#Microblog Monday 259: Naming After
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The twins are both named after great-grandparents. We didn’t struggle with their names at all. We knew we wanted to name the kids after these two people, which greatly limited our list of possible names and made the choice pretty straight-forward.
The ChickieNob’s name was one that I floated very early on in our relationship as the name I would use for any daughter, and Josh agreed. The Wolvog’s name sprang into my head one day — long before we were pregnant — and I told Josh that if we ever had a boy, that would be his name. And… well… he agreed again. Then we had to work for years to actually have the kids so we could use the names, but the names themselves weren’t a struggle.
I like being named after someone. I think the kids like being named after someone, especially when we come across pictures or objects or stories we can tell them about those people. Most of my friends and family members are named after people, too. But my friend list skews heavily towards Jewish, where naming your child after someone is common practice.
Are you named after someone? Did you know the person?
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18 comments
My middle name is a family name and so is my husband’s and both of our daughters. Mine is the same as multiple members of my mom’s family, and my husband’s is after a great uncle. My older daughter’s middle name was also my grandma’s middle name and my younger daughter was given her middle name by her birth mother. I like it because it’s special, and because we all have a slightly different story behind how our middle names came to be.
Yes. I was named after two uncles who were “off fighting in the Big War.” One from each side of the family. Everyone was convinced the baby would be a boy. I would be Richard Dean. Well, baby turned out to be a girl. Oooops. So, ever resourceful, my parents named me, get ready – Dickidene. (Pronounced Dickydean.) Actually, Arlene Dickidene. Our last name began with A which made my initials ADA, which was my maternal grandmother’s name. Horror of horrors (to me) I was registered at school as Dickidene. Children can be cruel and I was teased incessantly about my name. When I graduated from 6th grade we moved and I entered a new school for the 7th grade. I begged my mother to PLEASE let me be Arlene at the new school. She reluctantly agreed. I’ve been Arlene since September 1957. My family still calls me DeeDee, everyone else knows me as Arlene. it took me about 40 years to come to terms with that name. On the internet, I use a great grandmother’s name – suzannacatherine.
I was named after a Joan Baez song, Jesse (even though that’s about a boy), which probably explains why my mom always insisted on calling me Jessie even though I did not like that nickname (I’m so much more a Jess). My middle name, Leigh, according to my dad was after Vivien Leigh, or maybe Janet Leigh… not sure which one I’d rather, but it’s cool that it’s after a screen star. My sister was named after Spock’s mother. So no family honorings in there, anywhere… 🙂
I had several favorite girl names that we never got to use, some which were after people — Emerson (after my grandfather), Stella (after a dear friend), Edith (Bryce was NOT down with this one as much but I imagined a little Edie and it was after my stepfather’s aunt, who never had children despite wanting them and who left us some money that we put towards our efforts), middle name Rose after my grandmother. Boy names weren’t really after family members but the middle name we’d chosen was Gray, after Bryce’s grandfather.
I do like the tradition of naming children after family.
I was named because my oldest sister has a name that begins with A, but my next two sisters’ names begin with J. She felt outnumbered. She sent my parents a letter from my aunt’s house where they were staying, asking for an A name for the new baby. She had a list of suggestions – I was otherwise going to be Elizabeth.
Nope…my name is a word in my dad’s language. Very rarely used as a name.
My kids’ names are based on words in my dad’s language as well. One is occasionally used as a name, and the other is a less common modification of a word used as a name.
I am named after my mom and both grandmother’s (my real first name is a combo of their two names put together) and all of my kids have been named after family in some way. My mom has a family name for her middle name but my sister isn’t named after anyone but 3 out of 4 of her kids are. My dad wasn’t named after anyone that I know of but all of his kids are. On my husband’s side I think his family are all named after someone with the exception of my husband who is not.
I think it’s sort of normal to first look at family for name inspiration first and go from there. I still have a name out there, because I always wanted to name a girl after my sister.
In my family, it tends to be middle names are family names and first names are unique. My middle name is my dad’s grandmother’s name. My older daughter’s middle name was my grandmother’s name and the younger’s middle name is my MIL. My MIL was horrified that we used her name… it’s been anglicized three different ways and her way is different than most others, so she s concerned that no one would be able to spell or pronounce it.
