A name for baby Joy
As I mention in #2 here, my older children insist that the new baby’s name is “Joy.” It was the strangest thing: my four-year-old son got it into his head one day when I was still pregnant that that was the baby’s name, and has not backed down since then. When guests refer to her by her real name, he or my two-year-old will adamantly correct them that she is to be called “Joy.” They’ve been so insistent that our family has just given up and officially given her that nickname.
Meanwhile, her real name is Catherine. It’s odd because Catherine was never a name I’d felt drawn to — it wasn’t even on the list for consideration with my other daughters. Yet as soon as I found out that this baby was a girl, I knew that that was her name. We never seriously discussed any other options. I didn’t feel like I was choosing a name for her as much as it seemed like I was just articulating the name she already had.
I wondered if perhaps there was a reason for this, so I prayed to know if there was any particular saint named Catherine whom she was supposed to be named after.
Soon after I said that prayer, a package with a painting of St. Catherine of Siena arrived in the mail. My uncle had been traveling Italy and just so happened to be in Siena on the day she was born, so he got the picture of the famous saint for the baby. He didn’t know what day she was going to be born — it was just a “coincidence” that he was in Siena that day.
I figured that that was probably an indicator that she was meant to be named after Catherine of Siena, but wished I had a little more certainty. Then the other day I was researching something unrelated, and happened to come across this biography of Catherine of Siena. My jaw dropped when I read:
Her family gave her the pet name of Euphrosyne, which is Greek for Joy.
I guess that answers the question.
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What a marvelous read, It sent shivers all over me (not bad, good ones). I read all the way through the biography and I can understand why your jaw dropped. Even for the fact that your uncle sent you a picture of St. Catherine in the mail.
I think your little girls name was meant to be and what a beautiful name Catherine is.
Amazing read.
Julie@Baby Shower Themes recently posted..Coloring Pages For Girls – FREE Printable Coloring Pages Especially For Little Girls
And this is the way God speaks to us, once we learn how to listen…
Congratulations on your new baby girl. I guess we already know who her patron saint will be upon Confirmation…
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Incredible story! Praise God
Wow, this gave me chills! What a beautiful story.
What a beautiful example of God’s love. I particularly enjoyed this story because my name is Joy. When I was born my parents had only come up with names for boys and didn’t have a girl’s name, but my mother tells me she looked at me and knew that I was “Joy”. When it came time for me to have my own children, my husband and I couldn’t find a boy’s name we liked when our daughter was born, only a girl’s name; and same for when our son came later – we only had a boy’s name and not a girl’s name.
OK, so I know that I am a good two + years behind on this story, but I just read it for the first time. I got goose-bumps when I read the last two sentences. Yes, sometimes your children are just meant to have the names you have given them. I tell people all the time that God named my children because their names are nothing that I ever had on any list of mine.
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I absolutely love this story, ever since I first found it a while back! I like to read it occasionally. xD I was wondering, did you name the baby Catherine Joy, or is her middle name something else, and Joy is just a pet name, like Euphrosyne was just a pet name?