Carrots for Michaelmas

Cultivating a Catholic family through literature, liturgical living, and urban homesteading

Follow Carrots!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About
    • About Haley
    • Advertise
    • Privacy
  • My Books
    • The Grace of Enough
    • The Literary Medicine Cabinet
    • Liturgical Year eCookbooks
  • Faith & Liturgical Living
    • Our Conversion Story
    • Catholicism
      • Saints
        • St. Anne
        • St. Anthony of Padua
        • St. Anthony of the Desert
        • St. Benedict of Nursia
        • St. Brigid
        • St. Dominic
        • St. Joachim
        • St. Lucy
        • St. Patrick
        • St. Scholastica
      • Christian Year
        • Advent
        • Christmas
        • Epiphany
        • Lent
        • Mardi Gras
        • Easter
  • Family & Homesteading
    • Birth
    • Children
    • DIY
    • Finances
    • Homeschooling
    • Marriage
    • NFP
    • Our Home
  • Bookishness
    • Blog
    • Book Lists
  • Fashion
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
  • Speaking

Baby Name Reveal for Baby Carrots!

April 14, 2018 By Haley 50 Comments

Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're here. This is where I share thoughts on liturgical living, faith, parenting, culture, and an extra dose of Jane Austen. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!

Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're back. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!

I am a baby name nerd. You need to know this to understand this story. I make extensive lists (despite my aversion to listmaking) of baby names I love for future use. I have a giant document on my laptop of first names, middle names, various combinations that I update every time I fall in love with a new name.

Since my pregnancies are rough, choosing a name is one of the rare joys I experience during the months of nausea. It really helps me mentally get through to the day the baby is in my arms.

Before I tell this story and share the name we chose, I did ask my husband Daniel’s permission about posting because he’s a more private person than I am and he said, “Sure! I mean…it’s not like blogging about it is a binding agreement.” I disagree. Blogged means binding! And I’m sticking to that unless I change my mind.

This pregnancy we were pretty sure we were having a boy. So we focused on boy names and agonized over them. We did a baby name consult with Sancta Nomina (so much fun!) And after much deliberation, by the 20 week ultrasound we had settled on Lavrans Arthur after St. Lawrence and after a character in Kristin Lavransdatter.

We’d spent less time discussing girl names but had agreed on Evangeline Rose (although I didn’t think TOO much about it because we were surely pregnant with a boy.) But I loved the idea of naming our child “Good News” because isn’t every sweet little life good news?!

Lo and behold, a third little girl was kicking on the ultrasound screen! I was immediately smitten by her precious face (she has the same nose as her sister Gwen!) and while I still think Evangeline is such a beautiful name I could see right away it wasn’t HER name.

As we waited for our follow up with our midwife I thought about the long list of girl names we had talked over…..and then a COMPLETELY different name I have never before considered for ANY of my pregnancies just popped into my head: Hilda.

“Daniel!” I said. “Hilda! Do you hate it?! I’ve never thought of it before but I am suddenly VERY into this name. I think it’s her name. I’m looking up what it means and everything about it.”

Here’s what I found:

Possible patron saints: St. Hilda of Whitby, St. Hildegard von Bingen (Doctor of the Church!)


Meaning: Hilda: Battle Woman. Hildegard: Battle Garden.
Favorite middles: Rose or Rosemary after Our Lady (Mystical Rose), St. Rose of Lima

After discussing with the kids, our favorite combination is Hildegard Rose which would mean Battle Garden of Roses which is incredibly Marian! I imagine the power of the Rosary or a rose garden devoted to Our Lady who crushes Satan under her heel with the strength of her fiat. It’s honestly kind of metal. A rose is both beautiful and dangerous.

I’ve always felt that I was choosing my babies’ names. But this time, I feel like I was just TOLD what her name already is. Which is kind of weird or mystical but I’m here for it.

Nicknames:
Hilde, Hildy, Hildie (the pronounciation would be Hil-dee, but I’m not sure how we want to spell it. Suggestions welcome.)
Hilda
Hilda Rose
Rosie/Rosy

Am I missing any?

With a more unusual first name, I like a classic like Rose as a middle in case she totally hates Hildegard and wants to be H. Rose Stewart someday.

So we are anxiously and impatiently waiting to meet Hildegard Rose Stewart in 3.5 months time. From her extremely active antics in the womb, I’m pretty sure our little rose garden is going to be a force to be reckoned with. And I can’t wait to kiss her precious cheeks.

Related Posts

None

Filed Under: Baby, Children, Family & Homesteading, Motherhood Tagged With: baby carrots, baby names, Catholic baby names

Comments

  1. Lizzy says

    April 14, 2018 at 9:22 am

    What a beautiful name!!

