Powerful patrons

The Marshall Kids

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Okay, so I made a huge name blunder by not digging around to find Taylor Marshall’s other kids’ names after I shared that he and his wife had welcomed their eighth baby … and then eclare said they were named in a video in the actual post that I’d linked to … and I didn’t even remember there being a video, but indeed I clicked over and there it was … but only six of the eight were named so I did my due diligence and dug a little deeper and yes, I now know the eight Marshall children’s names. Whew! It’s hard work staying on top of the Catholic baby naming world! 😉

They are, all of them, most wonderfully well named:

Gabriel
Mary and Rose (twins) (I believe)
Jude
Becket
Blaise
Elizabeth called Lizzie
Margaret Grace Carol (Maggie? I don’t think he’s said so …)

*Sigh.* I love each one. A great great bunch of names (and a great bunch of kids, if they’re anything like they were on this video. So cute!)

Also, when Taylor announced Miss Margaret was on her way, he asked for name ideas. What. Where was I. I don’t know, I think I was still feeling scattered and overwhelmed with awe that people were actually reading my blog (who am I kidding, I’m STILL in awe!). So sorry to have dropped the ball! Maybe I’ll have it together better when Marshall Baby #9 is on the way! 😉 (No pressure Taylor and Joy! We all get it! God’s will be done! Enjoy this babyswoon with your darling newborn! ❤ )

Dealing with hard-to-handle saints’ names

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Our reader Charlotte, who blogs at To Harriet Louise, commented thusly on the Caroline/Charlotte post: “This comment about Clare/Caroline made me smile because I’ve started reading Lives of the Saints, and just today I was thinking, “I think the only way I’d be able to use some of these names is if I used some of the same letters or just scrambled them around!””

And I said: “Oh do share! What were some of your ideas?”

And she went ahead and wrote a whole post! Rethinking Saints’ Names. Charlotte’s got a lot of great ideas for names like Aelred and Porphyry — !! I think her approach is a great one for dealing with those kinds of names — I just can’t see a little Porphyry today, great as the saint may be. And when the intention is to honor the saint, and to call him or her to mind in the saying of one’s child’s name, I really think this idea is totally legitimate.

Have any of you given your child a name in honor of a particular saint, but the name you chose wasn’t the same as the saint’s name, and wasn’t a variant, but was something more like what we’re talking about here — using sounds or letters from the name, or a portion of the name? (I know one of you honored St. Polycarp with a little Polly, which is just like voila! So great!)

More regarding patron saints

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As a follow-up to my patron saint post of last week, I wanted to be sure you knew about CatholicSaints.Info, which I use a lot for saint info and which I’d linked to in my CatholicMom.com article — on its homepage are a bunch of different patronages listed by general topic (e.g., Patron Saints of Cities and Patron Saints of Family Matters) as well as saints who had specific life states, occupations, etc. (e.g., saints who were converts, widowers, visionaries …), which can make for quick research when you’re looking for a patron saint. It also has patronage topics listed alphabetically, as well as a search function if that’s easier. As with my Caroline/Charlotte post, it was as easy as searching for those names and seeing the listing of saints or blesseds that came up for each one. Thanks to Terry for creating and maintaining such a great resource!

Patron saints for Caroline and Charlotte

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty , , ,

One of the question I’ve gotten the most frequently by readers over the past few months is whether there’s any saintly connection for the names Caroline and Charlotte. If I’d had my druthers about me I would have tried to post about this last week on the actual feast day, but since I feel like I rarely have my druthers about me (!), I don’t usually have it together for feast days and holy days in the sense of posting name-appropriate posts for those days.

So the feast day I’m referring to is for my very favorite patron saint for the Charles names, of which Caroline and Charlotte (and Karoline, Karolina, Carolina, Carla, Karla, Carol(e), Karol(e), Carlotta, and Carly) are a part, being feminine variants of Charles: our great St. John Paul II, whose pre-papal name was Karol, which is the Polish for Charles. I know loads of little ones named in his honor in this way.

