabrielle “wanted a first name that was easy to say and spell, something that was unique but also sound familiar” — I think they hit the nail on the head with Chase! I also used this thinking in coming up with my new ideas for them below.

Before sharing those new ideas, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the names Gabrielle and her husband have discussed, in case they’re helpful:

  • Marie/Maria: I’m 100% a Mary girl, as you all know! So I love the idea of honoring Mary in their baby’s name, and the fact that she’s due in Our Lady’s month adds such a nice sparkle! I’m of two minds about the similarity of Marie/Maria to Mary: first, that it’s actually a traditional Catholic practice for all the girls in the family to have a Marian name! This has taken the form of all the girls having Mary as a first name (I’ve seen this in Irish families, including my dad’s extended family: he has three first cousins who are sisters all with Mary as their first name [they all go by their middles]), or Marie (as with St. Therese’s family — she and her sisters were named Marie Françoise-Thérèse,Marie Louise, Marie Pauline, Marie Hélène, Marie Céline, Marie-Mélanie-Thérèse [I think Leonie was just Leonie though?], and their mother [St. Zelie] was baptized Marie-Azelie), or Maria (as many Spanish-speaking families do). It’s also traditional for a form of Mary to appear somewhere in the names of all the girls in a family, even if not the first name: my own family did this, with me and my sisters each having a form of Mary somewhere in our names. So I have no problem at all with Gabrielle’s Mary Evelyn having a sister named Marie or Maria! Additionally, the “naming all girls in the family after Mary” can also take the form of the Marian names being a mix of Mary/Marie/Maria and other names for Our Lady, like Rose — which they’ve already done! Even though they had St. Rose of Lima in mind for their Joanna Rose’s middle name, it can also do double duty as a Marian name. From this perspective, both their older girls have Marian names, so it makes sense to continue this with their new baby! All that said, I can also see that having two girls with an actual form of Mary and one without might feel off balance. A nice compromise might be to choose a name (first or middle) for the new baby that can be Marian but can also honor a different Saint, so all their girls can have a Marian connection but each in her own way.
  • Amelia: Gabrielle articulated so well that they “like the name in isolation” — I like that! I think we all have names that we love but don’t feel like they would work for our actual children for any number of reasons. I can see Amelia paired with their very long Scandinavian surname beginning with an A feeling A-heavy, and with Amelia ending in A and the surname beginning with A, it can be hard to differentiate each name when saying them together. At the same time, a lot of names have that kind of issue and the world doesn’t end, so if they love it, I say go for it! Also, there are a lot of names on their list that end in A, and a lot of great options in general that end in A, so I definitely wouldn’t cross any ends-in-a name off their list for that reason alone. (It feels like they don’t love Amelia, though, so I encourage them to shelve this name at least for this baby in hopes that we can come up with something they really love.)
  • Emily: Emily and Amelia are so similar that I wonder if Emilia might appeal to them? It’s actually the Norwegian (among others) form of Emily and is said basically the same as Amelia … it doesn’t solve the problem of many shared sounds with the surname or the ending-in-a + beginning-in-a issue, but this small tweak may move the “Amelia” idea from “liking in isolation” to “love!” An added cool thing is that St. John Paul II’s mom’s name was Emilia and her cause for canonization is open! Since Gabrielle’s 50% Polish, a name like Emilia that is equally Norwegian and Polish might be perfect!
  • Lucy: As soon as I saw Lucy I thought that if Gabrielle has a hard time seeing Emily as an adult name, even more so with Lucy. And then she acknowledged as much! I love the name Lucy for all the reasons Gabrielle mentioned, but, again, it doesn’t seem that she loves it, so let’s move on. One idea is that I’ve often thought Lucy could work as a nickname for Louisa — I wonder if that might work? Or Maria-Lucine nicknamed Lucy, for Gabrielle’s mom?
  • Avila: Ditto everything I said about Amelia and Ava with their last name. Also, according to Behind the Name, Evelyn actually originated as a diminutive of Avila! If name meanings are important to them, then that might be weird to have two daughters with variants of the same name (though of course no one would really know unless they’re weird namey people like me; and also, Avila calls St. Teresa to mind immediately for Catholics, which isn’t the same for Evelyn; and also, I’ve already advocated for using a Mary variant for multiple daughters, so really, anything goes!).
  • Josephine: A wonderful option for the reasons Gabrielle mentioned. I can see it maybe seeming “too formal” as Chase’s sister (or maybe instead, “too long”); I’ve also had the feeling of “not for this baby” for a name in regards to naming my own babies, only to use it for a later baby, so that’s valid too!
  • Lily/Lillian: I love knowing that this was the girl name they’d chosen if Chase was a girl — that’s very relevant! Even though it might feel a little stale and overly used to Gabrielle now, it’s good for me to know for my research. I do kind of feel like Lily might be like Emily and Lucy for them — somewhat difficult to imagine on an adult woman (though the Lily names are so popular right now that when their baby is an adult, there will be a lot of women named Lily and it will feel like a grown-up name!). It’s also interesting to note how many overlapping sounds Amelia, Emily, Avila, and Lily/Lillian have — lots of L’s and I’s. A couple things that are cool are that the lily is a symbol of both Our Lady and St. Joseph, which could make a Lily name plus a Jesus name a perfect Holy Family combo! Lily Christina, for example, which could also be a nice nod to Gabrielle in light of her middle name (though she listed Christina as a name they can’t use — I don’t know if that counts for middle names too?). Another is that Lillian likely originated as a diminutive of Elizabeth, and Lily is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth … Elizabeth is one of the longer names I normally wouldn’t suggest for this baby since they’re leaning toward shorter names, but since they have Amelia, Josephine, and Susanna on their list, I thought I’d mention Elizabeth too. Elisabeth is the Norwegian spelling, which I love, and Liliana/Lilianna are listed as Polish variants of Elizabeth!
  • Sophie: Definitely “too informal” is a recurring issue for Gabrielle with the names on their list, which I do understand. Emily, Lucy, Lily, and Sophie all kind of have that — they are, of course, full names in their own right (Sophie is the French form of Sophia), but the “ee” sound at the end is often how we make nicknames or “baby” names, so I can see why they feel overly young. I also totally get feeling like Sophie and Sophia are two different names — so similar, but with different feels, where you might quite like one and not like the other at all.
  • Susanna: Full disclosure: this was our girl name through all our kids! We have seven boys so we never got to use it, but it remains my favorite girl name. If it’s helpful, we intended to use Anna/Annie as the nickname, and I was also quite drawn to the nickname Zuzu (like “Zuzu’s petals” in It’s a Wonderful Life — it’s most likely that the character’s given name was the popular-in-its-day Susan), and the Polish form of Susanna is Zuzanna, which could add another nice connection to the nickname Zuzu for Gabrielle. Another traditional nickname for Susanna is Sookie/Sukie. I also included Susanna in my book of Marian names because it can mean both “rose” and “lily” in Hebrew, both of which are symbols of Our Lady.
  • Clare: Wow, I would say this is the name to beat! It feels like it exactly hits all the right notes, and the fact that Gabrielle and her husband both love it is so meaningful!
  • Other considerations: Gabrielle mentioned that they haven’t found a female variant of Michael that they like — I’m sure they’ve considered them all, but I did just come across Micha as a German/Dutch short form of Michaela, which I believe is said like MEE-ka, but that probably breaks Gabrielle’s rule of “too difficult to pronounce” (not that the pronunciation is difficult, just that it’s not intuitive for a native American English speaker to arrive at MEE-ka from Micha). Misha/Mischa is also a diminutive of Michael that has usage for girls and has a more familiar pronunciation (MEE-sha). These options seem a little outside their style, though. I love that they have a devotion to the Holy Family and that Gabrielle’s husband likes St. Thomas Aquinas — I kept those in mind when coming up with new ideas.

