Catholic Schools: Catechists, Teachers, and Parents
Catholic Confirmation Names
For Men And Women, Boys And Girls
1. Use Catholic Saints Names For Confirmation.
Your choice of Catholic Confirmation names says something about you.
Your confirmation name shows your devotion to a particular saint or that you want to imitate that saint's virtues by choosing that name.
If you are fortunate enough to have the great grace to be able to receive Confirmation, go for it. You will be eternally grateful.
2. Choosing Catholic Confirmation Names
If you have the opportunity to be Confirmed, prepare well and be confirmed as early as your bishop allows.
Confirmation grants you the graces necessary to meet the moral challenges that we all face at home, school, and work.
- The studies prepare our minds,
- The prayers dispose us better,
- And the sacrament grants us the grace to be strong.
First, study a lives of the Saints book that covers many saints.
Ahead of time.
This is important.
It's good to read about many saints previous to the year that you are studying to be confirmed. By studying or reading about many saints you have the time and variety to to be able to find your favorite names or to develop a particular devotion.
After reading a selection of saints, you can choose the names of Catholic saints that appeal to you, inspire you, or resemble some aspect of your life.
Check a Catholic calendar for a saint's name that is near
- your birthday, or
- your Confirmation day
- or according to their feast days.
Sometimes there are more than one for every day of the year, so you will want to consult a Butler's Lives of the Saints sort of book that gives you a list per date.
2.A. Confirmation Names For Children
Where To Find Saints Names For Confirmation?
If you're a student and suddenly the Sister in your Catholic Confirmation class asks, "Which patron saints have you considered for your Confirmation name?"
Or, "Please write a report on your patron saint for Confirmation. It will be due in three weeks."
How do you begin?
Pray first.
Father or Sister have probably taught you the "Prayer to the Holy Ghost". It is a Confirmation prayer that helps any project. Remember, God gives the increase!
Choose A New Patron Saint
If Sister goes by the old Baltimore Catechism, she will recommend that you choose a new patron saint, different from your name and middle name so you have more saints guiding and protecting you.
- Ask your parents, family, and Godparents if they have an idea of a saint that matches your personality.
- Ask Sister to recommend a book of saints.
Choose Your Baptismal Name
If Sister suggests that you use your given name to better honor your Baptismal patron saint the going is easier.
- If you do not already know your patron saint, simply ask your parents or Godparents which patron is your namesake. For example, there are many Saint Annes, Michaels, and Stephens, etc.
- Then find a book or two to learn the main details of his or her life and virtues.
Then follow Sister's directions for the report.
Baltimore Catechism Confirmation Resources
If your students are young, you might like printing Confirmation coloring pages for class when they are choosing their patronal names.
If you're a catechist and would like to have Confirmation worksheets and practice quizzes check out our Confirmation download here.
Confirmation Names For Girls
Some old saints books are divided into sections for male and female saints names. My favorite book of saints' names has a list for each: Is It A Saint's Name?
Confirmation names for girls are easy if you search for the female saints.
Often you can search a list for the root "vir" to find women saints' names. This is super easy electronically as you can use Ctrl F/Cmd F to search a page.
You can use masculine names, yet
- Also add feminine endings,
- Add a Marian name, (ex.: St. John Marie Vianney) or
- Hyphenate with a feminine name.
Confirmation Names For Boys
Confirmation names for boys are easier to find by searching a list for the terms
- Pope
- Bishop
- Confessor
Again, my favorite book of saints' names has a list for men's saint names: Is It A Saint's Name.
2.B. Choosing Catholic Confirmation Names For Your Children
If you're helping your own children, you'll really like using a picture book of saints when your children are young. That way you can see the virtue that the child could benefit by using, and the child can see much of the story at a glance.
The short stories usually tell the main points that a young child would need to know. I also like using archive.org to find older books in their entirety.
Then find appropriate books if your children are required to write book reports.
Saint Anne's Helper Confirmation Catechism is the best that I know to help your children learn the actual prayers and the answers.
The Confirmation Preparation ebook has the Baltimore Catechism questions and answers that are helpful no matter which Catholic catechism program you use and has some coloring pictures.
It has the same verbatim prayers and answers in audio or worksheet form which makes it easier to memorize the prayers and answers as well as to write them well when preparing for a quiz.
Baltimore Catechism Confirmation Preparation Catechesis
2.C. Confirmation Names For Adults
Confirmation gives you the weapons necessary to fight your own faults, the devil, the flesh and the world. Your patron saints can help you win this spiritual battle.
The more Roman Catholic saints with which you are familiar, the better you can choose a Confirmation name.
More importantly, knowing the trials and victories the saint has conquered makes it easier for you to keep the faith in the long run. You can remember, "Oh, he or she did it. With God's grace, so can I."
Choose a saint who conquered what might give you most trouble persevering, otherwise known as your dominant fault. That way you'll have a good reminder to pray to this particular patron saint.
Confirmation strengthens us in final perseverance, meaning that it's an awesome help toward getting to Heaven.
Usually you will need to read in order to learn about enough saints to make a good choice; so begin to read saint stories early. Even short stories are very helpful and can save you time.