I do think C/Karoline/a and Charlotte are the most popular ways for girls to be named after JP2 right now, but our reader skimac left this in a comment last week:

“I was looking at usage/popularity stats on ourbabynamer.com for Karol and Karole. The Karol variation existed alongside the significantly more popular Carol/Carole during it’s midcentury heyday. Carol was almost 200% more popular at peak, then both fell out of favor overall, but look at the blips in the stats in 2005 (the year JPII died). Karol reached its all time high of 315 (previous high for year was 257 in 1958). Following 2 years still elevated in comparison to previous 3 decades and Karole variation back on chart (5 baby girls) for first time in a dozen years. Then another jump in 2012 which was the year following his beatification. Wonder if this year, when stats are released, we will see a bump again since it is it would be a year following his canonization in [April] 2014? Definitely reflects the John Paul II effect in Catholic naming.”

karol1karol2

I was surprised to see this, since I think the general perception of Carol(e) and Karol(e) are that they’re still a little dated … but then skimac also shared that blogger/author/apologist/BigCatholicGuy Taylor Marshall and his wife had their eighth baby last week, on JP2’s feast day!, and gave her Carol as one of her middle names. So! Carol(e) and Karol(e) are certainly viable options.

There are other patron saints available for Caroline and Charlotte though, which is perhaps particularly helpful for those who already have a little John Paul running around. There are a bunch of Saints and Blesseds Charles — my personal faves are St. Charles Borromeo and St. Charles Garnier, and even Charlemagne — yes, THE Charlemagne (which translates as Charles the Great) — is a Blessed. If you preferred a female patron, there are also Bl. Karolina Kózka, Bl. Theresa Gerhardinger, born Caroline (and also known as Bl. Caroline Gerhardinger or Bl. Karolina Gerhardinger), Bl. Charlotte Davy, and Bl. Charlotte Lucas (Pride and Prejudice fans, take note!).

What are your favorite patrons for Caroline and Charlotte?

New article on patron saints at CatholicMom.com

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My October column is up over at CatholicMom.com! Finding your patron saint (or being found). Please hop on over and comment — I’d love to hear your thoughts/perspectives/experiences!

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It never ceases to be a thrill to see my name in print. 🙂

Birth announcement: Juliet Rose!

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Krystin’s consultation posted at the end of August for their little green bean (=gender unknown), and she emailed me today to let us know the baby has arrived! She writes,

“Hi Kate! I wanted to update you on the birth of our little GIRL (we didn’t know the gender beforehand!) She was born on 9/13/15 and we named her Juliet Rose, one of your suggestions 🙂 My husband and I both fell in love with the name and we feel like it fits our baby girl perfectly! Thanks again for your insights and suggestions!“

Juliet Rose! Can you hear me sighing with happiness through the computer?? Juliet is one of my very favorite names in the whole world, and paired with Rose? I mean, come on. Goooorgeous with a capital G.

Congratulations to Mom and Dad and big sibs Luke, Bennett, and Tessa, and happy birthday Baby Juliet!!

juliet_rose

Juliet Rose

Birth announcement: Emily’s boy!

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Hooray!!! Emily posted her birth announcement!!!!!!!! Her little guy has been given a very handsome name: George Stephen!

Grace (capital G) was the first to suggest George, followed by grace (small g) and eclare — good thinking ladies!! This blog would not be what it is without all of you!

Be sure to hop over there and see his beautiful face. Congratulations to Mom and Dad and big brother Simon, and happy birthday Baby George!!

#PopeInUS: Family saints, Mother Mary, Jim Gaffigan

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That Pope Francis. ❤ To Congress: “Thank you for the lunch invitation! But I’ll be eating with the homeless.” To the Little Sisters of the Poor: “I’m with you, Sisters.” To John Boehner: “I’m gonna make you CRY.” To America: “Let me refer to you as the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave.’ Let me refer to your important and beloved people.” To the United Nations: “In all countries, in light of all issues, real people need to come first, with a special care needed for the poorest.” That man. ❤

Name-wise, did you see that the World Meeting of Families, which Pope Francis will be attending in Philadelphia tomorrow, has a listing of Saints for the Family? So many of our very favorite saints and very favorite names:

Pope St. John Paul II
St. Gianna
Mary, Undoer of Knots (Pope Francis has a special devotion to her)
St. Joseph
St. John Bosco
St. Anne (our very own)
St. Joachim
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Raphael

Speaking of Mary, Undoer of Knots … I’m dying to talk about that other Marian name we were all atwitter about yesterday: Maristella! Several of you said you’d never heard of it before, and I hadn’t either until someone suggested it for Simcha’s baby. (I don’t agree with that commenter’s husband though — despite the fact that it’s technically an Italian variant, as I actually shared with the mama of Maristella “one of the things I love about [the Irish] naming style, especially historically (perhaps less so now), is their heavy use of saints’ names of all cultures/ethnicities.” I know of Irish girls/ladies named Maria (read that only if you want to cry your eyes out), Jacinta, Lucia, Gemma, Philomena … and there’s not a huge amount of difference between Maristella and Isabella, which is used by all sorts of Americans=diverse ethnic backgrounds … anyway. Rant over!) So of course it’s a version of Stella Maris=Star of the Sea and — so cool! — the UK’s Apostleship of the Sea has Stella Maris Masses several times right around now! The pic I posted to Instagram for Maristella is a particularly lovely one too.