Now on to those new ideas! In general, I tried to stick with shorter names, as Gabrielle noted that they’ve been drawn to names on the shorter side because of the length of their surname. I actually had the thought when going through the list of names they’re considering that the longer names didn’t really seem to fit as well with what I feel like they’re looking for, but would make amazing middle names, so I kept that in mind, too. I also like how Gabrielle articulated that she’s “drawn more towards sophisticated and feminine names” while her hubby is “drawn more towards sweet and simple.” This is another reason I think Clare is amazing for them! And I also really leaned on that aspect hard when I was looking for new names, as well as “familiar but not common.” I did look up the names they’ve used and those they like 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 — it’s starting to feel a bit outdated, but I still find it helpful. And I had a few gut-feeling ideas. All in all, I tried to offer ideas that were closer to the style of Chase’s name as well as closer to the style of Mary Evelyn and Joanna Rose:

(1) Tessa

They’re considering Avila, they love St. Therese and feel like “she has been interceding for this baby from day 1,” and they prefer shorter names. How about Tessa? It’s a short form of Teresa/Therese and is a style match for Chase and Clare! Drawing from the list of names they like, Tessa Josephine could be a really great combo for this baby! In fact, I love Josephine as a middle name for all of the ends-in-a names I list below.

(2) Flora

I’m seeing Flora a bit more here and there these days, which I love! It literally means “flower,” and I read in a book called Mary’s Flowers: Gardens, Legends & Meditations by Vincenzina Krymow that “[i]t is thought that at one time all flowers and plants honored Mary, the ‘Flower of Flowers,’ in legend or in name” — so Flora can be Marian! But I was mostly inspired by the name of Gabrielle’s medical practice, “Little Flower Family Medicine” — Flora can honor Our Lady and St. Therese in one name!

(3) Magda

They love that Joanna and Susanna were mentioned in the same Bible passage, along with Mary Magdalene — what about a name for her? Especially since it doesn’t contain -anna? There’s the full forms Magdalene, Magdalena, Maddalena, Madeline, and Madeleine, but I’m kind of loving Magda for this family, which is a Norwegian and Polish short form of Magdalene.

(4) Mabel (or Annabel?)

Another M name that I really like for them, as it’s an unexpected Marian name, is Mabel. It’s originally a medieval form of the name Amabilis, which is included in the Marian title Mater Amabilis (“Mother Most Amiable” or “Mother Most Lovable”). It’s listed in my book as a variant of Annabel, as Annabel is derived from the same name (Amabilis) — because they already have Joanna, I wouldn’t think Annabel would appeal to them, but since they’re considering Susanna, maybe it would?

(5) Kirsten

I enjoyed spending some time trying to come up with ideas to honor the Holy Family — I love the idea of Lily Christina, as I mentioned above, and another idea I had was a Jesus name for the first name. Kirsten immediately came to mind as a less-common Christ- variant, and I love that it’s Norwegian! Something like Kirsten Marie-Josephine would be stunning and work in all the members of the Holy Family! Another beautiful way to work them all in would be Kirsten Liliana. I also love how Kirsten Susanna sounds! So much beauty!

(6) Tamsin

I also tried to figure out what to do with St. Thomas Aquinas. I could certainly see them saving Thomas for a future son, like they’re doing with Michael, but they could also honor him with a girl’s name. I’ve seen Quinn and Aquinnah, but neither seems this family’s style. I could see them liking Tamsin, though! It’s a contracted form of Thomasina. I don’t care for Tammy as a nickname, but Tam is really cute (and itself a Scottish short form of Thomas that I think works fine for a girl); I’d also thought — and still do — that Tess could work as a nickname for Tamsin (if they even wanted a nickname), which could loop in St. Therese.

(7) Halle

Most of the ideas above were based on Saints Gabrielle and her husband would like to honor and Mary with a particular eye toward short/sweet/sophisticated and leaning heavily on Norwegian and Polish heritage with a little Italian as well. But I don’t want to ignore the style matches revealed by my research in the BNW, so these next few are specifically inspired by that. Hailey is a specific style match for Chase, and I immediately thought of Halle — similar sound but that spelling is Norwegian (though a male name in Norway), and I also thought of this couple who named their daughter Halle because it’s contained within Hallelujah! How cool! (They also have a daughter named Clare Magdalen!)

(8) Nora

Cora and Eleanor were both listed as style matches for Evelyn — I know Cora’s on the list of names they can’t use but otherwise I might have suggested it for them. I wouldn’t have thought of Eleanor, but as soon as I saw it I thought of its nickname/short variant Nora, especially in light of the rhyming Cora — Nora immediately felt perfect! It has much the same feel to me as Clare: simple, sophisticated, and feminine. It’s also listed as Norwegian and Italian on Behind the Name! I think it’s a great option for this family!

(9) Lydia, Bethany (Bethan?)

Lydia is a style match for Amelia and Susanna, and Bethany for Joanna and Susanna — I thought they were worth a mention! They’re both biblical place names that have become given names (Lydia was actually from Lydia, which is why she was called that in the bible, and a cool thing about her is that since she was a seller of purple cloth, a little Lydia has a built-in color! Bethany is the name of the town where Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha lived; since meanings are important to Gabrielle, it should be noted that its meaning isn’t totally clear — it’s thought to mean “house of figs” or “house of affliction,” which isn’t great. That said, Behind the Name says that it’s traditionally been used “primarily by Catholics in honour of Mary of Bethany” — I’m a big fan of names that have a super-Catholic history! Also, my article on name “definitions” vs. name “meanings” might be helpful). An added thought with Bethany is that the very similar name Bethan has more of a Mabel/Tamsin feel to me, and is a Welsh diminutive of Elizabeth.

(10) Charlotte, Lottie

I really wouldn’t have included Charlotte if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s a match for Evelyn, Amelia, and Sophie! Especially with the Ch- beginning, even though it’s said differently than Chase, it just seemed too much. But I’m intrigued by the nickname Lottie — it has a Lily/Lucy feel that makes me think maybe Charlotte nicknamed Lottie isn’t crazy for this family?

(11) Alice

Alice, too, did quite well for them, being similar to both Lucy and Clare. I like that it feels less “little girlish” than Lucy, and as mentioned, Clare seems the name to beat, so with Alice being considered a style match for it, maybe it’s perfect! It also seems to avoid the issues the other A names (Amelia, Avila, Ava) have since it doesn’t end in A.

(12) Kate, Grace

Finally, both Kate and Grace are matches for Clare, and I thought they both bring together Gabrielle’s “sophisticated and feminine” preference and her hubby’s “sweet and simple” preference.

Whew! Those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Chase and sisters-in-heaven Mary Evelyn and Joanna Rose?

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!

Tell me your Mary name stories!

sanctanomina Including Mary, Men Who Love Mary ,

I saw a comment on social media recently by someone named Mary, who said her mom was also named Mary, as was her grandmother, etc., but none of the them went by Mary (she didn’t share what they actually went by). I may have asked this before, but if so, it’s been a while, so I’d love to hear again and from new readers too: Tell me your Mary name stories! Does your family have a tradition of all the girls having a Marian name? Do you know of sisters all with Mary as their first name, and if so, what do they all go by? Do you know of boys/men with a variant of Mary in their names?

These can be recent stories about you or your kid, or older stories about previous generations in your family tree or others that you know of — I’d love to hear them all!

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!

Holy Saturday name thoughts

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I wanted to pop on here quickly to say Happy Easter to you all! I hope it’s a beautiful, holy day for you and your family!

And since I’m here … 😏 … I had two name thoughts to share:

One is about the Marian name Soledad (often seen as a given name as María de la Soledad, and Marisol — as a nickname or a given name — is from María de la Soledad. The journalist and former CNN host Soledad O’Brien’s given name is María de la Soledad). It’s the ultimate Holy Saturday name! As I wrote in my book of Marian names (not affiliate link):

“This beautiful Spanish name means ‘solitude,’ and comes from the Marian title Nuestra Señora de Soledad (‘Our Lady of Solitude’), which refers to the solitude of Our Lady while Jesus was in the tomb.”