A child's saints book is a huge help as it covers many saints in a relatively short book, so you can briefly see many choices before you choose a larger book.
I am not kidding. Using a child's book is a short cut adults often overlook.
You can also read the short stories in the Catholic Encyclopedia or Butler's Lives Of The Saints.
- I do not recommend Thurston or Attwater's versions of Butler's Lives. These authors are known to have been revisionists and, at times, seem not to believe what they themselves wrote.
You'll love this version of Butler's Lives of the Saints (Kindle, Hardback, or paper back). Each story is concise, and the book is encyclopedic in covering the several saints on each day of the year.
Otherwise, find a friend to tell you the stories or find audio books on the saints.
2.D. More About Adult Catholic Confirmation Names
Choosing amongst Catholic Confirmation names can require much study when you search for that perfect patron saint. It's easy when you know a few resources.
The real "list" is a subset of the list of Catholic saints names. since we choose from this list. You can choose any saint, although it is customary for men to choose masculine names and ladies to choose feminine names.
Prayer makes this decision easier.
- If you're an adult and able to choose your own saint's name, you can read a collection of saints lives to find your favorite patron saints. It is easier when have been reading good Catholic books that include the lives of the saints. A collection usually has a short story about many saints, usually popular saints.
- Also, you can choose your long time favorite name to find if it was a saint's name and what that saint was like, or if there is a saint by the same name that has a story that matches your own life. For example: There are many St. Johns.
- Look at a liturgical calendar to see what saints are near an important date for you: birthday? Confirmation day?
- Ask your pastor, family, and friends if they have suggestions. Sometimes they know the perfect story for you.
Remember that you do not have to study loads and loads of books. Just enough to give you an idea of now many saints there are or to find a particular saint with the virtue you want to have.
Once you've chosen a saint, then you can then focus on books about that saint as well as books written by that saint.
The main thing is to read a good Confirmation catechism, pray to your patron saint, and live the truths it teaches.
You can also use our audio Confirmation catechism as a short cut.
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3. Confirmation Parents And Sponsors
If you're a parent, I really recommend having your children study the saints lives during the year previous to their Confirmation year.
That's when you'll help them choose their Catholic Confirmation names.
It does not have to take a great deal of study.
If they're young, or reading is not their forte, read the stories to them. There's nothing more special than family reading time especially when you're learning about the saints. It gives you time to stop to teach what you want them to know and for them to ask you questions.
Your local Catholic schools should have an abundance of books and your librarian can be helpful in finding the books for you.
Often they can use an inter-library loan system to find appropriate books. Nowadays even public libraries are fairly good at helping you to find books that they do not have in stock.
4. Where To Find Ideas for Catholic Confirmation Names
4.A. Catholic Bible And Calendars
Reading a list of Roman Catholic saints as an excellent place to start.
- Think of Bible names: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, etc.
- Check your Catholic calendar.
- Choose from your Missal, the saints days are usually in the back.
- Read Is It A Saint's Name.
4.B. Catholic Saint Books
Even for adults, a child's book of saints can be a great way to get to know the main story about many saints so that you have more saints to choose for your Confirmation name.
My favorite children's book is the Children's Picture Bible which you can get at Amazon. Thumb through it for good ideas.
These are ideas to help you find a saint who has:
- The virtue that is opposite your main fault.
- The virtue that you admire most in others.
- The story you identify with most in other ways.
- The feast day of your Confirmation day, Baptismal day, or birthday.
It is good to listen to what your parents or teachers recommend.
- They often know you well enough to make good suggestions for names and books.
- They are usually more familiar with the lives of the saints and their virtues.
5. Roman Catholic Saints - Baptism And Confirmation Names
A good idea for choosing both Baptism and Confirmation names is to check lists that are found in Catholic liturgical calendars to see which saints are near your birthday or another important day.
In the case of Catholic Confirmation names, it can be good to choose a name from an from your favorite religious order: Dominic, Francis, Teresa, Therese, etc. They each have their own spirituality.
6. Learning The Confirmation Prayers and Answers
Learning the prayers and praying them grants us more graces. Learning the answers and using them makes it easier to discern between right and wrong throughout life.
We recommend using the Baltimore Catechism Confirmation questions as they have the easiest answers to memorize.
You can use our Saint Anne's Helper downloads to make it even easier.
7. Who's Next To Be Confirmed?
Do unto others! Let your brothers and sisters, relatives and friends know to read saint stories ahead of time. So many times we arrive in class and wish that we had read more before we arrived.
It took me four children to get this figured.
So many times, the children had to choose their Confirmation name at the beginning of the school year.
They hadn't been studying many saints the year before or during the summer, not even their own Baptismal saint. None of us had been thinking of Confirmation names ahead of time.
You'll do well to help them start studying on their own during the year previous to their Confirmation year. It can be as easy as talking about the different saints, especially on their feast days; or reading books together.
Basically, children should be learning about saints all throughout their lives, especially as the liturgical year reminds us of so many that we can simply mention the saint of the day. If you practice devotions in your home or classroom, your children or students will already have an idea of the kind of saint they'd like to study.
Other Confirmation and Catholic name related pages:
