Cyprian? Damian?

Marcel or Marcellus or Marcella

How long have we go before a decision must be taken?

There is no shortage of Catholic names.  There once was the excellent book, "Is It A Saint's Name?", and my wife and I got it, when we were selecting a name for our son.  TAN carried it, but I don't think it's in print any longer.  Abebooks supposedly has copies starting at $10.00:

https://www.abebooks.com/9780895550248/Saints-Name-Dunne-William-P-0895550245/plp

We found such names as Hannah, Montana, and Elvis (a form of the Irish Ailbe).

And, no, we didn't name our son Elvis.

It seems as though all white people in this country give their children six-letter English-sounding epicene names, to the exclusion of anything else, more Taylors, Saylors, Hunters, Carters, Bradens, Austins, Paytons, and Hayleys, than you can shake a stick at.  ("Austin" is actually a short form of Augustine.) 

Don't even get me started on black names, it is as though they have a secret website, "findyouruniqueblackname.com", with a registry to ensure that your child, and nobody else, has that name, spells it that way, and/or pronounces it that way.  Apostrophes are inserted the same way that the grammatically weak writer takes a stab in the dark to determine whether a word that ends in "s" takes an apostrophe or not.  Better stop there.  But the pathetic thing, is that it makes crime stories pretty transparent, even if race isn't specified otherwise.

It seems as though all white people in this country give their children six-letter English-sounding epicene names, to the exclusion of anything else, more Taylors, Saylors, Hunters, Carters, Bradens, Austins, Paytons, and Hayleys, than you can shake a stick at.  ("Austin" is actually a short form of Augustine.)

I wonder why you would include Austin in this list. Austin is a good Catholic traditional manly name and a boy would be proud to wear it.

My great uncle Austin died at the age of 8 from the Spanish flu before my mother (born 1918) could form a memory of him.

Jerome is a fine name. What about Miriam for a girl. Maybe he/she will be born on a special feastday. 

 I still am leaning toward Ava Marie for a girl, which my wife actually kind of likes but isn't sold on yet.

Ava means female bird in Spanish, does not travel well, will give her problems and questions all her life. Make it Eva like the rest of the world and she can go anywhere

It seems as though all white people in this country give their children six-letter English-sounding epicene names, to the exclusion of anything else, more Taylors, Saylors, Hunters, Carters, Bradens, Austins, Paytons, and Hayleys, than you can shake a stick at.  ("Austin" is actually a short form of Augustine.) 

Actually, the phenomenon is summed up succinctly: they are using LAST NAMES for their childrens' first names.

They feel like it's been used as a name before  -- and yes it has! As a last name. NOT as a given name, which used to be called one's "Christian name". The child's "given" name would be solemnly given to the child at their Christening (baptism). The family name -- the surname, or last name -- that part wasn't negotiable, that part nobody got to choose.

Anything -ton is a corruption of "town". E.g., Colton ("coal town"). Preston ("press town"). I'll stick with naming my children after saints, thankyouverymuch. #Sorrynotsorry.

Most of those names describe a career, which is what the last name used to be. Cooper (maker of barrel rings), Carter, Hunter (use your imagination!), Wainwright (maker of wains), Butler, etc.

Then they do the Megan/Meagan into every letter of the alphabet: Teagan, Reagan, Seagan, etc. -- basically just making crap up.

These kids could have been named after a favored Saint of God -- instead they get a dumb last name for a first name. I'm still waiting for a Mr. & Mrs. McKenzie to name their daughter the quite-well-established name "MacKenzie".

Mary, Maura, Isabelle

Brian, Luke,