Isn’t that amazing! I always think of this name on this day, and I love being reminded that it’s a day of solitude.

And speaking of “ultimate” names, I was very struck this Lent by how one of the ultimate biblical names for boys is Simon! There’s Simon Peter, Simon the Zealot, Simon of Cyrene, Simon the father of Judas Iscariot, and Simon who is included in the list of Jesus’ brothers* in Mt 13:55 and Mk 6:3, as well as others in both the Old and New Testaments. It’s a variant of Simeon, which is also well represented! Wow! (I would include John and Joseph as ultimate biblical boy names as well, just based on numbers — what others would you add?) (Of course, Mary for girls!)

“See” you next week!

* I don’t want my blog to ever be a source of confusion for anyone, so if you’re not aware of Catholic teaching regarding Jesus’ brothers, be sure to read it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (numbers 499-500) and an article that fleshes it out more fully here. (TL;DR: they aren’t the sons of Mary, who the Church teaches was “ever virgin.” That means “always.”)

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!

Birth announcement: Heidi Rose!

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I posted a consultation for Elise and her husband back in January, and I’m delighted to share that the baby has arrived — a sweet little girl with the absolutely beautiful name … Heidi Rose!

Elise writes,

“So our little GIRL was born on 3/13/23 after a quick labor (we were admitted for about an hour before she was born). We named her Heidi Rose. A few weeks before she was born my husband came home from work and said “What about Heidi if the baby is a girl?” We had tossed that name around briefly with Felicity — we liked the alliteration — but clearly didn’t go with it at the time. When he mentioned it, I of course went to various sites and found it was very close in popularity to Felicity (380s) and fit the recognizable/uncommon angle we were going for. Then I had gone back to your recommendations and realized Heidi is a NN for Adelheid (German variation of Adelaide — one of your suggestions). When she was born we felt Heidi fit better than Lucy (we tossed Florence out of the mix about the same time Heidi got thrown in) so Heidi Rose she was named. Plus we can still use a G name if we go for baby #3 in the future to continue the alphabet 😂 Thank you again!“

I am absolutely in love with the name Heidi Rose! So lovely!

Congratulations to Elise and her hubby and big sister Felicity Hope, and happy birthday Baby Heidi!!

Heidi Rose and her big sister Felicity Hope

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: Easter/rosary name ideas for a baby boy

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Sara and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little boy! This little guy joins big sibs:

Adelaide Karen Noel (“Goes by Adelaide. Adelaide for St Adelaide, Karen is husband’s mother,my sister, and a nod to my mother and great grandmother, and she was born Dec 22. I also like that Noel is a mystery of the rosary and a long time friend of mine“)

(In heaven) Frances Xavier Fiat (“for Mother Cabrini, Mary, and the Rosary“)

Benedict Stanley Thomas (“Goes by Benny, Benedetto, and Detto. Benedict for St. Benedict of Nursia, Stanley is my father and Stanley Rother is cool, Thomas for multiple grandfathers and also Thomas More. Also born December. I like to think that Benedict is connected to the rosary because it means Blessed“)

Sara’s children’s names are absolutely stunning! I could imagine parents finding names like Karen and Stanley somewhat challenging to incorporate into the names of children born today (though I have seen Stanley popping up here and there — Bl. Stanley Rother has done wonders for the name, and my husband and I considered it ourselves), but both Adelaide Karen Noel and Benedict Stanley Thomas are amazing — both of the full combos done in such a way that the more dated names are given a new sparkle and create a pleasantly unexpected part of the whole. I’m terribly impressed! And Frances Xavier Fiat, oh my. What a perfect name for a baby in heaven. It’s not often that I’m surprised by names, but I found an element of surprise in all three of Sara’s babies’ names — such a joy for name lovers!

Sara writes,

“Hello! I have been a fan of your blog for a few years now but I think we may need some extra help with baby #4. Nothing we have come up with has stuck 100%, and so I feel like we are reverting to second-favorite names and it would be cool to have a name we are sold on! Maybe we could grow into loving a name, but I’d like to pick your brain! I am also due in the Easter octave so running out of time for us to come up with something on our own.

Constraints: 

  • [Our last name] totally sounds like a first name. People never get my husband’s name right, since his first name is actually a surname … and it has led to his being mislabeled in college applications, background checks, and even the ER. So if we can pick a boy name that really sounds like a first name that would help. 
  • I was Sara in the 90’s and it always seemed that I wasn’t the Sarah someone was yelling for. So I’d like to avoid super popular names, and if they’re obvious to spell that’s also a bonus (I tell people I respond to both Sara and Sarah xp)
  • My family has a tradition of 2 middle names, so that gives us both more options and more decisions to make!
  • We accidentally have a bit of an ABC theme? So if we lean into that, a C or D name would be cool. Or now is our chance to break out of it!
  • We like nickname options and also having cool long names that we can just use. 
  • Husband is adamant that first name must be a saint. Fictional saints or heroes do not count (couldn’t sell him on Caspian).”

Additionally,

“Mary and Joseph are our confirmation saints, thusly our family patron is the Holy Family. 

We are pretty much American mutts, but have a bit of Norwegian and Irish Heritage. My suggestions to use some French names have not met with any success. 

Here’s our short list and top picks currently that just don’t seem to be landing 100%:

  • Joseph (“amazingly, no one else has used this in our parish. We do have one friend in our community due at the same time who will have a Joseph James IV. Neither of us really love Joey, but Jojo or Joe would be ok. Have felt like St Joseph has been stalking me so he definitely needs to be honored somehow, and husband has a strong devotion to him. Worried this might be too common“)
  • Mark (“must be one of the middle names for husband’s late father“)
  • Vincent (“for Easter. Would love more Easter options“)
  • Abraham (“can a baby pull that off?“)
  • Dominic (“rosary connection but not a current devotion to St Dominic“)
  • Isaiah (“maybe too common“)
  • Theodore (“maybe too common“)

So we have been bouncing between Dominic Mark Joseph or Joseph Mark Vincent. Neither one feels like a home run. Would love some thoughts and suggestions!“

So much of what Sara said resonated with me and I definitely tried to keep it all in mind: not wanting to feel like they’re “reverting to second-favorite names”; their last name sounding like a first name and her husband’s challenges with his own first name paired with his last name; Sara’s own “super popular” name; possibly wanting but maybe not wanting a C or D name; “cool long names” with nickname options; “Fictional saints or heroes do not count” (this one made me laugh! But I also get it. But I also love Caspian!); that they would “love more Easter options”; and the fact that all of their other kids have a connection to the rosary in their names.

