Mary

Birth announcement: Chiara Marie!

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A mama who asked for some last-minute thoughts on their ideas for their fourth baby has let me know that they had a girl (!) and gave her the gorgeous, meaningful name … Chiara Marie!

She writes,

“I usually go past 40 weeks carrying my babies but went in to labor a little earlier than anticipated this week at 38+6 and gave birth at 39 weeks on Wed, 7/20 at 11:22!  It was a LONG and HARD labor for a 4th baby, thanks to baby being OP.  Mm, back labor is so sanctifying and screamy.

Anyway, we had our FOURTH GIRL!!!!!!!  My husband, as I’d mentioned, got final naming rights and went with Chiara Marie.  We are smitten and so are her big sisters.  Thanks so much for your input on our list of names!“

(“back labor is so sanctifying and screamy” — I love and loathe this line all at once! “sanctifying and screamy” is such a great description!)

Little Chiara was named for Bl. Chiara Luce Badano, who is such a great patron for a girl, and she joins her equally well named big sisters:

Margaret Anne
Felicity Perpetua
Genevieve Faustina

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

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Chiara Marie

Birth announcement: Regina Gabrielle!

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I posted a consultation for Kara and her husband back in April, and Kara’s let me know her little girl has arrived and been given the gorgeous Marian name … Regina Gabrielle!

She writes,

“Just wanted to thank you so much again for your consultation. Regina Gabrielle was born [this past Sunday] morning at 7:19! 9 lbs 10 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. We are totally in love 🙂 .”

How beeeaauuutiful!! I LOVE Regina with Gabrielle — Mother Mary’s all over that name! 😀

Little Regina joins big brother:

Justin Michael

After St. Justin Martyr, and I’m so delighted to see siblings named Justin and Regina! So faithy and meaningful and underused!

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

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Regina Gabrielle

🎆🌹 Don’t forget to enter the St. Anne Peg Doll + gift certificate giveaway! Read about it here! 🎆🌹

Article on saints’ names up at Nameberry today! And that St. Anne!

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I have a new piece up at Nameberry today! Usually I try to stick to low to zero Cathtasticalness in my Nameberry pieces, but Pam asked me if I’d write an article on cool and unusual saints’ names, which was awesome of her and exciting for me, and I’m really pleased with how it came out: Best Cool, Unusual Saints’ Names.

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(It goes without saying, of course, that I don’t actually think these are the*only* best cool, unusual saints’ names — there’s an invisible “Some of the” before “best” in that title.)

And that image! Pam chose it — a peg doll of St. Zelie! — and included the bit at the bottom about the SaintAnneStudio on Etsy — can it be mere coincidence that she chose a shop named after St. Anne without any knowledge that St. Anne is our patroness?? That St. Anne! Up to lots of good!! 😄❤😄❤😄❤

Speaking of St. Anne … my second blogiversary is Monday (I know! What!) and we all (my hubs and I and the kids and my brother-in-law) are taking a mini pilgrimage to a St. Anne’s Shrine on Sunday (different one than we visited last year), during which I’ll be thanking her for her intercession and patronage, and praying for all of you and your intentions! If you’d like to send me your intentions, whether in the comments below or via email (sanctanomina@gmail.com), I’d love to take them with me. This will be a mighty efficacious trip, since “traveling with the kids” is no where on my Things I Love About Motherhood list, so you can be assured the graces will be a-raining down upon you! 😁

I’d love to hear what you think about my Nameberry piece, and don’t forget to send me your intentions!

Baby name consultant: “Cute, pretty, creative, professional” name needed for a little Southern Belle

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I hope all the dads in your lives had a great Father’s Day yesterday!! We had a great day here — got a lot of house cleaning done, which is seriously one of my hubs’ favorite things. 🙂 Also some good food and lots.of.golf. Also that basketball game. St. Joseph, you who understand husbands and dads so well, please pray for all the Sancta Nomina dads!

Today’s consultation is for Lily and her husband, who are expecting their first baby — a little Miss!

Lily writes,

“I am expecting our first child and I am due in July … being from the south I love monograms and this little girl needs a name so I can start monogramming!

My Name is Lily Irene, and I love love love my name. I had a hard time dropping Irene when I got married and moving in my maiden name of Kelley. I want my child’s name to have a similar feel to mine, but my Husband has very different naming taste than me. However one thing we have agreed on is her middle name will be Twiggs after my father. I would like to call her Twiggs, and I am slowly working on that with my husband. His fear is she will be made fun of at school, and come home crying. But with today’s different names I doubt that will happen. I am open to moving Twiggs to her first name if we can come up with a more feminine name to accompany it.”

I was intrigued right away when I read about Twiggs and — to go back to the Southern names post of the other day — it immediately felt like a Southern name to me. Am I right? A family surnamey name for a girl?

Names that Lily loves but her husband hates (her words!) include:

Emmeline
Lucille
Adelaide (Lily’s favorite)
Mae
Annalee

Her husband’s favorites include:

Anna
Emily
Emma
Charlotte

And names they can’t use for various reasons:

Charlotte
Caroline
Carolyn
Gracie
Birdie (“love this name”)
Catherine

Alrighty, regarding Twiggs, and it sounds to me like Lily’s husband would really feel more comfortable with it in the middle rather than as a first name. It’s really pretty great of him to even agree to it in the middle! He makes a fair point of worrying that she’ll be teased for it, but Lily also make a good point that with today’s different names it’s less likely to happen than it used to. I also thought I should point out that there’s that singer FKA Twigs — I don’t think she’s hugely popular? But she’s currently dating (or engaged to?) Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame, so there’s that. (Her birth name is Tahliah.)

