In observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, issued a beautiful statement that you might like to read. This is a lovely quote from it, which contains a quote from Dr. King himself:

“As Rev. King taught us, we must confront the evils of racism and prejudice with the love of Christ: ‘Deeply etched in the fiber of our religious tradition is the conviction that men are made in the image of God . . . the heirs of a legacy of dignity and worth.'”

Today’s consultation is for Lindsey and her husband as they prepare to welcome their fourth baby on earth, a little green bean (=gender unknown 🌱)! This little one joins big sibs:

Lukas Paul (“Lukas is a nod to the blessed mother’s fiat and Paul is my dad’s name. He sometimes goes by Luka [our intended nickname] but prefers and introduces himself as Lukas. St. Luke the evangelist and St. Paul are his patrons, and I love that they were friends! [Your blog was my permission for Lukas to be a Marian name. I wanted our firstborn to have a Marian connection but since he was a boy I struggled until reading your reasoning!]“)

Simon Peter (“Simon is my husband’s great grandfathers name, Peter is his grandfather’s name. St. Simon Peter is [obviously] his patron. He has been a long time favorite saint of mine so was very excited to get to honor him so completely in Simon’s name. Whenever I yell his full name out at the playground I sometimes get a comment like, ‘Wow! Y’all really went for it!’ Indeed, we did, haha.”)

“Lukas and Simon are twins so we wanted their middle names to have a special connection, and we absolutely love both Sts. Peter and Paul to represent the east and west, as I was raised Roman Catholic and my husband was raised Byzantine Catholic and we are trying to foster a love for both rites in our home!“

Rose Marie (+) (“Our baby in Heaven. When I returned from the doctors appointment confirming my miscarriage, one single rose was in bloom in our garden that wasn’t even budding before. A true gift from Our Blessed Mother and St. Therese. Now I always imagine her as a little rose interceding for our family in Mary’s heavenly bouquet. She and St. Therese frequently shower our family with roses.”)

Mika Rose (“[pronounced mee-kah] — we call her MikaRose mostly. I am a big fan of her full name, and really wish we had made it MikaRose and then a separate middle name. It will be a happy addition when she is old enough to pick a patron saint name. (: Mika is a Ukrainian nickname [at least in my husband’s family!] for Maria/Marika. She is named after my husband’s beloved grandmother, Maria, always called ‘Mika.’ Nicknames are Marika, Mee-shoo, and Meeksy [coined by big brothers and man has it stuck….] Rose is for her sister and great intercessor in Heaven! Her patron is Mary, specifically Our Blessed Mother’s title of Mystical Rose and St. Therese. MikaRose even got to meet her namesake and great-grandmother Baba Mika a few times before Baba’s passing, which was just so incredibly sweet.”)

Incredible names, right?? Of course, you have to know that I am SO THRILLED that Lindsey was reassured of Lukas’ Marian connection by my work here at Sancta Nomina! I love the twin connection between Lukas and Simon, the sister connection between Rose Marie in heaven and Mika Rose on earth, the connection between Mika Rose and her great-grandmother, and how Our Lady is all through these beautiful names. Lindsey and her husband have done such a great job!! It’s such a joy to read such thoughtful and beautiful naming!!

Lindsey continues,

“My husband’s family is of 100% Ukrainian heritage, so we do like names that can be said easily in Ukrainian OR have a Ukrainian connection (not required, just preferred), and have an obvious patronage. Top priority to have a family name as either first or middle.

For a baby boy we have always loved Clement, Blessed Clement Sheptetsky (a Ukrainian priest and hieromartyr!) as patron and obvious Marian connection in the Salve Regina (which was the Marian hymn sung at our wedding). My concern is this — does it mix with our other kids names well? I worry because Simon and Lukas are very familiar names and Clement is not so familiar. But MikaRose isn’t familiar at all. So maybe a good bridge name? Also a little nervous he’s going to be nicknamed ‘Clem’ on the soccer field, but could stick firm to having people call him Clement (our community is mostly understanding of using full names). Middle name needs to be a family name and a canonized saint (do we need an apostle to fit with brothers???): some options are Stephen, Aloysius, or Cole. 