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 9:56 am

      Thank you, Lizzy!

      Reply
  2. Angela says

    April 14, 2018 at 9:53 am

    H. Rose Stewart sounds like someone super fancy and important. She could write books or discover new species (which would probably mean writing books) or run the country! And Hildy/Rosie sounds like the sweetest little girl in all of Texas! I can see pictures of her on a blanket in the middle of a field of wildflowers!

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 9:56 am

      lol! I am so here for all of this! <3

      Reply
  3. Kendra says

    April 14, 2018 at 9:59 am

    It’s perfect, Haley. I love it!

    I would expect it to be spelled Hilde. ?

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 10:49 am

      I think I like that spelling the best! But would it be confusing whether it’s pronounced “Hilda”? Decisions!!!

      Reply
    • Hannah says

      April 17, 2018 at 9:48 pm

      I second this! That’s the spelling I saw in my mind’s eye, too. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Beth says

    April 14, 2018 at 10:17 am

    I am so very happy and excited for you! I can’t wait to see pics of your Hildegard Rose when she arrives. ?

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 10:50 am

      Thank you so much, Beth! <3

      Reply
  5. Mary Silloway says

    April 14, 2018 at 10:42 am

    I had exactly the same naming experience with my youngest boy! I keep telling people that he “told” me his name when I was looking at him on the ultrasound. It’s wasn’t one that we had really considered, but it just popped into my head the second I saw him and knew he was a little boy. I’ve never heard someone else say they experienced that, so I was super happy to hear your story!

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 10:50 am

      So cool! I don’t have very many mystical experiences, so it was definitely special.

      Reply
    • Amy says

      April 14, 2018 at 10:55 pm

      I definitely had a similar experience! We were thinking our second would probably be a boy, due on Christmas Eve. But as I was pondering Christmas names, I thought of the prophetess Anna waiting for the Lord in the temple and it was like lightning – I had never thought of using that name before but after it came I could not get it to go away! I worked myself up with worry about possibly having a boy after all that – it was a relief to see our baby girl on the ultrasound and know that she was supposed to be an Anna after all! I feel like the name (and all its associations with her scriptural namesake) definitely came down with her.

      Reply
  6. Jill says

    April 14, 2018 at 10:53 am

    Beautiful name! Our daughter is Helen Rose and we call her Rosie. I love Helen and Rose but husband couldn’t quite get over the “old lady name” so we compromised on calling her Rosie. I love all the nickname choices for Hildegard! You can’t go wrong! I’m due any day now with surprise number five and I have no sure idea what to name the baby if it’s a girl!
    Congratulations to you and your family!

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 10:55 am

      Helen and Helena have both been on our list for ages. So lovely!!!

      Reply
  7. Annie says

    April 14, 2018 at 11:02 am

    Yay!!! I love St. Hildegard – what a beautiful patron for your little one!

    I also think that, should God bless you with another little girl, Evangeline would fit right in! I know, #toosoon, but the name nerd in me can’t help it haha.

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 11:04 am

      Thanks, Annie!

      Reply
  8. Anjanette Barr says

    April 14, 2018 at 11:10 am

    I LOVE it! What a cool name!! St. Hildegard was my second choice for a confirmation saint and I’ve loved learning about her. Little Hildi is going to grow up with such an inspiring woman to model!

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 11:13 am

      <3

      Reply
  9. Laura Fidler says

    April 14, 2018 at 11:38 am

    I LOVE the name Hildi. Hildegard von Bingen has been a desired patroness of our next little girl for a long time for me. I am also a big name nerd and I think Sancta Nomina is the best page on the whole internet, not to mention the Baby Name Wizard and Behindthename.com.

    Blessings to you and the baby!

    Reply
    • Haley says

      April 14, 2018 at 11:39 am

      Sancta Nomina is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy! lol It is THE BEST.

      Reply
  10. Rachel says

    April 14, 2018 at 11:40 am

    This ia a brilliant name. Well done!
    And I hear you on the name getting you through months of sickness.
    When our first son was 26 weeks, I had to get my appendix out. There was a risk of preterm labour, and so the doctors had to read me all the lists of things that could potentially go wrong if he was born that early. Or was horrible. But somewhere in there, between convalescing in the hospital and getting repaired shoes of morphine to stop contractions, I learned his name. We’d it in mind, but if was just a little bit out there, and we weren’t too sure about it. But suddenly I had this profound assurance that not only was his name Alasdair Lewis Peregrine, but that everything was going to be fine. His name means Defender of Mankind, Man of War. And Peregrine means pilgrim, because there needed to be some moderating influence involved! But I knew that with this name, that I knew we had to give him, there must be a plan for his life that meant he would be ok. After all, he couldn’t defend anyone as a 26 week old! I felt such immense peace. And I still feel it, even though in his five years he’s had SO many close scrapes. God has a plan for this one, and there is someone who doesn’t want him to fulfill that plan – but God is bigger!