If Lily and her hubs decide to keep Twiggs in the middle spot, I could definitely see Lily calling her Twiggs whenever she wants to, as parents do — all sorts of fun nicknames that are mostly used at home/with family. So if they were to ask my opinion, I’d say the middle spot is the best place for Twiggs, no matter whether they end up calling her that or not. And I think it would be great and fine for Lily to call her that! But with a different first name her husband would have a name to call his little girl that he feels most comfortable with, and she’d have her “normal” name for school, etc. Does that make sense?

I also feel like, since Lily’s husband’s already agreeing to Twiggs, which sounds like he’s not 100% thrilled about, it might be nice to weight the first name choice a little closer to his taste. Which I don’t think should be very hard, because they’re really close on a few names! Lily’s Emmeline and Mr.’s Emily and Emma are so close! Emily Twiggs and Emma Twiggs are both lovely combinations, and balance out the unusualness (and masculinity, since it’s Lily’s dad’s name) of Twiggs nicely. If Mr. could get on board with Emmeline, Emma and even Emily could be nicknames for it that he could call her if he wanted. I’m actually laughing at the idea of Emmeline Twiggs who goes by Emma with her dad and Twiggs with her mom and Emmeline at school — hilarious! And awesome!

Similarly, his Anna and Lily’s Annalee are really close as well. Mr.’s middle name is Lee, and if Lily thought of adding the Lee as a nod to her husband, because of his middle name, it’s such a lovely gesture! I could see it also being a nod to Lily as well, since Lily ends in the “Lee” sound as well. Anna Twiggs and Annalee Twiggs (called Anna by her dad) are both great.

It seems that though Mr. likes Charlotte, it’s not a possibility because of other considerations, but I’m glad Lily listed it as a name he likes, because it gives me a better sense of his taste in names, which was helpful in coming up with new ideas for them.

On Lily’s list, I was interested to see Mae, and while it’s sweet as it is, I wondered if her husband would be more interested in it if it was a bit longer? Mabel and Maybelle came up in my research, and I thought they might fit the bill. Mabel can be a Marian name in that it originally comes from the Latin amabilis, which means “lovable,” and is part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis (Mother Most Amiable/Lovable). Maybelle is similar in sound to Mabel, and can also be Marian, but in a different way — Mae and May are sometimes considered nicknames/diminutives of Mary, and the month of May is Mary’s month, so Maybelle is a sweet nod to Mary. “Belle” means “beautiful,” which is just lovely for a little girl. When Lily said she wants her daughter’s “second name to be a happy joyful name,” I felt like Maybelle kind of fits that.

I was also interested to see that Lily said she loves the name Birdie, and also that she listed Gracie as a name they can’t use, which makes me think she might like to use it if it wasn’t off limits. So based on Birdie and Gracie, I came up with a list of similar names — sweet, girly, and nicknamey:

  • Sadie
  • Daisy
  • Bess/Bessie
  • Nellie
  • Mamie (which is a traditional nickname for Mary, so also a Marian name)
  • Katie
  • Sophie (a full name in its own right, but it felt similar to these other nicknamey names)
  • Rosie
  • Molly (started as a nickname for Mary, so also a Marian name)
  • Ivy (ditto to Sophie)

All of these could be a really sweet, feminine first name before the middle name Twiggs. But, there’s also something to be said for preceding a name like Twiggs with a more formal first name, just so she’d have options (and Sophie, Lucy, Molly, and Ivy from the list above would fit that also), so I’ve come up with a few here that Lily and her husband might like:

(1) Josephine
You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard the names parents like as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. It can be uncannily accurate! And I especially like finding names that are listed as similar to more than one of the names Mom and Dad like, *especially* if it’s a name similar to a name both Mom AND Dad like. Josephine is such a name! It was listed as a style match for Adelaide, Charlotte, Caroline, and Catherine. Wow! St. Joseph is an awesome patron saint for a little one, and the nickname Josie is so darling—I would absolutely have included in the list above if I didn’t already have Josephine on the list to recommend.

(2) Lucy
Similar to Josie, I would have included Lucy in the nicknamey-type names above if I wasn’t planning to include it down here. It’s actually a style match for Emma, and since they have Lucille on their list already, I wonder if they’d be willing to go with Lucy instead. Lucy’s such a sweet name, and Lucy Twiggs is pretty adorable.

(3) A double name
My comment about Lucy Twiggs being pretty adorable made me think that maybe a really feminine first name plus Twiggs with the intention of using them together might also be a nice compromise for Lily and her hubs. I think Emma Twiggs and Lucy Twiggs are well suited for that, as are several of the nicknamey names above (my favorites for them include Sophie Twiggs and Molly Twiggs). Sara(h) is also great for that—Sarah Twiggs or Sara Twiggs—and Sarah was a style match for Anna and Emily, so I think there’s a good chance Lily’s husband will like it. Mary is also always great for a double name, and Mary Twiggs sounds like a lovely Southern belle to me.

(4) Leah
Leah is solely out of my own thoughts, based entirely on Lily’s husband’s middle name and the “lee” sound at the end of Lily. Leah would be a nice subtle nod to both of them, while also being very feminine and biblical, and it flows really nicely with Twiggs.