Still discerning if Clement is the right fit… Other boy options we really like are:

Basil. My husband and I both love this name, so it’s a top contender. We love St. Basil the Great and the Ukrainian pronunciation Vasyyl is so sweet. Basil Aloysius is a really cool name. The more I write about it the more I love it! I don’t know which pronunciation we would use, like the herb (BAY-zil) or like the Saint (BAZ-ill). I like both, but don’t love pronunciation confusion. 

Jacob- we like the Ukrainian pronunciation and we have a sweet nickname for it ready to go. 

Vincent – my husband isn’t sold on this one, but could maybe be persuaded. This is my uncle’s name whom I was very, very close to. I love the nickname Vince. Some great patron saint options too. 

Thomas- we love the Ukrainian pronunciation, don’t love the nickname Tom. 

A few more we have tossed around are: Gabriel, Mateo, James (very close friends named this), Thaddeus, Francis, Max, Nicholas, Louis (much too close to Lukas IMO), Cyril (too close to Simon?), and Gregory (don’t like any nickname option for Gregory), and Josaphat (don’t think we would actually go for it, but it is an epic name).

Boy family names (not used yet): Aloysius, Stephen, Ihor, Myron, Cole, Matthew, Vincent, Maurice, Nicholas, Alexander

Girls names we have quite a few options we are shaking around the brainbox, and I feel that my problem is I have too many ‘ideas/themes’ that I’m making us work with. My first idea was to have all of our daughters named after a title of Mary in the Litany of Loreto. So, MikaRose is Mystical Rose and any sisters following would have one as well. I do love this idea, but am not loving how it’s making many of the names we love feel unusable. So I’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t HAVE to do this, but if we could find a name we just adore that also so happens to be a title of Mary, I would be so so happy haha. Also the girl name needs an obvious patron and a family name. AND the name needs to fit well with MikaRose because I feel like we can get away with boys having a style and girls having a style, but don’t want this girl name to match the boy’s too much and leave MikaRose’s hanging awkwardly beside them. ….And maybe be a Ukrainian name…. I’ve dug myself into a hole with all the rules 

Girl names we are currently discussing: 

Stella- we both adore this name, but it’s not a family name or Ukrainian! But maybe it doesn’t matter? Obvious Marian title with that one! 

Azelie – same like Stella. We love this name, just no family or Ukrainian connection! Pronunciation would be a struggle. 

Margaret – my mother’s name. I would LOVE to honor her in some way. Her middle name is Anne. Although I’m a little nervous that it’s too “regular/common” like Simon and Lukas, compared to MikaRose which is a very unique and not obviously Catholic name. We would not call her Margaret, though, we like the nicknames Daisy and Mae. Also lacks the Ukrainian connection, but since it’s my mom’s name and a saint we love, could get past that. One of my favorite books growing up was My Only May Amelia and I just love that name. Thinking Margaret ‘Mae’ Emilia could be sweet, and she might go by the double name some, just like MikaRose. 

Magdalena or Helena – (nickname Lena or just use full name!). [Hubby] likes Helena more than Magdalena, but is open to both. Worried about Helena pronunciation, there are so many pronunciations and spellings. HELL-ena, hell-Lay-na, Ha-leena, etc. Sometimes I see Halina which is a name I like, but I think different name completely? 

Lilia – MikaRose was almost Lilia, Cecilia, or Josephine. Worried if we have another girl or two she’ll have to be a flower and we will run out!! (Same goes with  Daisy nn for Margaret above …. But clearly we love flower names and already have a few in the running, so maybe we should embrace the floral theme!) This feels like a good, safe option. Not super thrilled about it right now for some reason, though. I think maybe because Lily names are somewhat popular. But maybe our enthusiasm will grow again because it truly checks off the boxes – it’s Ukrainian, it matches MikaRose, and making it Marian will be easy – just need to add a family name)! Lilia Margaret is pretty special, and Mary, most pure would be an appropriate Litany title I think.

Marianna – beautiful Ukrainian name! Love the double patronage of the Blessed Mother and St. Ann and think the nickname Mari (marr-ee) is sweet. 

Edith – my husband’s suggestion. I don’t love it, although I do love the saint, and could probably get behind it eventually. It feels off though because it hardly checks any of my many boxes. 

Pia – don’t know if we could ACTUALLY go for this name, but we both do really love it. We have tossed this name around for years since we were pregnant with the boys. 

I like Genevieve, Vera, Gloria, Katerina/Katherine (nn Katya) and Felicity but my husband is not a fan. Giving for stylistic examples. 