I generally like to start by offering my thoughts on the names the parents are considering, in case they’re helpful:

  • Joseph (Joseph Mark Vincent): I have quite a few thoughts about Joseph as a first name for Sara’s baby! First, I love that he’s Dad’s Confirmation Saint and that he has a strong devotion to St. Joseph. Beautiful! Based only on that, I agree with Sara that “he definitely needs to be honored somehow,” and the addition of her feeling that St. Joseph “has been stalking” her seals the deal! All that said, I do feel like the style of the name Joseph isn’t quite where this couple’s style preferences lie, as Sara noted that she worried it “might be too common” and she feels like they’re “reverting to second-favorite names.” Sara mentioned issues with the nickname possibilities, which could be key. Jojo is adorable and Joe is as solid as they come; some other possibilities include Sepp, Seppel, and Zef, which are inspired by international variants and diminutives of Joseph. I’d also posted once about variants of Joseph from A Dictionary of English Surnames and loved that Jessop is one, which makes me think that Jess might be doable as a Joseph nickname (I looove Jess for a boy). They could also consider Jay, which is easy for any “J” name. Joseph Vincent Mark is a very handsome combo! I also think (similar to the thinking of the possibility that breaking their A, B theme now, instead of leaning into the alphabet with a C or D name) that breaking their current pattern of less-common names with a more-common, but equally faithy, name will help them have more options going forward rather than less.
  • Mark (middle name only): Great middle!
  • Vincent: Did you all know that until I read Sara’s email, I had never known nor looked into what Vincent means?! “To conquer” is a great, meaningful name for an Easter baby! Per Sara’s request for more Easter options, I included more below.
  • Abraham: I know of two little Abrahams — a five-year-old and an eight-year-old — so I can confidently say that, yes, a baby can pull it off! The five-year-old is “Catholic influencer” Grace Patton’s son, and he goes by Abe — I LOVE Abe!! The eight-year-old is a new friend of my own eight-year-old’s, and I’ve learned that he always went by Abe or the full Abraham, but never liked it because the kids at his old school would call him “Abraham Lincoln” (not sure why this is bad?? Kids!), so here at our school he goes by AJ (his full name is also Abraham James, like Abe Patton’s), which is also a possibility for Sara’s baby (Abraham Joseph Mark, maybe?).
  • Dominic: I love Dominic! Definitely a perfect name for the brother of Benedict! The rosary connection is spot-on, too. Not having a current devotion isn’t a dealbreaker, either! Sara and her hubby can cultivate one, and indeed I think sometimes Saints call to us through our taste in names.
  • Isaiah: Sara had mentioned popularity with Joseph, which I addressed above, so my thoughts are similar here — if they love it, use it! I did want to look at the rankings for the names that they like and those that they’ve used, to have an accurate overall view of the popularity of their ideas:

— Isaiah: 56

— Adelaide: 263

— Benedict: 991

— Joseph: 28

— Vincent: 117

— Abraham: 202

— Dominic: 99

— Theodore: 10

Indeed, the names that Sara worried might be too popular (Joseph, Isaiah, Theodore) are very popular (Theodore at number 10! These are the 2021 numbers, which are the most recent available from the Social Security Administration). Even Dominic is top 100, and Vincent not too far behind at 117. I get her hesitancy! But I’ll reiterate that I think they’ll be happier using a name they love, even if it’s popular. (I’m not forgetting that Sara said none of names that they’re considering are really feeling like “the one,” so I know popularity isn’t the only issue!)

  • Theodore: See my comments above re: Isaiah

While reading the list of names Sara and her husband are considering, I had several ideas that seemed “like” the ones they like, but just different enough that they might find them to be just right. I’ve never done an “Instead of … what about” list in a consultation before, but it seemed right to do so for this family! So:

  • Instead of Vincent, what about Victor? It has that great meaning that’s so perfect for Easter! And its SSA ranking is 209, which is closer to what they like than Vincent’s 117. My post on nicknames for Victor remains, to this day, one of my most popular.
  • Instead of Abraham, what about Abel? Popularity-wise, it’s a little *more* popular at no. 196, vs. Abraham’s 202, but might feel more baby-friendly to Sara? And can still take the fantastic Abe as a nickname! This mama has an Abel, if you’d like to read about one in real life (click on the link for the fifth baby’s birth announcement to see all her boys’ names).
  • Instead of Isaiah, what about Isaias? It’s the Latin form of Isaiah and far less popular at no. 489 vs. Isaiah’s 56. I also thought Tobiah/Tobias/Tobit or Elias (Latin form of Elijah, which blows my mind that it’s no. 4!) might scratch this itch. (Rankings: Tobiah’s not in the top 1000; Tobias 277; Tobit not in the top 1000; Elias 48.)
  • Instead of Theodore, what about Thaddeus? It’s thought they may be related, and can both take the nickname Ted(dy) (I know a Thaddeus who goes by Ted), but Thaddeus is no. 820 vs. Theodore’s 10. I wrote once about how there are some names that seem very similar but tend to be somewhat polarizing, with people pretty certainly preferring one over the other, and Theodore/Thaddeus was one of the pairs I included, but I thought I’d take the chance! Thaddeus has the nickname possibilities of Thad (I knew a Thaddeus called Thad once, and on “The Chosen” Thaddeus is called Thad sometimes), and also Tad/Taddy — I think Taddy is the most adorable name for a little guy!
  • Instead of Caspian, what about Campion? St. Edmund Campion is real, and amazing! Also, Campion means “champion,” so it can have that nice meaning for Easter that Vincent and Victor share. Cam and Cap are adorable nickname options, and Campion isn’t even in the top 1000, being given to only 5 baby boys in 2021! (** I realized after I sent the consultation to Sara that Campion breaks the rule of “no surnames as first names” but I’m leaving it here in case it’s helpful to any of you readers. **)

So those are five new ideas, but they felt a little bit like cheating, since I’m thinking of them as twists on the names they were already considering, so I came up with a bunch more. I did consult the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link), but leaned as much on trying to find Easter names, C or D names, and more uncommon Saintly names in general. These are my additional ideas:

(1) Paschal nn Pax

This was my very first idea for this family, which I scribbled down as I was reading Sara’s email the first time, before I had done any research. Paschal means “Easter” — so perfect for an Easter baby! It’s also a Papal name and Saintly name, and I really love that it can take the nickname Pax, which in and of itself is amazing because it’s Latin for “peace.” Gah! So fab!! (I also quite like Joseph Paschal Mark, and the possibility of the nickname JP, which gives it a St. John Paul II vibe as well!) Neither Paschal nor Pascal are in the top 1000.

(2) Clement

Clement seems like a great option for this family for a few reasons: it’s a C name; it means “merciful,” which is great for a baby born near Divine Mercy Sunday; it’s a great Papal and Saintly name (my favorite is my parish’s patron, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer); and the little Abraham I mentioned above (Grace Patton’s son) also has a brother named Clement (and a brother named Theodore!)! The only real nickname option is Clem, which is not to everyone’s taste; this family intended to call their Clement Joshua Samuel “CJ,” which is another option. Here’s another Clement-with-no-nickname. Clement isn’t in the top 1000.

(3) Cosmas

Thinking of Catholicky Catholic C- names, Cosmas came to mind! With the C names, I like that Sara’s son would share initials with his dad, and Cosmas doesn’t have that surname-as-first name thing, so it should be a little easier, right? Cosmas isn’t in the top 1000.

(4) Damian, Damien nn Danny or Denny

How could I suggest Cosmas without Damian? I actually think Damian is more their speed than Cosmas, and fits in nicely with Adelaide and Benedict. I love the spelling Damien too, and the different spellings bring different people to mind, for me: Damian is St. Damian, brother of St. Cosmas; Damien is St. Damien de Veuster (also known as St. Joseph de Veuster), the leper priest. Both wonderful! (Here are all the holy Damians/Damiens.) Damian is no. 113 and Damien is no. 280. These were on my own list and I thought Danny would work nicely as a nickname for Damian and Denny for Damien. Also, see this amazingly named sib set that includes a Damien!

(5) Gabriel

I’m writing this on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, so Gabriel is on my mind — which I also love for this family! An Annunciation name is great for a baby born near Easter (very “full circle” feeling), and I also consider Gabriel to be a rosary name, since the Annunciation is the First Joyful Mystery. Its nickname Gabe rhymes with Abraham’s Abe, too, which might mean that Sara and her hubby will like it! Gabriel is no. 38.

(6) Nicodemus

I started to venture farther afield for these last two ideas, and for this one — Nicodemus — I almost put it as an “Instead of Dominic, what about Nicodemus?” idea. I decided not to since Sara said that the appeal of Dominic was the rosary, which Nicodemus doesn’t have, but I’ve always loved the person of Nicodemus in the Bible (he’s considered a Saint too!) and I’ve always loved his name. And Nico is such a great nickname! (Dominic can take Nico as a nickname as well.) It’s really perfect for an Easter baby, too. Nicodemus isn’t in the top 1000.