In an added twist, Lily’s initial response to my thoughts was that she loves Lucy, but her husband wasn’t sold, and she wrote again saying,

“I finally got out of him some characteristics he wants in a name and his criteria are: Cute, Pretty, Creative and Professional. He says Lily fits those characteristics, but I don’t want her to be Lily Twiggs or Lillan Twiggs. He doesn’t like it that people have to ask him do you prefer [a traditional nickname for his given name] or [his given name] so he wants the name to also just be what she would be called (does that make sense) … when you have a free moment can you see if you can come up with Cute, Pretty, Creative and a Professional name.

Oh and No “S” names because the monogram looks awfully close to a not so nice four letter word!“

As it happened, I did have a free moment, and spent a little time trying to come up with “Cute, Pretty, Creative, and Professional” names. A tough task! When I think of “Professional” names for women, I tend to think of names like Margaret, Katherine, Elizabeth, Victoria, Deborah — longer names with weight and history and, honestly, nothing too creative about them. If someone told me they wanted a name with Lily’s husband’s criteria, I’d probably suggest something like Elizabeth with a funkier nickname for everyday use, like Libby, or maybe Deborah nicknamed Dorah. But Mr. wants her given name to be the name she goes by all the time, so nothing longer with a short and spunky nickname. Gah! So hard!

From their original lists, I really think Anna, Emmeline, and Adelaide fit this criteria. I think those three names could be seen as cute, pretty, creative, and professional. Of course, this is all very subjective as well, so what I think fits those criteria might not be at all what someone else thinks of as cute, pretty, creative, and professional. You know?

Regarding Lucy, I think I can see what Lily’s husband means. Lucy has a long history of use across cultures and ethnicities, so it should work as pretty and professional, but the –y ending can come across as nicknamey (even though it’s not), and that is really what I think kills it for her hubs’ criteria, because cute and professional just do not go together, generally. But if they were to change it to Lucia, that might work better? It loses the cutesy/nicknamey feel that Lucy’s –y ending can project, and it feels a bit more sophisticated, but it’s still pretty and I think it could come across as creative (unlike Lucille from Lily’s original list, which I think feels a little more staid). If Lily wanted to continue trying to win over her husband, however, the women listed here might help; I think Lucy Liu particularly comes across as a very strong woman.

Here are some other names I thought could work for “cute, pretty, creative, and professional” — I basically just went through one of my name books and wrote down any name that struck me as having the right feel, so it’s very very subjective! I like each of these paired with Twiggs:

(1) Cora
This is probably my #1 suggestion for them. It reminds me a lot of Lucy in length and sweetness, but it’s also got sort of an Old World, “Great Lady” feel to it.

(2) Margo
Actually, Margo might be tied for #1 for me — this Margaret variant is a bit cuter and funkier — definitely has more of a creative feel to me than Margaret — but I could also see it on a Supreme Court Judge.

(3) Livia
Wait! I love Livia too. Okay, that makes three names tied for #1 in my opinion! Livia is really similar to Olivia in sound and appearance, but it’s actually a totally different name — an old Roman name, the name of the wife of one of the Roman emperors (Augustus). It’s also got a separate use as a personification of the River Liffey in Dublin — it’s been used in Irish literature as the name of a woman who represents the River and Mother Ireland.

(4) Lydia
Lydia’s a biblical name, the name of a women who sold purple cloth and was converted by St. Paul. I’ve always loved that a little Lydia can have purple as her very own color!

(5) Maren
Maren is on the more creative end I think, and maybe not as cute, but I actually do think it’s creative and professional at the same time.

(6) Cecily
Even though it ends in a –y, I think Cecily’s longer length makes it not cutesy/nicknamey. It’s a sweet name, but I could also see it on a Supreme Court Judge.

(7) Corinna
Corinna is lovely and feminine, but also kind of weighty and sophisticated, a beautiful name.

(8) Junia or Julia
Junia might be a bit too out there? But it’s a biblical name, which automatically gives it gravitas, and it’s unexpected and pretty rare, which I think often comes across as creative. (Read about a real-life Junia here.)

Julia is so similar to Junia, but more familiar. It’s absolutely a name that gives a woman respect and it’s a really pretty name at the same time.

(9) Laurel
In the family of Laura names, I think Laura feels the most old-fashioned, and Lauren feels modern and youthful (which can come across as not professional). But I think maybe Laurel has the right feel — creative but sophisticated.

(10) Claudia
Finally, Claudia. It was actually the first name I thought of for Lily and her hubs as creative and professional! I don’t think it’s as cute or pretty as some of the others, but it’s a substantial name and pretty uncommon. Like Livia, it’s an old Roman name.

Whew! There’s a lot here to think about! What suggestions do you all have for Lily and her husband for their little Southern Belle, based on all this?

Birth announcement: Rosemary Valentine!

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{This is not the baby whose mama emailed this morning to say she was in labor.}

I posted a consultation for Tara and her husband back in December, and revealed the name just a few days later (before the baby was born), and now I have the happy privilege of letting you know that beautiful little Rosemary Valentine has been born!

Tara writes,

“You did a consultation for us a while ago – we picked a name back then but thought you would like to see a picture of little Rosemary (Rory) Valentine, born on April 27. Thanks for your blog — I love reading the names and dreaming of naming our next kiddo!“

If you remember, Tara had explained:

“We LOVED your name choices…and then decided to go with something different. We couldn’t agree on Stella Maris as a first or Stella as a first and Maris as a middle so we started talking other Marian names and landed on Rosemary “Rory” Valentine. We like Rosemary because the rosary has become a prayer devotion for us more recently and there was no arguing over whether it should be one or two names. Valentine is a family name on both sides of our family.”

