Catholics name churches and schools after saints (or much less frequently after events, e.g., The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or items, e.g, Holy Cross). And it is a Catholic custom for at least one given name to be a saint name or a derivative. At confirmation, Catholic teens may choose another saint name. And nuns and other religious choose even another saint name when they join their order.
The name saint is the patron saint, someone to pattern your life after and someone to ask for intercession. Some persons are skeptical of the idea that deceased persons or spirits intercede on behalf of humans. Christian tradition includes contact with "the other world" and traditional Catholicism embraces the testimonies of many who have experienced "supernatural" experiences. I have, also, and that is one of the reasons I converted to Catholicism. It is an acknowledgment that I believe in a "supernatural" communion of the saints.
Until post Vatican II liturgical reforms, the Church celebrated feasts* for saints almost every day. I have old missals that included information or "lessons" on the saint (or saints) of the day. Church calendar revisions have discontinued this practice; the Church calendar now includes only feasts for saints whose lives are deemed to have been the most important for the universal Church.
This reform to the Church calendar was made because some believed that frequent celebration feasts of the saints detracted the the Christian celebration of the life of the Lord. A friend (who has recently converted) asked me if I thought daily remembering a saint did indeed detract from the Church's central mission to lift up Christ. My answer: "I don't know. Those of us who were brought up Protestant learned very little about anyone but Christ and Biblical figures. Only a cradle Catholic older than I am could make a proper comparison."
Many Catholics, myself included, do have the practice of reading about a saint each day. Their lives instruct us in patience, courage and wisdom. And its like reading about your neighbors before you move to your next neighborhood.
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