Naming our kids

[Toni]

Naming your children with saints names is very beneficial especially when they are older and in need of prayer. I named one Christopher Anthony and he picked Michael for a confirmation name. So between being born on one of the feasts of Our Lady. I have all kinds of saints and most of all Mary to intercede for him. Believe me the more saints to intercede the better. Especially in those late teen years!:yup:

 

[seeker63]

What if there are several saints you admire? Can you pick more than one confirmation name or is that frowned upon or considered in bad taste or pretentious?

 

[pittsburghjeff]

Now that I am an expectant father I thought I would rejuvenate this fine thread. I was wondering if there are any other thoughts on taking the saints last name as a middle name.

We are thinking Maximillian Kolbe for a boy and Maria Goretti for a girl. Although, I am having a hard time selling my wife on “Goretti” as a middle name. Thoughts?

 

[aquinasadmirer]

I agree! Abp. Fulton Sheen wasn’t named after a saint, but may likely be one someday!

Lourdes:

Diana, Jason, Martin, Dennis, Cassandra, Denise, Julia, Marcia, Penelope, Jill, Helen, and Sibyl are all some Greco-Roman mythology names. I sure hope everyone that objects to current parents for choosing things like Echo or Pandora is consistant with their disdain, snickering, and religious superiority.

It really is amusing to me - how do you think we GOT most saint names in the first place? Some parent had to name their children something that wasn’t, and then the kid went and became a saint, making the name “acceptable”.

 

[mercygate]

JGC:

My wife Tracy was taken to baptised and was told she could not be baptised until she had a saints name.

Tracy Mary was chosen on the spot!

:tiphat:

Tracy. OK. But I’ll bet a lot of people don’t realize that “Stacy” is a Christian name. It’s a nickname for Anastasia (Greek for “Resurrection”). You can also use names from the Old Testament. Elijah is one of my favorites. Wouldn’t go with Jezebel or Haman, though!

 

[mercygate]

aquinasadmirer:

I agree! Abp. Fulton Sheen wasn’t named after a saint, but may likely be one someday!

Yessee was! His name was John but he preferred to be known by his mother’s maiden name, Fulton.

 

[mercygate]

Marie Cecilia:

Br. Rich SFO,

That’s exactly what I concluded - let them be the first saints with those names.
Everyone, thanks for your reassurance!

Always felt that way myself. But heck. I’m a Convert.

This is one of those customs like the way Jews will or won’t (I can never remember which) name their children after somebody who is living (or is it somebody dead?). So if you want to name your kid after his grandfather, whose name is Moses, but grandpa’s name is disqualified because grandpa is either living or dead, then you use the first initial and name him Maimonides or Morris.

A friend wanted to name her daughter after her favorite aunt, Eloise, but couldn’t use the lovely name “Heloise” because Aunt Ella was either alive or dead. Oy. Too complicated for me.

 

[mercygate]

pittsburghjeff:

Now that I am an expectant father I thought I would rejuvenate this fine thread. I was wondering if there are any other thoughts on taking the saints last name as a middle name.

We are thinking Maximillian Kolbe for a boy and Maria Goretti for a girl. Although, I am having a hard time selling my wife on “Goretti” as a middle name. Thoughts?

Maria would be sufficient. But Goretti is OK – like giving your daughter a family name, only from a bigger family! My daughter is named after the Sacred Heart AND also has my mother-in-law’s maiden name:

Elizabeth Cordelia Harrington S*******

 

[The_Hidden_Life]

How about Maria Gianna? Goretti does sound a bit odd for a girl’s middle name if it isn’t a family name. But I think Gianna (for Bl. Gianna Beretta Molla) goes nicely with Maria and she’s a wonderful saint too just like Maria Goretti.With our last baby I searched high and low for saints’ names to match the few boys’ names my husband and I could agree on (we had another girl, so problem solved) and I found a few I liked:

Bl. Brian Lacey, English Martyr
Bl. William Dean, English Martyr (great because my dad’s middle name is Dean)
Kolbe (I’ve seen it used elsewhere as a first name already)

You don’t have to choose a saints’ name. It only must be “not inimical to Christian teaching” or something like that. You can name your child Chartreuse but not Lucifer, at least not if you want him baptized.

There are still many countries in which you must pick from an official list of names to be registered with the state.

newadvent.org/cathen/05474a.htm

See the page above for more about the English Martyrs. I find their stories fascinating (and tragic of course).

 

[pittsburghjeff]

The Hidden Life:

How about Maria Gianna?

Yes I love Blessed Gianna …or is she St. Gianna yet? Anyway, I was hoping to save Gianna for a future daughter’s first name. The only problem is that I have a really italian last name and my wife thinks Gianna would sound funny with it.

I am not as concerned with how a name sounds or whether or not it is required to pick a name that is also a saints name. What I envision is that someone would say to me or my future daughter “Goretti, that is an interesting middle name, how did you get that?” And we or our daughter could use that as an opportunity for evanglization to tell them the story of St. Maria Goretti. Again, it’s a tough sell for my wife.

But if I just use the first name then people could get confused and think we picked it for Mary, the mother of God or we just picked it because we liked the way it sounds.

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

What the Catechism has to say about Baptismal names…

**2156 **…This can be the name of a saint…The patron saint provides a model of charity; we are assured of his intercession…

It sounds to me that it is encouraged, but not required.

 

[mercygate]

pittsburghjeff:

The only problem is that I have a really italian last name and my wife thinks Gianna would sound funny with it.

But Gianna is an Italian name. What’s the problem – unless your name rhymes with it and would be the equivalent of Hercules Schmercules!

 

[AServantofGod]

Marie Cecilia:

Eeks! What if we already have children and their first names are not saints’ names??? Have I doomed them? At least their middle names are for male family members who happen to be saints’ names (albeit lesser-known ones, but saints nonetheless), but eeeek!! Am I being too scrupulous? I do know that the next children WILL have saint’s names, for sure, now that I have been corrected. But what about my first children?

Don’t worry! It’s not required any more but is a wonderful way to provide the child with a holy model.

Our first child did not have a saint’s name due to our ignorance. At age 6 when she asked the priest, “Father is there a St. ___?” He responded without hesitation, “Maybe, you can be the first.”

 

[SeekerJen]

pittsburghjeff:

Yes I love Blessed Gianna …or is she St. Gianna yet? Anyway, I was hoping to save Gianna for a future daughter’s first name. The only problem is that I have a really italian last name and my wife thinks Gianna would sound funny with it.

All the more reason to go for it. My half-Italian cousin married another half-Italian with a really Italian last name. Their children are Mario and Gianna. Lovely names for beautiful kids.

Then again, I’m biased. I like ethnic names- probably comes from growing up with a Mexican surname and being stuck with “Jennifer” as my first name. Why not “Esperanza” after my grandmother?

 

[sarcophagus]

I’m from an italian family and I love my great-grandmother’s name…Assunta Maria. But I doubt I will be naming any children that…

I’ve decided that my daughter should be (if dh has no objections!!) Cecilia Deborah Ann…First name- saint, middle names- grandparents
The son is much harder since I can’t find a saint’s name I like except Jacob, which is used much too often. My husband wants Seamus (gaelic for Jacob because he is Irish) but i don’t know…middle names would be Daniel Wesley.

Even though i’m not catholic, I like traditional names better than “new, creative” ones because they will sound good even when they are 90 years old…I can’t imagine a 90 year-old Tiffany…it’s just odd!!

 

[Cradle]

I think “Maria Gianna” with a really Italian last name would sound beautiful.

Anyway, I’ll make my story short. My parents gave one of my sisters and I wacky names from a Nahuatl language, my mom’s name to my other sister, and my dad’s grandmother’s name to my youngest sister. And then they just stuck “Maria” either before or after the previously chosen name, depending on which sounded better.

:dancing: I think I’ll do the same thing with my kids, saves me the trouble! (Pick either “Maria” or “Jose” or a saint’s name and complement it with whatever names my future hubby and I come up with. ahem That is, if my vocation is indeed marriage… Anyhoooooo.

 

[moira]

pnewton:

We are expecting in January and have decided on the girl’s name, Anne Elizabeth. If it’s a boy, we are leaning heavily to naming him after my grandfather, John Paul!

My daughter is Anne Elizabeth and my brother is John Paul.!!!