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

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

Mama Julia writes,

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

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

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

Other boys names that have come up:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roman: I absolutely love Roman for this family!! I think it perfectly hits all the things important to Julia: it’s a perfect brother name for Gabriel style-wise; it’s Italian(ish) without being over the top, and as such allows for more Italian-y names in the future if they like (but doesn’t box them in); and it honors a significant person in Julia’s husband’s life. We name babies after people all the time, from the living (especially family members) to the deceased (family members and Saints) and there’s no reason a person dear to you that isn’t family can’t be honored the same way. I’ve known many people who have named their babies after non-family members, including priests — this is an example of a family who was considering the name of a priest close to them for their baby’s middle, and I’ve had several other families who have done so as well, for both firsts and middles. I think for Julia it probably feels a little more obvious because Roman isn’t as familiar as some other names. But I wouldn’t let that stop them! To me, this is the name to beat.

John Paul (as a first or middle): So even though I said I think Roman is the name to beat, how can I not love John Paul??!! I think Gabriel and John Paul are perfect brothers! However … because these parents like Italian names and might like to use some obvious ones at some point, I’m reluctant to vote too hard for John Paul for their second baby. One of the things I love about Roman is that it doesn’t move their style *away* from their love of Italian names (while not being too obvious just yet), but I think John Paul does (at this point in their baby naming). Does that make sense?

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

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

Raphael: Of course I love Raphael, but I always kind of feel like *one* archangel name is enough in a family, first-name wise, unless one is willing to do all three, and then what if there’s a fourth (or more) boy? I do think that if this family uses Raphael for boy no. 2, right after Gabriel, that it feels like a theme and Michael would be the obvious next boy, and if they don’t use Michael for boy no. 3 it will be weird, but if they do use Michael it will be weird, and do they even like Michael as a first name?? I could be being very weird about this, maybe there’s no issue here at all, haha! If they love Raphael, they should definitely go for it, but I would vote for at least shelving it for this baby.

Rocco: I love the idea of Rocco, and as a middle name it’s perfect in general and also specifically for a name like John Paul as it loops in Italian-ness. But I also love it as a first name — I wonder if Julia and her hubby would consider it?

Giulio: It’s so interesting to me that Julia said she thinks “Giulio Michael could be good if we had a third son” — given what I said earlier, I think Gabriel, Roman, and Giulio would be a perfect way and order in which to include their love of Italian names in a balanced, not too-intense way. I was also amazed that Jules showed up in my research as a style match for Adele! Very consistent with Julia’s style! I also love that it’s a nice nod to her.

GianPaolo: Given that they’re “leaning away from intense Italian names,” I would think GianPaolo wouldn’t be the right choice for this baby for a first name, but I’d love it as a middle! Especially for a first name that isn’t Italian or Italian-ish at all.

Gio/Giovanni: Would John Paul as a first name with the nickname Gio serve the dual purposes of honoring JP2 and Hubby’s grandfather?? That would be really cool!

Benedict: Hmm … I’m wondering if the Italian Benedetto or Benito would appeal to Julia more? It would still of course have the saintly connection and the fantastic nickname Ben (which is a perfect brother name for Gabe — I’ve seen Gabe and Ben paired up in a few families, usually Gabriel and Benjamin but in Catholic families I often see Benedict). Bennett is a variant that I often suggest, but it feels too far from your Italian style. If you liked it, though, Bennett GianPaolo might be a perfect combo! Two great popes, a great way to use the super Italian GianPaolo, a way of using Benedict without using Benedict.

Dominic: As I mentioned above, this totally would have been on my list for this family if it wasn’t already on their list! My dad had a friend named Dominick growing up and they called him Dommy, which I think is darling. Nick and Nico are also possibilities. (I feel moved to share, with Rocco on their list and in light of Julia’s husband loving Benedict and Dominic, that I know brothers Rocco and Agostino — I could see her hubby loving Augustine or Agostino!)

Adelina Teresa: This is just so beautiful!! I love the connection to both grandmothers, and Adele and Delle are sweet (I especially love that Adele is Julia’s grandmother’s actual legal name).

Beatrice: Another beautiful name! I love Bea, too. This reminded me of a family I did a consultation for who has a similar love of their Italian heritage and incorporated it into their baby naming. Their first is George Francesco, to give you an idea! Their second is Beatrice Lucia Marie, and funny enough, they did the same thing with Beatrice’s name that the mom of John Paul that I linked to above did with his — just like John Paul’s middle name is only on his baptismal certificate, so also is Beatrice’s second middle Marie. Some one-syllable middle names possibilities include Clare, Mae, Faye, Kay, Joy (or would that be too weird with the meaning of Beatrice?), Eve, Liv, Kate, Nell, Tess (this could honor Grandma Teresa as well), Veil, Pearl, Ruth, June, Jane, Jude, Belle, Pax.

Sophia/Sophie: Beautiful! But it’s on their no list, right?

Chiara: I love Chiara! It’s one of the Italian names that’s more familiar to English speakers, which I think is that sweet spot for this family. Might they be interested in Clare or Clara as English versions that still point directly to Chiara Corbella Petrillo?

Noel(le): When I was reading Julia’s email, this felt like an unexpected choice to me, like it was outside their style, but my research showed that it’s considered a style match for a few names that are consistent with their taste, including Roman! I wanted to suggest Natalia, but with Natalia and Noel(le) meaning the same thing, it would be an either/or kind of thing, and I suspect Julia likes Noel(le) better.

Elizabeth: Such a solid, classic name! It has a thousand and one nickname options, so it can really fit whatever aesthetic you’re going for. The connection to the Queen is pretty cool — they could lean into that, and amp up the Marian connection as well, by doing something like Elizabeth Regina.

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

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

Girl

(1) Maria

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

(2) Juliet

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

(3) Caterina (or K/Catherine)

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

(4) Stella, Maristella

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

(5) Camilla

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

(6) Lucia

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

(7) Zita

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

Boy

(1) Carlo

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

(2) Vincent

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

(3) Sebastian

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

(4) Nicholas

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

(5) Hugo

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

(6) Santino nn Sonny

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

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

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

Read all about how to get your own baby name consultation here.

For help with Marian names, my book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Baby name predictions: Irish, place name, cool nickname — will little brother follow suit?