I am named after my paternal grandmother, but I never knew her. I have heard stories about her though. She had a rough life (both my grandparents did) but what you might call a heroic one.
Not named after anyone. My parents originally wanted to name me Luisana, Luis for my dad, Ana for his mother. I am sooo glad that didn’t happen. My grandmother is a terrible woman. My first name is unique, my middle name is Josefina and it is my mom’s middle name as well.
No, I was not named for anyone. My mother had been a teacher for a long time and kept eliminating names based on having had students with that name. And then my dad would eliminate names based on people they’d dated. They had a very difficult time agreeing on a name. My father wanted to name me Demetria. I’m rather glad he didn’t. My mom had just read the book Christy and that’s how I came to be Christine, although as soon as I was born I became Chris, not Christy.
Not named after anyone. Apparently my father suggested my name, although I have no idea where he got it from (or how his opinion prevailed over my mother’s & grandmother’s — they wanted to call me Julie Lynn or Emily Pearl, respectively!).
Dh is named after his paternal grandfather, which is Italian tradition. He has two cousins who are also named after the same grandfather, i.e., they all have the exact same name, first & last, although they each go by slightly different nicknames/derivatives. I have a photo of the three of them together at a family wedding. Likewise, on his mom’s side, there are two cousins with the exact same name (first & last), named after their grandfather (dh’s other grandfather). They were both ushers at our wedding. Dh’s brother is named after the same grandfather, but he has his grandfather’s nickname as a first name. A bit of variety! lol
Our stillborn daughter Katie was named in part for my paternal grandmother (Katy) and in part a family name on my maternal grandfather’s side (Kathleen). Maria, her second name, was for my late MIL, whom I never met.
For people with Chinese names, you don’t get named after someone. In fact, you are not supposed to have the same names as your relatives, which kind of limit your choices of names. So, no, I am the only person in my family with the particular Chinese name I have. Same as all my relatives. As for my kids, they weren’t named after anybody. They both have unique Chinese and English names that nobody in the family has. I guess it is just cultural. Therefore, naming a child after somebody was a foreign concept to me when I first learned about it.
I’m not named after anyone, and it’s not a tradition in either of our families. I enjoyed the process of naming our kids because it was such an unconventional process, and while we had favorite names, ultimately, it seemed like the names chosen were the ones that fit even though they weren’t our early favorites!
Not named after anyone. I am a product of and a continuer of the blank-slate-naming practice.
I love this topic. I would have used my mother’s name as a middle name for a girl, and the boy name I wanted was to honour my father’s heritage, rather than a direct usage of one of his names.
In general, we (wider family) tend to use middle names to honour family members, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. My sister’s middle name is my mother’s name, and my middle name is my aunt’s, but my youngest sister isn’t named after anyone. My eldest sister gave my niece my mother’s maiden name (Rose) as her middle name, which is a lovely way to carry that name on. Though to be honest, she probably used it because it was my grandmother’s last name, to whom she was very close, rather than her first name which was very old fashioned, and not in a good way!
When we were naming our twins I wanted names that meant something because I believe that the meaning influences the character of the child/person. Watching my children, I’m not so sure any longer :-). But most Indian names have meanings and so that’s how we think of settling on one.
My middle name came about when my maternal grandmother called up her friend Lynn to share the good news. Lynn asked about the name and my grandmother said I didn’t have a middle one yet but ___ was my first name. Lynn went (totally joking) “____ Lynn, isn’t that perfect” and my grandmother went “Actually, yeah, it’s nice”, called my mother and thus I was named :). My brother’s middle name was for one of my great-grandfathers.
Older daughter is named out of Tolkien, younger daughter’s middle name is the female version of my brother’s name.
My mom just liked the name Heather and she only knew 1 girl named that. (It exploded into popularity that year….)
Here in Finland, some people are named after others, but hubby found it a very strange concept. So, neither of our kids are named after anyone, even if I would have liked to use one of my mom’s names.