(7) Joachim

My last idea is the name I could never convince my husband of, try as I might! I absolutely love the name Joachim, and since Sara said Norwegian is part of their family heritage, I thought I’d offer that I really leaned on its relative popularity in the Scandinavian countries when pitching to my husband, as he’s half Norwegian! (It didn’t work, alas.) Tradition holds that it’s the name of Our Lady’s dad, and while it can take the Joe nicknames (which I might normally suggest, except that St. Joseph is such a dear friend to Sara and her husband, so his name really needs to be used), I always wanted to use the nickname Jake (which *almost* convinced my husband, because he loves the nickname Jake too). I spotlighted the name here, which has a lot of great info. Joachim isn’t in the top 1000.

Besides these ideas, I also wanted to offer some names that are specifically tied to the rosary in case they’re helpful for this baby or in the future. I wrote a book of Marian names, and many of the entries were because of their connection to the rosary, including Leo (for Pope Leo XIII who has been called “The Pope of the Rosary”; Leo is also the name of many Saints); Louis and Montfort for St. Louis de Montfort who wrote The Secret of the Rosary (affiliate link) (Monty as a nickname for Montfort!); Peyton for Ven. Patrick Peyton, known as “The Rosary Priest”; and Pius, for Pope St. Pius V “who asked Christendom to pray for the Rosary for protection against the Muslims in the Battle of Lepanto” and then established the feast of Our Lady of Victory on Oct. 7 — which has become the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (another reason that Victor could be great!). (Pio is the Italian variant of Pius, which could add an extra great layer for St. Pio!)

I also looked through the posts I did on names for the Mysteries of the Rosary and though I didn’t include Pierce and Simeon in my post on the Joyful Mysteries, they’re connected to the Presentation of the Baby Jesus in the Temple (because it was then that Simeon prophesied that Mary’s heart would be pierced with a sword), so you they can be thought of as rosary names … and from my post on the Sorrowful Mysteries there’s Simon (from Simon of Cyrene), Dismas (the repentant thief), and Rex (meaning “king”) and are related to the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Crowning with Thorns, respectively. Not everyone likes to give names with sorrowful or difficult stories to their babies (I wrote more about that here), but others find spiritual comfort and power in doing so, so it made sense to include these, just in case! (Here are my posts on the Luminous Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries as well; be sure to read the comments for more ideas!)

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of siblings-on-earth Adelaide and Benedict?

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: Looking for faithy, literary name for baby boy no. 5 due on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima

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Zach and Laurel are expecting their sixth baby — their fifth boy! Little man joins big siblings:

Samuel Philip nn Sam (“We chose Samuel for the OT prophet, the character Sam Hamilton in East of Eden, and Samwise Gamgee from LOTR”)

Charles Richard nn Charley (“We chose Charles for St. Charles Borromeo, Charlemagne, and because we really wanted to use Richard as a middle and needed a good pairing“)

Penelope Joan nn Nellie (“We chose Penelope because Zach was reading The Odyssey at the time, and Joan for St. Joan of Arc and as a variation of Janet, her maternal grandmother. I liked the pairing of the patient, wise Penelope with the zealous, active faith of Joan“)

Martin Ambrose called Martin “never Marty!” (“Martin is Laurel’s grandmother’s maiden name, so it checks the family box as well as paying homage to St. Martin of Tours“)

John Henry Benedict called John Henry “so far” (“John Henry Newman was important to Zach’s conversion to Catholicism, and we both joined the church during the reign of Pope Benedict XVI“)

What a fantastic bunch of names!! You know I was rubbing my hands together with happiness over diving into this “dilemma”!

Considerations that are important to Zach (who gave this consultation to Laurel for Valentine’s Day! 😍🥰) and Laurel include:

  • One strong saint name (first or middle)
  • Not unique, but not common
  • Historical and/or literary connections

Names they both like include:

  • William (“(Shakespeare!) but it’s SO popular right now, and we’re already pushing it with royal family connections“)
  • Arthur

Family name possibilities include:

  • Grandma Michelle Kay
  • Family name O’Meara

Other considerations:

  • Due date is May 13th (Our Lady of Fatima)

Girl names they’ve discussed include Antonia, Ariadne, Evangeline, Genevieve, Gwendolyn(e), Imogen(e), Josephine, Julia(nna), Marian(ne), Marina, Miranda, Pearl, Salome, Sylvia, Diana, Talitha, Tatiana.

This was so fun to work on! I love the names Zach and Laurel chose for their older kids, and I love offering new ideas for them to consider for this baby boy. As you know, I like to start by offering my thoughts on the names the parents are considering, in case they’re helpful:

  • William: You’ll all be interested in the conversation my husband and I had about this name on behalf of Zach and Laurel! I was asking him if he got an overwhelmingly “royal” feel from Samuel, Charles, Martin, and John Henry, given that Zach said that they’re “already pushing it with royal family connections” in regards to William. He agreed with me that there isn’t too much of a “royal family” feel, so I was about to include that here — that I thought William would be just fine and no need to worry — but then I gave my husband the fuller context and he was like, “Oh, right, Charles and William, yeah that would bother me too.” So there’s that! However, I still think that when you have a bunch of other kids with non-royal-family names, the association is much diluted. Also, I think Charley and Will would move the association even farther away; Charley and Liam or Billy even more so. If I had to decide if I thought it was overly problematic or not, I would say *not*. But of course, this is a decision only Zach and Laurel can make!

I also wanted to discuss popularity, since they’d mentioned it’s a concern regarding William. I looked up the popularity of their children’s names for 2021 — the most recent year of available data — and was interested to discover:

  • Samuel no. 23
  • Charles no. 50
  • Martin no. 302
  • Penelope no. 23
  • John no. 27
  • Henry no. 9

Look how consistent the Samuel, Penelope, and John numbers are! Wow! Charles at no. 50 is a bit misleading for their Charley, since the Charles-es nicknamed Charley/Charlie are joined by the girls named Charlotte who may be called Charlie/Charley and the little ones with Charlie/Charley as a given name — I would venture to say that family of names is more like Samuel/Penelope/John in terms of true popularity, which adds to their consistency. Henry is in William territory, being in the top ten, but John Henry as a couplet decreases the popularity, and indeed, William is its own animal given that itself is at no. 6 and its nickname/variant Liam is at no. 1. What I was really shocked by is Martin! No. 302! I looked at the names surrounding it to see if there might be any ideas there for Zach and Laurel, and none of them were their style! Derek, Jensen, Muhammad, and Daxton were close matches popularity-wise! That’s crazy! Martin is certainly NOT an outlier style-wise in their kiddos’ names — it’s just a great example of how popularity can be misleading and should very rarely be the overriding factor (at least in my opinion, and of course there are always exceptions).

  • Arthur: I love that Arthur taps into the British + royal feel that they like without having the potentially problematic royal family connections! I’m guessing they’d probably go with the full Arthur on an everyday basis rather than Artie (both because they don’t care for Marty, and because if their Martin ever did go by Marty, they’d have the rhyming Marty and Artie), but if they were interested in a nickname, I’ve seen Bear used, as a nod to Arthur’s meaning. I think that’s so cute for a little guy and I can easily see it on a grown man as well.

As for new ideas, I looked up the names they’ve used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard book (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. It’s becoming a bit outdated, but I mostly still find it to be really helpful. I also considered literary names/connections (including this post I did on Catholic literary names; be sure to read the comments too!), their last name (which is a noun), and certainly the faith!

Also, I want to make a strong case for Michael as a middle name! Of all the grandparents, Grandma Michelle is the only one who doesn’t yet have a namesake, and the male equivalent, Michael, would work perfectly. I’ve also connected Miles and Milo to Michael before (this post discusses it a little), so maybe one of those could work as a nod to Grandma Michelle?