July 3, 2023 sanctanomina Baby name consultant, Predictions Catholic baby names, Irish names, Place names, Saintly place names, St. Anne

Hi everyone! 👋 Since my last post my no. 5 boy graduated from 5th grade, which means he’s moving on the middle/high school his big brothers go to; my no. 7 boy graduated from preschool, which means he’s moving on to Kindergarten (and ending the fifteen years I’ve had a little one in or anticipating being in our school’s sweet Early Childhood program); and we took a two-years-in-the-planning Big Family Vacation with my two brothers and their wives and kids, my parents, and my sister — 21 people in a house by the ocean (my two youngest sisters, brother-in-law, and nephew couldn’t come). While there, we went to Mass at a St. Anne church, checking the box for this year’s St. Anne Pilgrimage (that links to 2020; you can read more about 2021 and 2022 here)! And also: five of my seven kids and my husband came down with a stomach bug while on the vacation, which cut our vacation short, lasted through our drive home and into the next few days as well, and, man. That’s all I have to say.

But today I have a FUN THING!! My youngest sister is due next week with her second baby — a second boy! She and her hubby don’t share their name choices ahead of time so we’ve been having fun trying to guess/predict what her littlest man will be named, based exclusively on big brother’s name: Cashel, nn Cash.

Cashel is an amazingly fantastic name for my sister’s and BIL’s firstborn because they have a super Irish last name and they *got married in Ireland* and Cashel is an Irish place name with historical and faith significance. And it has the fantastic nickname Cash! It’s pretty close to perfect in my book. (Read more about Cashel [the place] here, and the name here and here.)

So today’s question: If you knew a couple with an Irish last name, who got married in Ireland, who gave their first baby boy an Irish place name for a given name, and that name has an easy, jaunty nickname, what names might you suggest or predict for baby boy no. 2??

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

Baby name consultation: Baby no. 4/girl no. 2 for Studio Senn!

October 13, 2022 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Catholic surnames, Place names, Saintly place names, Studio Senn, Surnames, Theresa Zoe Williams consultations

Happy 105th (!) anniversary of the Miracle of Sun at Fatima! Today’s consultation by Theresa Zoe Williams is for a repeat client — Kortnee from Studio Senn! I had the honor of doing a consultation for her last baby a few years ago and posting a birth announcement; I’m so excited to see that she’s expecting another girl, and to see what name ideas Theresa has for her! Enjoy!

Mama Kortnee writes in asking for help naming her fourth child, second girl. Big siblings are:

Fulton Douglas
Becket Raymond
Perrin Fae

She writes,

“Middle names are all family names. First names are Saints (or in the case of Perrin,
a nickname because she was going to be named Peregrine) but all happen to be surnames of
sort or another.”

Kortnee continues,

“For girl names I am drawn to Irish/Scottish punchy names that tend to lean more gender neutral. But my husband says he likes more feminine names.”

Names they like that don’t feel like the one include Rory (for St. Gregory), Greer (for St. Gregory), Quinn (for Ven. Edel Quinn), Reese (for any of the Sts. Teresa), Emmerich (for Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich), and Lydia.

Middle names they are considering include: Ruth, Emile (pronounced em-eel), Catherine, Kate,
and Amelia.

Mama Kortnee presented a unique challenge of already thinking of all the names I would have suggested, so I had to dig a lot deeper.

Some thoughts on names they like but aren’t “the one”.

Rory- I love this punchy little name especially with their other children. I would have thought this would have been feminine enough with the -y ending for Kortnee’s husband but I get it. I love that they would tie this name to St. Gregory.

Greer- Another really fun and expected name! What I love about this one is that it’s unexpected but not weird. Totally right in their wheelhouse.

Quinn- This was the first name that popped to mind before I read they’d already thought of it. Ah, I really love this one for you guys! I don’t think Quinn (with similar sounding last name) is too much, either. It has a nice rhythm.

Reese- I feel like sisters Reese and Perrin are just meant to be. I really love this name and that it gives this child a female patron, too.

Emmerich- Another right in their wheelhouse that I would’ve suggested. I don’t like this one quite as much as the others but I do love that it has nickname potential.

Lydia- One of my favorite names! But I agree that it doesn’t quite fit Kortnee’s style or that of the other children.

On to new suggestions!

(1) Clairvaux

Not a surname and not Irish (but French) this came to mind because it’s unexpected and gender neutral (being a place name) but it feels feminine and has the nickname Claire. I think this one might be right in the sweet spot between Kortnee and her husband. Patron would be St. Bernard of Clairvaux. It’s spunky and a little bit punchy but all over sweet.

(2) Reagan

This surname means “little king” and definitely leans girl while maintaining neutrality. It’s at #126 for girls right now. While not the name of a saint, it could be an honor name for Jesus with its meaning. It’s Irish, too! I like this with sister Perrin and the brothers.

(3) Peyton

This name sits at #99 for girls right now even though it’s gender neutral, so it feels more feminine while not being frilly. It’s also an English surname born by Ven. Patrick Peyton, so it even has a patron directly attached! I really love this one for them. My only hang up was that would be two girls with P- names. I don’t think this should bother them, though.

(4) Blaise

I thought, if Blake and Blair can be girls or boys, why not Blaise? It doesn’t rank at all for girls and is at #997 for boys, so it’s not common but it’s also not weird. St. Blaise would be the patron. I just thought, what a zippy, fun name for a girl!

(5) Brenna

This would be a feminine form of St. Brendan. Although not a surname, it’s punchy and Irish and I love it with their other kids. There are various meanings for this name depending on where you take its origin from, but since they’d use it as a feminine form of Brendan, it means “king or prince”. Brenna is out of the top 1000, which I think is perfect for them. Brenna gives me the same punchy, pixie-like, softly feminine feel as Perrin does, and she sounds great with all the kids.

(6) Finley

This name means “white warrior” and is at #211 for girls and #265 for boys, meaning it’s truly gender neutral. There is no saint Finley, but there are tons of Fin- saints that this name could take patronage from. All of those saints happen to be Scottish, too. Finley is also in the same wheelhouse as surname names, although not one itself. Fulton, Becket, Perrin, and Finley sound so sharp to me.

(7) Kiara

The most feminine name on the list, this is actually the name of an Irish saint! It has two possible roots that can make its meaning either “black” (from Ciara) or “clear, bright” (from Chiara). There are lots of possible patrons here including St. Kiara (the Irish saint), St. Clare of Assisi, or St. Ciar (an Irish abbott). I like that this name is feminine but punchy –– hopefully that bridges the gap between Kortnee and her husband better. I like siblings Fulton, Beckett, Perrin, and Kiara. Bonus, I think this name works well with almost all of the middle names they’re considering.

These are my thoughts! What do you think?

I’m not currently doing consultations, but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

Baby name consultation: Place name or not for Siena’s little sister?

