Rosa and her husband are expecting their fifth baby — and first boy!! He joins big sisters:
Arabella Katherine
Victoria Elizabeth
Jeanne Frances (in heaven)
Kateri Gianna
I love these names!! They’re so feminine and beautiful!!
Rosa writes,
“We are having the hardest time finding an agreeable name for this little one. I’m desperate! I’m convinced he will never have a name 😂. I’ve taken to calling him Sine Nomine.”
(Sine Nomine! SO BRILLIANT!! I told Rosa that I wish I’d thought of that when I was expecting Luke — as it was, all I came up with was Sanctino, which isn’t even correct!)
“Names my husband likes so far are Kieran, Xavier, and Beckett. Unfortunately we have a friends or family who have boys with these names. They are all at least 4 years older than our little man though. [Hubby] just doesn’t love the idea of copying names. I’m also afraid Kieran and Kateri might be too close.
[Hubby] is a HUGE fan of the nickname Ace, so he would concede to Ignatius as a middle name.
I don’t have any names that I am especially turned off by although James and Michael are on the no list for [my husband]. [He] has also said no to the following names that were on my maybe list: David, Kolbe, Fulton, Pius, Leo, Liam, Aquinas (Quin), Thomas, Fin, Augustine (Gus), Wyatt, Casey.
I would love to honor my favorite uncle, David. He just passed away this summer at age 65, may his soul rest in peace. I actually had been calling this little guy David Ignatius since just a few days after I found out I was pregnant, but [husband] has rejected David. Unfortunately David is also my Father’s name and [my husband] has drawn a clear line on namesakes for any of our parents, that means David, Dewitt, Robert, and Edward are also off the table. I have totally failed in finding any David derivatives. I would also love to honor our Blessed Mother. My Birthday is on the Feast of Our Lady of Victory/the Rosary and I have been especially drawn to Mary ever since I was little. My favorite of her titles are Mother of Mercy and Cause of our Joy. The key would be finding names that [my husband] likes, I’ve been drawing blanks on that front too.”
This papa is a tough customer! I enjoyed trying to find names that I thought Rosa would love, that her hubby would be okay with as well. Hopefully our thoughts — yours and mine — are helpful!
Okay, so since they haven’t had any boys yet, I was interested to see what names are on Rosa’s and her husband’s list, to see if they would follow the style of their girls (which I might describe as long and slightly exotic-feeling), or if they would have a totally different style for boy names (as often happens). I think, after seeing their lists, that they retain the “exotic-ness” — or perhaps better described as being on the more rare and unexpected side — with most of them, and then they do have some long ones as well (Aquinas, Augustine). So they’re not terribly different from their girls, which made research a bit easier — I always like to try to find names that fit in well with the older siblings.
I like the names on Mister’s list — Kieran, Xavier, and Beckett are all interesting and somewhat unexpected, and Xavier especially is a good match with their girls’ names. I agree with Rosa that Kieran and Kateri are overly similar — I wouldn’t call it a deal breaker necessarily, but since there are so many other names that could fit the bill, I would encourage them to cross Kieran off the list, or perhaps move it to the middle name spot. If Beckett is off the list, I wonder what Rosa and her hubs would think of Bennett? It’s so similar to Beckett, and it’s a medieval diminutive of Benedict, which gives it a great saintly connection. Actually … I quite like the full Benedict with their girls! I wonder what they would think of Benedict?
I love the nickname Ace too! Ignatius is a great way to get to it; some others that I’ve mentioned on the blog include Aloysius, Athanasius, and Atticus — I particularly like Atticus for this faily, and there are at least two Sts. Atticus. It was also listed as a style match for Arabella, Victoria, and Kateri when entered all together on the Name Matchmaker on babynamewizard.com.