Alternately, with Kay being her middle name, they could consider Kay itself! Sir Kay was one of the Knights of the Round Table — it was a masculine name back then, possibly from the Welsh name Cai (which they could also consider), and perhaps ultimately from the name Gaius — there are a bunch of Saints named Gaius! (Read more about the masculine history of the name Kay here.) There is, certainly, the issue that Kay will likely be read as feminine by most, if not all, of the people they know, so I might recommend pairing it with an ultra-masculine name. Like Gunnar. Or Maverick. Haha!

If they don’t like Michael or Kay as nods to Grandma Michelle but they like the idea of naming the baby after her somehow, and since they’ve already done a “twist” on another grandparent’s name with Joan for Janet, I think a strong K middle name could do nicely! My two favorite ideas for this family are Karol and Kolbe. Karol is St. John Paul II’s birth name, and he has a particular and amazing connection to Fatima, which would make it extra meaningful for a baby due on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. One possible issue for Zach and Laurel is that Karol is the Polish form of Charles, but even I, with my extreme name nerdiness, wouldn’t at all mind a repeat of the name in this case — it’s a different form, it’s clearly tied to one particular person, who is a different person than the men they’ve already honored with Charley’s name, and the particular person tied to Karol is specifically and powerfully tied to the baby’s due date. If Karol felt too feminine, they could also consider Karl, which is also a variant and therefore can honor St. JP2 as well.

The other name, Kolbe, is recognizable to Catholics as the surname of St. Maximilian Kolbe, one of my very favorites. I know many families that have chosen Kolbe as a first name for their sons, but that isn’t this family’s style at all as far as I can tell. But Kolbe as a middle name seems just right! Both Karol and Kolbe would give their son the middle initial K., which is an exact match for Grandma Michelle’s middle initial.

Okay! Now that I’ve been very pushy about middle name ideas, on to my new ideas! Based on everything I wrote above, these are my ideas for Zach and Laurel’s fifth baby boy:

(1) Francis

As soon as I saw the baby’s due date, I thought of Francis! Francisco certainly isn’t their style, but Francis seems a perfect fit with their other boys. Frankie is absolutely adorable for a little guy, and Frank is solid and handsome for a man. I’ve also suggested Finn as a nickname for Francis to several families — I don’t think that’s this family’s style, but I thought I’d mention it just in case. Francis Michael, Francis Karol, and Francis Kolbe are all amazing. (I might stay away from Kay as a possible middle for Francis, since many people are confused by the male Francis vs. the female Frances and may think they gave their boy two girl names.)

(2) Lewis or Louis

My preference here is Lewis, with C.S. Lewis as inspiration as well as the fact that Lewis is a medieval English form of Louis, so it can take any of the Sts. Louis as patron, and there’s also the Welsh martyr St. David Lewis. (I first heard about St. David Lewis from this reader of mine, who named her one-of-many-boys Lewis — her love for the name and reasons for choosing it are inspiring!) I also thought Zach and Laurel could think of Lewis as being connected to Servant of God Sr. Lucia of Fatima, which would be another nice tie-in to the baby’s due date. I love Lewis Michael, Lewis Karol, and Lewis Kolbe.

Louis would also be great, and can take all the same connections, but I thought that since they’re hesitant about Charles and William, Louis might have a similar difficulty for them.

(3) Laurence

Another L name that I actually love (LOVE!) for them is Laurence, inspired by Laurel’s name! Laurence is a great, saintly name which, as I understand it, is the original spelling (Lawrence is a newer variant, but also a great one, and I’d be find with this too!). Since this family is literarily inclined, they might be interested in Laurie as a nickname, like the character in Little Women (this family recently had a little Lawrence and they’re calling him Laurie!). Or, because of that same character, I think Teddy could work as a nickname! I actually did a post a while back for a mama who’d decided on Lawrence Kolbe for her son (AMAZING COMBO!!) but was looking for a non-Larry nickname, and a few that I thought could also work here include Rory, Lenz, and — perhaps perfect for a Fatima-due-date baby — Lolek, which is a Polish diminutive of Karol and what St. John Paul II went by as a child. (I particularly like Lolek as a nickname for Laurence Kolbe or Laurence with another K middle name.) (Here’s a birth announcement for another little Lawrence, in case they need some more convincing. 😊) (Also, I wonder what they would think of Laurence O’Meara? I love this too!) (Ooh — would Leo work as a nickname for Laurence O’Meara?? This was a last-minute idea as I was finishing up this consultation … I’m kind of loving it!!)

(4) Gilbert 

At first, I really, really loved Gilbert for this baby! Gilbert is G.K. Chesterton and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables, and it’s the name of several Saints, and the nickname Gil is one of my very very favorites ever … but then I thought about Gilbert with their last name, which also starts with a hard G, and thought it’s likely they won’t like it. But am I wrong? I hope I’m wrong! Some people really dislike alliteration in naming, but I tend to love it — alliterative names are distinctive, and can have a superhero feel (a la Peter Parker). Gilbert Michael is especially handsome to me.

(5) Gerard

A G- name that they might like better because it has the soft G sound that isn’t repeated by the initial sound of their last name is Gerard. So saintly! So traditional! Gerry/Jerry is the traditional nickname, but I posted a birth announcement for a little Gerhardt (German variant of Gerard) whose family intended to call him Hart. I think that could work for Gerard! Or perhaps even better, Hardy as a nickname for Gerard! (The elements in Gerard are ger + hart.) Hart and Hardy are so cool. But is Hardy to similar to Henry? They might also like that I have a native Irish friend named Gerard but he says it more like Jared. Indeed, it seems the “British English” pronunciation puts the stress on the first syllable (they also do that with Bernard, saying BER-ned instead of ber-NARD). I like that pronunciation a lot! It would take a commitment on their part to correct people every time, but if they’re up for it, it could be perfect for them!

(6) Victor

I wanted to include at least one V name for Zach and Laurel to consider, since this baby is their fifth boy and it’s fun to nod to that with a V name! I like Victor for them a lot — it’s a great name that I always think of as being a Jesus name (I even wrote an article about it for CatholicMom.com several years ago). Funny enough, as I mentioned in that article, the original post I did on my blog about nicknames for Victor remains one of my most popular posts, even after all these years. And Victor was no. 209 in 2021, which is more similar to Martin’s popularity than their other children’s names. What do we think of Victor Michael? It’s such a handsome combo, but is it too “Michael Vick”?

(7) Tobit, Theodore

Finally, I wanted to include at least one name that shares Penelope’s style. It’s very common for parents to have a different taste in names for their boys than for their girls! Totally fine! But my favorite is when there’s some crossover. My favorite idea for this family as a style match for Penelope was Tobias until I remembered that Tobias is on their no-go list. So then I thought maybe Tobit? Also a very cool name!

Another that’s similar in style to Penelope, and perhaps an even better fit for a brother for their older boys than Tobit, is Theodore. I’d mentioned Teddy above as a possible nickname for Laurence because of Laurie in Little Women — he was called Teddy because his name was actually Theodore Lawrence — I would love that combo for this baby (I’d prefer the Theodore Laurence spelling to mirror Mom’s name). Theo is also a great nickname for Theodore! The more I think about it, the more I think Theodore nn Theo might be perfect for this baby.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of Samuel/Sam, Charles/Charley, Penelope/Nellie, Martin, and John Henry?

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: Lots of hopes and considerations for baby no. 3’s name

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Happy Monday, everyone! Today’s the feast of St. Colette, who is a great Saint for our Sancta Nomina community because she is, according to this source, patroness of women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers, and sick children; there’s a fuller account of her life here. And her name! 😍😍😍 I think Colette is just gorgeous, and while I would use it as is, I also love that she’s also known as Nicolette, which opens up more possibilities for parents who might like to name their daughter after her. Enjoy today’s consultation! And I hope you all have a great week!

