Gender Neutral Saints' Names

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gemmaologist
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gemmaologist

Guest
Greetings, all. I apologize in advance if this seems like a silly question.

We recently suffered a miscarriage. We were advised that the pathologist may be able to determine the gender of the child, but there is no mention of the sex on any reports. We had names for either gender picked out, but now that we are unsure of the sex, I’m looking at other options for the baby’s name.

We are burying the child at our local Catholic Cemetery. I feel like I must name this child something other than “Baby.” I know that we can just pick any name, but I’m hesitant to assign a masculine or feminine sounding name to a baby who’s gender is unknown. I’m just trying to come to closure with this whole ordeal.

So, I thought of looking for gender neutral names, but I’d like to use at least one good saint’s names. There are many gender-neutral modern names, but I’m looking for something a bit more “Catholic.”

I thought of Clair/Claire, but the spelling changes depending on the gender. Many names just sound too male or female: Luke, John, Matthew, Philip, etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I know that there are plenty of good lists of saints out there, but I admit that I’m having a hard time finding a name that could go boy or girl. Any advise or suggestions?
 
I’m very sorry to hear about your loss. 😦 This isn’t a silly question at all!

I think that though we typically hear it as a female name, Marie can go either way. Like St. Louis Marie de Montfort or St. John Marie Vianney. Also there is Francis/Frances. St. Frances Cabrini, and Francis of Assisi or Francis de Sales.
 
😦

“Alex” is a gender-neutral nickname named after a saint (St. Alexander).
 
I have also seen people chose one name from each gender and use one for a first name and one for a middle name. You could take the two first names you chose and use them together.

Although, I really like some of the unisex ones.

I am very sorry for your loss.
 
I was looking through the link above at the male section and feel that this sweet little soul could easily be named from that section. Many parents now name their girls with masculine names these days

Frances
Hillary
Valentine
Jordan
Elian
Chirstian

These all come from the boy’s list yet sound feminine as well

I’ll include you in my afternoon prayers today
 
So sorry for your loss. My heart goes out to you. :gopray2:

Kerry is a unisex name.
 
so sorry to hear about what happened

what about Jean?

in english, Jean is a girl’s name (Jeen), but in french Jean is boy’s name (french of John and prounounced like John) like Jean-Claude Van Dam

i went to a Catholic highschool and university by the La Salle Brothers, who was founded by St. John Baptist de la Salle. but he’s French and his actual name is Jean Baptiste
 
Thank you very kindly for all of the excellent suggestions. Also, thank you for all of the kind words and prayers. I do know that God had plans for our little one and someday we will meet again. We feel very fortunate that we will be able to bury the baby and have a place to “visit.”

We will certainly continue to pray for the “right” name over the next day or so. Again, thanks so much for your suggestions!
 
I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. I’ll remember your baby and your family in my prayers tonight.

We suffered an early miscarriage last year and named the baby Blaise. It’s uncommon enough that I don’t think it has strong masculine or feminine connotations, although I’ve always thought of my first baby as a boy.

I also like the name Julian. St. Peter Julian (male) was a contemporary of St. John Vianney and had a special love of the Holy Eucharist. St. Julian of Norwich (female) was a mystic and writer.

You also have the option of choosing two non-neutral names of the opposite sex, like John Marie or Claire Francis.

Whatever you decide, remember that gender name associations are largely cultural, and in heaven God will love a baby girl called Nicholas just as much as any other saint who shares that name.

Again, I’m so sorry that you lost your baby. I hope that you have supportive family and friends to love you during this difficult time. God bless.
 
Final update on our baby. After much prayer and contemplation, we decided to use the names that we originally had in mind for our baby boy or girl, and combine the the names.

We wanted to name a son Blaise and a daughter Agia, so we’re just going with those names. No other names seemed to fit – our baby was Blaise or Agia while I was pregnant, and that’s what s/he is now.

Our baby will be buried on Thursday, and I am so pleased that the priest will be able to use the baby’s full name.

Nodito – when you mentioned naming your baby Blaise and that happened to be our “boy” name, I sort of took that as a sign to reconsider. Thank you!

My family, and baby Blaise Agia, thank you for all of your help and kind words. God bless each and everyone of you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top