Birth announcement: Blaise Maximilian Kolbe!

June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Powerful patrons, Sole Searching Mama

I was catching up on Instagram this morning and apparently I’m a bit behind because lookee what I found — Sole Searching Mama‘s baby arrived last week!

The consultation I posted for Susan and her husband last month for a girl’s name was so fun, but not needed, since they welcomed their seventh SON — the incredibly named Blaise Maximilian Kolbe!

I especially love that Benedict and Blaise are the two bookends (currently anyway — we all know about God and His plans for us!) — there’s something really aesthetically pleasing about that! (I’d also love to know what Susan and her husband decided on for a girl — Susan, if you’re reading this and you don’t mind sharing, please do!)

Congratulations Mom and Dad and big brothers Benedict, Andrew, George, Henry, Charles, and Joseph, and happy birthday Baby Blaise!!

Birth announcement: Anastasia Marri!

June 1, 2016June 2, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Mary, Powerful patrons, Scandinavian names

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

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

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

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

Faith Immaculata
Felicity Rose
George Patrick
Phillip Christopher
Karolina Mercy

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

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

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Anastasia Marri

Birth announcement: Taavi Ross!

May 31, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Biblical names, Catholic baby names, Finnish names, Powerful patrons

I posted a consultation for Shannon, from the blog We, A Great Parade, and her husband back in April, and she’s let me know her baby has arrived, a handsome little boy with the handsomely eye-catching name … Taavi Ross!

Shannon writes,

“Hi Kate! Wanted to let you know that we welcomed our son on May 20th! (We barely missed a shared birthday on the 19th!) 9 lb 6 oz and 21 inches long. It was a peaceful and quick labor, and we are so thankful for his little presence in our family.

His name is Taavi Ross Evans!

Taavi (pronounced tah-vee) is a derivative of David and means “beloved”. It was a name we found after you and I did the consultation, so not one I had mentioned to you. My husband and I love the sound, the meaning, and the nod to both the poet-king and the bishop Saint who is also the patron of poets! Ross is a family name on my husband’s side.

Big brothers Alyosha and Moses are adorably proud.

Thanks for all your and your readers’ help brainstorming! It was such a fun and helpful experience!“

I love all the meaning behind this little guy’s name! And I’m always so intrigued by Finnish names, it is SO cool to see a family use one.

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

Taavi Ross

Birth announcement: Henry Francis!

May 21, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Powerful patrons

I did a private consultation for a mama last summer who was due any day with her first baby, a boy, and she just let me know that she and her husband had given him the ultra-handsome combo … Henry Francis!

She writes,

“This email is very overdue, but I just wanted to send a quick thanks for all of your help in picking a name for our son, Henry Francis! I went into labor after reading your email later that day and got caught up in the fog of new motherhood without properly thanking you!

Your wonderful advice really helped us feel good about Henry Francis and we enjoyed all of your ideas … We are definitely keeping your ideas saved for future children.”

You guys, she went into labor after reading my email! Talk about getting it in under the wire!! 😀 I love the combo Henry Francis, well done Mom and Dad!

Congratulations to the new parents, and happy birthday Baby Henry!!

Henry Francis and his beautiful mama

Birth announcement: Chiara Margaret Teivanui-O-Te-Marae!

May 20, 2016May 20, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Cook Island names, Powerful patrons

I posted a consultation for Chelsea and her husband (they’re in New Zealand!) back in January, and Chelsea’s let me know her little one has arrived — a little girl whom they’ve given the full-of-significance gorgeous name Chiara Margaret Teivanui-O-Te-Marae!

Chelsea writes,

“Just to let you know that our baby was born on 24 April. We’ve named her Chiara Margaret Teivanui-O-Te-Marae. Chiara for Chiara Luce Badano, Margaret for 2 of her great grandmothers, with the meaning together along the lines of ‘bright pearl’.

Teivanui-O-Te-Marae was her x5 great grandmother, and means along the lines of ‘bringer of all the people together’. Teivanui-O-Te-Marae was the Queen of the island of Atiu in the Cook Islands. That was also the island that we got engaged on as 20 year olds. We decided to keep the full title, as a tribute as well to her great grandmother even if it makes her name very long!“

(For an explanation of Cook Island names, see Chelsea’s consultation — so interesting!)

Isn’t that just an amazing name?? Baby Chiara joins big sibs:

Zelie Rose
Gianna Beryl
Theodore Ignatius Tutonga
Dominic Joseph John

What a beautifully named family. 😍 Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Chiara!!

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Chiara Margaret Teivanui-O-Te-Marae

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Chiara “in her baptism gown (handed down from my family, my mother and her siblings and cousins wore it). She was baptised on Sunday on the feast of Pentecost, 3 weeks old.”

Birth announcement: Rosalie Caoilfhinn!

