Question about a saints name

[Bono Vox]

My wife and I are having another baby (another girl as a matter of fact!! ), and we are having a hard time figuring out a name.

One name that we are seriously considering is "Otilia". It is a fairly common Romanian name; however, I can't find any information on line as to whether there is a Saint named Otilia, or the meaning behind the name.

It is very important to us that our daughter be named after a saint; thus, I was wondering if you all could help me out by filling me in on whether there was an orthodox saint named Otilia.

Thanks guys

Orthodox Bagpiper!!!!!!!!!

[MsGuided]

Congratulations for you and your wife on the coming of your new baby daughter!

I tried googling for the name Otilia and came upon a site that may be helpful only if you speak spanish  

but yes, there is a saint Otilia, patron of Alsace (sp?) the region in France.  She died in 720AD.  From what I can gather from this source online, The man who governed Alsace at the time wanted to have a son, but instead had a daughter and she was born blind.  He sent his daughter away to a convent and she was brought up as a Christian.  A bishop came to the convent "san erardo" and baptised the girl giving her the name Otilia, meaning "light of God".  As he baptised her, he said "May the eyes of your body be opened to you as the eyes of your sould have been opened to you." and she miraculously recovered her sight.

Then a bunch of other stuff happened, her father ordered her back to his castle and wanted to marry her off but she ran away because she wanted to devote her life to God.  Her father, I think, realised this and allowed her to come back as a maid and allowed her to be a nun.  She then started a convent called "Otilburg" where she took care of any who needed, and it became a hospital of sorts.  Her father then left her his castle to turn into a convent/hospital when he died.  Otilia apparently offered masses, alms, and other prayers for the soul of her father and later received a vision saying to her that her works of charity allowed her father's soul  to leave purgatory.  

After her death, many miracles started to arise around her tomb, and there is a water source there that she made appear through her fervent prayers at a time when the convent had nothing to drink.  It seems that people go to this water source and receive many miracles like the blind washing their eyes and being given sight.  Her feast day is 9 August and the prayer to her (in spanish, maybe tonys or anastasios can help out) is:

Otilia: P+¡dele a Dios que nos abra los ojos de nuestra alma para ver la eternidad que nos espera, y que con nuestras oraciones, limosnas y santas misas consigamos como t+¦, el descanso para nuestros amados difuntos.

http://www.churchforum.org.mx/santoral/Agosto/0908.htm

Hope this helps!

Kim

[Νεκτάριος]

Nektaria is also a good name to consider...

[JoeZollars]

as is the Martyred Tsarina Alexandra or for that matter any of hte Martyred Grand-Duchesses:  Elizabeth, Anastasia, Olga etc.

Joe Zollars

[TonyS]

Dear Bagpiper,

If you search under the variant "Odilia" you will find more information in English.

TonyS

[erracht]

Please don't be mad at me, but I would advise you to chose a less unusual name for your child. As one with a very unusual name, I have had many problems in school and with people, not only with chronic mispronunciation but also with kids making fun of my name. My real name is Nebojsa, which in Serbian is pronounced NE-boy-SHA (CApitals INdicate STRESSED SYllables). Usually at best, I have been called "NeBOYsha", and others have called me (in ignorance or to make fun of me): Neboyshka, Nahorsha, Nebula, Nebulish, and perhaps a few other such things. In Grade 5, I started regularly calling myself "Neb", but now wish that I had chosen "Ned" instead, which, though not at all related to "Nebojsa", is at least understandable, needs no explanation and quite frankly, more masculine. I am currently working in the Czech Republic as an English teacher and have been calling myself "Ned", which cuts out all confusion.

I'm certainly not saying one should chose from the "top 10 baby names", that's another extreme. But there are really very many names one can give a girl or a boy that will be nice, interesting, more or less easy to pronounce, etc will not cause confusion and will less easily be subject to derision. Here are some examples of names related to saints: Mary (the name of the Theotokos, can also be rendered as Maria, and not so common today), Michelle (feminine of Michael)  John), Bridget, Elizabeth, Patrick, Sean, Ian, Evan (Sean, Ian and and Evan both mean John) Nicole (feminine of Nicholas), Edward (St. Edward the Martyr of England is considered an Orthodox saint), Ivana (slightly ethnic, but clear and pronounceable), Ramona (I think this is the feminine of Ramon/Roman and that this is a saint's name) etc. I could think of more, but no time. You can give your child a saint's name without it being something long, hard or overly unusual (like Charalambos, etc. No offense meant to the good saints, I'm just talking about how this all fits into modern life).

I mean absolutely no offense. Otilia is a nice name in its own right, but I am concerned it may be too much once your daughter goes to school etc.

[Αριστοκλής]

The site linked below lists "Ottilia" as a 'perfectly valid Orthodox name'.

http://www.holy-trinity.org/general/names.html

Demetri

[gregory2]

erracht, I have to say that I agree with you.  most of what i say comes from personal experience.  i have one of those "unpronounceable" ethnic eastern european last names, and i've been torn with thinking people should just pay attention and learn how to say it, or wishing it were more easily pronounced by westerners.  

my wife and i have been talking about children's names, and we want one that's attractive, yet not unusual, and one that has a Christian saint.

i imagine much of it is personal taste.   many of my colleagues at work name their children after the names that are "in" or "fashionable" these days, most of which my wife and I don't like.  also, many of the fashionable children's names these days don't have corresponding Christian saints.

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