# Joseph or Mary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Name Advice\ **Created:** [May 14, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830 "2011-05-14T06:15:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jesba](https://forum.nameberry.com/letter_avatar/jesba/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@jesba](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/jesba)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/1 "2011-05-14T06:15:21Z")
Hypothetical question here: I feel like the names [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mary[/name] as siblings are probably too much. So since probably only one can be used, which is better for you, [name]Joseph[/name] for a boy or [name]Mary[/name] for a girl? I’ve loved the name [name]Joseph[/name] for a long time. [name]Mary[/name] is a newer love, but really growing on me. As you can probably guess I don’t mind the religious implications of the name in general. More specifically, would people assume [name]Mary[/name] was from a Catholic family? That wouldn’t bother me, I don’t think, although it wouldn’t be accurate. Or do you think these two can be in a family together after all? What about [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mary[/name] relatives, like [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mara[/name] or [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Rosemary[/name]? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![molly79](https://forum.nameberry.com/letter_avatar/molly79/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@molly79](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/molly79)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/2 "2011-05-14T12:15:05Z")
I agree [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mary[/name] together may create some jokes for your family down the road. I don’t think either on their own would beg questions if they are from a catholic family. I [name]LOVE[/name] the name [name]Joseph[/name], but agree you could do other versions of [name]Mary[/name] with [name]Joseph[/name] like [name]Rosemary[/name], [name]Marie[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Cate[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name], etc. Good luck! You can never go wrong with classic names. ---
**Author:** ![molly79](https://forum.nameberry.com/letter_avatar/molly79/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@molly79](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/molly79)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/3 "2011-05-14T12:15:05Z")
I agree [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mary[/name] together may create some jokes for your family down the road. I don’t think either on their own would beg questions if they are from a catholic family. I [name]LOVE[/name] the name [name]Joseph[/name], but agree you could do other versions of [name]Mary[/name] with [name]Joseph[/name] like [name]Rosemary[/name], [name]Marie[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Cate[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name], etc. Good luck! You can never go wrong with classic names. ---
**Author:** ![Sis](https://forum.nameberry.com/user_avatar/forum.nameberry.com/sis/32/22762_2.png) [@Sis](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/Sis)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 11:23am UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/4 "2011-05-20T11:23:37Z")
I love the name [name]Mary[/name]. If given the choice for myself, I would choose [name]Mary[/name], no question. I don’t get “Catholic” from it. I don’t really have a religious association with it at all. Obviously that would change if paired with [name]Joseph[/name], however. My favourite variations of [name]Mary[/name] are [name]Maria[/name] (probably not the best way to go when used as a sib to [name]Joseph[/name]), [name]Mary[/name] [name]Rose[/name] and [name]Marianne[/name], spelled this way it’s more [name]Jane[/name] [name]Austen[/name] than Gilligan’s Island, lol. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://d3e4s07haqhh9y.cloudfront.net/original/3X/b/b/bb0f52bb29e5c9ad6002ee7f1a92d42d308ffe28.png) [@system](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/5 "2011-05-21T12:39:28Z")
I posted about the same dilemma a little while back! Eventually I settled on [name]Mary[/name], and relegated [name]Joseph[/name] to the middle spot (the decision was largely because I felt [name]Mary[/name], which is pretty unusual now, fitted better with the general feel of my other favourites). I do love [name]Joseph[/name], though - I cannot imagine a bad guy named [name]Joe[/name], and Sepp or Seph would be a handsome, innovative nickname choice. Like you, I don’t mind the religious implications at all, but although I am [name]Christian[/name], I’m not Catholic. I do think of [name]Mary[/name] as Catholic, despite the fact I’m planning on using it myself, but that’s really just because all of the younger [name]Marys[/name] I know (not very many) come from Catholic families … which just makes me think it’s more unusual, and I love that. That said, it’s true that [name]Mary[/name] has more variations you could use than [name]Joseph[/name] does. I wouldn’t notice the connection between [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Rosemary[/name], or even [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Marietta[/name] or the like, at all, (especially not if they were using nicknames - [name]Joe[/name]/Seph and [name]Rosie[/name]/[name]Molly[/name]/[name]Mamie[/name]/[name]Etta[/name]/[name]Maisie[/name] et cetera) although I would between [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mary[/name]-doublename. [name]Auburn[/name] ---
**Author:** ![jesba](https://forum.nameberry.com/letter_avatar/jesba/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@jesba](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/jesba)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/6 "2011-05-23T02:33:01Z")
Thanks everyone for continuing to weigh in! [name]Auburn[/name], that’s too funny you had the same question – I’m very excited to know there will be another [name]Mary[/name] out there : D. It’s interesting to see some mini-consensus lining up, and lots of love for the name [name]Mary[/name]! It might be a hard choice when the day actually comes! Also Sepp and Seph are growing on me, I’d thought of them before but never too seriously, but that’s changing too. All best! ---
**Author:** ![floria](https://forum.nameberry.com/letter_avatar/floria/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@floria](https://forum.nameberry.com/u/floria)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://forum.nameberry.com/t/joseph-or-mary/155830/7 "2011-05-23T23:13:32Z")
I agree that pairing [name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Mary[/name] as sibs will cause trouble. Luckily, [name]Mary[/name] has so many variants that you can have the name or religious idea and not actually have a “[name]Mary[/name]”. Some variants are [name]Maura[/name], [name]Molly[/name] (actually a medieval nickname for [name]Mary[/name]), [name]Marielle[/name], [name]May[/name], [name]Miriam[/name], [name]Maris[/name], [name]Marisol[/name], and many more. Or you could go with the religious idea of [name]Mary[/name] with names like [name]Regina[/name] ([name]Queen[/name]), [name]Rose[/name], [name]Stella[/name] ([name]Star[/name]), [name]Lily[/name] (referring to the symbol of the virginity), [name]Virginia[/name], [name]Ava[/name], [name]Eve[/name], [name]Eva[/name]. These refer to her titles: [name]Queen[/name] of [name]Heaven[/name], Mystic [name]Rose[/name], [name]Morning[/name] [name]Star[/name], [name]Star[/name] of the Sea, etc. Also, [name]Ava[/name] refers to “ave” meaning “hail” as in “hail, [name]Mary[/name]”. [name]Eve[/name] and [name]Eva[/name] refer to [name]Mary[/name]'s title as the “new [name]Eve[/name]”. There are really so many choices and directions to go with the name [name]Mary[/name] that you can’t go wrong. If these ideas don’t float your boat, I’d make [name]Joseph[/name] a middle name or find another name that means “carpenter” or “builder” or something like that. Good luck! Fl