May 4, 2022 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Place names, Powerful patrons, Saintly place names

Happy May, month of Our Lady! Which starts off on the 1st with the feast of her holy husband, St. Joseph the Worker! My no. 6 received his First Holy Communion on that very feast day just three days ago, and my no. 2 will be Confirmed on Friday, so this wonderful month has kicked off in a big way in my house! I hope May has been wonderful for all of you so far! Please enjoy this consultation by Theresa Zoe Williams!

Mama Kendall writes in needing help naming baby number 6! Baby will join big siblings:

Michael Thomas
Francis Joan (in heaven)
Joseph Robert
Siena Anne
James Charles

She writes,

“All middle names are family names, all first are Saint names. (With the exception of baby in Heaven, St Joan of Arc was my Confirmation Saint). This baby’s middle name will be Marie, unless we can both be convinced otherwise and use an iteration of it!”

Mama Kendal also mentions that baby’s name cannot start with E or B because of the way it sounds with their last name.

She goes on to say,

“With Siena, we had a hard time picking between Siena and Adeline. We ultimately went with Siena for multiple reasons but two being Adeline isn’t a Saint name and there was some potential for hurt family feelings with Adeline. We still really like Adeline and would call her Addie, but again, not a Saint. Also, don’t love the rhyme with our last name. So we pivoted to Adelaide but it’s not our favorite, sounds too old. I really like Cora and my justification is “Heart of Mary” but he’s not on board. For a while we both liked Charlotte but felt like it was a bit of a stretch for Pope Saint John Paul 2. I love the name Emmy, was thinking like Marie Elizabeth or Elizabeth Marie but we run into the issue of beginning with an E name and beginning with an M name (after having two J names, we would prefer to not repeat a letter again). My husband’s middle name is Alexander so we have toyed with Alexandra, but don’t love it. His Confirmation Saint is St Maximilian Kolbe but he doesn’t like Kolbe as a girl’s name.”

She mentions that she wouldn’t mind a nickname for this child, even though she’s been adamant that the other kids not go by nicknames. Her husband needs names to pass the “CEO test” where it could be a name that a CEO would have.

Other names they like but aren’t quite it include Gianna, Gemma, and Madeleine.

Names they can’t use include:

Felicity
Hildegard
Chiara
Claire
Jane
Ann
Zelie
Emma
Maresa
Jordan
Catherine
Josephine
Penelope
Cassandra
Courtney
Jessica

Mama Kendall writes that they might be interested in a form of Catherine or Theresa, but not Caitlin.

Okay, some thoughts on names they like!

Adeline- They said they love this name but it’s not a saint name. It’s true that there’s no Saint Adeline, but there is a Blessed Adeline! I wonder if that fits their criteria. If so, I’d love to see them use this name. It fits so well with their other children and clearly has meaning to them.

Cora- I love this name for them, too, and I love it’s covert connection to Mary. Paired with middle Marie, this name definitely means “heart of Mary” and what a cool meaning that is! Cora is spunky but classic and that fits right in with their other children. Sisters Siena and Cora is just sending me, too! I love them together!

Charlotte- This name is significantly more popular than their other children’s names, which makes it feel a little out of place to me. They asked if it was too much of a stretch to use this name to honor St. John Paul II and my answer is no. His birth name was Karol which is the Polish form of Charles. Charlotte is the feminine version of that. Another direction they could go, is Caroline. Same root, just different translation. With Caroline, though, they get the same first sound as Karol. Lots to think about with this one.

Emmy- I like this name for them but it starts with an E, which they don’t want, and it’s a little less formal than their other kids. I think there are better names out there for them.

Alexandra- Great name, fits in with the other kids, lots of nickname potential. This is actually one of my favorite names for its versatility and long history. Sisters Siena and Alexandra are really nice, too. Something fun here, there’s St. Catherine of Alexandria, if they go with Alexandria instead of Alexandra, they could have two girls named after Catherine saints but with different names. I think that’s a cool sister connection!

Gianna- Great saint, great name. I like it next to Siena especially but I agree that that’s a lot of soft G sounds overall.

Gemma- Same thoughts as Gianna. This one reads a little spunkier to me, though, which I kept in mind as I did the consultation.

Okay, on to new names!

1) Avila

When I saw they had a Siena and considered Kolbe, my mind immediately went to other place names associated with saints. Avila was first to come to mind. What I love about this name is that it’s not just a place name, it also means “bird.” St. Teresa of Ávila makes this name have a saint and meaning and she’s a powerhouse, just like St. Catherine of Siena. I think sisters Siena and Avila are really sweet, especially since both have word connections and not just place connections.

2) Lisieux

They mentioned possibly wanting a form of Theresa for this name and I thought, why not another place name? Lisieux is the town in France where St. Thérèse was from. What I like about this name is that it has nickname potential, which they mentioned being important to them. This can easily shorten to the very cute Lissy, making it very accessible in daily life. If Paris and London get lots of use, why not Lisieux!

3) Amelia

This name was a style match for some of their kids and names they like. There is a St. Amelia to go with it (she’s sometimes known as St. Amalberga). This name is very popular at #6, so she might run into others with her name, but there’s a reason it’s so popular, it’s a good name! Their boys have more popular names, so I don’t think this will bother them at all and it shouldn’t. Amelia passes the CEO test, too. There is nickname potential here too with Ami, Melia, and Mia. I like it in its entirety, though.

4) Alice

This was a style match for a couple of their kids’ names. What really intrigued me about this name, though, is that it’s a form of Adelaide, which they said they had considered. Bonus, there is a St. Adelaide! I think this name is short and spunky but enduringly classic. It’s having a bit of a moment at #76 meaning that parents are rediscovering this great classic name.

5) Genevieve

Alexandra made me think of this name because it’s a little longer and more embellished than their other kids. Meaning “family woman” this name is currently at #169 meaning it’s classic and common but not popular. There is St. Genevieve to go along with the name, too, and she was really cool. Beyond Gen and Genny, they can also shorten this name to Vivi or the even spunkier Viva. Great nickname potential, great saint, and goes with their other kids. I really love this name for them.

6) Anastasia

Another name I thought of because of Alexandra. It sits at #158, meaning it has the same feel as Genevieve. St. Anastasia is actually mentioned in the canon at the Mass, making this an extra cool saint name. It also means “resurrection” tying it to Jesus very directly. They can shorten this name to Ana, Ani, Stasia, and Stacy. I really love this name (full disclosure: it’s my oldest daughter’s second middle name). I really love this name for them, specifically because it checks all of their boxes while sounding natural next to their other kids.