May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Irish names, Powerful patrons

Back during Christmas week I posted a consultation for Laura and her husband, and Laura has let me know her little one has arrived — a girl! And she’s been given the amazingly beautiful name … Rosalie Caoilfhinn!

Laura writes,

“Rosalie Caoilfhinn was born on April 18 at 11:08pm, weighing 8lbs, 2oz
and measuring in at 21 in. Since she arrived she has just been
showered by love, particularly by big sister Clara. (Clara told me all
along that it was either a girl or a sister!)

We are so grateful for our consultation, and actually, one of the
names that I had written off right away ended up in our final two:
Juliet (Beatrice was the planned middle name.) We had both names ready
when my grandmother died. She had always promised that when she died,
if she was able, she would send us roses to let us know she’d made it
to heaven. A couple of days later, a cluster of red roses bloomed on
my yellow rose bush. Well, when God sends you a sign, I guess you take
it!

That mysterious occurrence, combined with my research on Bl. Rosalie
Rendu and our baby girl’s head full of pretty auburn hair just sealed
the deal for us. Rosalie it is! (We’ve been using your suggested n.n.
“Ree” and daddy’s also been calling her “Li-li” to go along with
Clara’s “Lou-lou.”) And now we have Juliet Beatrice on the list if we
ever have another little girl.”

What a story!! I could just hug Laura for sharing it with us — name stories often have layers of meaning, and it’s such a special thing to get to hear how God works through them. ❤ ❤ ❤

Rosalie joins big sister:

Clara Louise

And I’m just dying over sisters Clara and Rosalie. Beautiful job, Mom and Dad! Congratulations to the whole family and happy birthday Baby Rosalie!!

Rosalie Caoilfhinn with sister Clara and her roses from heaven

Birth announcement: Clara Grace!

May 11, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Mary, Powerful patrons

I posted a consultation for Maureen and her husband back in March, and she’s let me know her baby girl has arrived and been given the loveliest lovely … Clara Grace!

Maureen writes,

“Just wanted to let you know that our Clara Grace entered the world on Wednesday May 4 at 4:37am. She was 8lbs. 10oz. and 21.25″ long and we love her to pieces already. She is learning to sleep through big sister, Eleanor’s antics and Eleanor is learning to show her affection gently. We can’t thank you enough for helping us name our sweet girl!“

Clara Grace!! I love it!! Extra exciting is that Clara was one of the ideas I offered in the consultation!! 😍 👊 🎉

Congratulations to Mom and Dad and big sister Eleanor Maureen, and happy birthday Baby Clara!!

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Clara Grace

Birth announcement: Bernadette Rosemary!

May 10, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement, Uncategorized Catholic baby names, Mary, Powerful patrons

I did a private consultation for Hannah and her husband a couple of months ago, and I was delighted to be alerted to this on Twitter a couple weeks ago:

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So I clicked over to see this birth announcement:

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Bernadette Rosemary!!! What a beautifulllll name!!! I emailed Hannah to congratulate her and she offered this further fun bit of name info:

“We were going back and forth about her name for almost a day until we decided on Bernadette. It has always been one of my favorite names and Saints, and I just kept going back to it. We really loved Regina “Ruby” as well though, and my husband was loving Zelie. Ultimately, Bernadette just felt so right and I love it more every time I say her name. I think what was holding me back was not having a nick name that I loved for her, but for now we just call her by her full name, and it feels so right.

I was set on Frances for her middle name but Ralph didn’t love it. I thought it would be a great idea to honor Mary with her middle name because of Saint Bernadette’s devotion to Mary. Rose was also my grandmothers name so Rosemary it was! I love the combination of the two names and how “old fashioned” they sound together.”

I love name stories like that, where a bunch of different elements come together and just feel right. ((sighing with happiness))

Baby Bernadette joins her amazingly named big sibs:

Jack Timothy
Remy Patrick
Liam Edwin
Lucille Estelle

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

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Bernadette Rosemary

Baby name consultant: Warrior Saints

May 9, 2016 sanctanomina Baby name consultant Catholic baby names, Powerful patrons, Warrior Saints

I hope you all got to see the three (three!) birth announcements I posted yesterday — three beautiful little ladies with three gorgeous names! Be sure to check them out if you haven’t yet seen them: one, two, three. (I have a couple more coming this week, wheeee!! 😀 )

Today’s consultation is a bit more private than usual, and a whole lotta awesome: Parents with a military background recently asked for ideas for names for the warrior saints theme they’ve already started with their kiddos and hope to continue for both boys and girls. I love that!! I mean really. How cool.

I came up with a bunch of ideas (there are a lot of saints who were soldiers!), and I’m really hoping you all can round out these lists with your own ideas!

Girls

First off, there’s St. Joan of Arc, the girl soldier who helped bring victory to France and died for her faith. Such a great patron for a little girl! I did a spotlight of her name not too long ago.

