How popular is the baby name Ignatius in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ignatius.

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Popularity of the baby name Ignatius


Posts that mention the name Ignatius

Baby name needed: Boy or girl name for Phoenix’s sibling

A reader named Lisa writes:

I have a 2 year old boy named Phoenix Edward Brooks*, and recently found out I’m pregnant again! The baby will be born in June, and we’re already racking our brains for names. We like “different” names – like Phoenix – who was named after the mythical bird – and would like something that goes well with Phoenix. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

At the moment she likes Leo/Leonardo for a boy, but doesn’t have any favorite girl names.

Here are some ideas to kick things off:

Boy namesGirl names
Alistair
August
Deacon
Evander
Gideon
Griffin
Horatio
Ignatius
Jude
Malachi
Matthias
Maverick
Raphael		Briar
Daphne
Ione
Keziah
Magnolia
Penelope
Saffron
Saskia
Tanith
Tatiana
Tirzah
Verity
Xanthe

What other names would you suggest for Phoenix’s younger brother or sister?

*The last name isn’t Brooks, but does start with b and have one syllable.

Baby names needed: “Whimsical, weird” names for quadruplets

Estelle wrote to me recently with a tall order:

I’m having quads (!!!) in 4 weeks and I need names! I’m having one boy and three girls. My 4 year old son’s name is Cosmo. My husband and I like spacey, whimsical and weird names.

In fact, they “don’t have any limits on how weird a name can be.”

One girl name they’re considering is Ione, which is a family name.

The combination of Cosmo and the adjective “spacey” made me think of star and constellation names right off the bat:

Adhara
Aldebaran
Altair
Aludra
Antares
Antlia
Aquarius
Aquila
Aries
Auriga
Azha
Carina
Corvus		Cygnus
Deneb
Denebola
Hamal
Kastra
Lacerta
Libra
Lyra
Meissa
Musca
Nashira
Norma
Orion		Pavo
Polaris
Rana
Rigel
Shaula
Sheratan
Sirius
Sirrah
Suhail
Taurus
Thuban
Vega
Vela

One nice thing about these is that several together probably wouldn’t scream “star names” to the average person. Unlike, say, a group of flower names. (Though I’m sure stargazers would catch on pretty quickly.)

And here’s what we have for non-galactic suggestions:

Allegra
Althea
Apollonia
Artemis
Aurora
Briony
Calypso
Clio
Danae
Demetria		Echo
Eulalia
Freya
Hestia
Imelda
Imogen
Isis
Lucasta
Luna
Jonquil		Minerva
Olympia
Rhea
Sapphira
Severina
Ursula
Vita
Xanthe
Zelda
Zenobia

Those were the girl names, these are the boy names:

Agni
Aldous
Barnaby
Casper
Cyril
Elan
Evander
Erasmus
Fabio
Gideon		Horatio
Ignatius
Isidore
Jethro
Leander
Loki
Magnus
Milo
Nigel
Odin		Pascal
Peregrine
Reuben
Rémy
Silas
Taliesin
Theron
Tycho
Ulysses
Zenon

What other whimsical names can you come up with for Estelle? And, can you put together any good combinations of 1 boy and 3 girl names?

Update: The babies have arrived! Scroll down to see what names Estelle selected.

60 Unique male saint names: Ariston, Cassian, Conon, Fintan…

You’re looking for a cool, uncommon saint name…but you haven’t had much luck.

Augustine’s not up your alley. Francis is too old fashioned. And how many people are really going to get “Aloysius” right on the first try?

I scoured the Roman Martyrology for 60 male saint names that might appeal to modern parents.

Because nearly all of the names refer to multiple saints, I didn’t bother with extra details like feast days. I did throw in a few nickname ideas, though.

  1. St. Alban.
  2. St. Amand, also known as Amandus.
  3. St. Ammon.
  4. St. Ananias.
  5. St. Ariston. Riston, Aris, Ari.
  6. St. Attalus.
  7. St. Audax, which means “daring, bold” in Latin. Dax, Audy.
  8. St. Azarias.
  9. St. Bretannio. Bret, Bretan.
  10. St. Cassian. Cash.
  11. St. Colman. Cole.
  12. St. Columban.
  13. St. Conon
  14. St. Corebus. Cory.
  15. St. Cyrion.
  16. St. Damasus.
  17. St. Davinus. Dave, Davy, Davin.
  18. St. Domitian. Dom.
  19. St. Emilian. Emil.
  20. St. Fintan. Fin.
  21. St. Galdinus, or the Italian form Galdino.
  22. St. Gavinus. Gavin.
  23. St. Gereon. Gerry.
  24. St. Gerinus. Gerry, Gerin.
  25. St. Gordian. Gordy.
  26. St. Hadrian…nope, not the Roman Emperor. Different guy.
  27. St. Ignatius. Nate, Iggy.
  28. St. Kilian, also spelled Killian.
  29. St. Leander. Andy, Lee.
  30. St. Leontius. Leon, Leo.
  31. St. Macarius. Mac.
  32. St. Magnus.
  33. St. Malchus. Mal.
  34. St. Marcellin. Marcel, Marce.
  35. St. Marcellus. Marcel, Marce.
  36. St. Maxentius. Max.
  37. St. Maximian. Max.
  38. St. Mellitus. Mel.
  39. St. Nazarius. Naz.
  40. St. Nicander. Nic, Andy.
  41. St. Nicanor. Nic.
  42. St. Nilus.
  43. St. Octavian. Tavian, Tave, Tavy.
  44. St. Remigius, or the French form Rémy. Remi.
  45. St. Romulus, or the Italian form Romolo. Rom, Romy.
  46. St. Sabbas, also spelled Sabas.
  47. St. Sennen.
  48. St. Sergius, or the more familiar form Sergio. Serge.
  49. St. Severin. Sev.
  50. St. Straton.
  51. St. Swithin.
  52. St. Theonas. Theo.
  53. St. Thrason.
  54. St. Thyrsus.
  55. St. Timon. Tim, Timmy.
  56. St. Tryphon.
  57. St. Tychon.
  58. St. Valens. Val.
  59. St. Verian.
  60. St. Zenas. Zen.

Killian is the only saint name on the list that has ranked among the top 1,000 baby names in the nation within the last 100 years. (The single-L version has never ranked, though.)

Did you see any names you liked?

And, do you know of any good ones that I missed?

Update, June 2014: Just posted about another unique male saint name, Cono.