Catholics should seek to preserve the practice of giving their children a saint's name, said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of New York, in a recent video posted on social media.
"I just read a poll that kind of made me bristle," said Cardinal Dolan, revealing that parents today largely look to movie stars and other characters to name their children.
"I don't know if that's the best thing in the world, do you? There was a beautiful Catholic custom of always having a saint's name, either as the first or second name, of our kids," he said.
That saint, Dolan explained, would "become our patron saint," and the child would be under that saint's protection.
The cardinal added that "when I have the joys of baptizing babies, I see fewer and fewer babies that are given saints' names."
"I'll often kind of dedicate them to a particular saint. Or sometimes later on at the Sacrament of Confirmation, if the baptismal names are not those of saints, you can choose one then."
"But I think naming our children after the saints is a custom well worth recovering," said the cardinal.
The cardinal's experience lines up with naming trends in the United States. But it should be noted -- as our own ample list of Baby Name Suggestions verifies -- some baby names are linked to saints, but in creative ways.
"Liam," the most popular male name given in the United States in 2024, is not the name of a canonized Catholic saint, although it is a diminutive of William, which is. Of the top 10 girls names, we see various correlations with saints -- Sophia and Sofia are in the top 10. The name means Wisdom.
Isabella is a translation of Elizabeth (or Elizabeth is a translation of Isabella, depending on how you look at it). There are a number of Saints Elizabeth, including the Virgin Mary's own relative.
Mia is also on this list, and this name is sometimes used as a nickname for the Virgin Mary's name -- Maria or Miriam.
Comparatively, in the 2000s, all of the top 10 male baby names in the United States for the entire decade were either the names of canonized saints or Old Testament figures. For girls in the same period, all but Madison (2nd) and Ashley (10th) were either canonized saints or from the Bible.
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Do check out this link for baby name ideas of every sort, both traditional and unique — from meaningful to seasonal to honoring Pope Leo. Take a look here.
