Mary

Prayers please, and a name reveal

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Do you all remember Sylvia of this consultation and this birth announcement? She blogs at Tales from the Mommy Trenches, and I just discovered that not only is she pregnant with her fifth beautiful baby — another girl! — but also that her sweet baby has a congenital heart defect and Down Syndrome (that post about receiving the results of the blood test that said the baby does indeed have DS was titled “Joy” ♥♥♥).

If you read the above links, you likely saw that Sylvia and her husband have named the baby, and I could not think of a better name:

“We will still be following our family tradition of calling her by her middle name, and her middle name is Regina. She is named after the Queen of Heaven, and I have dedicated her to Our Lady. Scott and I decided that her first name will be Matilde, named after my mother and grandmother. Matilde means “brave in battle,” so it seemed appropriate. It is good to have a name so that I can start praying for her by name.”

A perfect addition to sisters Gloria Ruth, Victoria Rose, Elena Wren, and Sylvia Rhea!

I’m sure this beautiful family would appreciate any prayers you can offer for them and for little Regina! 🙏🙏🙏

Birth announcement: Rosalee Maewyn!

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The mama from this consultation sort of sneakily snuck in a little comment on the post today sharing that she’s had her baby! Her little girl has been given the goooorgeous name … Rosalee Maewyn!

What an amazingly beautiful combo! I’m extra excited too that Rosalie was one of my suggestions — I’m so delighted it was a helpful idea!

If you remember, this sweet girl is Baby No. 11 and her parents didn’t want her name to repeat any of her siblings’ initials — I’m so impressed at how well they’ve done! She joins big sibs:

David Zachary
Caleb Daniel
Jesse Robert
Ethan Wyatt
Kathryn Cecilia
Aaron Mathias
Tobias Xavier
Bridget Darling
Phoebe Noelle
Levi Thaddeus

Such a handsome bunch of names! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Rosalee!! (Be sure to check our her adorable little face over on her mama’s blog!)

Baby name consultant: Mary, music, and ends-in-a

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Mary Dove and her husband Gerry are expecting their seventh baby, a little girl! This little lady joins big sibs:

Maria Paloma (“which is Mary Dove in Spanish, she goes by Paloma“)
Isabella Maria (“goes by Bella, Bellita, Izzy“)
Juliana Marie (“Jules, Juice Cup, Julie Dear“)
Nicholas Matthias (“Nick, Nicko, even Nicodemus which I almost wish we named him because I have come to love it, he was named after Gerry’s Confirmation name, since he didn’t want a Jr.”)
Dominic Karl (“Dom, Domo and Domodemus; Karl is after my dad, Dom was almost Donovan but Dominic felt right“)
Augustine Raphael (“Gus, Gusto, Auggie; Raphael after Gerry’s dad“)

Just an amazing bunch of names! (And those nicknames! “Juice Cup”! 😀 ) I love them all, but I especially love that Maria Paloma has her mom’s exact name, just translated into Spanish — particularly interesting in light of our conversation about girls named after their moms the other day. (Also, the fact that Gerry “didn’ want a Jr.” makes it sound like Mary Dove would have been okay with that — further evidence for the idea that many of the boy Juniors are Mom’s idea!)

Mary Dove shared lots of fun namey info:

“I’ll start with me, since my own name needs some explaining. My name is Mary Donovan Z. My mom nicknamed me Mary Dove (like Mary Beth or Mary Jo) and it stuck. My family and close friends call me Mary Dove or Dove. I am part Irish/Scottish and German. My husband’s name is Gerry (Gerald) Micheal, he is European Spanish/Mexican and English/German. I like to have names that reflect family heritage and also the person’s appearance

A couple of things we do with our kid’s names, the girls have a Marian name in their names and the first name ends in the letter a because it flows with our last name (but having a name ending in A is not an absolute). 2 of our kids have blue eyes and freckles and burn in the sun (yup, that’s the Irish) and the other 4 have various light skin tones but tan and have green/grey/hazel eyes. 3 are slender and 3 are stocky (aren’t genes cool!!)

The boys have middle names that are family names. We also use nicknames a lot.”

I just died over Mary Donovan –> Mary Dove or just Dove. So great!

Regarding names for their Little Miss,

“[W]e will probably use Monica, as that is a family name and though not Marian, I think I might count it as Marian-ish. Gerry is partial to Felicity. I kinda like Pia (because I love Padre Pio). I prefer actual saint names but have considered the names Hope and Grace, too … [also] perhaps a variation on Bridget [after Mary Dove’s sister] … we are a bit of a musical family and was wondering about musical type names. My sisters and I had an a cappella singing group as teens and I play (though not really much now) the harp, Scottish bagpipes, and piano. My girls all play piano and each a string instrument (cello, violin and viola) my husband is learning guitar and Ukulele! (How cute is that? If you have older kids, the Ukulele is the cutest little instrument and quite easy to learn!) I like the name Cecelia but that seems to be the quintessential Catholic music name and plus I have a friend whose daughter is named Cecelia. Are there any other musical names out there??“

And a name that Mary Dove really likes but can’t use as it’s the name of her niece:

Anneliese

Alrighty, I’m going to jump right in with a few quick thoughts about the names Mary Dove and her hubs are currently considering: I love Monica, and I’m interested in her Marian-ish idea — I assume she means because it’s the name of a holy mother? I admit I’ve never heard that argument given before for the name Monica! But if her name calls Our Lady to mind for them, who am I to say it’s not Marian-ish!

