{"id":14492,"date":"2020-01-08T09:26:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T13:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=14492"},"modified":"2020-01-09T07:49:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T11:49:32","slug":"baby-girl-vansanover-is-the-name-bernadette-too-catholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2020\/01\/08\/baby-girl-vansanover-is-the-name-bernadette-too-catholic\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl Vansanover: Is the Name Bernadette Too Catholic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle,<\/p>\n

I am pregnant with my first child, a girl, due in May. As a lifelong name enthusiast, I am astounded to find myself having such difficulty choosing a name for her. Our surname is long and Dutch and sounds similar to Vansanover. We are Americans currently living in London; we will more than likely be headed back to the US within the next several years, so we are most concerned with the popularity and perceptions of names from an American perspective.<\/p>\n

We have narrowed our name search to three options, Bernadette, Florence and Felicity, with Bernadette being the current front-runner. I have always loved this name for its strong but charming meaning and the endless nickname possibilities (we particularly love Betty and Birdie but also like that she could choose something herself as she gets older).<\/p>\n

The only thing holding me back from choosing Bernadette enthusiastically is that it has recently come to my attention that it is perceived as a Catholic name. Neither my husband nor I are religious. The religious connotation doesn’t bother us per se, especially since the meaning of the name is entirely secular. However, I realize her name will inform others’ perceptions of her, and I don’t really want everyone assuming she is a strictly observant Catholic without meeting her. My impression is that Brits are much more attuned to the Catholic connotation than Americans are, but it’s also possible I was oblivious to it in the US since the religious communities in my hometown were predominantly protestant. My British friends say it conjures an image of a mean old nun and that no one actually names their children Bernadette (i.e. it is only used as a nun’s religious name).<\/p>\n

Her middle name will be Flynn, my mother’s maiden name, which seems to double down on the Catholic-ness.<\/p>\n

How strong do you think the Catholic association with this name is in the US? Would you assume a girl named Bernadette came from a Catholic family? How much should this matter?<\/p>\n

Thanks for you help!<\/p>\n

Amy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

HERE IS WHAT I THINK. I think there has been a major shift in using names formerly strongly associated with religion, and that this shift has happened within the last generation. I remember before my children were born encountering my first baby named Noah and being shocked, SHOCKED, that someone would use such a strikingly biblical name. I’d gone to Christian schools for middle school and college, and not even conservative evangelical Christians would use a name like Noah! Josiah, sure, and there were plenty of Davids and Sarahs and Matthews and Rebeccas, but not NOAH!<\/p>\n

And now the name Noah is the number one most popular boy name in the United States, and there is no reason to assume the parents of any given Noah are religious. Also in style: Ezra, Elijah, Levi, Isaac, Asher, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Moses. Older generations may still find it a little shocking, especially if they are not baby-name hobbyists and so haven’t been keeping track of the trends—but the current kid-naming parents find these names completely mainstream\/contemporary.<\/p>\n

I used to think of the name Bernadette as Very Catholic. I’d known only two Bernadettes: a mom at the same daycare where I encountered my first Noah; and Bernadette-called-Benny in Maeve Binchy’s book Circle of Friends. I was also familiar with it as one of many Nun Names. All very very Catholic associations.<\/p>\n

But now! Now if I encountered a baby named Bernadette, I might WONDER if the family was Catholic but, as with the name Noah, I would actually think it was more likely they were NOT religious. (Furthermore, I’d be DELIGHTED to encounter the name and its delightful nicknames.) I think it’s highly possible your friends who are appalled at this Mean Old Nun name are just in the same stage I was when I was shocked by a Noah, and that they will catch up soon. And I think in the U.S., even if people might at first wonder if the usage is for Catholic-related reasons, they will soon understand from other clues that it is not. I say it’s fabulous and I say USE IT. (But I also LOVE both your other choices, and would feel equally delighted to encounter either of those names.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Swistle, I am pregnant with my first child, a girl, due in May. As a lifelong name enthusiast, I am astounded to find myself having such difficulty choosing a name for her. Our surname is long and Dutch and sounds similar to Vansanover. We are Americans currently living in London; we will more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3LK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14492"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14499,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492\/revisions\/14499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}