Naming your kids after Saints

[QuisutDeus]

I thought I would share this about my siblings’ names.

My mother named me after my grandfather’s middle name, Michael. What she didn’t realize I was born on the feast day of the Archangels, September 29. My sister, Regina Marie, was born in October, the month dedicated to Mary. My brother, Timothy, was born on January 26, feast day of St. Timothy.

Does anyone have a similiar situation in their family?

 

[Grayton]

A common tradition for naming children in many Catholic societies was to give them the name of a saint whose feast day coincided (exactly or approximately) with the date of birth or the date of baptism (usually not many days apart.)

Genealogists use this tradition as a clue to try to find birthdates or baptismal dates for ancestors when the scan old baptismal records. For example, if you know that your great-great-great grandmother Agatha was born around 1845 in Austria, you would look real closely at her parish baptismal records around the feast of St. Agatha (Feb. 5) in those years and hope that you could find the record of her baptism - which would then allow you to discover the names of her parents.

 

[Super_Mom]

QuisutDeus:

I thought I would share this about my siblings’ names.

My mother named me after my grandfather’s middle name, Michael. What she didn’t realize I was born on the feast day of the Archangels, September 29. My sister, Regina Marie, was born in October, the month dedicated to Mary. My brother, Timothy, was born on January 26, feast day of St. Timothy.

Does anyone have a similiar situation in their family?

What I did with my children was to choose their middle name after a saint whose feast day came the closest to their expected time of birth. That way the saint would be their patron but we could choose a name we liked for the first name

 

[Edwin1961]

I didn’t realize that there was a St. Edwin until this year, in fact the feast day is October 12, and my brother Edward is named for St. Edward for October 13, yet our birthday’s in March.

I am pretty sure that if you name a child by the traditional names, then they will be named after a Saint.

Also, have you noticed a lot of John Paul’s lately, at least since 1979? Naming children after Popes is also a Catholic Tradition.

go with God!
Edwin

 

[Fidelis]

My non-practicing parents named me Vincent (after my father) apparently not realizing that I was born on the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul.

 

[Minerva]

when we have kids someday, my DH and I plan to give them a saint’s name as a middle name, whatever we like as a first name, though some first names we like are saints too. Then every year on that saint’s feast day, we’ll have a small celebration for the child. I know some families that do this and think it’s a great tradition. I wish I’d had something like it growing up, but alas my family is not practicing and neither my first nor middle name is a saint’s name.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Our children:

*Matthew Thomas - by flipping through the Bible during labor, picked “Matthew Thomas” or “Elizabeth Ann” a couple hours before birth
*Christopher Louis - born Dec 25, by calling him names for hours until one “fit” Louis was my confirmation name.
*Catherine Elizabeth - calling names for 2 days until one fit
*Emily Ann - don’t remember how we picked Emily; Ann is her mother’s middle name
*Monica Lee - on pastor’s advice we got a book of woman saints and chose Monica, Lee is my mother’s middle name
*Andrew Edward - don’t remember how we picked Andrew, Edward is my middle name.

Alan

 

[puzzleannie]

S-I-L is Patrick Joseph, born on March 18.

 

[rayne89]

My middle name is Frances after St. Francis. My sister’s middle name was Antonietta after St. Anthony. My daughter’s 1st name is Gabrielle after St. Gabriel.

 

[Fidelis]

Fidelis:

My non-practicing parents named me Vincent (after my father) apparently not realizing that I was born on the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul.

I guess I should have added that all my kids have saints/biblical names:

Matthew Alan
Michael Louis
Daniel Andrew

My wife was born on St; Patricks day and her middle name is Patricia. Makes it easy to remember her birthday.

We don’t celebrate our kids saint’s days (I don’t think their is St. Daniel’s Day, although there is a local parish called St. Daniel the Prophet), but we do celebrate baptism days.