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The saints work for me

Cute and fluffy piece on names.

Sometimes a name just sounds right. In the '80s, everyone wanted names starting with "J" (Jessica, Jennifer, Jason, Justin, Jonathan). Lately, vowel sounds have been on parents' lips: Half of 2004's top 20 girl's names start with vowels.

Vowel names like Ella, Eva and Ava for girls and Ethan, Emmett and Eli for boys are finding their way onto more birth certificates every year, says Pamela Redmond Satran, co-author of Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana.

Give me a solid saint or two for a name (and prayer backup!) and I'm happy. Then again I seem to be a throwback to the 1880's as well, having used five of the names on that list. (Just didn't want the kids to sound trendy.)

Posted by on Wednesday, 28 September 2005 at 10:09 PM in Cultural Signposts |

Comments

Michael Halbrook

Thanks for this post! My wife gave birth to our first child - a son, and quite a gift from God - three weeks ago tomorrow.

We named him a name that we had decided upon before we were even married: THOMAS XAVIER. Had he been a girl, he would have been a Mary Elisabeth.

We were certain of how we wanted to name our children, but weren't sure about the reaction of people around us (not that it mattered, really.) As we watched the parade of children with "intesting" names being baptised in our parish the last couple of years, we just had to keep wondering. It reached a "most interesting" point about a month ago when "Jaxson with an 's'" was baptised.

In fact, though, we've had SO MANY people compliment us on the name and tell us (sometimes in a whisper) how nice it is to hear of a child named with such a solid "traditional" name.

Posted by: Michael Halbrook | Wednesday, 28 September 2005 at 10:24 PM

Genevieve

Congratulations to both of you! What a lovely name you chose. We have a Mary (Elizabeth). She and both her sisters (Anne and Theresa) are the only ones in their classes. Who would have guessed?

May Bold Thomas wax ever hearty and welcome many fine siblings!

Posted by: Genevieve | Wednesday, 28 September 2005 at 10:31 PM

Michael Halbrook

Thank you much! Many prayers and blessings for your daughters as well. We enjoy visiting your site every day or two. Thanks for all you write and share here!

Posted by: Michael Halbrook | Thursday, 29 September 2005 at 11:32 PM

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