Why I Started This Blog.

     In 1992, we had our first child.  Throughout that pregnancy, my husband and I went back and forth on baby names.  Since we were not Christian, we were not overly concerned with identifying our son, or any other future children, with a religious name.  We were not opposed to that either, and I am fairly certain, if our first-born had been a daughter, she would have been called Hannah.
     But as our lives changed and we continued to grow spiritually, so did our naming style.  By the time we had given birth to our 4th child, we were decidedly Catholic.  We talked, then, a lot about giving our 1st daughter a lovely saint's name to reflect our love for our faith, but we never found one we liked.  We also were not really encouraged to choose a saint's name either.  We did not receive instruction on the issue and we came to the conclusion, after reading the Catechism, that as long as the name wasn't outright opposed to Christian sensibilities, we could select whatever name we wanted.  We did just that and added a lovely saint's name in the middle.
   As I was approaching the delivery of our 6th child, our spiritual lives had yet again grown to new levels.  We had come to love our Catholic lives in unimaginable ways.  We had spent time praying more and reading more about the Church and the saints.  As we read about their lives, we began to understand why our Catholic ancestors  left the legacy of  generations of Francis', Stephens, Marys, Marthas, and Johns.  These saints had amazing faith and incredible virtue.  Catholic parents of those days wanted their children to have someone with strong character upon whom to model their lives.  They wanted their children to always have their eyes and minds on Heaven and the saints who live there.  Not only did the parents want this, but the Church required it as well.   
     When we became Traditional Catholics, we came in with all the trappings of Modern Catholicism, including the "Saints-name-in-the-middle" philosophy of baby naming.  But something nagged within us when we were expecting our 7th child.  Eventually, we were able to find a saint's name we liked, although obscure.  It is so obscure that I am not convinced our priest even recognizes it!  But our beautiful daughter has a patron, nonetheless.
     In light of our difficulty, I wanted to have a blog that could be useful for today's Catholic parents who are confused and misinformed about baby naming.  I personally believe more Catholic parents would choose the names of saints and martyrs if they knew it was required of them AND if they could find names that were modern and hip.  That is what I hope to do with this blog.
     There are a whole host of saint's names out there, some popular and others obscure.  But they are out there just waiting for Catholic parents to re-claim their religious identities.  So be bold, parents!  Don't be afraid to let the world know that you are Catholic!