7) Flora

I was trying to think of ways to honor different saints T(h)eresa and this is another name that came to mind. St. Thérèse of Lisieux is also known as St. Theresa the Little Flower and Flora means “flower.” Also cool, St. Zélie’s name is a form of the Azalea flower, so Flora can be a nod to her, too. There are also several saints and blesseds named Flora. What a covert powerhouse of a name! It ranks at #929 so it’s not popular or common but it’s not weird either. I love sisters Siena and Flora and I think she fits right in with all of the children’s names, too. Flora Marie is just so sweet. I really really love this name for them.

These are my thoughts. What do you think?

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

Saintly place names

February 15, 2021 sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty Place names, Saintly place names

In the past, I’ve tended to include Saintly place names in lists of Saintly surnames, but my mind was clicking recently about place names specifically, so I wanted to see how many we can come up with. There are two categories: (1) what I’m thinking of as the “of” categories (St. So-and-so of Somewhere) and (2) places that have faithy associations.

“Of” names (with their Saints) (in no particular order)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Joseph of Cupertino
St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of Avila
St. Joan of Arc (d’Arc)
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Pio of Pietrelcina
St. Ignatius of Antioch
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
St. Margaret of Scotland
St. Rita of Cascia
St. Catherine of Siena, St. Bernardine of Siena

And of course there are all the Marian places (Our Lady of Fatima, etc.).

Other place (or place-associated) names (in no particular order)

Roma, Roman
Tiber
Magdalene (of Magdala)
Eden
Belén (Bethlehem)
Isla
Nazaret (Nazareth)
Olivet (Mount of Olives)
Gethsemane
Judea
Jericho
Cana
Canaan

I’ve seen a lot of these used for babies, and others not used at all … some probably aren’t name-worthy (like Hippo), while others I haven’t seen at all but could be perfect for the right family (maybe Pietrelcina? It’s related to Peter [it literally means “small stones/pebbles,” as far as I can tell]).

I know there are loads more — what would you add to these lists? Happy Monday!

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life! (And check out my buy-the-book-get-a-consultation deal!)

Spotlight on: Hildegard

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020 sanctanomina Spotlight Boy-turned-girl names, Carrots for Michaelmas, Catholic baby names, Doctors of the Church, German names, Girl-names-on-boys, Number names, Place names

My CatholicMom.com piece for August posted on Wednesday and I don’t want you to miss it — I know we’re all in need of some peace as the new school year looms (or has already started for some of you)! Check it out: A Litany of School Saints: Protection and Help for the Academic Year.

This name spotlight is a little different from my others, in that it’s more about how to honor this saint without using her name! A reader wrote:

“Would you ever consider doing a post on names to honor St. Hildegard of Bingen? She is such an amazing saint, and we would love to honor her in naming our baby, but maybe there are other parents out there, like us, who just can’t quite bring themselves to name a little girl Hildegard. (For those who can, good for them! But I’m not quite there!)“

I totally agree, she is such an amazing saint!! And while I have a soft spot for Hildy/Hildi/Hildie (either as a nickname for Hildegard or as a given name in her honor), I do of course totally get what this mama means in regards to the full Hildegard. It’s a little heavy!

Before getting into other names that might honor her, though, I want to talk about Hildegard itself for a minute. According to Behind the Name and the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Hildegard is made up of two elements: hild/hiltja, meaning “battle” and gard/gart , meaning “enclosure, protection; yard, garden.” Of those two, the first element seems the most “St. Hildegard,” both in terms of sound (Hilda/Hilde would seem natural to most people if you were to tell them that it was in honor of St. Hildegard) and in terms of meaning (“battle”! What an amazing and unexpected meaning for a girl and a woman! Such a warrior name! Perfect for one of the only female Doctors of the Church!). Other spellings and variants include the English Hylda and the Italian Ilda and Elda.

(And again: Hildy/Hildi/Hildie! SO sweet! For a real-life sweetie pie named Hildegard, see Haley Carrots’ little girl!)

However, if none of these are quite right, I think these other ideas can work:

— Sibyl: The mama who wrote to me had already thought of Sibyl as an idea, since St. Hildegard of Bingen is known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, and I think it’s definitely a St. Hildegard-specific name, if you want it to be. A great option! Other spellings and variants include Sybil, Cybill, Sibylle/Sybille, Sybella, Sibilla/Sibylla, and the intriguing Norman variant Sébire (though I’m not totally sure of pronunciation).

— Rhine: While Rhine is a place name that’s not objectively specific to St. Hildegard, Sibyl of the Rhine makes it subjectively so. In this sense, Rhine could be for St. Hildegard in the way Siena is for St. Catherine and Avila is for St. Teresa. Its sound is similar to Ryan and would make a really fun and different way of honoring her.

— A name to do with “ten”: One of the interesting things I discovered in my research is that St. Hildegard is traditionally understood to be her parents’ tenth child (apparently only seven children are recorded, but perhaps her parents were counting miscarried children, as so many of us do?) and as such was dedicated to the Church as a “tithe.” How interesting! Maybe a name having to do with the number “ten” would hit the right note for some families? Dixie, for example, is thought to have derived for the French for “ten.” (I’ve also loved the idea of Tennyson for a tenth son! I can see it working nicely for a girl too! It doesn’t have “ten” in its meaning, but the Ten- makes it obvious!)

— Bernard, Eugenius, John, Benedict: Men with these names played important roles in St. Hildegard’s life and afterlife. St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugenius both encouraged her in her writings; Pope John XXII beatified her; and while Hildegard was popularly regarded as a saint since the fourteenth century, Pope Benedict XVI made it official (a process known as “equipollent [equivalent] canonization,” which I’d never heard of before) and also declared her to be a Doctor of the Church. Bernadine, Bernadette, and Bernarda are feminine variants of Bernard; Eugenia is for Eugenius; Joan, Jane, Jean, Joanna, Gianna, Giovanna (and more!) are some feminine variants of John; and Benedicta, Benedetta, Bettina, Benita, and Benoîte (and more!) are for Benedict.

— Two further arguments for a Benedict name: St. Hildegard was a Benedictine; also, since Benedict means “blessed,” I’ve often thought it can be used in honor of all the holy people (I included it in my book of Marian names for that reason).

— Names with similar meaning: I looked for other names that had a similar meaning and found a few possibles. The one that I think is closest is Blair — it means “plain, field, battlefield,” which is so similar to Hildegard’s “battle” + “enclosure, protection; yard, garden.” Others include Clotilde, Matilda, and Romilda, all of which have that “hild” element contained within (the “ild” part in all of them). And the fact that “garden” is included in the meaning of the “gard” part of Hildegard makes me think of flower names, which would really provide some nice, feminine alternatives.

I know a lot of these ideas might seem too far afield from Hildegard, but I also know that some families might find them to be the perfect solution to the dilemma of wanting to name a daughter after St. Hildegard but not finding Hildegard to be their style. (And if you want to name a son after St. Hildegard, many of these can work for boys too!)