My husband REALLY REALLY wants and  loves ‘Mary” or “Maria’ but I think we already have used that as a first name. He disagrees that all of our daughters could have a Marian first name and he IS right. He also makes the good point that I love Marianna. I worry that ‘Mary’ makes MikaRose’s name stand out from the other biblical/common names. I love the name Mary, I do(!!!!), but it just doesn’t feel like the right fit. I also love Maria, but especially since Mika is a nickname for Maria, it really feels like that belongs to MikaRose. He disagrees, and I am up for being persuaded differently. He says MikaRose and Maria are perfect sister names. I agree to an extent, except it once again makes MikaRose ‘out there’ and the other names super normal/classic. 

Formerly we have loved Josephine and Cecilia, but both feel a little too popular in our circles. But I could be convinced with the right nickname or Marian connection. They are already family names because both of my great-grandmothers were Josephine and my confirmation name is Cecilia. Maybe good middle names- just missing the Marian connection. Maybe we will fall in love with one of them again! 

Clara – we both like this name!

Girl family names: Margaret, Oksana, Frances, Carolyn, Gertrude, Maria, Anne, Mary, Mary Ann, Josephine, Doris, Mae, Cecilia 

Family devotions/patrons: the Sacred Heart of Jesus (our homeschool name is Sacred Heart Academy and our home is consecrated to His Most Sacred Heart), the Holy Family, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Ignatius, St. Padre Pio, anything Ukrainian/Byzantine focused we can get behind. Have started looking into some Ukrainian virtue names, like Rada means joy but I don’t love it.”

I loved reading all this and couldn’t wait to spend time working on this! And BOY DID I WORK ON THIS! This is definitely one of my longest consultations, if not my longest, and you have to know that I had to actually cut myself off — there was so much more I wanted to research and write about! Even as I was trying to finish it up I was reading about some Ukrainian martyrs and crying and showing my husband and sons, gah! I had to make myself stop reading about holy people so I could finish! And even here, I tried to edit it down a little so it isn’t ridiculously long.

I absolutely loved reading about Lindsey’s husband’s Ukrainian heritage and their efforts to foster a love for the Roman and Byzantine Rites in their home and family! I used this as my major inspiration when trying to find names I thought they both might like.

Before getting to my new ideas for this family, I thought I would start by offering my thoughts on the names already on their list, in case they’re helpful:

• Clement: This, to me, is the name to beat. It’s got the great Ukrainian connection and the Marian meaning, with the additional layer of connecting to their wedding, and as Lindsey herself noted, I do indeed think of it as a great bridge name between Lukas/Simon and Mika. I myself go back and forth on Clem as a nickname — on the one hand, it’s the kind of nickname that’s not for everyone (just this morning I thought of “Clay” as a nickname I could suggest to parents that are interested in Clement but would like a different nickname than Clem — maybe for Clement Aidan? Clement Eamon? Clement Abram?), but on the other hand, I know that if we had named one of our boys Clement (it was on our list because of the Marian connection, and also our parish is St. Clement’s, for the Redemptorist St. Clement Mary Hofbauer), we totally would have eventually shortened it to Clem and grown to love it. I suspect it would be the same for Lindsey! And like she said, living in a community that’s “mostly understanding of using full names” means they’ll likely not have too much of a problem.

• As for the middle name, Lindsey wondered if they should stick to apostles’ names in order to fit in with the brothers — that’s totally up to them! It makes sense for twins to have some sort of name connection (howwww many hours did I spend coming up with lists of twin names for my own self?! So fun!), so moving away from apostles’ names for their third boy seems like a fine and reasonable decision. Maybe even preferable, so they don’t end up feeling tied to it in the future? Stephen is a nice option because it’s biblical like Peter and Paul; Aloysius is nice because it’s not biblical, so it establishes that they’re not tied to biblical names; Cole made me hesitate a little — I like that it’s a family name, but it has a trendier feel to me than the more “serious” (in a good way!) feel of the older kids … but at the same time, maybe that would be nice, as a way of balancing the more unfamiliar Clement? I do tend to like alliteration as well. And Cole was on our own list for ages, it really is very sweet.

