When I was confirmed (Catholic) I chose Frances as my confirmation name, to honour St Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Animals. He considered animals to be his brothers and sisters under God. Unlike the nuns at my school who told me when I was six that animals did not go to heaven because they had no souls, leaving me to decide I wanted no part in that type of belief, or religion.
I did consider taking the confirmation name Gertrude, after St Gertrude of Nivelles, Patron Saint of Cats. But I had an aunt named Gertrude and I really did not like the name. I considered it very old fashioned.
It’s no surprise then that I like the Norse goddess* Freyja/Freja (pronounced Fraya), Norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility, war, magic, and death (that’s quite a combination) who is almost always depicted with cats. In the legends, she rides a chariot drawn by two cats. The thought of cats all pulling in the same direction at the same time and obeying someone always makes me giggle.
See the pictures below and more here
*now that we do not say actress anymore, instead using female actor, do we say female god instead of goddess?
I guess you’d have ask the goddesses their preference 😉
I also started as a Catholic but I only did my first communion (I really hated the dress that we had to wear for the confirmation, so that sealed the deal for me…).
Freya is a wonderful goddess and I do believe that you can still say goddess. I dabbled into Wicca for a while and in the US, there is an official group of solitary Wiccan practitioners called The Covenant of the Goddess. In fact, many Wiccan and Pagan movements tend to turn more towards a Goddess than a God. Some have both as well, a God and a Goddess.
I like the sound of the words goddess, lioness, shepherdess, seamstress, actress, lawyeress though that is probably just me!