Baby Name: Sabas

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.