You know Marian names are my very favorites, and Rosemary is such a great one! I love Rory as a nickname for it too!

Congratulations to Tara and her husband and big sister Kateri Cynthia, and happy birthday Baby Rosemary!!

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Rosemary (Rory) Valentine

Birth announcement: Alice Joan!

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A mama I did a consultation for a few months ago has let me know her little girl has arrived and been given the beeaauutiful name … Alice Joan!

She writes,

“Hi Kate!

Wanted to write you a quick email and let you know that our baby girl has arrived.  Alice Joan was born three weeks ago, and we all adore her.

As J and I discussed names, we decided that we would be sad if we didn’t use Joan.  It is a name that has been on our list since I got pregnant with our first in 2010, and we didn’t want to let the opportunity pass to use it.  Having decided on the middle name, we started over looking for a first name.

I had really wanted something Marian.  We looked at Marian names until our eyes crossed, but we couldn’t find one that we both loved.  We came across Alice almost by accident, and J liked it!  It was the one name in the hundreds (no exaggeration!) that we looked at that we agreed on,  so Alice Joan it was.

Thank you again for your time, and your help.”

Alice Joan is so sweet and chic at the same time, and so many great patrons! It occurred to me that they might still claim a Marian connection through Joan, as it’s a feminine form of John, and St. John the Evangelist is a pretty Marian guy, what with having been entrusted with and to Our Lady by Jesus Himself.

Alice joins big brothers:

Dillon George
Liam Matthew

I love how they all have an L in their first name, a nice subtle way of tying together a sibset. All in all, a great job! Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Alice!!

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Alice Joan

Baby name consultant: No. 3 green bean needs Southern Catholic/biblical name

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It’s such a sad Monday morning after the shooting in Orlando this past weekend. So many people are grieving, what a tragedy — the loss of human life is always a devastation. I read through the list of the victims of the shooting and was struck by the amazing collection of patron saints represented by the names of the deceased — so many holy ones to implore for intercession. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, and please bring peace to our country. 🙏❤

As I felt in the wake of Paris, it seems almost inappropriate to continue on with this fun, joyful work of naming babies in the wake of death, but at the same time, it’s important work, and this wee one on the way might be the very person that brings the begged-for peace to our hearts, our country, and our world. Babies=hope, thank you Jesus. ❤ ❤ ❤

Babies=hope, and such joy! With gratitude for the gift of new life, I’m happy to post today’s consultation: Katie and her husband are expecting their third baby, a little green bean! 🌱 He or she will join big sibs:

Asher Henry
Margaret Elizabeth (Margo)

Such cool names, right? Asher and Margo is such an awesome sibset!

Katie writes,

“I have always loved names, but I’m at a loss with this one. We are team green for this baby … Asher was chosen because I liked that it was biblical, unique (in 2008), yet a “real” name. It also means “happy” which I love. Henry is in honor of my grandfather, Patrick Henry.

Margo was named in honor of my great aunt Margaret (Margie for short) who was an all-around awesome lady. I went back and forth between Greta and Margo, for the nickname to choose but eventually settled on Margo. Elizabeth is my middle name, my mom’s middle name, and in honor of my grandmother Betty.

I definitely struggle more with boy names than girl names …”

Katie and her hubs have some guidelines they’d like to follow:

-“I would prefer a name that can make a nickname especially for a girl. I’m just Katie. Not Katherine or Kathleen. I always kind of wished I had a “real” name.
-Bonus points for Southern
-Bonus points for Catholic/Biblical
-I’m not sure if it’s just me but I worry about names that end in the –en sound with our last name [which ends in -ins]. It feels too sing songy. Am I being neurotic?
-It has to pass the senator rule. If it doesn’t sound good with Senator in front of it, it doesn’t pass muster.”

Names that they’re considering include:

Girl
Camilla (Millie)
Cora
Eloise
Cecily
Blanche
Greer
Estella (Stella)

Boy
Edward (Teddy)
Grant
Lawson
Reid
Hayes
Joel
Seth
Sean
Blaise (“Not sure if I’m ‘brave’ enough for this one!“)

Great list of names! I love the names on their girl list—Greer and Stella are personal faves of mine, and the others are beautiful and feminine, and I can’t believe Blanche is on there! I’ve never seen it on anyone’s list ever! (Though this past winter I heard Fr. Gaitley talk about his book 33 Days to Morning Glory, and he told quite a bit of his personal story, which involved a former girlfriend from France named Blanche, except he pronounced it the French way, not rhyming with ranch (which is how I would say it) but like blah+sh with that almost unheard French between blah and sh. It was the first time I could picture Blanche on a young person!)

Anyway! They gave me a good sense of Katie and her hubs’ taste in girl’s names, and when I did a little research into Southern naming traditions, it all made sense, because I found Blanche and Greer on one particular list I found from Southern Living.

Their boy names are also very consistent with the Southern theme, and they’ve also got some good biblical names in there. By far my favorite name on the list is Blaise! I think it’s ah-MAZ-ing with Asher and Margo! I personally would consider Blanche to be the most daring name of them all, so if they’re good with Blanche they should totally be brave enough for Blaise!

Okay! On to my ideas. You all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and 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. Using that research, as well as my own mental files, and the research I did on Southern-type names, these are my suggestions:

Girl
(1) Annabel(le)
I didn’t do the research on Southern names until after I’d looked through the BNW and picked through my mind, so I was delighted to see that one of my top ideas for Katie and her hubs was listed in that same link to southern baby names! Annabel is a recent favorite of mine, as it can be considered a Marian name! It’s actually a form of Amabel, which comes from the Latin amabilis, meaning amiable/lovable, and is part of the Marian title Mater Amabilis. How cool is that! It’s got the great nickname option of Annie, which I love; the Annabelle spelling is particularly southern; it’s got the Catholic angle covered; it doesn’t end in –en; and I think it passes the Senator Rule just fine. All their requirements!

(2) Eve, Eva, Ava, Evelyn
Eve is a totally biblical name, obviously, but it strikes me as also having a really sophisticated, distinguished feel, kind of sparse and chic, very Senator-like. I like that it fits with Asher’s biblical-ness and Margo’s coolness; Evie is one of the sweetest nicknames ever imo; it can also be considered Marian because of Mary being the New Eve (I’m a sucker for a Marian name!); and while I don’t know if Eve comes across as particularly Southern, every time I see Evelyn I hear Jessica Tandy saying it in a Southern accent in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, which was set in Georgia, so I feel like Evelyn could be a good option that retains a lot of Eve’s charm. Eva and Ava were also variants that showed up in my BNW as being similar to names this family likes.

(3) Caroline
Caroline is a great style match for Margaret, and it’s got some great nickname options like Carrie, Caro, Lina, Lola, Callie. It passes the Senator Rule, and a lot of people have been using it recently in honor of St. John Paul II. And it’s on that list of Southern names!

(4) Mary+
I don’t know a huge amount about Southern names, but I do know that double names are pretty common, and that double names for girls often involve a normal-ish first name with a family lastname as a middle, and that going by both names together, or just the middle name, is a tradition. That fits in exactly with the Catholic tradition of naming girls with the first name Mary, to be used in conjunction with the middle, like Mary Kate, Mary Grace, Mary Ann, etc., or to go just by the middle. Those kinds of names—Mary Grace etc.—have a really Catholic feel, but I think putting Mary in front of any name makes the middle name very do-able for a girl, no matter what, and casts a Catholic shadow as well. I might encourage Katie and her hubs to look through their family tree and find some last names that might work, for a really southern feel. Looking through the BNW, one of the girl names that was similar in style to some of their boys’ lastname ideas was Tate—Mary Tate is sweet!

Boy
(1) Brooks
I kind of love the name Brooks! Asher and Margo have kind of a preppy feel to me—in the best way! I love them together!—and Brooks so much fits in with that. It’s similar in style to Grant, Lawson, Reid, and Hayes, and reminds me of Blaise as well because of being one syllable and starting with a B. It doesn’t have a Catholic or biblical feel, unfortunately, but I feel like a great middle name could fix that. Like Brooks Nathaniel or Brooks Benedict.

(2) Beau
Beau is such a Southern gentleman to me. I think immediately of Melanie Wilkes’ little Beau from Gone With the Wind, which is a sweet and obviously very Southern reference—and it’s on that list of southern names I linked to above! I did a consultation for my sister-in-law last year, and one of her favorite combos was Francis Beau called Beau—that combo also seems to have a particularly Southern flair to me! And Francis is so Catholic.

(3) Elliott or Emmett or Everett
I had both Elliott and Emmett on my list for this family before I read that southern-names article, and was excited to see they’re both on there! Elliott was originally an English last name derived from a medieval diminutive of Elias, which is the Greek form of Elijah, so it’s technically biblical. And Emmett was originally an English last name derived from a medieval diminutive of Emma! I love that they were both originally last names, which I assume is one of the reasons they were on the list of southern names, and I love that Elliott is biblical, as it ties in so nicely with Asher (though not obviously). If they didn’t care for either of these for a son, I would totally suggest considering them for a daughter! Especially as Mary Elliott or Mary Emmett, even if they called her Elliott or Emmett on a daily basis (and Ellie and Emmy are great nicknames) — doing so seems more in keeping with the Southern tradition of putting last names or masculine names in the middle spot, rather than the boys-names-for-girls trend. (I’d be interested to hear what Katie’s husband thinks of this line of thinking—in my experience, most men don’t care to consider names for their sons that might also be do-able for their daughters.)

I’m including Everett in this group because it’s got a similar sound and rhythm to Elliott and Emmett, though it wasn’t on the list of southern names. It was, however, listed in the BNW as similar to Cora and Estella. I also wouldn’t be as inclined to suggest it for a daughter, which Katie’s husband might like better.

(4) Ethan
I thought getting at least one explicitly biblical name on the list was important, and Ethan seemed like a great fit. At first I was thinking it had a specifically southern feel as well, but when I looked it up to see why I felt that way, I realized I’d been thinking of Ethan Allen, who was from Connecticut. Oops. But then the BNW said that Ethan’s been particularly popular in the heartland in recent years, which includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, so I guess I was right in feeling that it’s popular in the south. This is the only name that ends in the –en sound that I included in my suggestions for Katie and her hubs, but I’ve said Ethan out loud a bunch of times with their last name (Ethan Jenkins is a good stand-in) and I think it sounds pretty fab. I actually tried a bunch of –en names out loud with their last name, to see which ones might not work, but honestly I thought they all sounded fine!

And those are my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for a little brother or sister for Asher and Margo?

 

Birth announcement: Lillian Marie!

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I posted the consultation for Theresa and her husband just this past Monday — so great to have such immediate satisfaction! Theresa has let me know her baby has arrived — a little Miss given the beautiful name … Lillian Marie!

Theresa writes,

“Lillian (Lily) Marie arrived June 7th at 10:08 am, 9 lbs ~ 20.75 in … There were so many great names to chose from but I’m glad my hubby got his Lily. I always knew he loved that name but I never realized how much he wanted a little Lily. I love this photo of him btw. It was candid and you can see how genuinely happy he is :). So sweet!“

Seriously guys, look at this awesome picture of this happy Dad and his girl:

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Lillian Marie is such a beautiful given name and Lily is such a sweet nickname, I just love it. Congratulations Mom and Dad and big sibs Abby and Jack, and happy birthday Baby Lily!!

Lillian Marie joins the other ladies in her family

Baby name consultant: Lillian or Marie, Noah or Jude?

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Theresa and her husband are expecting their third baby, gender unknown! This wee babe will join big sibs:

Abigail Rose nicked Abby
John Andrew nicked Jack

Which are just great names — biblical, traditional, can’t-go-wrong kind of names.

Theresa explained that she doesn’t love how popular Abby has become (though the meaning of “her father’s joy” for their firstborn seemed perfect), and that,

“My husband’s name is John … and his father was a John with a different middle name and his father, etc etc. So we kept with the tradition of naming him John with a different middle name. We picked Andrew because my maternal grandfather is John Andrew and always goes by Jack. So perfect all around.”

Names they’re considering include:

Girl
Marie: “My middle name is Marie named after my late paternal grandmother. I wanted to honor her by bringing the name to the front again because I don’t know any other Maries but it seems like everyone’s middle name is Marie. It’s difficult coming up with a middle name for a name I associate with being the middle. I prefer Marie Therese (pronounced ter-ez, the French way). My hubby doesn’t really like it. [Another possibility is] his sister’s name, Tamara. She passed away suddenly a few years ago at 38 years old and left behind 5 children.”

Lillian Marie: “Our short list when we were pregnant with Abby was Abigail, Evelyn, and Lillian. John loves the name Lillian Marie and would love to have Abby and Lily as sisters. He also thinks Abby and Marie is a cute pair. I can imagine Abby always having roses and Lily having lilies when we do gifts and crafts. Anyway, Lillian Marie is a very Marian name so I love it for that reason too. I just feel bad abandoning my initial goal of making Marie a first name. My other concern is how popular Lily has become. I can’t decide!!!”

Boy
William Michael nicked Liam or Will: “I’m not a fan of this name for many reasons. [My hubs] is hesitant because he hates other nicknames like Bill and Billy.”

Dominic Michael: “I like the saint but we are having a hard time shedding the Jersey Shore feel we get with this name. I imagine someone with more Italian traits and we are very pale people :/ Plus, we don’t like any of the nicknames.”

Elijah Michael: “[My hubs] likes Eli as a nickname but I don’t. I don’t really feel like Elijah fits our family.”

Jude Michael: “I think it would be cute to have John, Jack and Jude but Jude would have to grow on me. I’ve never known a Jude besides Jude Law and I wonder how manly it is. I hear lots of people are naming girls Jude now and that bothers me a little. But of all the boy names Jude is the top for both of us at this point.”

Also Noah, Logan, Tristan, “But I want the name to be Catholic and sound like those names. John doesn’t like any of those names except Noah, but it’s way too popular now.”

“I just wish there was a boy name that stood out as “that’s the one!” and we both liked it.”

Okay, first off, I love Theresa’s kiddos’ names! Abigail Rose and John Andrew, and Abby and Jack, are great sibling names, nice job Mom and Dad! I can see already that they’re worried about popularity—Theresa said she has a bit of name regret over the fact that Abby is so popular, and she’s concerned at how popular Lily and Noah are, even though it seems pretty clear that she loves all those names! This is where popularity statistics are harmful rather than helpful, in my opinion. I hate seeing parents moving away from names they really love because they’re worried about popularity. I feel like it will be extra hard for this couple, because so many of the names they’re considering are super popular right now:

Abigail: 7
Abby: 437
Abbie: 791
Abbey: 904

John: 26
Jack: 40
Jackson: 17

Marie: 564

Lillian: 26
Lily: 25
Lillie: 579

Evelyn: 15

William: 5
Liam: 2

Dominic: 68

Elijah: 11
Eli: 53

Jude (boys): 156
Jude (girls): not in top 1000

Noah: 1

Logan: 14

Tristan: 101

As you can see, Abigail is a top ten name, as is William, Liam, and Noah. Not far behind are Jackson (not a name they chose, but definitely contributing to the feeling that Jack is well used among little boys currently), Evelyn, Elijah, and Logan in the top twenty, and John, Jack, Lillian, and Lily in the top fifty.

So if their goal is to have a truly less popular name, then Marie, Dominic, Jude (boy), and Tristan are more aligned with their goal. But I’m not convinced that less popular is a good idea for them, because their favorite names are the more popular ones! So I’m going to implore them to not worry about popularity at all when making their choice—I think they’ll be much happier with a name they like, even if it’s a name a lot of other people like as well. And they have great names on their list! They have history and significance, and not a one of them is made up/invented.