    Sorry for essay in your comment section! ☺️

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      April 14, 2018 at 11:41 am

      Haha – not repaired shoes! Repeated shots!

      Reply
  11. Rebekah says

    April 14, 2018 at 11:54 am

    Love this name! As far as a nickname , I would personally go with “Hildy” like Hildegard “Hildy” Johnson played by Rosalind Russell in “His Girl Friday.”

    Reply
  12. Abigail says

    April 14, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    Oh what a sweet name! One of my favorite book characters is Hildemara Rose from Francine Rivers ‘Her Mother’s Hope.” Such a strong woman of God!
    I also think Hildie is an adorable nickname! Praying for sustained energy throughout the rest of your pregnancy and a healthy birth <3

    Reply
    • Hannah says

      April 17, 2018 at 9:52 pm

      I LOVE that book, too, Abigail! 🙂

      Reply
  13. Lindsey says

    April 14, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    LOVE IT! I have a Rosemary Beatrice (nickname Rosie, Rosie Bea). I love Hilde Rose or Rosie as nicknames, and Hildegard is a super awesome name with an incredible patron. ?

    Reply
  14. Meghan says

    April 14, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    Hilda is also the name of a delicious Swedish ice cream treat:)

    https://www.siaglass.se/sv/vara-glassar/pinnar-och-strutar/sortiment/hilda/

    Reply
  15. Stephanie says

    April 14, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    I feel like Heidi or Heidi Rose could totally work as nicknames too. 🙂 This little lady has such a powerful naming story! Lovvvvve it so much!

    Reply
  16. Kathleen says

    April 14, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    I just love that name so much! (I felt our Linus had his name just chosen too!) And I just love the meaning of Hildegard Rose, too!! Our babies are going to need so much strength to spread Christ’s love in the world! Way to go, Haley!

    Reply
  17. Kate says

    April 14, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    Love it! Our 9 month old is Hildegard Katherine. We call her Hildie… Or Hilde-bug, Hilde-bee… Anything we can track “Hilde”( pronounced Hil-deh) onto usually works. When she poops, it’s a Hilde-poop 🙂

    She is our third and our second girl. I too am a name nerd and always thought if we had another girl hey babe would be Regina Katherine… But like you once we find out we we having a girl I just knew Regina wasn’t her name… So here we are with Miss Hildegard.

    Best wishes for a safe and swift labor!

    Reply
  18. Melanie says

    April 14, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    I was cracking up reading this. I am holding my 1 week old little girl that was very nearly Evangeline Rose…she was born a couple days after Easter and the name seemed perfect. But not hers. She ended up Helen Rose. Ellie.

    Reply
  19. Margaret Sky says

    April 14, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    Beautiful name with powerful meaning! I love that she “told” you what her name is. With my last pregnancy, I tried asking my daughter what her name should be, and the only thing that came to me is that it should start with an “E.” We ended up naming her one E name and then changing her name 2 days later when we realized no one knew how to pronounce it. Baby naming can be so hard, so it helps if they will just tell you what they want to be named!

    Reply
  20. Margaret Sky says

    April 14, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    I also considered the name Evangeline, but my husband vetoed!

    Reply
  21. Lindsay H. says

    April 14, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    When I read Battle Garden of Roses it brought tears to my eyes! So Marian and so powerful!! I love it. And St. Hildegard is one of the coolest saints… I’ve recently been drawn to get because of her knowledge of herbs. Perfect for your nature minded, garden growing fam I think ? congrats!!

    Reply
  22. Tacy says

    April 14, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    Beautiful. Beautiful name . ???

    Reply
  23. Heidi says

    April 14, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    Ohhh! That really is gorgeous! I love Rose, too. I was praying the “Hail, holy queen” prayer, when “clement” jumped out at me. So we named our 2nd daughter Clementine, with Rose de Lima as a middle name. Love name stories! And I have the next two names sorted, so we’d better get a move on, Haha!

    Reply
  24. Sarah says

    April 14, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    What a beautiful story and name! I think you could call her Hillie too – but Hildy is super cute. Congratulations!

    Reply
  25. Beth says

    April 15, 2018 at 12:56 am

    What about Heidi for a nickname?