I love the name Felicity, and I wondered what they’d both think of Felicita? It’s a legit variation (Italian) and retains their ends-in-a pattern. And speaking of Felicity/Felicita, of course I always think of Perpetua too, and I’ve heard of several little girls recently named Perpetua who go by the nickname Pia, which is a name Mary Dove said she likes — maybe they’d like to consider that as a way to use Pia, and it could also be a nod to St. Pio? Also, Our Lady is described as “pia” in the Salve Regina, so it can be a Marian name too. Maybe Monica Pia? And then they get a Marian name, their St. Pio name, and Monica all in one? (Though Mary Dove’s clever Juliana heard “onomatopoeia” when she heard Monica Pia — deal breaker? Or kinda cool?)

Before I get to my other ideas, I have to say I’m a bit stumped about the music question! I looked up patron saints of music, as there are usually several saints for each category/condition/etc., but there was only one listed besides Cecilia — St. Arnulf of Soissons, which didn’t strike me as terribly inspiring (though he himself is pretty awesome). I did see that a Frisian (from Wikipedia: “The Frisian languages are a closely related group of Germanic languages, spoken by about 500,000 Frisian people, who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. The Frisian languages are the closest living language group to English languages“) variant is Anne, used for both girls and boys and said AH-nah, so I thought maybe Ana or Anna would work as a nod to St. Arnulf? Or are they too close to Anneliese?

I looked up patron saints of singers and had a little more success: St. Andrew the Apostle, King David, and St. Gregory the Great (Gregorian Chant is named after him) are all patrons of singers. Of those, Andrea would fit in well with the other girls’ names (and it’s a style match for Monica!), and I’ve seen Andra and Andrina as well. Greer is used as a feminine form of Gregory — it’s from a Scottish surname derived from Gregory, which is a nice nod to Mary Dove’s Scottish heritage. I don’t think it would work as a first name for this family, but maybe as a middle?

I had the most luck with “saints who were singers” — there are a lot of them (the full list here); these were three of my favorite ideas for them:
— Bl. Anne Pelras (that “Anne” again!)
— Bl. Chiara Badano (looooove Chiara for this family! It’s Italian instead of Spanish, but ends in -a and is so lovely, like the other girls)
— Bl. Marie-Gabrielle Trezel (Gabriela would be a perfect fit!)

And then I had the idea of Aria — as it refers to “song” or “melody” in Italian, and ends in -a, and is beautiful — and looked to see if there was a holy Aria, and there is! St. Aria of Rome! (The Game of Thrones character Arya Stark, said the same is Aria, is good to be aware of though, as some might think the name was inspired by her.)

Okay! I did a full round of research for girl names, where “research” means, as you all know, looking up all the names they’ve used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard, which is an awesome resource as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I also went through my own mental files, and here’s what I came up with:

(1) Jacinta
Bl. Hyacinth-Marie Cormier is one of the blesseds who was a singer, and Jacinta — which I’d already had on my list for them! — is a feminine variant of Hyacinth (and actually Hyacinth can be used as a female name as well — see the Pioneer Woman’s best friend Hyacinth). I’d say it jah-SIN-tah, the English way, and I assume Mary Dove’s Juliana is said with an English J? But they could also do hah-SEEN-tah, it’s gorgeous either way. And it’s also Marian-ish, since Bl. Jacinta Marto was one of the Fatima children.

(2) Lilia, Liliana, Lilli
Lilies are associated with Our Lady, and so the Lily names are Marian. Lilia’s one of my very favorite variants, and Liliana’s another (and is actually a style match for Juliana — but maybe two names ending in -ana is too much?). Lili and Lilli are German variants that are specifically diminutives of Elisabeth (as Lily is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth), which is cool, but like with Juliana/Liliana, are any of the Elizabeth variants too much with sister Isabella? I think no, since one could choose a Lily name just because of the flower or Our Lady without any intention of connecting to Elizabeth. (Lillian is also a style match for Isabella, and Lily for Bella).

(3) Magdalena
I love this variant of Mary Magdalene’s name — it ends in -a like the other girls’ names, and has the beautiful nickname options Maggie (which has an Irish feel), Maddy, and Lena.

(4) Victoria, Veronica (or Cora?)
Victoria is a style match for several of their names — Juliana, Nicholas, and Sebastian — and I’ve recently been loving it as a nod to Our Lady of Victory. I’ve also seen the nickname idea Cora for it recently, which not only makes Victoria feel a bit fresher, but can also be a nod to either the Immaculate Heart of Mary or the Sacred Heart of Jesus (“cor” in Latin means “heart”). It made me think of Veronica, which is another gorgeous V name and a great saintly connection. I actually think Cora could also work as a nickname for Veronica, as well as Vee and Via (but not the Nic- names, of course, because of Nicholas. The traditional Ronnie feels a little dated to me, but if they like it that’s another nickname option). I’m also loving just Cora, as a given name!

(5) Natalia
Natalia also did quite well for them in my research, being similar in style to Juliana, Nicholas, Dominic, and Sebastian. I love the name Natalia, and I think Nat, Natty, Talia, Tally, Nia, and Lia are all sweet.

