Saint names for babies and confirmation

For a baby's name, a confirmation name, or the story behind your own, this list crosses twenty centuries and several diasporas. Every card is tied to an existing nametree record and one narrow, verified historical claim. Where a beloved story is legendary rather than documented, it stays off the page.

Apostolic and early saints

Peter Saint Peter the Apostle · 1st century
An apostle whose mission led from Jerusalem to martyrdom in Rome. Source

Paul Saint Paul the Apostle · 1st century
Once a persecutor, he became the apostle to the Gentiles and carried his mission to Rome. Source

Agnes Saint Agnes of Rome · 4th century
A young Roman martyr of the early fourth century, remembered at the basilica built over her traditional burial place. Source

Lucy Saint Lucy of Syracuse · 4th century
A fourth-century martyr of Syracuse whose memory still anchors her city's annual feast. Source

Cecilia Saint Cecilia of Rome · 3rd century
A Roman martyr honored since antiquity, with a Trastevere basilica that predates the Edict of Constantine. Source

Lawrence Saint Lawrence of Rome · 3rd century
A third-century Roman deacon who cared for orphans, widows, and poor people before his martyrdom in 258. Source

John Saint John the Baptist · 1st century
Remembered as the last of Israel's great prophets and the first to testify to Jesus, whom he baptized. Source

Mary Saint Mary, mother of Jesus · 1st century
The mother of Jesus, honored in Christian devotion since the third century and named Mother of God at Ephesus in 431. Source

Joseph Saint Joseph of Nazareth · 1st century
The craftsman of Nazareth who raised Jesus with Mary, declared Patron of the Catholic Church in 1870. Source

Thomas Saint Thomas the Apostle · 1st century
One of the twelve apostles, carried by ancient tradition onward to Syria, Persia, and India. Source

Martin Saint Martin of Tours · 4th century
A soldier who chose monastic life, founded Europe's earliest known monastery at Ligugé, and became bishop of Tours. Source

Monica Saint Monica · 4th century
A mother from Tagaste in North Africa whose patient faith accompanied her son Augustine to conversion. Source

Medieval saints

Benedict Saint Benedict of Nursia · 6th century
The sixth-century monk whose Rule helped shape Western monastic life and European culture. Source

Francis Saint Francis of Assisi · 13th century
The Assisi friar who founded the Friars Minor and made poverty central to his way of life. Source

Clare Saint Clare of Assisi · 13th century
The Assisi founder of the Poor Clares who left wealth for a life of prayer, humility, and poverty. Source

Dominic Saint Dominic · 13th century
The founder of the Order of Preachers, remembered for joining study and preaching with a life of prayer. Source

Catherine Saint Catherine of Siena · 14th century
A Sienese lay Dominican who served the sick and left letters and a major work of spiritual writing. Source

Anthony Saint Anthony of Padua · 13th century
A Lisbon-born Franciscan preacher whose surviving sermons led to his recognition as a Doctor of the Church. Source

Gregory Saint Gregory the Great · 6th century
A Roman who turned his family home into a monastery and served as Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604. Source

Edward Saint Edward the Confessor · 11th century
An English king remembered as a model of Christian witness, his tomb honored in Westminster Abbey. Source

Margaret Saint Margaret of Scotland · 11th century
A queen of Scotland who opened the castle doors to poor and sick people and built hospices for them. Source

Elizabeth Saint Elizabeth of Hungary · 13th century
A Hungarian princess widowed young who built a hospital and served sick and poor people at her own table. Source

Rita Saint Rita of Cascia · 15th century
Remembered for a life lived as wife, mother, widow, and nun, and canonized in the jubilee year 1900. Source

Joan Saint Joan of Arc · 15th century
A seventeen-year-old who led France's campaign of liberation, died at Rouen in 1431, and was canonized in 1920. Source

Modern saints

Bernadette Saint Bernadette Soubirous · 19th century
The Lourdes witness who entered the Sisters of Charity in Nevers in 1866 and lived there until 1879. Source

Therese Saint Thérèse of Lisieux · 19th century
A Carmelite of Lisieux whose writings on the little way led to recognition as a Doctor of the Church and patron of missions. Source

Maximilian Saint Maximilian Kolbe · 20th century
A Polish Franciscan who volunteered to die in place of another prisoner at Auschwitz in 1941. Source

Gianna Saint Gianna Beretta Molla · 20th century
A twentieth-century mother remembered for fidelity to her family and for giving herself to others. Source

Oscar Saint Óscar Romero · 20th century
An archbishop who stayed close to poor people and gave his life according to the Gospel. Source

Teresa Saint Teresa of Calcutta · 20th century
The founder of the Missionaries of Charity, who served sick and poor people in Kolkata and beyond. Source

Louis Saint Louis Martin · 19th century
The father of Thérèse of Lisieux, canonized in 2015 together with his wife Zélie. Source

Damien Saint Damien of Molokai · 19th century
A Belgian missionary who volunteered for the Molokai settlement, stayed at his own request, and died there in 1889. Source

Katharine Saint Katharine Drexel · 20th century
A Philadelphia heiress who gave her fortune to founding schools for Native American and Black students. Source

Edith Saint Edith Stein · 20th century
A philosopher and daughter of Israel who became a Carmelite nun and was killed at Auschwitz in 1942. Source

Alberto Saint Alberto Hurtado · 20th century
A Chilean Jesuit who founded El Hogar de Cristo to shelter people most in need. Source

Carlo Saint Carlo Acutis · 21st century
Proclaimed a saint in 2025, a young man remembered for love of the Eucharist and of the poor in a life cut short by illness. Source

Saints across the diaspora

Josephine Saint Josephine Bakhita · 20th century
A Sudanese woman who survived kidnapping and enslavement, gained freedom in Italy, and became a Canossian sister. Source

Lorenzo Saint Lorenzo Ruiz · 17th century
A humble son of Manila who died in Japan and became the first native-born Filipino saint. Source

Pedro Saint Pedro Calungsod · 17th century
A young Filipino catechist killed in the Marianas in 1672 while accompanying a Jesuit mission. Source

Casimir Saint Casimir · 15th century
A Polish-Lithuanian prince remembered for charity, humility, service, and defense of poor people. Source

Jadwiga Saint Jadwiga of Poland · 14th century
A fourteenth-century queen of Poland whose support helped establish a full university in Kraków. Source

Andrew Saint Andrew Kim Taegon · 19th century
Korea's first Catholic priest, martyred for his faith at age twenty-five in 1846. Source

Patrick Saint Patrick of Ireland · 5th century
Enslaved in Ireland as a boy, he later returned as a bishop and gave nearly forty years to its people. Source

Rosa Saint Rose of Lima · 17th century
Born in Lima in 1586, honored as the New World's first flower of holiness and named patroness of America in 1670. Source

Marianne Saint Marianne Cope · 19th century
A German-born American Franciscan who accepted the Hawaii mission others had refused and served the patients of Molokai. Source

Frances Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini · 20th century
An Italian founder who crossed the ocean to serve migrants and was proclaimed their patroness in 1950. Source

Andre Saint André Bessette · 20th century
A Holy Cross brother who, as porter of a Montreal college, met those who came to him with boundless charity. Source

Rafael Saint Rafael Guízar y Valencia · 20th century
A bishop of Veracruz who lived through persecution and exile and never stopped forming his students. Source

Which of these fits YOUR family? →