One of the ways to “liven up” a name that feels otherwise overly popular is to pair it with an unusual middle name. Theresa loves Noah, but Noah Michael pairs the #1 name with the #9 name (which was previously the #1 name for generations)—but Noah Tristan is an unexpected, unusual combo, and very handsome. Or for Lillian, maybe Lillian Tamara? Or Lily Tamara?

Regarding Tamara, I wonder if Theresa’s husband would be okay with shortening it to Mara? Doing so makes it really similar to Theresa’s Marie, and might make a nice compromise between Theresa and her hubs, either as a first name or a middle. Lillian Mara is lovely, as is Mara Lillian (and they could even use Marie as a “nickname”!). Mara’s even less popular than Marie at #739.

Regarding Marie as a first name, it definitely seems like it should be their frontrunner, since (1) they love it, (2) it has family significance for Theresa, (3) Mr. thinks Abby and Marie are a cute pair, and (4) it’s the least popular of the options they’re considering. A little Marie would be quite a surprise, in a good way! And I think the best middle names to pair with it are names that flow well and/or that they wouldn’t otherwise use in the first spot. I love the combo Marie Tamara—it’s got family significance that Theresa’s husband seems really excited about, which is a nice balance for Theresa’s family-significance Marie, and Marie Tamara is a truly unexpected combo, which I find really exciting. If I heard that a little baby girl was named Marie Tamara, I’d be a little swoony over it! For real! And when I found out the family significance behind it, I’d be kind of blown away by it, honestly.

I looked into Tamara a bit to find out more, and it does have a date-stamped feel, as its peak of popularity was in 1974 at #64 (not even that popular back then) and its nickname of choice was usually Tammy, which peaked on its own at #8 (!) in the late 60s/early 70s, but the name Tamara itself is quite lovely and biblical! It’s the Russian form of the biblical Tamar, which was the name of the daughter-in-law of Judah and a daughter of King David—she’s included in Jesus’ lineage! How great is that?!

I also love Marie Therese as well—I knew a Marie-Therese growing up, and always thought it was such an elegant combo. That actually might be an interesting way to go—I wonder if they would consider Marie-Therese as a double first name? They could still call her Marie for her everyday name, and then they could add a middle name.

As for abandoning Marie in favor or Lillian/Lily, whichever they don’t use now they could reserve for a possible future daughter, which could be an argument in favor of not using Marie as a middle for Lillian, if they decided to use Lillian for this baby. That way they could revisit Marie as a first name if they ever have another daughter.

A couple thoughts on their boy names:

— I think it’s highly unlikely that a little William would be called Bill or Billy these days—Will and Liam are the two nicknames currently in use, I don’t think any of today’s parents or anyone younger would default to Bill or Billy. An older person might, not realizing that Will and Liam are preferable, but all they’d have to do is quickly, firmly, and consistently correct anyone who makes that mistake. One thing to note is that William and Lillian are the exact same name except for the first and last letters, and Lily and Will/Liam have a similar sound as well, so it seems to me that whichever they use for this baby (if any) would knock the other out of consideration for possible future use.

— A lot of people seem to be worried about Dominic being most appropriate for those of Italian extraction, and there certainly are Italian Dominics, but it’s a pan-European name that has usage in every culture. My dad knew a Dominic nicked Dommy growing up, which I think is so cute, and Nic and Nico are not terrible at all, but my real love is the full Dominic. I think it’s a great option! And if their hope is to have a Catholic-sounding name, Dominic is their man.

— Elijah and Eli kind of cracked me up, especially since Theresa said they don’t really feel like they fit her family—you all know that I almost always start a consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard the names the parents have already used and those they like/are considering, as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity, and Elijah is a style match for Abigail and Eli for Noah so, at least on paper, it’s very much Theresa’s taste. But if she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like it! This is another time in which statistics might not be helpful—just because it seems like parents should like a name doesn’t mean they will, and feeling like a name doesn’t fit one’s family is a much better indicator.

— Jude is a great name, and another one that has that really Catholic feel that Dominic has (though the Jude Law association does dilute it a bit. But also makes it more familiar to others, which can be helpful). There is some usage by girls, but it’s important to know that, as I noted above, Jude as a given name for girls hasn’t ever been in the top 1000 names since the Social Security Administration started keeping track in the late 19th century. For reference, there were 135 girls named Jude in 2015, as compared to 2636 boys.

Whew! I had a lot of thoughts on everything! Haha! I do have some further ideas for this family, which are all based on my research and my own namey mind:

Girls
(1) Anna or Hannah
The most fun part of the Baby Name Wizard is finding names that are listed as matches for two or more of the names on the parents’ list—it’s such an indication of parents’ taste! Anna and Hannah are variants of the same name, and one or the other was listed as a match for Abigail, John, William, Jude, and Noah. Pretty cool right?

(2) Elizabeth
Lily is a traditional nickname for Elizabeth, though not used too much as such I don’t think, so even though Elizabeth is more popular than Lillian (it’s #13), using a more unexpected nickname like Lily makes the whole package seem a bit more unusual. If they like Elizabeth but not Lily as a nickname for it, there are loads of nicknames that are less common for it that might help them feel like they’re choosing something a little more offbeat. Some of my favorite less-used nicknames for Elizabeth are Liddy, Tess, Zelie (I’ve not actually seen this used for Elizabeth, but I totally think it can be, and a nod to St. Zelie at the same time), and Libbett (I know someone who goes by this). There are other ideas here, including Sabeth, which I’d never heard of before it was added in the comments but it has a great saintly connection.

