Women have worn this name over the past few centuries – but whether they appreciated her quiet qualities, it’s difficult to say.
Thanks to Rachel for suggesting Patience as Name of the Day.
In thinking about True in my last Sunday Summary, I found myself musing about Extreme Virtue Naming. Some choices are mainstream; others are engagingly retro or sophisticated. A few – I’m looking at you, Chastity – seem to tempt fate.
Call Patience somewhere in the middle. She’s not as universal a good as Honor or Hope. But with names like Felicity and Mercy sounding current for the first time since Plymouth Rock, Patience almost fits in.
We all know that the average small child can’t summon much in the way of patience. But is patience an inspiring virtue for a child? From the Latin pati – to suffer – patience carries a whiff of martyrdom. In recent centuries, patience has also meant the ability to endure, lending more appeal to Patience as a modern virtue name. Add in a sense that a patient person is steadfast, and all of a sudden, Patience is a sister to Constance.
Like Grace, she’s a virtue name with a hint of spirituality. Patience is one of the seven heavenly virtues. The quality is extolled in the Qur’an as well as the Old and New Testaments.
- Despite two male saints Patiens from the first and fifth centuries, there’s little history of the name’s use until the Puritan era. Patience appeared in the US Top 1000 a few times in the nineteenth century.
- Then, after nearly a century out of the rankings, she reappeared in 1994. Patience peaked in 2006 at #579, and as of 2008 charted at #771.
- Lest you link her success to parents searching for an alternative to Nevaeh and Faith, remember that 2004 was the year Halle Berry donned black leather to play Catwoman. The film was a box office flop, but it reinvented Catwoman’s backstory. Instead of socialite Selina Kyle, she starts out as a timid worker bee at MegaCorp called Patience Phillips. She risks her life to save an alley cat – only the cat turns out to be the pet of an Egyptian goddess. When Patience meets an untimely demise, the cat returns the favor, rescuing shy Patience and unleashing her inner tiger.
- Halle Berry can make anything fashionable – little wonder Patience got a bump from the film.
- There’s also:
- A Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera called Patience, though the name is not worn by any of the characters;
- Sisters Patience and Prudence McIntyre, a singing duo in the 1950, best remembered for their rendition of “Tonight You Belong To Me”;
- From Guns N’ Roses to the cast of the musical Dreamgirls, more than one act has recorded a song titled “Patience”;
- And, of course, the single-player card game solitaire is also known as patience.
- Just like a clumsy Grace might find her name troubling, an impetuous Patience might not appreciate the mismatch. Pat and Patty both make for rather dated nicknames.
And yet there’s something sweet about Patience. Fueled by the GNR song and the rise of virtue names in general, Patience doesn’t seem completely outlandish.
Then there’s Patience Hodgson, lead singer of The Grates. I can see someone sort of cool and indie and unique pulling this name off really well. Probably because of Hodgson, actually.
Loathing Madonna for appropriating Mercy (as well as questionable adoption practices/celebrity entitlement) as it is the name of such a good, quiet character in the beloved (by me) childhood classic, The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
I LOVE The Witch of Blackbird Pond!
I forgot about The Witch of Blackbird Pond! Thanks for the reminder.
Well, I definitely have a thing for Patience! I have loved it for years, since I was a kid. I have a huge penchant for virtue names. I think this one sounds lovely, and I don’t think the oxymoron of an impetuous toddler is really that big of a deal. Many people grow into their names, anyway. It’s always on my list, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get to have one, since my husband is not a huge virtue name fan, in general.
Patience is definitely not on my list, and I’m the one that suggested the name as a NotD. 😀 It’s my grandmother’s middle name, though
What a sweet story – and Caroline Patience is a gorgeous name!
My brother’s wife is named Sarah, but all of her sisters have virtue names. There are Charity, Faith, and yes, Mercy and Patience. Patience is still pretty young (under 10) and I have no idea if she likes her name. I prefer the sound of Mercy.
I knew Patience back in college (within the last 10 years we’ll say). It didn’t seem super odd to hear it on a young adult, but I imagine it would on a younger child.
I do love Mercy, but most virtue names aren’t for me. I’m not sure it has to do with them being virtues, but more that they are words. Word-type names aren’t generally on my like list…
Thinksme that if I were named Patience, I would grow up absolutely hating my name! It is probably one of my least favourite virtue names, even though it does have a rather pleasant sound.
? I think it’s one of the most appealing words in the English language and I did once entertain it as a first name idea. No longer. With two small children, I use this word almost daily and my appreciation of it as a name for my own has worn decidedly thin. To even once accidentally blurt out “Patience, patience please!” makes me cringe.
In saying that I’d enjoy seeing it on someone else’s child and the last Patience (well, the only I can recall) was a girl of about 8-9. They had lots of ‘unusually’ named children at this particular school e.g Yorick, Bede and Tullia, and it seemed to work well enough on her.
I don’t like the lack of pretty nicknames either. Patty is one diminutive I can’t get behind and I can’t see Incy (as in Incy Wincy Spider) working either.
Mercy sounds current? Um…no. Madonna might have bought – I mean adopted – a child named Mercy, but it doesn’t sound fresh or modern to me. It sounds puritanical and stiff. So does Patience. Can you imagine a toddler named Patience? There’s an oxymoron for you. I don’t think it’s a fair name to give a child. Any time she wasn’t patient, the name would come back to haunt her…or the word, patience, would cease to have any meaning. This one is definitely out of the running. Not that I’m ever having any more kids after this one. 😉
Last year in school, we had pen pals from Africa (I’m pretty sure the country was Rwanda). My friend’s pen pal was named Patience. I thought it was very interesting. It’s the first time a came across the name.
Patience doesn’t do much for me. I can’t visual it on a person, really and I don’t like the way it looks. It almost sounds too soft and breathy.