Surprisingly-Saintly Names

Santiago

Spanish place-name or Latin

"Saint James"

Santiago is a spirited Spanish name with great crossover potential. It's a place-name (a city in Chile), a surname, and the name of the patron saint of Spain. Santiago has been rising through the…

Austin

English, shortened form of Augustine, Latin

"great, magnificent"

Austin is one of the most attractive city names for babies , with an appealing southwestern feel and place-name panache. Austin has been an Anglo-Saxon surname and a first name since medieval times.…

Malcolm

Scottish

"devotee of St. Colomba"

Malcolm is a warm and welcoming Scottish appellation (originally Mael-Colium) that fits into that golden circle of names that are distinctive but not at all odd. A royal name in Scotland, Malcolm is…

Sidney

English from French

"Saint Denis"

A contraction name, Sidney comes from Saint Denis and is related to Dioynsius, the Greek god of fertility and wine, although another theory is that it derived from an Anglo-Saxon place name, meaning…

Toussaint

French

"all saints"

Has been used in the past by parents wishing to invoke the blessing and protection of all the saints, also given to boys born on November 1, All Saints' Day.

Malone

Irish

"a devotee of Saint John"

Classic Irish surname with a lot of character and some interesting associations: the title character of a Samuel Beckett novel and basketball great Karl Malone. Malone is a popular name for baby boys…

Sinclair

Scottish

"from the town of St. Clair"

Could be a novel way for a boy's name to honor an ancestral Claire.

Maclean

Scottish

"servant of Saint John"

Whether you pronounce it Mac-cleen or Mac-clayn, this is one of the crispest and most appealing of the Mac names. The Scottish clan Maclean is one of the oldest of the Highland Scottish clans. Trivia…

Marmaduke

Irish

"devotee of Maedoc"

One of the ultimate teasable names, an Irish saint's name now associated with the oversized comic-strip dog. Scottish adventurer Bear (born Edward) Grylls took up the challenge when he used it for…

Sinjin

Phonetic spelling of St. John

The name St. John is much more usable in its phonetic spelling — similar to the way St. Clair evolved into Sinclair. St. John has some literary cred — St. John Rivers is a cool character in Jane Eyre…