I had thought I had asked this, but I cannot find it so I must not have. Anyway, the question is, if you hear [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name]…do you think of the song [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name]? I am asking because [name]MIL[/name] hates all non Catholics, She is pretty bigoted and outspoken about it. When I said we liked the name [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] a few months ago, [name]MIL[/name] started to sing [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name]. She declared it a good Catholic name. DH says we are feeding in to her bigoted sickness and does not want to have to hear about it from her for the many years to come. Frankly, I admit I would be happier if she did not like the name and I am not opposed to using a different middle name. What do you think?
(no offense to Catholicism, it is just that [name]MIL[/name] tries to grab on to anything she can to teach religious hatred and we do not want to give her anything to add to that)
Well, as a former [name]Roman[/name] Catholic, I did think “[name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name]” when I saw [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name]. Sorry, but it did.
I do think it’s pretty, [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name], but it would probably be easier to find a different middle name.
I wouldn’t have made the connection. To me it’s just a pretty, popular name. I would certainly never think that all the little [name]Ava[/name]'s out there are Catholic, and [name]Marie[/name] is a popular middle name as well.
That said, if you don’t plan to raise your daughter Catholic, you might want to steer clear of it since it’s such a strong association for your [name]MIL[/name]. Grandmas can often use something like that as a talking point with the child, especially if they think you’re not teaching the child “correctly.”
I wanted to make sure that I made it clear that it is not that we are anti Catholic, but rather than [name]MIL[/name] uses this stuff, and can ruin anything for someone, as a weapon against us. For example, we will go to Mass with her sometimes, but once there, she starts in about us going to hell and she is glad that we are seeing it correctly now and coming to mass. She tried to force DH in to confession one time, even the priest did not go for it. That was the last time we went. She will point things out to our children and tell them that is the right way to do things, not the way our [name]Pagan[/name] church does it. That sort of thing. When we invited her to our church for something, FIL actually laughed out loud during the service (it was first communion) and was shaking his head and saying what a joke the service was. You get the idea. We just do not want to give them any excuse to say that stuff with regards to the baby’s name.
I am Catholic, and I did automatically associate [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] with “[name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name],” although I do love the name! However, I do not think of [name]Ava[/name] as a Catholic name - it means “like a bird” in Latin. [name]Marie[/name] is the French version of [name]Mary[/name]. So how about a different middle name:
We also have a list of 2nd choice names. Lots of names that I would not want to use for first name because either a cousin has used it, it is too similar to one of our other children, or just that sort of thing. Some of those names include [name]Promise[/name] (like it, but would not be comfy giving it as a first name), [name]Fiona[/name] (it is a cool name, but NMS, but I would not mind putting it in the middle), [name]Maisy[/name] (love the name, worried it would not work well on a 30 yr old so worried she could not grow up with it), [name]Sophie[/name], [name]Elisabeth[/name], [name]Olivia[/name] (names that have been done in our family but dh likes) and [name]Zoe[/name] (dh likes it, but he likes [name]Zooey[/name]…the actress). Those are just some of the names that have gone by the wayside. So these might be excellent choices for middle names, even if they don’t flow the best, just because they were names we liked.
I also thought of [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name]. But I wouldn’t want someone to use my baby’s name to further their cause. If your [name]MIL[/name] was my [name]MIL[/name] I would pick a Greek/[name]Roman[/name] goddess middle name to throw her off. lol
I don’t think of [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name] when I hear the name [name]Ava[/name] by itself, but [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] together did bring up that association. It’s not a bad thing of course and I wouldn’t assume that a baby named [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] had to be Catholic, but if it bothers you then maybe you can find a different middle name.
I’m not catholic but I did grow up around lots of them and [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] never struck me as being catholic. Together you have two very common names, much like naming a child [name]Jennifer[/name] [name]Ann[/name] would have been in the 80s. I do agree with the christinamariane though, I wouldnt want to pick a name that would further her cause. A different mn might not my a bad idea. [name]Ava[/name] by itself has no catholic reference in my opinion.
I’m not Catholic, and I did think of [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name]. I’m sorry to hear about your in-laws being such dogmatic psychopaths.
If I were you I’d change the middle name. If you’re honoring someone with [name]Marie[/name], you could always find a different [name]Mary[/name] variant. There’s hundreds of them out there.
