My wife is due in August and Reuben is our top name for a boy. My name is Jacob and the boy will be my first son. I want the boy (not sure of the gender yet, but hypothetically-speaking) to have a strong Catholic faith, education and upbringing, but I wonder: is the name Catholic enough? Does it matter?
In case you're wondering, if it's a girl: Catherine, Margaret or Florence (3 wonderful saints!)
Thanks!
As has been said, Ruben was disgraced by reason of his coninquination: "Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not: because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, and didst defile his couch" (Gen. cap. xlix., 4).
You should name your son Joseph, as he inherited the solemn benediction of Jacob: "The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come; may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren" (ibid., 26).
The Patriarch Joseph was a great exemplar of virtues, especially fortitude, prudence, chastity and meekness. He was the great type of another and greater Joseph, who would be a most welcome Patron and celestial tutor for your son, as no other Saint loves Jesus and Mary as much as St. Joseph: since one cannot truly love a person only after having known him, it follows that St. Joseph's super-excelling love for Jesus and Mary was consequent upon, and concomitant with, a very great knowledge of the sacred Mysteries of the Redemption and the dignities of the Virgin Mother of God, a knowledge greater than those of the Apostles and even of the Precursor but hidden and revealed only centuries afterwards for the sake of those souls who aspired higher and higher unto the unknown heights of the great dazzling darkness that envelopes the mystical union of the soul with God (St. Teresa of Avila being the best example, for she learned the science of prayer and was able to teach by tutelage of St. Joseph):
Post script: I think Mary Josephine is an awesome name for a girl.