The names from Rosa’s list that feel like the closest style matches to Arabella, Victoria, Jeanne, and Kateri to me are Kolbe, Fulton, Pius, Leo, Aquinas, Thomas, and Augustine (though I like all the names on her list). But what I’d really love to do is find a way for Rosa to have her David Ignatius! I love that combo, I love the meaning, I love how significant it is to her. Some variants of David that might work include:
— Dawson: This is my favorite for them — it means “son of David,” but I wouldn’t let that worry them (the -son name are used out of context of being an actual son all the time: think of popular names Jameson, Emerson, Addison, Madison, etc.) — I would just think of it as a David variant. You all know that I always start a consultation by looking up the names the parents have used and those they like/are considering in the Baby Name Wizard as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity — I did so here, and Dawson was actually a specific style match for Colby (standing in for Kolbe, which doesn’t have its own entry), and since it’s a surname it’s also similar in style to Xavier, Beckett, Fulton, Aquinas, and Casey! Dawson Ignatius is very handsome!
— According to behindthename.com, Daveth is a Cornish variant of David — I like Daveth! It’s interesting! Daveth Ignatius is pretty amazing.
— Taavi is another David variant — a Finnish one — and I’ve actually had two readers that I did consultations for end up naming their sons Taavi! Check them out here and here.
— Dewey is a Welsh variant of David, and it kind of reminds me of Wyatt, so maybe Rosa would like it? Dewey Ignatius feels kind of retro cool.
Another really cool thing about the David names is that I included David in my book of Marian names because of the Marian title “Tower of David” (as listed in the Litany of Loreto) — Rosa said she’d love to honor our Blessed Mother, so a David name would definitely do it!
Regarding her dear uncle, since her hubby doesn’t want to use his first name, I wonder if Rosa’s uncle’s middle name is an option? Is his last name one that could work as a first name? Did he have a hobby that might lead to a name? Favorite saint? Even favorite ball player or similar? I was also thinking how Jonathan and David were friends in the bible — maybe Jonathan could nod to him in a way Rosa’s husband is okay with? I hope she can figure out a name that ties to her uncle!
As for names that might tie into Our Lady of Victory/Our Lady of the Rosary, Mother of Mercy, and Cause of Our Joy, some that I included in my book are:
— Dominic: St. Dominic is traditionally considered the saint to whom Our Lady gave her rosary, which makes it a great Marian/Rosary name! Another fun tidbit is that Dominic means “of the Lord” and was traditionally given to boys born on Sunday. Very cool! AND Dominic’s actually a style match for Rosa’s girls’ names! I love how long and sophisticated it is. I did a spotlight of Dominic here.
— Rosario: Not only could Rosario honor Our Lady in Rosa’s son’s name, but also herself! Though Rosario is feminine in Spanish, it’s masculine in Italian.
— Royce: Royce is a name I don’t see used too much, but I included it in my book because it’s from a medieval variant of Rose, which makes it Marian and Rosarian (and also a nod to Rosa)! It’s kind of debonair, no?
— Clement: Clement means “merciful” and many of my readers considered it for their babies during the Jubilee Year of Mercy (and other times too! Like this little guy).
— Leeson: If you can believe it, Leeson is an English surname that derives ultimately from the Latin laetitia, meaning “joy,” by way of the common medieval variant of it, Lettice, and its short form, Lece. Causa Nostrae Laetitiae is the Latin for “Cause of Our Joy,” so Leeson is a legit name that can be used for a boy that directly connects to Our Lady, Cause of Our Joy! Lee is an easy nickname, or they could totally use Leo, like from Rosa’s list!
Finally, there are a few names that seem like they’d be good matches for this family, based on my research in the Baby Name Wizard and in the Sibling Project on my blog (Kateri’s entry in the BNW focuses on Native American names as style matches, so I started the Sibling Project to list Catholic style matches for names like Kateri) and the Name Matchmaker on babynamewizard.com.
Based on all that, these are my additional suggestions for Rosa’s little guy:
(1) Sebastian
According to my research, Sebastian is a style match for all of their girls’ names, and it’s long like theirs, so it had to go on the list! Nickname options include Seb and Sebby, Bastian (like in Neverending Story — except Bastian was his given name), Bash (like Grace Patton’s son, brother of the Clement linked to above), and Baz. So many options! I think Ace could be tricked out of it, too, if Rosa’s hubby wanted to do so. St. Sebastian is the patron of athletes, so the Ace nickname could come from that, too.