And speaking of five children (because our Maristella is one of five, nice segue right?! 😉 ) … Jim Gaffigan (who has five children–>there’s the connection!) is performing at the World Meeting of Families for an audience of over a million people that might possibly include Pope Francis. Wha??? Jim’s got great, solid, saintly names for his kids in real life:

Marre (very intrigued by this one … a user-submitted entry on Behind the Name says it’s a Swedish diminutive of Maria, Martin, and other Mar- names, and that it’s pronounced MAHR-ah … do any of you know anything more/different?)
Jack
Katie Louise
Michael
Patrick

And for his kids on his show:

Elizabeth
Mary
James
Joseph
Daniel (? not sure on this one; I know it’s also the name of an adult character)

(If anyone knows Jim or his wife Jeannie, feel free to point them in my direction — I’d LOVE to chat with them about their names!)

And that’s my name-related Pope Francis wrap-up for today! (I know you love how I made a whole big name post out of the Pope’s visit. 😀 )

Birth announcement: Maristella Katherine!

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Today’s birth announcement comes to you courtesy of a mama who emailed me a few short days before her due date hoping for thoughts/fresh suggestions, and I have to tell you that I LOVE last minute emails! It’s so exciting and such a privilege to be invited into the whirlwind of the newborn time.

So this mama was expecting her fifth baby, a girl, and her other kiddos are named:

Jillian Rose
August Robert
Theodore (Teddy) Joseph
Noelle Teresa

And just a few short days after I got back to her, her little one was born and given the amazingly beautiful, meaningful name of Maristella Katherine! There are so many things about her name that I love! I mean, the first is the obvious: it’s SO Marian, with Maristella being a version of the Marian title Stella Maris. And I love that it has two L’s in it, like her sisters, but none of the sisters’ names are matchy. Nice job!

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

maristella_katherine

Maristella Katherine

Cate: Closet Catholic?

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So yesterday’s post about little Roman had me thinking about actress Cate Blanchett because she also has a son named Roman — Roman Robert, which is another totally fab alliterative combo — and then I was thinking about her other kids’ names (because I’ve long loved each one), and was so struck (again) by the heavy-hitting saintliness of the names that I had to look up whether or not she’s Catholic. Because who else would name their children:

Dashiell John
Roman Robert
Ignatius Martin
Edith Vivian Patricia

So we have:

I mean, really. The only one that doesn’t scream ROME! (figuratively or literally 😀 ) is Dashiell, and while his middle name mightn’t seem particularly faithy if he was an only child or if his sibs had different sorts of names, within the context of the other kids, allllll I see is St. John [whoever]. Also, apparently they named their first after Cate’s husband’s fave author Dashiell Hammett, who was baptized Catholic. So! (And now I feel like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where everything turns out to be originally Greek. “Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course! Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter. So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe. You see: robe, kimono. There you go!” 😀 )

Also — did you know her full name? I only just read it and I’m dying, it’s goooorgeous: Catherine Élise (with the accent and all!). Her great taste in names is genetic, clearly. (Her sibs are Robert and Genevieve. It just gets better and better.) And I’m 1000% not surprised that her full name is so beautiful and classy, since she seems that way herself. (And parents, take heart: apparently “[s]he had a penchant for dressing in masculine clothing, and went through goth and punk phases during her teenaged years, shaving her head at one point.”)

Anyway, to answer the original question: It doesn’t seem as though she’s Catholic after all — she was actually included in a list of Atheist, Agnostic, or Non-Religious Actors and Directors. So lots of time spent today on a lovely lady who’s only connection to our blog is her (probably) inadvertent use of some amazing saint names! What do you all think of her name taste? Are you as surprised as I to see so many Catholicky Catholic names used by a non-Catholic family?