Oscar Romero

I had the privilege of doing a consultation for the second baby of longtime reader Alyssa and her husband several years ago, and posting a subsequent birth announcement for that baby, and I’m so excited to share that they’ve welcomed their third baby — a little boy given the fantastic name … Oskar Karl Wolfgang!

Alyssa writes,

“I’m happy to introduce Oskar Karl Wolfgang! As you know, with a husband named Klaus, we always go for German names and Oskar joins siblings Konrad Wolfgang, Louisa Marie and Hugo Wolfgang (in heaven). Oskar is a German name that we both liked, and Karl is after my husband’s brother. We were just going to stick with one middle name but our 6 year old, Konrad, was so adamant that the baby also share the middle name Wolfgang (he LOVES his middle name!), so we added it in. We’ve been calling him Oskar or Ozzie, or sometimes Ox because he was our biggest baby so far! His patrons are St. Oscar Romero, Bl. Carlo Acutis (I was in labor the day he was beatified and I prayed to him a lot throughout the process), and St. Wolfgang. You can never have too many patron saints, right?!“

Absolutely 100% right!! I love this name story, and I LOVE their style! In the previous consultation I’d done for them, I’d written that their first son Konrad’s name (Konrad Wolfgang) is “such an amazingly fabulous name! It’s bold, traditional, saintly, and I love how unapologetically German it is, and how they just own it!” — I feel the same way about Oskar Karl Wolfgang! They’ve done a fantastic job! I also love that Alyssa was in labor on the day that Bl. Carlo was beatified — an awesome new Blessed who just happens to have the same name (Italian variant) that Alyssa and her hubby had chosen as Oskar’s middle. Amazing! And how Konrad loves his middle name and wanted Oskar to share it, just like their little one in heaven does! And Ozzie and Ox! So wonderful, all of it!

Congratulations to Alyssa and Klaus and big sibs Konrad and Louisa (and Hugo in heaven), and happy birthday Baby Oskar!!

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not an affiliate link) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!

The scene in the movie “Romero” where the soldiers are shooting up the tabernacle and Archbishop Oscar Romero was risking his life to save the hosts — to literally and freely take the risk of dying for Jesus — was one of the single most moving things I have ever seen — I saw it once in high school and once in college and that scene has stayed with ever since. He was eventually killed while saying Mass “in El Salvador in 1980 by Right-wing death squads. His murder came a day after he had said in a homily that soldiers should obey God’s commands and put down their guns.” (From “Archbishop Oscar Romero was a martyr, declare Vatican Theologians.”)

“Archbishop Romero’s Cause was opened at the Vatican two decades ago but was delayed for years as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith studied his writings, amid debate over whether he had been killed for his faith or for political reasons.” But now it has been ruled that “Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered “in hatred of the faith”” — that he was indeed a martyr — and even that the Archbishop “will “almost certainly” be beatified in 2015, and that Francis may skip the beatification and canonise him in San Salvador.”

So: Oscar. It’s one of those names I want to like. It always shows up in lists of names that are similar to names I like. Like … Leo. And Victor. And Hugo, Rosa, and Milo. (All this according to the Baby Name Wizard book.) And it’s got great Irish connections, which is always appeals to my overwhelmingly green heritage — Oscar was the grandson of Fionn mac Cumhail (Finn McCool). It’s somewhat popular in the Scandinavian countries, which is a large part of my husband’s heritage, so that’s appealing as well.

But there’s Oscar the Grouch and Oscar Meyer bologna and (good heavens) Oscar Pistorius. It’s just not a name I could get on board with … until now? Here’s betting a Blessed or Saint Oscar Romero will make the name jump up and dance all over the baby name stats. Oz or Ozzie are cute nicknames for a little guy (Ozzie Osbourne notwithstanding), or even Scar, I suppose, for the edgier among us, and I could see a grown-up Oscar being an athlete (Oscar de la Hoya) or a poet (Oscar Wilde).

What do you think of Oscar? Can you think of other nicknames for it? Do you know any little or big Oscars? What do they think of their name?