Please share with me your ideas for naming a baby after St. Hildegard without using the name Hildegard! I’d also love to hear from any of you who have named after St. Hildegard, or know someone who has. I want to hear all the details! Happy Friday everyone!

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 — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

a Becket, a Kempis, a Cruce

July 9, 2020 sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty Catholic surnames, Marian baby names, Marian names, Place names, Surnames

St. Thomas a Becket, Thomas a Kempis (author of The Imitation of Christ), and St. Teresia Benedicta a Cruce (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, aka Edith Stein) all have that “a” in common — have any of you wondered what it means? I admit I’d only had a vague, noncommittal curiosity until today, when I decided to try to find out.

Basically, it means “of” or “from.” Thomas à Kempis , who is also known in German as Thomas von Kempen and in Dutch as Thomas van Kempen — “von” and “van” meaning “from” in their respective languages — is so called because Kempen was his home town. St. “Teresia Benedicta a Cruce” is simply “Teresa Benedict of the Cross” (isn’t Teresia a pretty variant? Behind the Name says T(h)eresia is a German, Dutch, and Swedish variant, and that Tessan is a Swedish diminutive and Trees a Dutch diminutive).

I’m sure the “a” in “a Becket” means the same thing, though the reason is less clear. Check out this rabbit hole I went down:

“Thomas Becket was the son of Norman settlers who lived in the city of London. His father was a merchant who traveled among the circles of French-speaking Norman immigrants. The name ‘Becket’ is likely a nickname, possibly meaning beak or nose, which was given to his father.” (source)
“Deeply influenced in childhood by a devout mother who died when he was 21, Thomas entered adult life as a city clerk and accountant in the service of the sheriffs. After three years he was introduced by his father to Archbishop Theobald, a former abbot of Bec, of whose household he became a member.” (source)
“Bec Abbey, formally the Abbey of Our Lady of Bec (French: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec), is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure département, in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay. It is located in Le Bec Hellouin, Normandy, France, and was the most influential abbey of the 12th-century Anglo-Norman kingdom.” (source)
“Like all abbeys, Bec maintained annals of the house but uniquely its first abbots also received individual biographies, brought together by the monk of Bec, Milo Crispin.” (ibid.)
“‘Bec’ is the name of the stream running through the abbey, Old Norse bekkr, in English place or river names Beck.” (ibid.)
“Becket” is from “Beckett,” which is from “an English surname that could be derived from various sources, including from Middle English beke meaning ‘beak’ or bekke meaning ‘stream, brook'” (source)

Becket could refer to a nickname of St. Thomas’ father because of his nose! Or it could be a reference to Bec Abbey, which was originally named Abbey of Our Lady of Bec! A famous monk of Bec (a Beccan monk? A Becket monk?) was named Milo! Which has separate Marian connections! So many fun discoveries! (So many exclamation marks!)

Back to the “a” — tell me what you know! I see that “à” is French — are all the a’s really à’s? So all these have a French origin? But German seems a big factor here too — but then German has “von”? Is it Latin, maybe? And is there some more nuanced meaning I’m missing, since a Kempis means “from a certain place,” a Becket might mean the same or “son of the father with the nickname,” and a Cruce means “of” in the sense of possession? I’d love to spend more time researching but I have a deadline I should be working on!

I’m totally loving the “a” construction — I could see “a Cruce” being an amazing name in honor of both St. Edith and Jesus. And of course Katheryn has set an amazing example with giving her son the amazing first name “à Kempis.” I mean. So brilliant. And such a really cool addition to Kolbe, Avila, Siena, and other saintly surnames/place names.

What other saints have an “a” construction in their names? I guess we could do this with any “of” saint, right? St. Catherine a Siena? St. Teresa a Avila? St. Bernard a Clairvaux? Or am I misunderstanding how this works?

I look forward to reading your comments! Happy Thursday!

Baby name consultation: “Short and cute” vs. “flowery” for a girl, surname-style for a boy

June 1, 2020 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Catholic surnames, Marian baby names, Marian names, Place names, Surnames

Happy feast of Mary, Mother of the Church! And at the same time, in sorrow I share this Prayer for Racial Justice, and the call to participate in this 19-day period of prayer and fasting (from today to the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) as an act of reparation to God for the sin of racism in all its forms. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us. St. Michael, pray for us. Sacred Heart of Jesus, bless us and keep us close to You.

Trish and her husband are expecting their fourth baby — a little green bean! He or she joins big siblings:

Donovan Kolbe (“we liked last names that were first names for boys and Kolbe had special significance since my husbands grandfather escaped from the Warsaw ghetto as a boy“)

Genevieve Louise (“I love very feminine names for girls, while my husband likes short and cute. I sold it to him by saying we could call her Evie, which we did for a few years but she is now asking to be called Genevieve (YAY). Louise was after my husbands grandmother“)

Veronica Caeli (“we call her Caeli … we knew we wanted a Caeli, but didn’t want her to forever be spelling it … so made it a middle name so she can choose“)

Are you as swoony as I am over these names?! 😍😍😍

Trish writes,

“My husband and I have different tastes and had a VERY difficult time coming up with our son’s name … I have a list of names for this baby but my husband pretty much doesn’t like any of them because they are “too flowery.” He would like Emma or Claire but they’re too common for me. I think Gemma is a good compromise and he likes it, but is Gemma a different name than Genevieve? I really don’t like super common names. Even Mary! Sorry to Our Lady but every other family has a Mary and I just can’t.”

(“and I just can’t” — haha!)

Names Trish and her hubby have discussed include:

Xavier
Leo
Oliver
Jerome
Gemma
Eloise Grace (“but can we do an Eloise with an Evie Louise??“)
Emmeline
Annalise
Seraphina

And Trish specifically said, “I hope you can bridge the gap!!!” which, as I told her, is one of my very favorite things to do! (In fact, my very first CatholicMom.com column [five years ago!] was about this exact issue!)

First off, I’ll say that I really love that they both like Gemma, and normally I’d think it would be a perfect compromise, but for Genevieve! I mean, Genevieve starts with the sound *jenna*, and Gemma is *jemma* — they’re SO close! If they always called Genevieve “Evie,” then perhaps it wouldn’t be too problematic, at least on an everyday basis. Of course, that said, if Trish and her hubby just really love Gemma and the similarity between Gemma and Genevieve doesn’t bother them, then it’s certainly not the end of the world to choose Gemma!

I’m interested in the divide between Trish and her husband over girl names — he likes feminine, shorter names (Evie, Caeli, Emma, Claire), while Trish has feminine, longer names on her list (Emmeline, Annalise, and Seraphina). I see a lot of potential here!

I actually think Emmeline is a perfect compromise name here — it’s got Emma in it, from Trish’s hubby’s list, and a little Emmeline could easily and naturally go by Emma and/or Emmy. Annalise and Seraphina are similarly good I think, because Anna/Annie and Sera are less “flowery” names and I think they would qualify as “short and cute,” as Trish described her husband’s taste (I also think Sophie could work as a nickname for Seraphina, which I also suspect Trish’s husband might like). Another name that might also be a good compromise is Clairvaux. It’s pronounced clair-VO, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and having the Clair- at the beginning means a little Clairvaux can go by Claire with no problem. Two of my readers have daughters named Clairvaux! I definitely think Trish should check them out (here and here) as both families have name taste similar to hers, I think.

As for Eloise Grace, I wouldn’t think it would be a problem unless they regularly tack Louise onto whatever they’re calling Genevieve. That is, do they regularly call her Evie Louise? Or even the full Genevieve Louise? If so, I do feel like Eloise might be too similar. But if Louise rarely shows up when they’re referring to Genevieve, then I think it’s fine. It also reminds me of a friend of mine who gave both her first and second daughters the middle name Catherine, but the older daughter’s middle name was for her grandmother Catherine, and the second daughter’s middle name was for St. Catherine of Siena. And I know more than one family who used a certain name as a middle name for one child, and liked that name so much they used it as the first name for a subsequent child. I say all this to say, even if Trish and her hubby use Louise with some regularity and still want to use Eloise for their next daughter, other families have done similar and even crazier things and the world didn’t fall apart. They can easily say for those who wonder that Louise was for Hubby’s grandmother and Eloise is just because they like it, or whatever. And actually, Louise and Eloise aren’t linguistically related! Louise is a feminine form of Louis, while Eloise is a variant of Heloise.

Another name that I thought they might like to consider is Elise — very similar to Eloise but even more different from Louise than Eloise is. It’s a short French form of Elizabeth, which opens up lots of great patron saints. Or Elisa, which flows better with Grace than Elise, I think. Or Elodie? That’s also a really pretty name.

There’s no problem at all about not liking the name Mary! Many Catholic families feel similarly, both because of name fatigue from all those years of Mary as the Number One Girl’s Name as well as a preference for more unexpected names (and not at all because of any disrespect toward Our Lady), which is in large part why I wrote my book of Marian baby names! There are so many gorgeous, legitimately Marian names that aren’t Mary — names that fit all different tastes in names! I included some in my list of suggestions below.

As for boy names, I think they’ve got a great list! I’m surprised there aren’t more surname-type names on there, since Trish had said that she and her hubs like last names that are first names for boys. Xavier is the only name on their list that fits that criteria, though it’s been used as a first name for so long that many people don’t know that it started as a last name. Leo and Oliver are great, and I regularly see them on lists of names considered by parents I do consultations for, but I rarely see Jerome! I admit though, when I was looking for boy names for this baby, I focused mostly on finding last name type names.

Okay, on to my suggestions! You all know that I start each consultation by looking up in the Baby Name Wizard the names the parents have 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. I also looked through my book of Marian names for ideas for both boys and girls. These are what I came up with (a few extra for girls, given that girl names are particularly problematic for this couple):

Girl
(1) Ave
I feel like Ava is the kind of name Trish’s hubby would like — “short and cute” — but changing it slightly to Ave makes it both much more uncommon and more obviously faithy. It’s said like AH-vay, like in Ave Maria. I’d love to see such a short first name paired with a longer middle — because Ave means “Hail” (Ave Maria=Hail Mary), it might be weird to put it with a non-Marian middle, so maybe something like Ave Immaculata? That strikes me as a combo Trish might really like, and I think Ave might be the kind of name her husband would be okay with. I could also see putting Ave and Maria together as Avemaria, that would be amazing.

(2) Isla
I was actually inspired to add Isla by one of the Clairvaux families I linked to above — they have another daughter named Isla, and Isla’s an entry in my book for the Marian title Our Lady of the Isles. It’s “short and cute,” and so pretty!

(3) Pia
This is another name in my book, it’s the feminine form of Pius/Pio, and in the Salve Regina Our Lady is specifically referred to as pia, which is translated in the English version as “loving,” though it’s technical translation is more along the lines of “pious, devout, dutiful.” Actor David Henrie (of Wizards of Waverly Place fame, which I never watched but he’s got loads of followers), who’s actually a devout Catholic, recently named his daughter Pia, and I love seeing her sweet face and name in my Instagram feed! If Trish could convince her husband to use a longer name, I think Pia could also work as a nickname for Seraphina and Philomena and Phillippa.

(4) Liesse
This is yet another name in my book — it’s French for “joy” and refers to Notre Dame de Liesse (Our Lady of Joy). Isn’t it such a pretty name? It can definitely be used on its own, and if Trish wanted to lengthen it, Marie-Liesse isn’t uncommon (especially in France).

(5) Maristella
I know Trish said she doesn’t care for Mary, but what about something like Maristella? It reminds me of Genevieve and Veronica (and Emmeline, Annalise, and Seraphina) because of its length and femininity (which probably means her hubby won’t care for it, oh dear), but both Maris and Stella can be nicknames for it, as well as some other creative options like Mia, Mari, Molly, Missy, Milla and Mella (I could see Trish’s husband particularly liking Mia and Molly). Maristella is a reversal of the Marian title Stella Maris (Star of the Sea). Two Sancta Nomina readers have daughters named Maristella: here and here.

(6) Mercedes
I know Trish’s husband is freaking out at this point that I’m including all these ideas he won’t like! So sorry! I just really love the idea of compromising by using a longer, less familiar name like Trish likes with a familiar, “short and cute” nickname more like her husband’s taste. Mercedes is in my book — it means “mercies,” and is for Our Lady of Mercy or Our Lady of Mercies. It’s a Spanish name with quite an interesting (and very Catholic!) history — I posted more about it here. During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, quite a few of my readers chose names related to Mercy for their children, and not only did Mercedes get some usage, but so did Mercy itself. I thought maybe Trish’s husband might like Mercy? It can stand on its own, or it can be a nickname for Mercedes. Sadie can also be a nickname for Mercedes, which I also thought her hubby might like. Lots of options!