(2) Tobias
Tobias was listed as a specific match for Arabella as well as Sebastian, which, since Sebastian is a match for all of the big sisters, makes Tobias a pretty good fit I think! I don’t know if you all are familiar with Emily Stimpson Chapman, but her little guy is Tobias who goes by Toby and he’s just the cutest. Even if they don’t care for Toby as a nickname, I love the full Tobias, so handsome!
(3) Felix
I loved that Felix is listed as a style match for Xavier from Rosa’s hubby’s list and Leo from hers! I’ve done birth announcements for two little Felixes — both named Felix Thomas, funny enough! Here and here, in case you want to get a feel for the kind of names Felix would be a brother for.
(4) Cooper or Cupertino
Like Felix, Cooper was a style match for a name from Rosa’s hubby’s list (Beckett) and a name from her list (Colby, standing in for Kolbe), which I love to see! I’ve had a couple of readers consider Cooper in honor of St. Joseph Cupertino (like this one), and I’ve heard of a little boy given the name Cupertino as his first name and called Cooper as a nickname — I love all of these options! For this family, I feel like Cupertino goes best with Arabella, Victoria, Jeanne, and Kateri, whether or not they use the nickname Cooper, but Cooper Ignatius is pretty amazing too!
(5) Cassian (Cash)
It’s funny how my mind works sometimes in regards to names — thinking about Ignatius as a potential middle name for Rosa’s little guy and her hubby’s love of the nickname Ace just reminded me of other nicknames for Ignatius I’ve heard, like Nash … so when I saw Cash listed as a style match for Ace in the BNW I took notice due to its similarity to Nash … And Cash made me think of the name Cassian, for St. John Cassian, which I think is SO handsome! It kind of sounds like Kieran, and it’s a surname like Xavier and Beckett, so hopefully Rosa’s husband won’t hate it! Here’s a birth announcement I did for a little Cassian, I love it.
(6) Maximilian, Milo
Maximilian is a match for Arabella, Victoria, and Xavier, and Max is a match for both Leo and Gus, and Rosa had Kolbe on her list, so I thought Maximilian was a great name to suggest! Max is such a darling nickname as well. However, Milo is also a style match for both Leo and Gus, and I’ve actually suggested Milo or Miles on the blog before as a nickname for Maximilian, and I thought doing something like that would be a little more distinctive — which is definitely how I’d characterize this family’s name taste! A bonus feature is that Miles and Milo have a history in Ireland of being used as the anglicization of the old Irish name Maolmhuire, which means “devotee of the Virgin Mary” — how cool is that?? And actually, for that matter, Maximilian is an entry in my book of Marian names because of St. Maximilian Kolbe and his love for her! Maximilian Daveth is kind of cool … or Milo Dawson … maybe?
(7) Gabriel
Gabriel is a match for the big sisters’ names and also for Xavier. It’s also an entry in my book of Marian names, for the First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel announces to Our Lady that she’s been chosen to be the mother of God’s Son. Great name, great patron saint, great Marian connection!
(8) Blaise
Blaise is much shorter than Arabella, Victoria, and Kateri, but it’s the same length as Jeanne and, like Jeanne, is also French — I like that connection to their little one in heaven! And I think Blaise has the same sophisticated feel as the other girls’ names. I also thought Rosa’s hubby might like it since it sounds like “blaze” which makes me think of “fast and speedy” … a similar kind of sportsy feel as Ace.
(9) Evander, Leander
My last suggestions actually didn’t come from my research, but rather from one of the Taavi’s birth announcements — he has a big brother named Evander and I thought ooh! Could be a good fit for this family! The Ace nickname thing also keeps making me think of sports, and I thought Evander Holyfield might appeal to Rosa’s husband. Then I thought, maybe that’s a bad association? It can be connected to a saint via the name Ivor (behindthename.com says Evander is an anglicized form of Iomhar, which is a Scottish form of Ivor, which is one of the names St. Ibar of Meath is also known as), but Evander also made me think of the (less boxing, more saintly) name Leander, and I quite like that with Rosa’s girls! They could also use Leo from Rosa’s list as a nickname if they wanted to.
And those are all my ideas for Rosa’s little guy! What do you all think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little brother of Arabella, Victoria, Jeanne, and Kateri?
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!
Sancta Nomina 