To me, it seems like a name that non-Catholics associate with Catholicism more than Catholics. I was raised Catholic (now non-religious), and I wouldn’t have made the connection. It really looks more like [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name] than sounds like it. [name]Ava[/name] is AY-va and [name]Ave[/name] is [name]AH[/name]-vay. It’s also probably one of the most popular combos in [name]America[/name] at the moment as well, both names being extremely common in their respective places, and I guarantee that most of those [name]Ava[/name] [name]Maries[/name] aren’t Catholic. The common-ness could be fixed with a change of the middle name. If it’s honoring someone, I’d suggest a [name]Marie[/name] variant like [name]Molly[/name] or [name]Malia[/name]. If you just like the sound, I’d suggest finding another name that flows just as well- [name]Corinne[/name], [name]Tamar[/name], [name]Joelle[/name], and [name]Noemi[/name] sound good to me.
However, if you love [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name], [name]DO[/name] NOT let your mother-in-law’s bigotry dissuade you from using the name you love. If you’re raising your children to accept everyone and ignore those who don’t, lead by example with the naming of your daughter.
[name]Maisy[/name] is an old n.n for [name]Margaret[/name]. [name]Margaret[/name] [name]Ava[/name] with n.n. [name]Maisy[/name] is a darling combo, oh, or [name]Margaret[/name] [name]Fiona[/name]!
[name]Zoe[/name] is cute and spunky like [name]Ava[/name], maybe [name]Zoe[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] or [name]Zoe[/name] [name]Marie[/name]?
You could also use one of your 2nd choice names as the middle instead like:
[name]Ava[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] - my favorite!
[name]Ava[/name] [name]Sophia[/name] - very sing-songy but it has a nice sound
[name]Ava[/name] [name]Olivia[/name] - maybe a little too sing-songy?
[name]Ava[/name] [name]Fiona[/name] - I really like this one too
oh, and I don’t even know what [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name] is so that’s why I didn’t weigh in on it! :oops:
I thought of [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name] and I’m Jewish. If you didn’t have your bigoted [name]MIL[/name], I’d say go ahead and use it because it’s a pretty name. [name]Ava[/name] [name]Sophie[/name] is gorgeous, and [name]Ava[/name] [name]Promise[/name] has a pretty ring to it as well. I also love [name]Ava[/name] [name]Molly[/name] of the pp suggestions. good luck- [name]Ava[/name]'s such a cute name!
I’m sorry to hear ecumenicism isn’t the word of the day for your [name]MIL[/name]. That name doesn’t really ring Catholic to me at all (I’m not sure what does, maybe double-barrel [name]Mary[/name] names like [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Katherine[/name] or [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Frances[/name] or something). I do have a Catholic friend who is [name]Eva[/name] [name]Maria[/name] although I think that’s another name entirely, as close as they are. However, [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] does look like [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name], and I think what matters is that it looks like [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name] to your [name]MIL[/name]. That could be beautiful if things were different, but they’re not. It sounds like you have some other great mn options that you like well, so I’d keep looking. All best!
You kow, I do think of [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name]… but I don’t jump to the conclusion that an [name]Ava[/name] [name]Marie[/name] is Catholic ([name]Ava[/name] is so common these days, and I have seen it paired with [name]Marie[/name] often…). It is interesting, as I am not Catholic and have been told that our girls’ have “Catholic” names (they are double names) [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Elizabeth[/name] is one of them, and baby girl due any day will be [name]Sarah[/name] [name]Katherine[/name] and people have commented that it sounded Catholic as well (which I never imagined sounded Catholic…). Quite frankly I don’t care. I like timeless, elegant, classic sounding names, and honestly a lot of Catholic saints carried those type of names.
I am sorry your [name]MIL[/name] is being such a pain about this, but my bottom line would be how much I love the name. If you truely love it, use it… if not then use a different middle name.
[name]Both[/name] [name]Ava[/name] and [name]Marie[/name] are gorgeous, but together I immediately thought of [name]Ave[/name] [name]Maria[/name], and I’m not even Catholic! If you want to avoid the connection, definitely go on the safe side and pick another middle name.
Maybe pick an unusual middle name, as [name]Ava[/name] is quite a popular name?
I’m not even [name]Christian[/name] and I made the association. I think it’s pretty but if you don’t want people to make that jump then you should find another combo.