(6) Britta, Breda/Brida
My last girl idea for this baby girl is Britta, 100% inspired by Mary Dove’s sister Bridget, as Britta is a variant of it (and it ends in -a!). I love Britta, and another awesome tidbit is that it’s a style match for Pia! I’ve also seen Breda and Brida as variants/anglicizations of the Irish Bríd, which I believe is said “breed” and is an Irish contracted form of Brighid, which is of course a variant of Bridget.

And those are all my thoughts/ideas for this baby girl! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for this beautiful family?

Naming after women

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I spent a few minutes in the Baby Name Wizard discussion forums this morning as I ate my breakfast, and saw a comment containing a sentiment that I see with some regularity over there and that kind of irks me every time I see it:

“I think it’s totally lovely to honor a mother with a name for a change (I know lots of men who name their sons after themselves, either as juniors outright or using variant forms or middle names, but very few women who do so).”

I don’t even disagree with the comment! I know it’s more common for a dad to have a son named after himself than for a mom to have a daughter named after herself. And the commenter herself is one I highly respect, as her thoughts are *always* well balanced and fair. But I feel testy and defensive when I see things like “honor a mother with a name for a change” and “lots of men who name their sons after themselves” — probably because I feel like it’s a tentacle of a whole “down with the patriarchy!” thought process that usually includes the “old men in white hats in Rome.” Blah.

Anyway, my contrarian Rome-loving self immediately thought of lots of examples, old and new, of people (babies and olders) being named after women. My mom, for one example, was half named for her mom (I saw “half” because her mom’s name was Anne, and my grandfather wanted to name my mom Anne — imagine that! A man! Wanting to name his baby girl after his beloved wife! But my grandmother wanted to name her one of the names-of-the-day: Susan. So they compromised with Susanne). My sister has my mom’s name as one of her middle names. My paternal grandfather was given his mom’s maiden name as a first name. Before I had so many boys, I’d always planned to work one or more elements of my name into one or more of my daughters’ names.

Moving farther afield from moms naming daughters after themselves, my youngest son’s first name is for my mother-in-law and his middle name for my mom. Julianamama shared that she knows a dad with a great devotion to St. Margaret who named his son Garrett after her! (I died when I read that! Brilliant!)

I’ve done two posts (On my bookshelf: A Dictionary of English Surnames and Girl names turned surnames) highlighting how various surnames are originally metronymics (identifying a person by his or her mother), or diminutives of female first names that became surnames, or perhaps arising from religious devotion to a female saint — like Marriot (from Mary), Ebbetts (from Isabel), Scollas (from Scholastica, specifically for St. Scholastica, according to Reaney & Wilson), and Emmett (from Emma). All of these would be fine and interesting for a child to be named, and they’re all feminine in origin (even if the parents don’t realize it or it wasn’t their intent). And I did a couple posts on current men religious who took their Mother Mary’s name as part of their new religious names: Eleven new Dominican priests and Men Who Love Mary: MFVA (a whole Order of men who take Mary as part of their new name! And one had Therese as well!), never mind all the male saints with Mary in their names: St. Clement Mary/Maria Hofbauer (depending on what you’re reading), St. Maximilian Mary/Maria Kolbe, St. Anthony Mary Claret, St. Jean Marie Vianney, St. Josemaria Escriva … who else?

I’d love to know what stories you all have of moms naming their daughters or sons after themselves or similar family stories, and whether you know any Brothers or Priests with female saints’ names, or boys who have taken a female saint’s name for a Confirmation name. It’s not all oppression, people. (I’m done ranting now. 🙂 )

 

 

Baby name consultant: French-ish for girls, classic for boys, no ending in long E

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Lauren and her husband are expecting their fourth baby, a little green bean (=gender unknown)! Their older kiddos are:

Michael Douglas (“my husband is Michael and my father is Douglas“)
Annabelle Grace (“after my great grandmother“)
John Walter (“goes by Jack, my grandfather’s name is Walter“)

I loooove these names!! The boys are so strong and handsome, and Annabelle is a huge favorite of mine!

Lauren writes,

“So I guess our trend has been strong(ish) family Catholic names? Jack is a bit of an outlier in terms of the length of his name because we still call Michael and Annabelle by their full names.

In terms of restrictions … names that end in a long E are pretty much out [because of having a last name that ends in the same sound]. For example, Betty or the like 🙂 I’m still a little torn on nicknames that end in that sound, because once in awhile a family member will call Michael Mikey or Annabelle Annie and they don’t say them with their last name, and it’s fine.  Otherwise we are pretty open!“

Names they’ve considered for a girl include:

Mary Christine (“I’d like to use Christine, my mother’s name as a middle name — and I think I would consistently call her Mary Christine and not shorten it“)
Bernadette Christine

And for a boy:

Peter Charles (“Peter is my great-grandfather’s name“)
Benedict Something (“my husband likes Benedict but I’m not sure it fits with our current names“)
Francis (“I like — but would most likely call him Frankie, and there is the long E again. And my husband is not a huge fan“)

Additionally:

“Other family names for consideration include: George, William, Joseph, Fredrick, Agnes, Rose, Katherine, Patricia, Evelyn

As far as heritage, we are mainly German and Polish but my husband’s grandfather is from Syria“

I actually found this to be really challenging consultation because Lauren and her hubs have such great ideas already! You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, so when I looked up the names Lauren and her hubs like I focused only on Michael, Annabelle, John, Jack, Christine, Bernadette, Peter, Benedict, and Francis and didn’t look up the other family names they listed for consideration (George, William, etc.) … but then when I was making my list of ideas for them, I had Katherine and Patricia as two of my girl suggestions—and then I saw they were already on their family names list! So I found it a challenge to come up with *new* ideas!

