From Ambrose to Zelie: For Catholic Babies, Old Is the New New

Aletelial ^ | May 17, 2016 | Simcha Fisher

[NYer]

My grandmother was named Rita Mary at birth however, the priest insisted that Mary be first and baptized her Mary Rita. Ping!

[Dr. Sivana]

We named our first girl Mary. She loves being a Mary.

[Dr. Sivana]

Oh, actually, our second daughter. Our first daughter’s name is Agnes.

[Tennessee Nana]

The only Ambroise I have in my family was born in France in 1631

[sneakers]

My 2 year old granddaughter is Eleanor, and her baby brother is Henry. Baby great nephew is Alexander. I love all those names!

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

My cousin's wife, Mary Margaret by name, had 3 sisters - Mary Catherine, Mary Bernadette and Mary Elizabeth.

Needless to say, they just called them by their middle names.

My own sister, Mary Celeste, also went by her middle name, as we had enough cousins that were also Mary 's.

[surroundedbyblue]

This article is a little late for me as I had a baby girl on April 29. We’ve struggled with a name for her throughout my entire pregnancy and a few days after her birth we settled on Charlotte Morgan. I know that was the feast day of Catherine of Siena but there are already a few Catherine’s in the family. Our other choice was Claire but when we saw her face, Charlotte suited her best.

[surroundedbyblue]

My other daughter is Grace Elizabeth. And she loves being Catholic.

[Little Pig]

Not being Catholic, I’m curious: what form of “Mary” gets used for boys, as mentioned in the article?

[goodwithagun]

We chose older names, although not necessarily Catholic: Roman, Evelyn, and Sylvia. We were at the doctor about a year ago and the receptionist called for my daughters, four and two. Two older women got up with us. As it turns out, they are sisters and their names are Evelyn and Sylvia! It was a hoot. They are both in their 80s and were so excited to see young children with their names.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Mario if you're Italian, Marian if you're English and lived at least 150 years ago (jesting aside, IIRC Marian was John Wayne's real given name). I imagine some people might just give Mary as a middle name to a boy if they're dead-set on using the name and they end up having a boy.

I knew a guy who was literally named "Rosary." Thankfully his middle name isn't "Beads."

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

"Now we must simply avoid names that are “foreign to Christian sensibility.” "

Are there any official or semi-official guidelines on what sorts of names would qualify as "foreign to Christian sensibilities"?

[rmichaelj]

Saint Names are always safe. Almost all traditional names are safe. Common sense applies here. Ultimately it is up to the priest baptizing- The only times I’ve heard of a priest changing the baptismal name were cases where they really were what most rational non-hysterical people would consider inappropriate names for a new child of God (Names like Seven- sorry George Costanza).

[rmichaelj]

We named our 5th daughter Miriam, for those who like Mary but want something slightly different.

[RedStateRocker]

Interesting. My wife’s name is ‘Evelyn Edith’!

The old joke I always heard was Democrats name their kid after a sports star and Republicans name them after where the money is in the family (I think this was Henny Youngman IIRD) :-)

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

The reason I ask is because I've always been drawn to Scandinavian culture (family being from a region of Ireland that was heavily settled by Norse vikings, I wasn't surprised that family members taking those ancestry blood tests returned results with a hefty chunk of Scandinavian blood matches), but a majority of Scandinavian names are almost directly linked to the region's pagan past, with seemingly no Christianization even attempted. I've always liked the names Hrafn (Rafin) and Skade (Skathi). Hrafn means Raven, a bird that was revered and in the old pagan religion as ravens were thought be messengers of Odin, but I figure the link is tenuous enough to not be problematic.

Skade, on the other hand, is the name of a pagan Norse goddess, and the name translates in the Old Norse language as "Shadow." I was also surprised that the name is almost completely out of use, with only 5 current uses in all of Scandinavia and Finland, the minimum number required to even be recorded. My assumption is the issue of "foreign to Christian sensibilities" is somewhat relative, but I'm not sure if the connotations of the name have sufficiently changed.

[Tax-chick]

The raven is a symbol of St. Benedict.

When my youngest daughter was born, her siblings suggested things like Andromache and Arachne, but I selected Kathleen.

[Tax-chick]

In English it is very unusual, since “Marion” is way out of fashion, in spite of being the true name of “Duke” Wayne. Spanish and Italian use “Mario” and sometimes “Mauro,” but it’s also not unusual for men in either culture to have “Maria” as a middle name. The same is true for “Marie” in French-speaking cultures; they also use “Marion” as a man’s name.

Latin-influenced cultures also use “titles” of the Virgin Mary, such as Guadalupe, Carmen, Consuelo, or Amparo, as names for both males and females.

[pbear8]

Are there any official or semi-official guidelines on what sorts of names would qualify as "foreign to Christian sensibilities"?

I know a guy named Zeus.