• Basil: I agree, Basil Aloysius is pretty amazing!! I like that it’s clearly an Eastern name as well. I’m with Lindsey regarding pronunciation, though — I’ve seen some charged conversations online where people who pronounce it like the herb are skewered for “mispronouncing” it, despite the fact that both pronunciations are totally acceptable; also, the only BAY-zil I know is a girl (and her parents specifically liked the connection to the plant, as well as its connection to “basilica” and St. Basil). Hmm … now I’m wondering — I wonder what Lindsey and her hubby what would think about Basil for a girl?? Okay, so let me step off into a tangent for a minute:

I have a lot of thoughts about MikaRose’s name and its impact on their future naming, especially for girls! I absolutely love it, I really really do, and it was the second big influence on my final list of suggestions below (the first being Lindsey’s hubby’s Ukrainian heritage). I feel like her name is so unfamiliar to most Americans that one of the ways to find names that “match” hers is to look for names that are faithy but unfamiliar, whether or not they’re “technically” a match. So to me, a “technical” match would be a Ukrainian nickname for a traditional girl’s name. Some that I came across when doing my research that would fit include Natalka and Nastya, for example. But Natalka doesn’t feel like a “nickname” in the way Americans typically do nicknames because it’s as long as its originating name, and Nastya sounds unpleasant to English ears. So “technical” matches aren’t always exactly right. I feel like a good direction for this family to go, if they’d like MikaRose to feel like her name fits with their future girls, is to look for “faithy but unfamiliar-ish names that might have an Eastern European feel.” To a certain extent, Mika’s name will “explain” any unusual choice they make for any of their kids going forward!

So then, Basil — I totally never thought of this as a suggestion for a girl for this family at all when I was doing my research and compiling my list, but thinking of that little Basil Grace and their own double-name usage with MikaRose has my mind clicking!! Some ideas: Mary Basil or Maria Basil, as a nod to Lindsey’s hubby’s desire to use Mary or Maria as a first name, but have her go by her middle name? Or have her go by a mashup nickname, like Maisie? Or what about Basil Maria called Basil Mae/BasilMae as a double name like MikaRose? Or Basil Margaret nn Basil Mae? Then they get in the Mae they’re thinking of as a nickname for Margaret! I also really love Basil Grace, and that would satisfy their desire to have a Marian name for each of their girls. Okay, tangent over! I’ll talk more about girl name ideas after I finish with the boys!

• Jacob: love it. I wonder if they would consider Jakob because of Lukas and MikaRose, or is that silly? (I got very excited about K’s when I was working on this!)

• Vincent: Vincent seems like an important name to Lindsey! Since hubby doesn’t love it, I would love to see them consider it as a middle name!

• Thomas: great name, and the full name can totally be insisted on.

• Gabriel: one of my very favorites!

• Mateo: Ooh, I love Mateo! So handsome and romantic! But I don’t love it with their other kids and their Ukrainian sensibility. I would love some version of Matthias/Mattias for this family, though! Maybe to honor their Matthew family member?

• James: Always a great name!

• Thaddeus: Fantastic. I love the Polish variant Tadeusz, too — would it be similar in the Ukraine?

• Francis: Ditto James!

• Max: Oh man, I’d forgotten this was on their list — I had Maksim/Maksym/Maximilian on my list of suggestions for them! I like this one for this family as a nickname for a longer name!

• Nicholas: Keeping a Nicholas as the full Nicholas (harder than Clement and Thomas, I would think, because of that additional syllable), I would love to see this as a middle name for one of their boys

• Louis: I agree that it’s too close to Lukas

• Cyril: Simon and Cyril aren’t as problematic as Lukas and Louis, so I wouldn’t cross it off altogether — maybe just shelve Cyril for this baby and revisit it again in the future?

• Gregory: Some non-Greg nicknames I’ve suggested to people include Rory (maybe too Irish for this family?) and Gus (especially with an S middle name, like Gregory Stephen)

• Josaphat: I thought this was such a crazy addition to their list until I saw that St. Josaphat is a great Ukrainian Saint! I agree, it’s an epic name! I’d love to work it in somehow, but I’d probably try to do so in the middle name spot!

• Boy family names not yet used: It’s a great list! I admit I’m thinking of them more as middle name possibilities (except maybe Vincent, as Lindsey would like to use it as a first name). Is Ihor said like Eeyore? From this consultation I learned that G’s are usually H’s in Ukrainian names! So interesting!