Before I get to the ideas I did end up with, I first want to say how much I like Mary Christine, and I wondered if they’d considered using just Christine as the first name? I would be excited to see it as a first name, as it’s really unusual these days and it’s one of my favorite of the Christ- names, so elegant and lovely.

Bernadette I love as well, but I wondered if they would agree with me that using Bernadette or Benedict now would knock the other out for the future? They seem similar enough to me in sound and appearance that brother and sister Benedict and Bernadette seem a bit much. But I do love Benedict as well, both the name and especially our Pope Emeritus. I find it’s a bit tricky to find middle names for it, as most parents find they want to avoid initials BJ, BM, and BF, but Benedict Charles would be quite handsome, as would Benedict George (and George could be a nod to Pope Francis, as his birth name is Jorge [=George] — two popes in one!), and I think something like Benedict Leo and Benedict Henry would be great as well.

Peter Charles is wonderful, just a great combination. And Francis is great, and Frankie is so cute.

Okay! Onto my new ideas/suggestions:

Girl
(1) Rosemary, Rosemarie, Rosalie, Rosamond
Rosemary is a style match for Bernadette and Rosamond for Benedict, and with Rose already on their list of family names for consideration, I thought names like these made sense to suggest. I know Rosemary, Rosemarie, and Rosalie all end in the long E sound, but I’ve said them all over and over again with their last name, and I don’t mind them at all. Maybe because they’re longer than a nickname? Rosie LastName has the sound they don’t care for I think, but the longer versions are lovely. And Rosamond gets away from that altogether. Rose can easily be the nickname for each of these, which also avoids the rhymey endings.

(2) Juliet
Annabelle seems to be a bit of an outlier style-wise—all the other names they’ve got on their list are basically swirling around the same area, but Annabelle has a little pop of color that I just love. Juliet is a style match for it, which is one of my favorite names, and when I saw that Julia is a style match for John, I thought that gave me enough permission to suggest Juliet to Lauren and her hubs. I spotlighted Juliet here.

(3) Teresa, Theresa, Therese
Teresa’s a style match for Christine, Theresa’s a match for Peter, and Therese is a match for Bernadette! Each has its merits (how great for a little girl to be named after Mother Teresa during the very autumn that she was canonized! And of course St. Therese — all the roses! And Theresa can be for either of them); all can take the nicknames Tess or Tessa, which I think would be really great for this family, especially for a sister for John-who-always-goes-by-Jack. (For more on T(h)erese see my Sibling Project page.)

(4) Evangeline or Genevieve
These two were actually style matches for both Annabelle and Benedict! They’re both gorgeous names, and I’m listing them together because they’re sort of a one-or-the-other proposition, since they both have strong E and V sounds. They both can take the nicknames Evie and Vivi, which I assume they wouldn’t like with their last name, but Genevieve could also be Gen, Genna, or Vieve.

Boy
(1) Bennett
I was really excited about Bennett for this family! I’d scribbled it down for them when I first read Lauren’s email and saw that she’s not sure about Benedict, because Bennett’s a medieval diminutive of Benedict and it can be a bit easier to deal with than Benedict for many—not quite as heavy, but retaining the same holy connections (though not as obviously). And then I discovered it’s a style match for Annabelle! Woo!

(2) Thomas
Thomas is just a solid, classic name, and though all those solid, classic boys’ names can be considered similar to each other, Thomas was particularly listed as similar to Michael, John, and Peter. And not that they asked for middle name ideas, but I’m loving the idea of Thomas Benedict. 🙂

(3) Stephen
Stephen is a style match for Michael, Peter, and Christine, and I’ve been hearing it here and there on little boys recently, and I’m always pleasantly surprised. Both my 8yo and 4yo have best friends named Stephen, and both go by the full Stephen. Danielle Bean, editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest, has a son named Stephen Matthias, which is such a swoony combo!

(4) Philip
My last idea is Philip—it’s a style match for both Bernadette and Peter, and the full Philip is one of my favorites. I know some people have trouble with nicknames, because Phil is hard to picture on a little guy, but I’ve been suggesting Finn as a possible nickname for Philip recently, which I love, especially paired with an N middle name (I love the idea of the first+middle combo Philip Neri with the nickname Finn!). If they’re worried about a P given name with an F nickname, there’s precedence in Julia Roberts’ son Phinnaeus going by Finn. (I’ve also been suggesting Finn as a nickname for Francis, if they want to consider that.)

And those are my ideas for Lauren and her husband! What do you all think? What would you suggest for the little brother or sister of Michael, Annabelle, and Jack?

Bonus consultation: Baby girl for family with eclectic taste

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One of the things I find really fun is when a family has several children with names covering a bunch of different styles — I love seeing parents who just use names they like! But even in such situations, it’s not usually too hard to find a thread of a theme (or themes) running through the kids’ names, and I find it so fun to look for it and see what I find.

The family whose consultation I’m posting today is one such, and the reason I wanted to post it. Sara and her husband are expecting their fifth baby, and third girl! Their older kiddos are:

Kolbe Conrad (boy)
Jameson Clare (girl)
Elsie Jo (girl)
Jude Francis (boy — in heaven)

Such a fun, interesting set! And each combo is full of meaning:

“Kolbe is named after St. Maximillian Kolbe and his middle name is a family name, until recently I didn’t know there was a St. Conrad (thanks to your blog!). Jameson is named after my father in law who was diagnosed with brain cancer while I was pregnant with her. Elsie was my maternal grandmother’s name, and Jo is my husbands maternal grandmother’s name. We loved the name Jude because he is the patron saint of hope. With that being said, I want this baby’s name to have just as much meaning.”

I love how Sara and her hubs have honored their family members in the naming of their children — there are so many ways to do so! I was particularly interested to see Jameson, as I have a girl cousin named Jameson, and before her I hadn’t ever seen the name on a girl. She too has a very feminine middle name like Sara’s Jameson Clare, which I quite like.

Names that Sara and her hubs have considered for this baby girl include:

Finley (“my husband likes this, I’m not a fan“)
Philomena (“this is Kolbe’s pick…sisterly love!“)
Faustina
Hope
Rose
Ruth

And names on the no-go list:

Lucy
Grace
Emma
Rebecca

The names they’re considering are just as eclectic as the names they’ve already used — I love them! And I was really eager to see what names my research would yield! You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have already used and those they like in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I knew Kolbe, Jameson-for-a-girl, and Faustina wouldn’t be in there, but I thought/hoped that Conrad, Jameson-for-a-boy, Elsie, Jude, Finley, Philomena, Hope, Rose, and Ruth would give an accurate picture.

I also picked through my own mental files and looked back in my blog, and I came up with a few ideas as well.

So! All that said, these are my ideas:

(1) Greer or Grier
In trying to figure out if there was any thread(s) of a theme that ran through their taste in names (as evidenced by the names they’ve already used and the ones on their list), I thought surnames-as-first-names (Kolbe, Jameson) and unisex-ish names for girls (Jameson, Finley) were two themes that were apparent. Greer (or Grier) immediately came to mind—it’s one of my favorite names, a unisex-ish first name (though definitely skewing more female in recent years, a la actress Greer Garson, which makes it a nice bridge name between the more masculine Jameson and the very feminine Elsie) that’s also a surname, and it’s got saintly connections as well as it’s a variant of Gregory!

(2) Meike
Another thread that seemed to run through their name choices was a Germanic element, as seen in Kolbe, Conrad, Elsie, and Philomena, which led me to think of Meike right away, another of my favorites. It’s a German diminutive of Maria, said like Micah, so it has a boyish feel to it even though it’s a feminine name. And it’s Marian! I’m always swoony over Marian names!

(3) Ruby
I also thought there was a little bit of an “old lady” feel to some of their ideas, like Elsie, Philomena, Faustina, Rose, and Ruth. Ruby was listed in the BNW as a match for both Jude and Rose, and it also reminded me a bit of the feel of Greer—a little bit brassy and a lot old Hollywood starlet. I spotlighted Ruby here, offering some faithy connections.

(4) Landry
Landry was also a suggestion I got from the BNW, a style match for Finley and the English & French variant of the Germanic name Landric. Behindthename.com, which I always go to for name meanings/origin/history, says it’s a masculine name (there are a few Sts. Landry, all male), but it’s listed in the BNW as feminine, which made me think Sara and her hubs might find it appealing (the Social Security Administration says it was #858 for boys in 2015 and #918 for girls, so pretty even matched). It’s got a really pretty sound!

(5) Mercy (or Mercedes?)
Mercy was inspired by Hope, of which it’s a style match per the BNW, but also this Jubilee Year of Mercy, which they are so lucky to be having a baby born in! I do worry that maybe Elsie and Mercy share too many sounds? Especially with their birth order being next to each other? In which case, I think Mercedes could work—it means “mercies” and also points to Our Lady of Mercy (as does Mercy, of course, Marian names for the win!), and has a more international feel than Mercy, which fits in nicely with their other kids. I discussed Mercedes more here.

(6) Saintly surnames
Finally, I couldn’t help but think of the saintly surnames that I think would be great matches for Kolbe, so I thought I’d list a bunch of them here:
— Avila (for St. Teresa of Avila and/or St. John of Avila)
— Cabrini (for Mother Cabrini/St. Frances Xavier Cabrini)
— Goretti (for St. Maria Goretti)
— Siena (for St. Catherine of Siena and/or St. Bernardine of Siena)
— Talbot (for Bl. Matt Talbot, read more here from a mom who considered Talbot for her daughter)

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Sara and her husband, based on the names they’ve already used and those they like?

Baby name consultant: Baby girl No. 2 with JR initials or … ?

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Betsy and her husband Chas are expecting their second little one — a second daughter! Their first sweet little girl has the beautiful name:

Claire Eleanore

Betsy tells her name story thusly:

“When we were considering names, we just threw out ideas and both liked Claire early on. I don’t think we ever came across a girl’s name that either of us liked better. We decided to choose a middle name that started with “E” so that she would have my husband’s initials. In the end, we just really liked Eleanore, but it also had some loose connections for us. My sister is Ellen and Chas had a teacher that was a big influence on him who is named Eleanore (we took her spelling of the name). We did not know if Claire was going to be a boy or a girl, so if she had been a boy, she would have been Lewis Frank.”

For this baby girl, Betsy writes,

“I really like Julia Rose after my dad. (Yes, my dad! I have to give your posts credit for convincing me that it is ok to honor someone indirectly using a variant of their name, or in this case initials.) My dad is James Robert but my husband has an uncle James and a cousin Robert (on his dad’s side — so they share our last name). We have pretty much ruled out either of those names for a boy because I don’t like the idea of having the same first/last combo as another living relative. I think if we do decide to use JR initials for a girl, we will go with Julia Rose, however, I am interested in any suggestions you might have for us.”

I’m so delighted that something I wrote has been helpful! 😀

For further inspiration, names they like for boys include:

Joseph
Theodore
Connor (“[but] I don’t want to use another “C” name“)
William/Liam
Lewis

Okay, first up are my ideas for initials JR. I love Julia Rose! Other J names that are great include:

  • Juliet (I know, it’s basically Julia, but it’s one of my very very favorites, so I had to list it! I spotlighted it here, and this mom nearly chose Juliet as the name for her Clara’s sister)
  • Jacinta (I know, Jacinta probably isn’t their style, but it’s another of my very favorites, and Bl. Jacinta is the sweetest patron. If it helps, I think Jess(ie) is my favorite nickname for it. I spotlighted Jacinta here)
  • Judith (yup, I did a spotlight on Judith too! Haha!  What an amazing name! I also did one on unusual nicknames for it)
  • Josephine (they have Joseph on their boy list, but Josephine is such an amazing style match for Claire and so many other names on their list!)
  • Johanna (Johanna-with-an-H was really calling to me as a name Betsy might like. Joanna’s nice too, but the H really seems more their style to me, for inexplicable gut reasons)
  • Jane (Claire and Jane would make the most amazing pair of sisters! I love the nickname Janie)
  • Joy (I’ve been digging Joy recently, what a sweet name!)
  • June or Juniper (Junie could be a nickname for either of these, which I just die over! So sweet!)

And R names:

  • Ruth (Ruth in the Bible is one of my very favorite women, and I think it makes a smashing middle name) (or first name, for that matter, mostly because of Ruthie! Love it!)
  • Ruby (I looove the name Ruby—I spotlighted here, with all the faithy connections I could think of)
  • Rosa, Rosalie (I know they already have Rose in consideration as a middle for Julia, but Rosa and Rosalie are great options if they’d like to consider something longer than one syllable)
  • Roma (this makes me think of Rome and the Pope and the Vatican and Roman Catholic, a fun and unusual option!)
  • Rosemary/Rosemarie (another great option if you need a longer middle name to go with a very short first name, for example)
  • Rosary (I know! So unexpected! This mom named her daughter Rosary!)
  • Rebecca (Ditto the longer middle for a shorter first idea)
  • Regina (gorgeous Marian name, and so great for the middle)
  • Rosanna (so beautiful!)

Some first+middle combos that come to mind right away include:

  • Juliet Rebecca
  • Juliet Regina
  • Juliet Rosanna
  • Jacinta Rose
  • Jacinta Rosemarie
  • Jacinta Rosalie
  • Jacinta Rosanna
  • Jacinta Ruth
  • Judith Rosalie
  • Judith Rosanna
  • Josephine Rose
  • Josephine Ruby
  • Josephine Regina (Mary and Joseph in one name!)
  • Johanna Rose
  • Johanna Ruby
  • [NOT Johanna Rosanna! Haha!]
  • Jane Rosalie
  • Jane Rebecca
  • Jane Rosanna
  • Joy Regina
  • Joy Rebecca
  • Joy Rosanna
  • June Rebecca
  • June Regina
  • June Rosanna

Whew! 😀

Okay! On to my other suggestions for Betsy and her hubs. You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard the names the parents have used and like/are considering as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. Based on that research and my own mental files, these are my ideas:

(1) Violet
Violet has that same sweet, sort of vintage-y charm that I get from Claire Eleanore. I love that a Violet could go by Vi or Lettie or the full Violet, and it can also be considered a Marian name!

(2) Josephine
I mentioned Josephine above—I just love it as a sister to Claire!

(3) Katherine, Zoe
K/Catherine is a style match for Julia, Joseph, and William, and is a great, classic, saintly name that goes great with Claire imo. But if Betsy and her hubs don’t like the alliteration (or even if they don’t mind it but are interested in unusual nicknames), I love that St. Catherine Laboure’s birth name was Zoe! Wow! I’ve heard of one little Catherine going by Zoe as a nickname, and another little Zoe named in honor of St. Catherine. Zoe was listed as a style match for Liam, so I thought it was fun to add in all this K/Catherine + Zoe info (and I’m suggesting the Katherine spelling since Betsy said they don’t want another C name).

(4) Grace
Grace is such a sweet, simple, gorgeous, Marian name. It’s a style match for Claire, Julia, and Rose, and has the awesome nickname Gracie.

(5) Amelia/Emilia
Amelia is similar in style to Eleanor and Julia, and when I saw Emily listed as similar to William, I thought of the spelling Emilia, which is the spelling of JP2’s mom and some other saints as well.

(6) Eve/Eva/Evelyn
Eva’s a match for Julia and Rose, and Evelyn for Eleanor and Theodore, and Eve just seemed like a great sister for Claire, that I thought I should suggest them all! They’re all gorgeous in their own way!

 

And those are my ideas for Betsy and her husband! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for Claire’s little sister?

Bonus consultation: Two naming styles, and having-to-spell

sanctanomina Baby name consultant ,

You know that in general I only post consultations on Mondays (a way of keeping myself from getting overwhelmed!), but sometimes I receive a request for a consultation and it’s one that I’d really like for you all to see for various reasons — today’s is one such. Rebekah from the blog Treasuring the Little Things (she lives in the Cayman Islands!) and her husband are expecting their fifth baby — their third girl! Their older kiddos are:

Maria Margaret
Felicity Rose
William Patrick Peter
Augustine John (Gus)

Such great names, each one!

Rebekah writes,

“We don’t like super common names but we also don’t want anything too unusual so that the kid will have to repeat it and spell it out constantly (our Felicity complains about this). We like nicknames.”

The names they’re considering for this little lady are:

Kateri (“I’m leaning towards but just not fully convinced“)
Azaelia nicked Zellie (“husband is convinced on this one but I think it is too different for us?“)

And names that are on their no-go list:

Catherine
Bernadette
Cecilia
Emma
Tessa
Gianna
Lucia
Brigid
Elizabeth

As I told Rebekah, I was interested to see in their taste what I think of as kind of two different threads—more “normal” (Maria, William), and a bit unusual (Augustine, Kateri, Azaelia). This family certainly isn’t the most extreme example — I actually think this set hangs together quite well — and I often see a different style for boys than for girls in the families I do consultations for, but this family just really struck me as a nice example of Catholic naming in that our saints have so many different kinds of names, and if you approach naming with your Catholic-colored glasses on, it’s not unusual to end up with varied styles.

I feel like Felicity is a great bridge name here for them — I think it can have a similar feel to Maria and William (kind of colonial maybe, which I just love) and certainly it’s Catholicky Catholic like Augustine, Kateri, and Zellie.

I wanted to focus on Azaelia for a minute, the most far-out of their ideas in that it’s a nontraditional spelling of a really unusual name. St. Zelie’s birth name, as you all know, was Marie-Azelie, and it’s often said that Azelie is a French form of the flower name azalea. Azaelia is a spelling I hadn’t seen before, so I googled it and all of my results were for rapper Azealia Banks. I know her first name isn’t spelled the same as the name Rebekah and her hubs are considering, but I also saw her name incorrectly listed as Azaelia multiple places, and most had to do with controversy—“Azaelia Banks Accuses Both Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga of Plagiarism,” “Azaelia Banks apologizes to Sarah Palin after NSFW Twitter fight,” and “Iggy Azalea Says She ‘Still Hates’ Azaelia Banks” to give a few headlines. The last one brings up another good point—even the traditional spelling Azalea is really connected to controversial rapper Iggy Azalea recently. So I’m kind of feeling like maybe Azaelia isn’t the best choice at this time? I always hate to dissuade parents from a name they really like, vastly preferring to offer ideas to make it work instead. In this case, I think using the spelling Azalea is a better idea than Azaelia, and Azelie an even better idea, and I also wondered what they’d think of just Zelie? Based on the families I’ve seen come through the blog, Zelie is the form of St. Zelie’s name that’s used the most, and it’s a great style match for Felicity and Augustine. (I wrote more about Azalea/Azelie/Zelie here).

Another kind of offbeat idea that I don’t think will be quite to their taste—but you never know!—is the idea of Hazel with the nickname Zelie. I did a private consultation for a mom a few months ago who was considering this idea—the first I’d ever heard of it—and then just recently a reader left a comment with the same idea! Hazel was actually listed in the Baby Name Wizard as a style match for Gus, and would have a far better chance of being spelled correctly than Azaelia (or even Azalea, Azelie, and Zellie).

On to Kateri—I think it’s a great fit for this family. I did a Sibling Project entry for Kateri and Maria, Felicity, and William are all real-life sibling names (and Augustine totally fits in, with its Catholicky Catholic vibe). It’s a great name with a great patron! I suspect a little Kateri will still have to spell her name, but honestly — if it happens with Felicity, which I think is fairly straightforward, it’ll happen with anyone. I know it happens with me all the time when I give my name as Katherine (as at the doctor’s, etc.), and even really simple names like Ann/Anne and Sara/Sarah may need to be spelled for others. A Kateri could go by Kate though, which is a nice option.

Okay! I came up with some other ideas that I thought Rebekah and her hubs might like, based on my research in the Baby Name Wizard (as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity) and my own ideas (keeping in mind that, unfortunately,  are on their no-go list):

(1) Avila
I kept trying to think of names that had a similarity to the sounds and/or appearance of Azaelia, and I thought Avila might be one that they’d like. It’s got pretty nickname options too, from the popular and easy-to-spell Ava to the more offbeat Avvie, and the full Avila is lovely.

(2) Zoe
This was another that was inspired by Azaelia, because of the strong Z sound. St. Catherine of Laboure’s birth name was Zoe, and Zoe’s a style match for Tessa (I used the names on their no list as inspiration for the kinds of names they like). It’s a sweet, spunky name!

(3) Juliet
The Juli- names did quite well for Rebekah and her hubs in my research—Julia’s a match for Maria, William, and Elizabeth, and Juliet for Felicity! I loooove the name Juliet, which is why that’s the name I chose to suggest to them, as well as the fact that I think they’re looking for something just a bit off center, if that makes any sense. Juliet is perfect for that I think—familiar but far less popular than Julia (at least in the U.S.). I did a spotlight on Juliet recently, focusing on the faith connections.

(4) Gemma
Gemma’s a style match for Gianna and as soon as I saw it I thought aha! It seemed so perfect for more than just gut-feeling reasons so I looked up Gemma itself and, indeed, my suspicions were confirmed—Felicity’s listed as a style match for it as well! Gemma is such a beautiful name and St. Gemma Galgani such a beautiful saint.