(7) Tessa
Again, Tessa seems to me like the kind of name Trish’s husband would like — I would definitely call it “short and cute.” I actually thought Trish might like it too! Or maybe this could be another possible compromise, where they could use the given name Therese or Teresa and call her Tess or Tessa. I mentioned Marie-Liesse above, which makes me also think of Marie-Therese — I just love how the French do that! And I think doing a double first name (with or without the hyphen) automatically gives the name a more unusual character, which Trish prefers. So maybe Marie-Therese plus a middle name, called Tess or Tessa?

(8) Zara
Finally, Zara: in my research for this family in the Baby Name Wizard, I actually didn’t find a whole lot of ideas that I thought would work for them. But Zara is a style match for both Gemma and Xavier, and it’s short and cute while also being uncommon, so I thought I should definitely include it in my suggestions. I actually did a spotlight post on it a while ago, as I’d discovered that it’s a feminine short form of Zechariah — I loved finding that connection! Zechariah is a name I’ve often thought would be great for a boy as a sort-of nod to the Visitation, since he was Elizabeth’s husband and John the Baptist’s father; a little Zara could claim that same connection.

Boy
(1) Tiber
Okay, moving on to boy ideas. So I totally latched onto the fact that Trish said she and her husband like last-names-as-first-names for boys, and I always include place names in that category (especially since so many last names started as place names, and so many saintly place names have a last name feel, like St. Catherine of Siena, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, etc.). And any time I know one of the parents is a convert, I immediately think of Tiber! Tiber is for the Tiber River in Rome, and many of you know that when someone converts to Catholicism a fun thing to say is that they “crossed the Tiber.” (There are even t-shirts that say “Tiber Swim Team” with the year the person entered the Church, like these.) Anyway, two of my readers have used Tiber for their boys and I love it! I think it’s so cool and so meaningful, but in kind of a stealthy way! Check them out here and here.

(2) Fulton
Another name that came right to mind when seeing Donovan Kolbe’s name is Fulton! Fulton was actually Fulton Sheen’s mom’s maiden name, so a legit last name, even thought it’s so tied to him as a first name.

(3) Owen
A name that did well for this family in my research was Owen, which I love because of course it’s a first name, but it’s also St. Nicholas Owen’s last name (he’s amazing)! So it reminds me a lot of Donovan in that they both have good usage as first names.

(4) Elliott
Elliott’s another one that did quite well for them in my research, and like Donovan and Owen, I love that it has usage as a last name (poet T.S. Eliot is one example) while still being a familiar but not too common first name. It’s actually a variant of Elijah, which gives it both a faith connection and a specifically Marian connection (via Elijah’s connection to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which I discuss in my book).

(5) Campion
Camden was listed as a style match for Donovan, which made me think of the similar and saintly Campion, for St. Edmund Campion. Isn’t Campion a cool name? I’ve always had a soft spot for the nickname Cam, and I love St. Edmund Campion, and I love how brothers Donovan and Campion sound!

I also encourage Trish and her hubby to check out my posts on saintly surnames — there are so many great options for those who love the surname style!

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the little sister or brother of Donovan, Genevieve (sometimes nicknamed Evie), and Veronica Caeli (called Caeli)?

Baby name consultation: Looking for slightly more traditional than they’ve already used, but still uncommon

June 25, 2018 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Biblical names, Catholic baby names, Flower names, Place names

Hillary and her husband are expecting their fourth baby — a girl! This little lady joins big siblings (who are “ecstatic,” according to Hillary — so cute!):

Gideon Charles (“Gideon was born while [hubby] and I were living and working in Ethiopia as missionaries. Gideon is a popular name in Ethiopia. His middle name, Charles, was [hubby’s] father’s middle name who died just before we married.”)

Chiri Patricia (“Chiri (pronounced Cheery) was named after the town we lived in in Ethiopia. Her middle name, Patricia, is named after my paternal grandmother Patricia who was a wonderfully generous and beautiful person.”)

Jasper Harrison (“Jasper was named after a friend of [hubby’s] in Kenya who was a camel rancher, who died just before Jasper was born. Harrison was my maternal grandfather’s name, and in addition we lived in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at the time, so wanted to honor our town as we did for Chiri.”)

Aren’t these cool names?? I love them all! Not only do I love them just for themselves, but also all the meaning behind each one, such a great job!

Hillary writes,

“For our little girl, we may be interested in a slightly more traditional, but still not too common, name. We have taken to calling her ‘Josie” short for Josephine, as we have a special love for St. Joseph, to whom we prayed a novena when we returned from Africa and Jeff was job hunting. St. Joseph has cared for our family in many ways. I am not crazy about another JJ name, however, as [their last name begins with J and Dad and Jasper’s names both begin with J], Josie J___ might be too much!

Jeff really likes Polly (Polly is a paternal aunt of mine) but I worry it will bring parrots to mind.

My middle name is Jane, and there are many generations of women before me on my father’s side with the middle name Jane, so that is a good possibility. Jane J___ is fraught with alliteration concerns, however! [Not only do they both begin with J, but Jane sounds quite similar to their last name.]

Some other names we have talked about: Grace, Susanna, Heidi, Marian, Polly; we also like the names Fern and Daisy

Other names with significant relatives in our family: Meredith, Ann, Dorothy, Joyce, Sandra, Elizabeth, Jennifer“

I loved working on this! So many wonderful names! My first thought when reading Hillary’s email was to tackle the issue of Josie. I love that they’re already calling the baby Josie, and I love that it’s because of their love for St. Joseph and his care for their family! I had two idea of ways to work with this, if they were open to keeping St. Joseph in the baby’s name in some form (given name or nickname):

Since they’re already calling the baby Josie, I wondered if I could find names that Josie could possibly be a nickname for that don’t start with J. I know that doesn’t solve the Josie J___ dilemma, but it might help soften it. I searched for girl names that include “jo” somewhere in them on babynamewizard.com’s Name Finder, and was intrigued by Marjory/Marjorie and Marjolaine/Marjolein. I liked that Marjory/Marjorie is more of a “more traditional, but still not too common” kind of name, as Hillary mentioned they might prefer this time. It’s a variant of Margaret via Margaret’s medieval variant Margery, which was actually a style match for Marian from their list when I did research for this family in the Baby Name Wizard! (You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like in the BNW as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity.) Marjolaine/Marjolein are variants of “marjoram” (the herb), kind of a cool way to work in a flower-type/nature name without being too obvious. With Marjorie/Marjory/Marjolaine/Marjolein, they might like to pair it with an S-heavy middle name, to make sense of Josie as a nickname — Sandra from their list of family names might do perfectly!
If they didn’t like the idea of Josie being a non-conventional nickname for a different name as mentioned above, maybe they’d prefer to consider Josephine as a given name with a different nickname? Posie/Pos(e)y has traditional usage as a Josephine nickname, which is so sweet, and I’ve often thought Sophie could work as well, since all its letters are contained within Josephine.
Then I thought that Hillary and her hubs might like Posie/Pos(e)y as a given name on its own! It’s similar to Polly (in that Polly was a nickname in origin — a nickname for Mary) and rhymes with the Josie they’ve already been using; it’s a nickname for Josephine so the connection to St. Joseph is solid; and it doesn’t begin with J! Posie J___ is absolutely darling.

As for the other names they’re considering:

Polly is sweet! I can’t imagine the parrot connection being really problematic — I grew up with a Polly, and I don’t remember it ever being an issue with her, and names like Polly (sweet and vintage-y) are definitely back in style (though Polly itself hasn’t been in the top 1000 since the 70’s). I wonder if they’ve considered Molly? Molly and Polly are both originally nicknames for Mary, arising about the same time, and Molly avoids the parrot association altogether.
If Jane is the middle name, which is an idea I love, I don’t think the alliteration is that big a deal — so few people know a person’s middle name as they go through life, you know? It’s not like they’d be saying her full name every time. And the middle spot is often where people put names that they want to use, or feel obligated to use, that don’t work as first names or that they don’t care for style-wise but want to fit in there anyway. Another possibility is to use a Jane variant — it won’t be quite as great as having Hillary’s exact middle name and that of her ancestors, but it could be pretty great nonetheless. If the long A of Jane and the surname is particularly problematic, maybe even switching to Joan or Jean would suffice? Otherwise, there are so many great options: Jane is a John variant, so any of the feminine John variants would work, like Gianna and Joanna, Hanne/Hanna, Yana and Siobhan. Another possibility is Ione, as some sites that argue that Ione is a feminine form of John. Nameberry says, “Some livelier foreign versions of Joan include Giovanna, Siobhan, Ione and Juana” and apparently there are several places in literature (like Shakespeare!) where Ione was used interchangeably with Joan — so cool, right?
Grace: Lovely, simple and sweet.
Susanna: The girl name we’ve hung on to through all our six boys! I love it, such a great name.
Heidi: Another that I would classify as simple and sweet, like Polly and Grace.
Marian: Marian always strikes me as one of the stronger Mary names, probably because of Maid Marian — I love that association!
Fern and Daisy: Fantastic names!
Regarding their family names, I assumed Hillary and her hubs would probably pull from them for the middle name, and didn’t consider them as first-name contenders, I hope that’s correct!

Alrighty, so I already mentioned that I always do research in the Baby Name Wizard, and really enjoyed seeing what the results of it were for this family — I love seeing names emerge as matches for parents’ overall style. I also plugged Gideon, Jasper, Polly, Heidi, and Fern into the Name Matchmaker on babynamewizard.com (it only lets you do three names at a time, so I tried to choose the girl names that I thought would give me the best results; I searched Gideon, Jasper, and Polly first; Gideon, Jasper, and Heidi second; and Heidi, Polly, and Fern third), which revealed some additional ideas. Based on all that, these are my suggestions:

(1) Naomi
The style matches for Gideon were really exciting to me, I felt like they nailed what I perceive to be Hillary and her hubs’ style pretty well. Naomi was one of them, and I love that Naomi is, in my mind, exactly the kind of name they’d be looking for with “slightly more traditional, but still not too common.” Although … when I looked it up I discovered it was actually no. 69 in 2017, which I’m so surprised by! But I still love it for this family, and I think it also matches up really well with the feel of Susanna (especially spelled Susannah).

(2) Lydia
If sisters are going to have names that seem different in style, I like for there to be some other thread that links them together. When I saw Lydia as a match for Gideon, Grace, and Susanna, I thought it might be perfect because, like Chiri, it’s a place name — the Lydia in the bible was so named because she was from Lydia.

(3) Eden
This, too, was influenced by Chiri’s name, as well as by the fact that it’s a match for Gideon — Eden is a place name, of course, and I think it goes really well with the other kiddos’ names. It was no. 139 in 2017, so I don’t think it’s too unusual (but not too common either). I also looove the nickname Edie!

(4) Mercy
As I said, I really felt like the style matches for Gideon were such great suggestions for this family, and Mercy was another one! Like Grace it’s a virtue-type name, and I saw quite a bit of it (and other names with the same meaning) during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. I did think that it could also work as a nickname for Meredith, if Hillary liked the idea of using her family name Meredith as a first name … Meredith Joyce would even bring in the “cy” to add to the “Mer” of Meredith, making it all very pleasing!

(5) Violet, Rose, Lily, Poppy
None of these except for Poppy are unusual, being nos. 48, 141, and 33 for the first three in 2017 (though Rose’s no. 141 is pretty great!), and Poppy was no. 689 — a top 1000 name! I’m so surprised by that as well! They were all matches for this family’s style: Violet for Gideon, Jasper, and Daisy; Rose for Jane and Daisy, and Rosie for Polly; Lily for Grace; and Poppy for Polly and Daisy! And of course I mentioned Posie/Posey and Marjolaine/Marjolein above, which are floral (ish) as well. So I thought it made sense to offer a, ahem, bouquet of choices for Hillary and her hubs! Haha! And actually, Susanna means both “lily” and “rose” in Hebrew! I’m not sure how that ties in, but it’s too cool not to mention.

(6) Adelaide
This was one of the results of the search on the Name Matchmaker, and it caught my eye because it’s a place name like Chiri and it’s also a variant of Heidi! At no. 276, it’s a nice option for familiar but not too common.

(7) Felicity
My last idea for this family is Felicity, which, like Adelaide, was another of the results on the Name Matchmaker. It’s no. 347 and very much like Adelaide in terms of being familiar but not too common. I also like that its meaning is “happiness,” which is a great meaning for a baby whose siblings are “ecstatic” about her arrival! I also like that Chiri is pronounced like Cheery, which gives it a really happy, sunny feel to me, so that could be a subtle tie-in between the two girls’ names. I also recently did a post on “meaning” nicknames, and one of the ones I’d seen suggested elsewhere was Bliss for Felicity, because of Felicity’s meaning — sisters Chiri and Felicity nicknamed Bliss might be taking the happy connection too far, but on the other hand … it could be perfect! If they like the idea of Felicity, but would prefer more nickname options, I did a spotlight of the name here. One of the ideas is Lily, which is a nice connection to the floral names I suggested above; another is Liddy, which is like Lydia.

And those are my ideas for Hillary and her hubs’ new baby girl! ! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Gideon, Chiri, and Jasper?

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady, is now available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon! It’s a perfect for expectant mamas, baby showers, and just because. 🙂 If you feel moved to leave a review on Amazon, it would be greatly appreciated!