(3) Molly
Molly’s a match for Abigail, Abby, Jack, and Noah, and its origin is as an Irish diminutive of Mary, so it’s Marian! It’s long been used as a given name in its own right, and I love it for this family, but it would knock out Marie as a first name for the future. They could do Marie as a given name with Molly as the nickname—a little unusual but totally legit.

(4) Sofia/Sophia/Sophie
These names are definitely popular—Sophia is down to #3 from having been #1 from 2011 to 2013 (Sophie’s #104 and Sofia’s #14)—but they’re such great matches for this family’s taste, and really faith-y! Sophia’s a match for Lillian and Dominic, Sophie for Lily, and Sofia for Elijah. It means “wisdom,” so it’s a biblical/faith concept, and there’s a St. Sophia as well as St. Madeleine Sophie Barat who’s referred to as St. Sophie (Sophie the Giraffe was named after her!).

(5) Natalia
Natalia might have a bit more of an exotic flair than they’d like, but it’s a gooorgeous name, and faithy on a couple different levels—it literally comes from the Latin for “birthday of the Lord,” so a nice connection there to Jesus, and there are two great Sts. Natalia. It’s also fairly uncommon at #118. Some sweet nickname options too: Natty, Talia, Lia.

(6) Fiona
Fiona’s such a dark horse here, it cracks me up that I’m including it in my suggestions for Theresa and her hubs! But it was listed as a style match for Liam, Jude, Logan, and Tristan! I think it’s a great name and not nearly used enough. If they didn’t care for it as a first name, it would make a great unexpected middle—Marie Fiona, Molly Fiona, and Lillian Fiona are all striking me as really pretty combos.

Boys
(1) Luke
I feel like Luke solves all their problems! I’ve often thought of it as the Jude more traveled (or rather, Jude is the Luke less traveled!), and since Jude is their frontrunner right now, maybe Luke has a chance of being high on their list as well. It’s saintly and Marian (in the sense that his gospel is the most Marian and includes Our Lady’s beautiful Magnificat), and a style match for Jack, Lily, and Jude. It doesn’t have the potential issue that Jude has regarding feminine usage—there aren’t any girls named Luke! And at #28 it’s not overly popular, being very comparable to John and Lillian (both #26).

(2) Gabriel
Gabriel’s a style match for Abigail and Elijah, and it has more of an obviously Catholic feel than Elijah has, so it might feel like a better fit for this family. Gabe’s a great nickname and feels a lot like Jack to me—a sturdy, masculine, one-syllable name. It’s #22 on the chart.

(3) Caleb
Theresa and her hubs do love their biblical names, what with Abigail, John, Elijah, Jude, and Noah! Caleb has a similar feel to Abigail, Elijah, and Noah especially, and I think it’s so sweet for a little boy and solid for a man. Cal is a possible nickname that’s really great too.

(4) Owen
It might seem like Owen takes their naming in a different direction—more Celtic than biblical—but it’s actually a style match for Abigail, Lily, Liam, Logan, Noah, and Evelyn. It’s #36, so a little less popular than some of their other favorites, but not a total mismatch either. St. Nicholas Owen is an amazing patron for a little Owen!

(5) Cole/Colin/Nicholas
Speaking of Nicholas, this family of names did well for Theresa and her hubs in my research as well. Cole and Nick are both style matches for Jack, Cole is a match for Jude, and Colin for Tristan—both Cole and Colin can be nicknames for Nicholas, or they can stand on their own with any of the Sts. Nicholas as their patron.

(6) Henry
My last idea is Henry. It’s a match for Jack, Lillian, Lily, William, and Evelyn, and its popularity is in what I’m thinking of as their sweet spot at #29. Such a great name, and lots of great saints.

And those are all my ideas for this family! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for Abby and Jack’s little brother or sister?

Birth announcement: Anastasia Marri!

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My dear friend (and Sancta Nomina reader!) Joanna and her husband Lowell have welcomed their sixth baby — fourth girl! — and given her the gooorrrgeous name … Anastasia Marri!

I asked Joanna for the name details and this is what she said,

“We switched our girl name choice 2 weeks before we had her! Anastasia has been on the potential name list since Phillip. Lowell decided one Sunday morning that he preferred it to our original choice, Rita. I found myself immediately agreeing with the choice. It just felt so right. As a bonus, Anastasia means resurrection which we felt was perfect nod to still being in the Easter tide. Her middle name was going to be Pilar or Marri. I preferred Marri as one of the definitions of Mari is “the month of May”, which is our Lady’s month, and Mari is a cognate of Mary in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_(given_name)) We pronounce it “mah-ree” and chose the double R because it looked prettier. 🙂 My maternal grandmother’s middle name was Mae and she had some Danish blood. So, in a far stretched way, the name is also family related in addition to our “holy name connections” :).”

How beautiful, all of it!! Of course, I didn’t expect any less — all of Joanna’s kiddos have amazing names! Anastasia joins big sibs:

Faith Immaculata
Felicity Rose
George Patrick
Phillip Christopher
Karolina Mercy

Finding out Faith’s middle name when I first met Joanna — and swooning over the full first+middle combo — really helped inspire me in regards to Catholic baby names in general and Marian names in particular. So I’m extra delighted to share the great names of this family with you all!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Anastasia!! (Joanna says you can feel free to check out her blog as well!)

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Anastasia Marri