    Reply
    • Beth says

      April 15, 2018 at 4:57 am

      Or Helle

      Reply
  26. Ann-Marie Ulczynski says

    April 15, 2018 at 7:01 am

    I love it! Please, please, please tell me you’ve read Bless This Mouse by Lois Lowry with the kids. The brave, strong main character shares your daughter’s name. We love that book!

    Reply
    • E says

      April 15, 2018 at 9:39 pm

      I thought of that book too! Hildegarde the mouse is such a complicated character. I had to reread it to figure out her development. All the usual Lowry complexity in adorable church mice! (And to Haley, it’s a great name! We named one of our children while still in-utero and it was so much extra fun for me to bond when she already had a name.)

      Reply
  27. Mom of Six says

    April 15, 2018 at 9:47 am

    Hildee is another spelling option.

    Reply
  28. Sarah says

    April 15, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    What a fantastic name! I like Hildy as a nickname, as I’m pretty sure people would be able to spell/pronounce that. I also love Evangeline and if we have another daughter in the future I’m pretty sure that will be her name (we already have Caroline and Katherine so we would have to have another -ine ending!).

    Reply
  29. Anna says

    April 16, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    So funny! Many blessings for your family and your upcoming delivery. We always find out the gender of our babies and we have always picked a name before they were born. Baby number 4 was a challenge. We just could not pick a name for her. We spent the entire pregnancy going through names and by the time labor came we STILL didn’t have a name. We had narrowed it down to 2 names though so we thought when we saw her we would choose one of them. My husband was holding her when she was a few hours old and chose a completely different name that wasn’t even on our list. It just fit her. Sometimes names choose you. 🙂

    Reply
  30. Mary-Agnes says

    April 16, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    Wow! What a bold choice! Another patron could be St. Mathilde, because her name ends in Hilde 🙂

    I was so sure this baby girl would be a Claire, to complement her sisters’ names: Lucy=light, Gwen=white and Claire=bright…

    But now I think the theme is “strong Catholic women”: St. Lucy (brave martyr), Mother Mary and a Doctor of the Church!

    Reply
  31. Elizabeth says

    April 17, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    I love this!!!! What I beautiful naming story and a beautiful name!!!

    I am struggling so much with our boy’s name this time. I had a girl’s name picked out (and several backups) when we found out this baby is boy #2. I love our first son’s name (and our daughter’s for that matter) so much that I feel like we can’t possibly come up with anything as good. My indecisiveness doesn’t help, and I don’t want to spend the first weeks of his life agonizing over his name. I’m praying that the name will come to us between now and July!

    Reply
  32. Jen A says

    April 17, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    Beautiful! We have some dear friends whose second daughter was named Rosemary. They called her Roses. I always loved that. Blessings for a safe, healthy delivery!

    Reply
  33. Frances says

    April 17, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    Daniel and you have the most beautiful daughters! Love HIlde already!

    Reply
  34. Jenna says

    April 17, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!! Also, I’m drowning in saints and cathedrals and duomos over here in Italy and all I think about is, « Haley would love this…what is this for? Hmm…Haley would probably know! »

    Not being Catholic (and also not being a reader of Latin), I don’t know what half of this is, but it’s beautiful and interesting nonetheless.

    Reply
  35. Hannah says

    April 18, 2018 at 7:38 am

    “And I’m sticking to that unless I change my mind.” Hahahahaha!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Melanie Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Contact

haley@carrotsformichaelmas.com

Sign Up for My Newsletter!

More ideas about celebrating the liturgical year, free printables, great links I love, and more of the Carrots family in your inbox!



Welcome! I’m Haley Stewart, a bookish mama of four and wife to a beekeeper. Writer, speaker, podcaster, and Catholic convert. Homeschooling, bacon-eating, and bright red lipstick-wearing Jane Austen aficionado. My first book, The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture is available now!

All rights reserved. ©Haley Stewart Unauthorized usage and duplication of text and images without the express permission of Haley and Carrots for Michaelmas is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links to posts may be used as long as clear credit is given to Haley/Carrots for Michaelmas.
Follow on Bloglovin
follow us in feedly

Recent Posts

  • I’ve Moved!
  • Let’s Support Pregnant Moms and Babies!
  • My New Book! Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life
  • Let’s go to the UK this summer!
  • Join me in supporting Haitian women!

Archives

Disclosure

Some links found in my posts are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I will receive a percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for helping me support my family and keep the lights on here at Carrots! Haley Stewart is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Privacy Policy

Copyright Carrots for Michaelmas © 2025 · Design and Development by Santa Clara Design · Log in

 

Loading Comments...