Zoey and her husband are expecting their third baby — a little green bean (gender unknown)! 🌱 This little babe joins big brothers:

Austin Thomas (“Austin is my husband’s middle name and Thomas was a family name from both of our paternal grandfathers. We’ve also given him Thomas Aquinas as his patron (until he wants to choose his own) because he is SO inquisitive especially about the faith. His nickname is Austino/Stino which happened totally organically as I was initially opposed to nicknames but it turns out we are indeed a nickname kind of family, they’re so fun.”)

Elijah James (“This was so easy to pick. I just knew my next boy would be Eli and we loved having a long and short form option + power house project. James because as a convert I loveeeeee the book of James, did you know at the reformation the Calvinists tried to remove the book of James? It’s VERY Catholic and was huge in my conversion. He goes by both Elijah and Eli.”)

I love Austin and Elijah/Eli as brothers, and I love the explanation behind each one! (Also: “I was initially opposed to nicknames but it turns out we are indeed a nickname kind of family, they’re so fun” — sing it, sister!! 😂)

Zoey writes,

“So this time around we (should I say I) am struggling. I can Not turn my brain off and try ink of baby names all day… I need to clear this brain space! So far everything I’ve pitched my husband “likes” but nothing has been the one! I’ve been trying to narrow down what our “style” is and feel like the third baby really solidifies that so maybe that’s why I feel so strongly about the name we choose this time around. I’d like to say I don’t like “popular names” but then look at my boys names and I just stuck my foot in my mouth. But this time around I would like to go less common, which I find easier to do with girls than boys for some reason. I don’t love super traditional names and don’t feel like they have to have a direct saint association… but do like to have a meaning behind the name.”

Names they’re considering for girls include:

Hallie Josephine — “Hallie as a namesake for ‘Harold’ from its nn Hal. Harold is strong in both our families and Josephine was my husband’s great grandmothers middles name + St. Joseph. And I love the double barrel nickname of Hallie Jo.”

Blythe Emily — “Emily was first name of aforementioned grandmother. And Blythe.. not totally sure how I came about this but I like that it’s fairly uncommon and feminine without all the frills. I originally liked Blair but this feels softer especially with our last name.”

Helena (heh-LAY-na) — “my husband actually through this one out so I’ve got to cling to that! I also really like nn Laina. Maybe Helena Zoe or Audrey Helena (my name is Audrey Zoe, and mamas should get juniors too!).”

Scarlett nn Scottie — “but my husband isn’t too keen. Also I’m due 4/25 so technically after the Easter octave but would consider eater-ish names) like Scarlett referring to the precious blood or paschal for boy… you get my drift. We like a good name story, strong association to give the kids some roots as they grow up!“

Miriam — “my husband will only offer Miriam as a girls name… he keeps coming back to it no matter what I suggest. I honestly hate it. Is there a compromise in there from the style of names I like and Miriam? I feel Like they couldn’t be more different!“

And names for boys: 

John Luke — “would be first and middle but I’d really like to call him the full name. My husbands family is very Italian so he would likely get nicknamed the Italian form Gianluca. I love this but it also feels kind of plain… thoughts?“

Alexander Rhodes — “I am not sure how I found the name Rhodes but I have not been able to put it down! … I love that subtle nod to the rosary… sending our prayers up to Mary to be presented to Jesus as a beautiful rose bouquet. Finding a first name with it has been a little hard but I’m loving the idea of Alexander (nn Xander) and that his name would, in a way, make the chi(X)Rho Symbol as a dedication to Christ.”

And — “Other names we’ve thrown around for first or middle are Ambrose, Matthew, Montfort (nn Monte), Xavier, Adam…” 

Middle names are important to Zoey as well:

“For middle name considerations, we like anything biblical (as you can tell!) my husband loves the rosary (I’m working on it!) and divine mercy. His confirmation Saint is Francis, mine is Zelie Martin although I’m not sure I’d like to use that name at all since I’d prefer to use Zoe. (Z-oh pronunciation). Some other middle names we like if not a saint/biblical name would be Soliven (our dear priest friend who just moved parishes! He married us, confirmed me, and baptized both our kids), Rhodes as I mentioned, Woodrow/Woodruff/woods (my husband’s dad’s name). For girls, as mentioned Emily, Josephine, Audrey, Zoe (Z-oh), Laree, Naomi, Amaris, Lea, Marriott (yes like the hotel, my grandmother’s maiden name, pronounced Mary-et like Chariot) or Therese (I don’t love the full version but would consider a variant, maybe Reese? It’s a mix of my husband’s mom’s name Renee Therese).” 

Names they can’t use (including variants):

William 

Louis/Louie 

Andrew 

Anthony 

Joseph 

Michael 

Nicolas 

Elizabeth 

K/Catherine

Finally, Zoey notes,

“The other challenge is we have A LOT of catholic friends with large families or growing families and a lot of the “mainstream” catholic names (think Benedict, Blaise, Kolbe, Caeli, etc) are “taken” by them so we are challenged to be a bit more creative, which is fun but can be hard.”

No surprise that I really enjoyed reading Zoey’s “dilemma” — I do enjoy the struggle of trying to narrow down a couple’s style and I tend to agree with her that “the third baby really solidifies that” … that said, though, I hate for anyone to feel like “rules” like that are binding and you can never wriggle out from under them. You know? Baby naming should be fun! And if losing some rules helps it to feel more fun, I’m all for that! But of course, I do like stylistic consistency! I have some thoughts on what I think Zoey’s boy style is, which I’ll include in my list of “official” suggestions below. Also, how she said she’d like to go “less common” this time and that she finds it easier to do with girls than for boys is very, very common, so I encouraged her not to worry! I also love her criteria of “not super traditional” plus “don’t feel like they have to have a direct saint association” plus “meaning behind the name.” Those are great! Also that she thinks they’d like a nickname option. Oh, also no forms of Therese/a or Mary/Maria (not wrong at all!); no names ending in -ana; no cutesy names — must age well. Also prefer not repeating initials. Whew!

Okay, before getting into my list of official suggestions, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on the names they’re currently considering, in case they’re helpful (some are not mentioned above because they were included in subsequent emails):

  • Hallie Josephine: Hallie is such a great way to honor a Harold! I also know someone who named her son Hap (just Hap) because it’s also a nickname for Harold — maybe Hap would work for this family for a boy?
  • Blythe Emily: I never, ever see Blythe on parents’ lists — so fun to see it here!
  • Blair: I like Blair, too!
  • Marriott: I LOVE this as a middle name!! It’s in my book because it derives from Mary!! I personally love it for both a girl and a boy, so cool!
  • Helena nn Laina: A beautiful option! A nice connection here is that St. Faustina (of Divine Mercy fame) was named Helena at birth! Zoey included the Divine Mercy as a devotion that’s important to her and her husband, so this would be very meaningful from that perspective.
  • Audrey and Zoe as first names or middle names: I’m absolutely with Zoey that mamas should get juniors!! I like both Helena Zoe and Audrey Helena.
  • Scarlett nn Scottie: ah-MAZ-ing!! I love love the name Scarlett but could never figure out a great nickname — Zoey has totally done it! Scottie is adorable! And Scarlett for the Precious Blood is just wonderful.
  • Naomi: When I saw Naomi as a possible middle name, my first thought was that I’d love that as a first name option for this family — and then Zoey included it in a later email as a first name contender! It has a very “Miriam” feel to me without, of course, being Miriam — this might do the trick!
  • Jules for a girl: An interesting option! This actually makes me think of their boy style a lot — I wonder if they would consider it for a boy?
  • Julia Reese: Julia Reese is a stunning combo! Zoey worries that Julia sounds a lot like Elijah, which I can definitely see.
  • John Luke: I love John Luke, but I do know what Zoey means about it feeling plain. I think calling him by both names would “solve” that — John Luke as a combo makes both John and Luke feel less plain. I know a little Gianluca who is called the full Gianluca all the time, so this feels natural to me!
  • Alexander Rhodes: I love all their meaning behind this!! Another name they might like to consider is the male name Royce, which actually means “rose” (I included it in my book!) — I really like Royce for them in place of Rhodes, if they want to have a more explicitly “rose” name for the rosary.
  • Ambrose, Matthew, Montfort (Monte), Xavier, Adam: I love all these! Monte is really fun, I think that’s my favorite of these for this family.
  • Lucas Gabriel: Love this, yes! Luke and Lucas both feel like a really good first name option as a brother to Austin and Elijah. And Gabriel is one of my favorite names ever!
  • Conrad Jude (Thaddeus): LOVE this too!! My husband and I considered Conrad with Cord as a nickname (how cool is that?? AND they could think of it as a rosary connection if they wanted, since the string part of the rosary is often referred to as a cord!). And I had Jude on my list of official suggestions for this baby before even seeing that they had Jude on their list! I would love to see them consider it as a first name!

Regarding Zoey’s husband’s love of Miriam: I wonder if they’ve considered Marriott as a first name? Miriam and Marriott sound very similar to my ear when I say them out loud, and they both are variants of Mary … maybe Hubby would be okay with that? Especially if they pair it with a super Old Testament middle name, like Marriott Zipporah or Marriott Keziah or Marriot Esther? They could even use Miri as a nickname for Marriott? Or Mimi! Another idea I had was Marriott Emilia — I love the rhythm; Emilia can be for Grandma Emily and can also be sort of a Divine Mercy name in the sense that Emilia was the name of Pope John Paul II’s mom and he was huge into Divine Mercy (his mom’s cause for canonization is open!).

Now on to my new ideas! I tried really hard to stick to all their rules, but I’m pretty sure one or two of the girl names might strike Zoey as possibly too cutesy, but I wanted to leave them on in case I’m wrong, and/or in case they might like to consider them as a middle name for Marriott as a first (if Zoey can bring herself and her hubby around to that idea). I went through the Baby Name Wizard book (affiliate link) as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and I looked at past posts I did on names for Divine Mercy and Easter (Sorrowful Mysteries and Glorious Mysteries) and the Sacred Heart (because of Zoey’s comment about Scarlett and the Precious Blood), and some gut-feeling ideas as well — based on all that, these are my ideas:

Girl

(1) Faith

Their boy name style has a “country/western” feel to me, and Scarlett fits into that as well, and Faith is listed in the BNW as fitting into that vibe as well — I love the name Faith! It’s simple and obviously faith-y, uncommon and sweet. I knew a Faith when I was growing up, and I always loved her name, as well as the nickname Faithy. Faith Marriott works beautifully!

(2) Greer

As soon as I read that Zoey likes both Blythe and Blair, I immediately thought of Brynn! Unfortunately there isn’t any obvious faithy connection (despite their being a St. Brynoth and a St. Brynach), but it made me think of Greer because I know a Brynn who has a sister named Greer, and Greer struck me as a great suggestion! It derives from the name Gregory, which is where the faith connection can come (either a St. Gregory, or St. Maria Goretti, since Goretti also derives from Gregory), and I think it sound fine with Marriott!

(3) Rebecca/Rebekah nn Ruby (also Romy?)

I thought quite a bit about how to work with Zoey’s husband’s love of Miriam and marry it with Zoey’s taste, and I thought Rebecca/Rebekah with the nickname Ruby might do the trick. Like Miriam, Rebecca is an Old Testament name (which the spelling Rebekah really hammers home), and years ago I saw a birth announcement for a baby Rebecca nicknamed Ruby and I felt like my whole life was made — I LOVED that so much!! I think Ruby is just darling, and it can have the Precious Blood connection Zoey mentioned with Scarlett as well. (I actually spotlighted Ruby here, with some other ideas of how to get to it.) Thinking about Rebecca/Rebekah Marriott, though, also made me kind of love the idea of Romy as a nickname for that combo — the R part from Rebecca/Rebekah, the M part from Marriott — maybe they’d like that better? Romy is sweet too.

(4) Ivy

When I’m looking up names in the BNW, I always pay attention to names that are listed as style matches for more than one of the names on the parents’ list, and Ivy was a big one! It’s listed as similar to Eli and Zoe, as well as Scarlett and Xavier! It’s an entry in my book because of its Marian connection, and Ivy Marriott sounds pretty amazing.

(5) Willow/Willa

I looked through the Country/Western section of the BNW for inspiration, and was interested to see Willodean in there — because Zoey had mentioned Easter as a possible inspiration for this baby’s name because of her due date, I’d already been thinking of Easter-related names, and Willow and Willa are two of them! More specifically, they refer to Palm Sunday, but I think that’s close enough for what they’re thinking? I spotlighted them both and explained the connection here.

Some other girl names that came up in my research that intrigued me but I didn’t end up putting in my “official” list of first name ideas (but wanted to include here just in case, and/or also as middle name ideas) include Mercedes (it means “mercies” and can take Sadie as a nickname, which I thought was perfect for this family!), Mercy itself (I know a couple little girls named Mercy!), and Chesed (Old Testament term referring to “mercy” — read more in this comment. Amazing!).

Boy

(1) Caleb

As mentioned earlier, I felt like their boy name style can have a country/western feel, and taking into account their affinity for biblical names as well, I thought Caleb was perfect! The nickname Cal is one of my favorites, I love it. Kobe and Colby were listed as similar to names Zoey likes, which made me want to suggest Kolbe, but then she’d specifically mentioned Kolbe as one they can’t use! But Caleb has similar sounds and rhythm, so I do quite like it for this baby.

(2) Casey

I looove Casey!! Casey was in the list of Country/Western names, and Bl. Solanus Casey is one of my favorites, Casey + Bl. Solanus made me think Casey Soliven would be a cool name for this baby! There was also a family I did a consultation for who loved Bl. Solanus but preferred Case instead of the full Casey, so that was the given name they went with — I could see that working for this family too.

(3) Becket

Funny enough, I got to Becket from Bennett, since Bennett is a medieval short form of Benedict like Austin is a medieval short form of Augustine, so they always make me think of each other, but I didn’t think Bennett was quite their style (and also that might have seemed a little matchy?) but then Bennett also makes me think of Becket and I thought yes! Becket! St. Thomas a Becket is an awesome patron.

(4) Garrett

I think Garrett is such a great name — I think it definitely fits with their boys, and can also derive from Gerard, which gives it an awesome faith connection.

(5) Hardy

I’ve suggested Hardy a few times to families over the years and no one’s bitten, so maybe I’m out of touch regarding this name, but I think it’s awesome! It can be a sort of virtue-esque name in the sense of “bold, brave” and also “healthy” AND it can be related to Gerard! (Check it out here and here.) It was the name of a boy in a movie I saw when I was little and I always loved it. (I would also consider it to be an excellent nickname for Gerard, but I don’t think Gerard is this family’s style. Also, there’s this birth announcement I posted for a little Gerhardt [German form of Gerard] who goes by the nickname Hart — I love that too!!)

(6) Jessop

I’ll be interested to see what Zoey and her hubs think of this idea! It’s a variant of Joseph based on pronunciation of the name from mid-sixteenth-century England, and it definitely feels sort of country/western, so I love that it takes Austin’s medieval connection and Eli’s biblical connection (and both of their possibly country/western feel) and adds an authentic St. Joseph connection! I also love the nickname Jess for a boy (love love!). I think this could be amazing! (I included it in my post on names for St. Joseph.)

Some other boy ideas I had included Jasper (one of the Three Kings has traditionally been known by the Casper name family, which includes Gaspar and Jasper), Paxton (inspired by Xander and Xavier and also “pax” means “peace” in Latin — an awesome, faithy connection!), and Jesse (country/western + biblical), but I liked my other ideas better. But I wanted to mention these just in case!

And those are all my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother or sister of Austin and Elijah/Eli?

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!