(5) Annabel or Annora
Anna did really really well for them in my research, being similar in style to Maria, William, Catherine, Emma, and Elizabeth! But I thought it was a bit too “safe” for their taste, and I had two ideas for adding some sparkle: Annabel (or Annabelle, but I’m guessing Annabel is more their speed) is the first, and while it can be considered an embellishment of Anna (and take St. Anne as patron), its history points to Our Lady as patron! According to behindthename.com, which I consider (along with the DMNES) to be the most trustworthy site for name meanings, Annabel is in origin a variant of Amabel, which comes from Amabilis, which is the name of an early saint BUT also a part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis!

My other idea was Annora, which is a variant of Honora, and I thought of it because Honor was listed as a style match for August (which I used in place of Augustine in my research … not an exact match but not that far off). So pretty!

(6) Josephine
My last idea is Josephine, which is a match for Catherine, Cecilia, and Elizabeth. As with Anna I thought it might normally feel too safe for Rebekah and her hubs, but I thought the nickname possibilities might sway them (I’ve written before how an unexpected nickname can be just the thing to jazz up a more familiar given name, especially in the case of different styles within the same family). Josie is most common I think, and like Zoe I think it’s sweet and spunky, but there are loads of other options as well, like Posy/Posey, Sophie, Sephie, Sosie, Fina, Joy, and Jolie (if used with an L middle name … Josephine Leonie, to keep with the Martin saints? Or even Josephine Azaelia, if they still love it), and others! Check out my Nickname ideas page where I’ve listed some and link to Abby’s awesome post on others.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Maria, Felicity, William, and Gus’ little sister in light of Rebekah and her hubs’ taste and preferences?

Birth announcement: Annunziata Graziella!

sanctanomina Birth announcement , , ,

Can you believe it? THREE birth announcements in one day?! (I have a bunch more to post Friday as well! Woo!)

A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know that her little girl has arrived and been given the ah-MAZ-ing name … Annunziata Graziella!

She writes,

“The day finally arrived! Our sweet little baby girl finally arrived Saturday Sept 17 at 3:14!

She was definitely harder to name than the boys just because we had so many beautiful choices! We decided to name her Annunziata Graziella.

I fell in love with Annunziata the first time I saw it. The idea of her name meaning the Annunciation really struck me and I just kept going back to it. Plus Nunzia! I found it so fitting. It just really seem to fit her 🙂

Graziella just seemed like the perfect companion for her first name. My husband told me that in Italian families Annunziata is especially popular when the families have had 6 or 7 girls they name the last girl Annunziata so the next “Annunciation”baby will be a boy. I thought that was really cool.

Also! My grandmother’s name was Anna and my great grandmother on my father’s side was Grace so it was great to incorporate them in a way as well!“

I’m just dying over Annunziata and Nunzia!! And you know that I don’t mind one little bit if my ideas are used or not — my only hope is to support parents in naming their babies, whether that means offering ideas or encouraging them in their own ideas — but it’s a special kind of thrilling when an idea of mine ends up being *the one* — so it was with Annunziata/Nunzia! I’m so excited! 😍😍😍

This lovely little lady joins big brothers:

Francesco Totti (called Frankie)
Marco Romolo

Such a wonderful bunch of Italian names! I love them all!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Annunziata!!

image-20160917_180552

Annunziata Graziella

Birth announcement: Lilianna Mary Grace and Lucia Virginia Rose!

sanctanomina Birth announcement, Uncategorized , , ,

A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know her twin girls have arrived! They have been given the gorgeous, meaningful names … Lilianna Mary Grace and Lucia Virginia Rose!

The mama writes,

“I just wanted to let you know that our baby girls were born Monday 9/5/16 via emergency csection. They are 30 weekers so they are still in the NICU, please keep both girls in your prayers.

We chose the names
 
Lilianna Mary Grace and we call her Lily
and
Lucia Virginia Rose and we call her Lucy
 
Lily was 3lb2oz and Lucy was 3lb10oz. If you remember they are our rainbow babies, and I began the pregnancy at the Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, everyday, praying a Novena for her intercession. After that each of my doctors appointments ended up on a Marian feast day, which I did not do intentionally. I decided very early that we would give the girls Marian names. During our consultation we discussed that Lucia wasn’t completely Marian but related to Mary. I have since found out that there is an Our Lady of Light and Lucia means light, so it is more Marian than we thought.
 
The most amazing sign from Our Lady though happened 3 days after they were born when our priest came to give me the anointing of the sick after my csection, he also offered to baptize our girls! On The Feast of the Nativity of Mary our girls were welcomed into the church. It was beautiful.”

Can you believe all the Marian connections!! These girls were covered by her mantle the whole pregnancy, and their amazing names reflect that so beautifully!

After the initial email, I received another update on how they’re doing:

“Right now we are just working on getting Lily off oxygen and possibly off her IV tomorrow if she does well. Lucy is still adjusting to eating so we are hoping she starts tolerating her milk soon.”

Please keep these beautiful babies and their family in your prayers!

Congratulations to Mom and Dad and the girls’ handsomely named big brother Erick Bruce III, and happy birthday Lily and Lucy!!

 

Lilianna Mary Grace in purple hat, Lucia Virginia Rose in gray hat

Lucy is smiling, Lily is cuddling ❤