And for girl names:

• I know you’re not at all surprised that I’m 100% on board with their idea to have all their girls have a Marian name somewhere (first or middle)! But also, I think it’s very wise that Lindsey’s moved away from the Litany of Loreto idea — there are SO MANY titles of Mary, flowers with Marian connections, and virtues associated with Our Lady that they will have enough to choose from for 100 girls! Or more!

• Also, I definitely agree that they can have a girl style and a boy style that are different — many families do so! When this is the case, what I usually see is more creative/adventurous names for the girls and more traditional/familiar names for the boys, which is how I would characterize Lindsey’s and her husband’s style. I’m a fan!

• Stella: I’m SO EXCITED to share something about this name that Lindsey and her hubby “both adore” but that they don’t think is Ukrainian! Crazy enough, I did a consultation for a mama a couple of years ago whose daughter is Anastasia, and she said they’d planned to call her Stella but it didn’t really work out. What??!! I asked her about it and she said,

“As for the nickname Stella for Anastasia: my great grandmother was Ukrainian and her birth name was Anastasia but she solely went by Stella. That’s how I initially came upon this nickname, but I’ve since met a few Russians whose full name is Anastasia but they go by Stella. I think it’s a semi-common nickname in Eastern Europe? To be honest I’m surprised you hadn’t heard of it!“

Can you believe that?? Then, Theresa noted in this consultation she did for her suggestion of Anastasia: “Stella is an Old Slavic nickname for Anastasia. I can’t find any reason why, but it is!” Isn’t that funny? I don’t remember telling Theresa about it, and like her, I could never find anything that explained it, but it’s totally a thing! I’m so excited to make a Ukrainian connection for this name for Lindsey and her hubs!!

• Azelie: Okay, I have a few thoughts for this one. First, I wonder what they’d think about Mariya Azelie? I’m using that spelling of Maria because I know it’s Ukrainian, but certainly Maria Azelie would be lovely — that way, they’d have a Ukrainian first name (even if they decided to call her Azelie or Zelie exclusively. I’ll throw out Mazie again as a mashup nickname idea). Also, I’ve seen many people say that Azelie is the French for the azalea flower, and have named their daughters Azelie being pleased with the floral connection (plus St. Zelie of course), and while I’ve never been able to find anything authoritative that proves this (the French is the similar azalée), in this case, maybe it could be helpful to this family? The Ukrainian word for azalea seems to be azaliya — maybe they could use that as the given name, and use Zalie or Zelie as the nickname, with the intention of honoring St. Zelie? Not to add another floral name to their list, unless they want one! Haha! (You can read more about how I think intention matters more than the “facts” in naming here.)

• Margaret: I really love Lindsey’s idea of Margaret Emilia nn Mae Emilia! Even though I agree that Margaret is “too ‘regular/common’ like Simon and Lukas,” their reason for using it is spot on, and Mae Emilia sounds like a natural sister to MikaRose.

• Magdalena or Helena: I like both! Because Helena has so many different pronunciations, they can pick their favorite — it just requires them to be firm and consistent when telling people their daughter’s name, and when she’s old enough she’ll do it herself. Lindsey’s right that Halina is a different name — it’s a feminine variant of Galen! There’s a St. Galen, if you’re interested.

• Lilia: This is my favorite of the Lily names! I love what Lindsey wrote about it, and I agree that Lilia Margaret is special. Mary Most Pure would be a beautiful attribution!

• Marianna: You have to know I would love this one! It checks Lindsey’s boxes of Ukrainian and Marian, and you know I love St. Ann! Mari is very sweet, and so close to Mary that I’m surprised this isn’t the clear winner for Lindsey and her hubby!

• Edith: I love St. Edith Stein too! But I agree with Lindsey that “it hardly checks any of [her] many boxes.” I would shelve this one for now, if it was me.

• Pia: Oh man, I LOVE this as a Marian name, and it’s totally in the Mia/Leah realm, which is a group of names I love, and this reader named her baby Pia, which made me so happy! I seriously would love it if they used it!! Maybe it would be easier to use as part of a double name? Mary-Pia? Pia-Kate?

• Genevieve, Vera, Gloria, Katerina/Katherine nn Katya, Felicity: These are all such pretty names! I’m glad Lindsey included them for stylistic purposes. Of them, I absolutely love Katerina/Katherine nn Katya — all three of those names were big style matches for this family in my research!

• Mary and Maria: This is so funny to me! I totally get the difference of opinion that Lindsey and her hubby are having, even though on paper it seems like there should be no disagreement. My take is that I *don’t* think they’ve already used Mary or Maria, even though Mika is technically a nickname for Maria. I’m thinking of it as similar to Molly being, in origin, a nickname for Mary, but I would think sisters Molly and Mary are fine. Also, it’s a very Catholic tradition for all the girls in a family to have a form of Mary in their names, often as first names. I know I’ve shared here often that my dad has four first cousins from two different families, three of whom are sisters, with Mary as their first name, but they all go by their middle names. Additionally, another of those cousins is Marianne; my dad’s mom was Mary Loretta, who went by Loretta; and his sister is Marylee. So many Marys! In French, Marie is the version that’s used. My parents wanted all of their girls to have a form of Mary, so they switched things up between the first and middle names: I’m Katherine Morna (I discuss in my book of Marian names the Marian connection with Morna) and my sisters have Molly, Mary, and Maria. So none of us has the same form of Mary, but she’s there nonetheless. All that to say, I think this couple can consider Mika and Maria to be two variants of Mary, and add Marianna and Mary to the mix as well. I totally get what Lindsey means when she says she doesn’t feel like Mary is the right fit, and Maria doesn’t feel comfortable to her for this baby, so I would suggest either playing around with ways to make them feel comfortable (would an unusual Mary+ combo make Mary feel okay? Like Mary-Pia mentioned above, or Mary-Clement, Maria-Basil, Mary-Cole, Mary-Mattea [instead of the Mateo they’ve considered], Mary-Greer [Greer is derived from Gregory]? I’m using hyphens to make them clear as double names, but of course they don’t have to use them — they could do MaryCole, for example, to mimic MikaRose?), or shelving both Mary and Maria for now and focus on finding a different Mary name for this baby. Marianna is the obvious contender, but other options could include Mae already on their list, Mariae (the Latin possessive form of Mary), Marie, Marisa, Maylis (a combo of Mary and Lily), Molly, Mariah, Ria, Miriam, Mara, Maura, Maureen, and a whole bunch more. They could also consider branching out from variants of Mary to Marian titles, attributes, or symbols as they’ve already done with Pia and Lilia, but also Regina, Caeli, Virginia, Dolores, etc. Also all the flower names! Vincenzina Krymow said in her book Mary’s Flowers: Gardens, Legends & Meditations (affiliate link), “It is thought that at one time all flowers and plants honored Mary, the ‘Flower of Flowers,’ in legend or in name” (12). I have loads of flower names in my book of Marian names with specific connections to Our Lady, including Daisy, Lily, Marigold, Iris, Violet, and others.

• Josephine and Cecilia: I can see how these might feel too popular to Lindsey. I like Posie and Sophie as unexpected nicknames for Josephine, and they can both be Marian in that Posie is floral and Sophie can be from her title Seat of Wisdom. For Cecilia, interestingly enough the very similar Celia is unrelated — Cecilia means “blind” but Celia means “heaven” and with that meaning it can be considered to relate to Our Lady through her title Queen of Heaven (as with Caeli). And of course, putting Mary in front of them makes them Marian! Mary Josephine and Mary Cecilia are lovely and traditional, and you can have fun with nicknames — Masie for Mary Josephine, Malia for Mary Cecilia?

• Clara: Beautiful! I wonder if they would consider the Klara spelling?

• Girl family names: they’re all beautiful!

I feel like I’ve already written way too much, and I haven’t even gotten to my new ideas yet! So I’m not going to go in depth regarding Sacred Heart names (but do check out this post I did on the topic — there a few names there I think Lindsey might like), and I really wanted to look into Ukrainian virtue names (such a fun idea!), but I will have to be content with the list of names I compiled below. They’re the result of my usual research in the Baby Name Wizard (affiliate link), where I looked up the names Lindsey and her hubs have used and those they like 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, consulted the lists of Ukrainian names on Behind the Name and UkraineTrek.com, considered the names in the list of holy people who were Ukrainian by birth at CatholicSaints.info, and read this article on Ukrainian Saints. I admit I did look up some words on the English–>Ukrainian Google translate, which did inspire one of my ideas!

Girl

(1) Karoleva

Not having too much familiarity with Ukrainian, I can’t know for sure if this is a really viable option, but Google Translate tells me Karoleva is the word for “queen” in Ukrainian and I LOVE it! It’s like a Karoline-Eva mashup! I looked up “Queen Mary” and the result was Karoleva Mariya, which I also love! How beautiful!! (I also like the idea of just Eva, or Maria+Eva in Marieva.)

(2) Nadia

Nadia was actually the first name I thought of for this family — it means “hope,” and Our Lady of Hope could be the Marian title.

(3) Susanna

Susanna is listed as a Ukrainian name and is one of my very favorites (our first girl would have been Susanna!). It means both “lily” and “rose” in Hebrew, which earned it a place in my book of Marian names. Because of the unusualness of MikaRose, they might like to consider Susanna’s more unusual nicknames, like Sukie and Zuzu.

(4) Beata

This name has good Eastern European usage and is in my book because it means “blessed” and is specifically used to describe Our Lady in the Latin for “Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary”: Assumptione Beatae Mariae Virginis. Some form of Beata Maria/Maria Beata/Mary Beata/Beata Mary would be a meaningful combo!

(5) Willa

When I was looking through the listing of holy people that were born in Ukraine, Sr. Wilhelmine Balka, also known as Sr. Angela, caught my eye because she was a nun in the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (which seemed meaningful because of this family’s devotion to the Sacred Heart). Her cause for canonization was open as one of the Martyrs of Baining (though it’s since been suspended because those in charge of gathering information can’t find additional evidence that the murders were done out of hatred for the faith). An interesting and very sad story! Anyway, Wilhelmine is a big name, but the shorter Willa immediately struck me as a name that would be a great sister to MikaRose! I think Willa would work fine as a nod to Sr. Wilhelmine if they wanted it to! I also did a spotlight on it here, connecting it to Palm Sunday.

(6) Colette

My last idea for a girl is Colette, inspired by family names Nicholas and Cole. St. Colette’s given name was Nicolette, but I love Colette on its own. I have a friend who named her daughter Maria Colette, which I’ve always thought was stunning. I also mentioned Mary-Cole above as a possibility — I could see that working as a nickname for Mary Colette as well.

Boy

(1) Martyn (or Martin)

I don’t know what Lindsey and her hubs think about the Y spelling, but it seems to be specifically Ukrainian (Mariya, Nadiya, etc.) — when I saw Martyn in my research, I thought it would be a great name for Lukas and Simon’s brother!

(2) Konrad

This is one hundred percent inspired by Bl. Mykola Konrad. I love that his first name is the Ukrainian variant of Nicholas, so using Konrad could maybe be a nod to the Nicholas/Cole family members? His story is so moving!

(3) Joachim

I couldn’t not suggest one of my very favorite names when it seems to go so well with this family’s aesthetic! I think it goes great with their boys, and doesn’t sound strange at all next to MikaRose — in fact, I think it has real potential as a bridge name. I even found a church called Saints Joachim and Anna Ukrainian Catholic Church, which I thought was a good sign! Even better, I read the terrible and moving story of Bl. Yakym Senkivsky who was in the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat (I love that the Order’s name contains two of the names they included on their list) — his name is the Ukrainian form of Joachim.

(4) Leo (or Leonid?)

Leonid is in the list of Ukrainian names on Behind the Name, and with Leo being a fairly popular name, Leonid could bring a fresh perspective! Leo is, of course, the perfect, easy, nickname; I’d also be thrilled if they used Leo as the given name.

(5) Oskar

Oskar was inspired by the fact that it’s a style match for both Edith and Clara on Lindsey’s list, and of course I chose the K spelling because it feels more Ukrainian (is it getting old yet that I keep doing that?!). There’s a St. Oscar who’s also known as Ansgar and St. Oscar Romero as patrons.

(6) Elliott

This last one has a different feel to me and is maybe a little surprising? But Elliott’s a style match for Stella and Cecilia, and I’ve always loved that it’s a derivation of Elias/Elijah, which of course has the Ukrainian counterpart Illya. I also consider it Marian because of the Prophet Elijah’s connection to Our Lady in the bible and through the Carmelite Order.

And those are all my ideas! What do you all think? What names would you suggest for the baby brother or sister of Lukas, Simon, and MikaRose? If you have specific knowledge of Ukrainian naming, please share!

---

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!