Then there are three biblical women who I see routinely referred to as “warriors”: Deborah, Jael, and Judith. In the intro to the book Women Warriors in Romantic Drama by Wendy C. Nielsen is this sentence (the link takes you right to it): “Women warriors such as Joan of Arc, and Judith, Deborah, and Jael in the Bible, fight openly with honor for justice and freedom,” which is pretty awesome. You can read more about Deborah and Jael here (their story is linked), and Judith here; I also spotlighted Judith recently here, including a Marian link to the name.

Then there’s St. Quiteria, who has a pretty amazing story. I actually posted a birth announcement recently for a little girl named after St. Quiteria (her parents decided to go with the spelling Kyteria).

Otherwise, there are loads and loads of Saints who were soldiers—all men as far as I can tell, except St. Joan, but some pretty great female variants include:

Adrianne or Adrienne, for St. Adrian of Nicomedia (you could even use Adrian for a girl)

Alexandra et al., for the Sts. Alexander

Andrea, for Bl. Andrea Bordino or Bl. Andrea Gallerani (a pretty great option, since you’d use the Saint’s exact name)

Caroline or Charlotte or Carla for any of the Sts. Charles that were soldiers (lots!)

Irene for St. Irenaeus

Hyacinth or Jacinta, for St. Hyacinth (Jacinta is the Spanish and Portuguese feminine version of Hyacinth, and Hyacinth on its own can be a girl’s name as well)

Lucy for St. Lucius

Marian, for Bl. Marian Górecki (this Bl. Marian was a man, but how great is it that you could use his exact name of Marian?!)

Kostka, for Bl. Stanislaw Kostka Starowieyski (Kostka struck me as really do-able for a girl; I’ve seen a priest take it as part of his religious name but in his case, and in the Bl. Stanislaw who was a soldier, it was in honor of St. Stanislaus Kostka, who’s a different guy and not a soldier)

Victoria, for the several Sts. Victor who were soldiers (I also love the tie-in to Our Lady of Victory and Jesus Himself as The Victor)

Boys

There are loads on that list I linked to above, but I just picked a few of my favorites to include here:

Adrian (Bl. Adrian Fortescue and St. Adrian of Nicomedia)

Alexander (there are a bunch of Sts. Alexander on the list of soldiers, and Alexander the Great is a common enough warrior reference)

Andrew (Bl. Andrew Dotti and St. Andrew the Tribune)

Bruno (Bl. Bruno of Rommersdorf and St. Bruno of Ebsdorf; doesn’t Bruno just seem like a warrior name?!)

Charles (several)

David (Bl. David Carlos-Marañon, St. David of Scotland, and King David himself)

Dominic (Bl. Dominic Collins and Bl. Dominic Dosso)

Edward (Bl. Edward Joannes Maria Poppe)

Gerard (Bl. Gerard of Clairvaux)

Ignatius (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Leo (several)

Marco (Bl. Marco of Jativa)

Peter (several)

Raymond (Bl. Raymond de Blanes and St. Raymond of Fitero)

Simon (Bl. Simon Ballachi)

William (Bl. William of Andleby, Bl. William of Maleval, St. William of Gellone)

There are several whose names are actually given as “St. So-and-So the Soldier,” which is really cool:

St. Andreas the Soldier (Andrew)
St. Lucius the Soldier (Luke could work for this one, or Lucas)
St. Mark the Soldier
St. Maximianus the Soldier (Max)
St. Peter the Soldier

(There are others but I thought these were the most user friendly.)

Finally, the patron saints of soldiers include:

St. Adrian of Nicomedia
St. Faith
St. George
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. James the Greater
St. Louis IX
St. Martin of Tours
St. Nicholas

(Full list of patron saints of soldiers here.)

So there are a lot to choose from! What others can you all add?

Birth announcement: Mercy Adelaide!

May 8, 2016 sanctanomina Birth announcement Catholic baby names, Jubilee Year of Mercy, Mary, Powerful patrons

A mama I did a private consultation has let me know her baby girl has arrived, and she’s been given the fabulous first+middle combo … Mercy Adelaide!

She writes,

“Thanks for all of your suggestions, it brought about a lot of conversation regarding naming our baby. We considered all of your suggestions as well as our list. We still were undecided even after she was born. We needed to meet her to know for sure. She was born 4/7/2016 at 3:01 am (so early!) and was 7lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches. We settled on Mercy Adelaide. Mercy for the reasons you suggested, and it has also had a deeper meaning for our family in recent months. Adelaide means kindness, and she’s also the Patron Saint of large families, which is now fitting.”

I’m just dying over Mercy Adelaide, what an amazingly awesome name for a little girl!! I would love it anyway, but it’s so extra great that she was born during the Year of Mercy, how meaningful. She joins her equally well named big siblings: