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Post by Lexica on Apr 4, 2024 0:55:09 GMT
Is there a name that has run in your family for generations on either side that relatives were strongly hoping or hinting that you use for your son or daughter? Did you use it or hate it?
In my family, it was George and Muriel. Both are British traditional names, I think. Or maybe Muriel was Irish? They were used multiple times on my mother’s side. Both my grandmother and aunt were named Muriel and there have been many, many generations of George boys. Muriel died out with my aunt and George, to the best of my knowledge, died out with a cousin.
How about your family?
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Post by busy on Apr 4, 2024 1:03:12 GMT
No one was encouraging us or any siblings/cousins to use it, but Holger was my (step)grandfather's name and had been a family name for many generations prior. It died out with him. Ditto Dagmar for the women of the family. But they were the first generation born in the US from 100% Danish families and no one thought anyone born here would use those names.
There are some Holger & Dagmar middle names, though. And a lot of Graces, my grandmother, who was Holger's wife and Dagmar's sister.
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Post by Lexica on Apr 4, 2024 1:13:18 GMT
No one to my knowledge used a George or Muriel as middle names, but a few of us use the family last name as a middle name. It is a name I have seen as a first name too, but none of us went that route.
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Post by Lexica on Apr 4, 2024 1:15:46 GMT
I had a neighbor named Dagmar. She was born in Germany.
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Post by hop2 on Apr 4, 2024 1:16:44 GMT
No but my in-laws were annoyed that we didn’t seem to adhere to the initial tradition ( it’s a Jewish tradition to name a child with the first initial of the most recent deceased family member ) I heard them grumbling about it once so I know they were annoyed.
First of all, we had a hard enough time coming up with names we both agreed on. Adding any further requirements would have been problematic. In fact, DS has the only name we agreed upon if he would have come out & not looked like that name we’d have been screwed.
Second of all they have no idea if we used an initial from MY side of the family as they didn’t ask ( we didn’t but they didn’t ask ) Their middle names did, sort of.
Third DS got Ex’s grandfather’s name for a middle name instead of my grandfather’s name. And I couldn’t argue because ex’s logic about what my mother would do with the initials if we used my grandfathers name was absolutely true, my mother was a narcissistic witch and would have called him whatever she wanted no matter how many times we said not to. So even though I filled out the birth certificate papers I didn’t switch because I didn’t want to hear my mother annoy the crap out of me with a nickname I hated for the rest of her life. And it killed me that ex was right about my mother.
So there’s the long saga you didn’t ask for
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Post by librarylady on Apr 4, 2024 2:14:14 GMT
DH's family has many males who were named Marion, some as first name, others had Marion as middlename. FIL was Marion, but his middle name. We gave our son Marion as his middle name. He hated it. FIL died when our son was 16. DH told him, your grandfather is gone now, we will legally change your name and remove Marion. DS said no. We were SHOCKED when DS had a son and gave him a middle name of Marion.
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Post by Merge on Apr 4, 2024 2:43:24 GMT
Very common names, but there are so many Williams and Thomases in both my family and DH’s that it would have been weird if we didn’t use one of them for a son. DH is a Thomas Jr. It never came up as we only had daughters.
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Post by AussieMeg on Apr 4, 2024 2:53:18 GMT
Absolutely not! My mum hated her middle name so much (an awful old fashioned name), there was no way she would ever saddle us with terrible old family names.
My maternal great grandmother, when she heard that mum and dad had named me Megan, declared "Outlandish name!"
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sueg
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Post by sueg on Apr 4, 2024 3:46:01 GMT
My mother in law was the daughter of an Edward John, who was from a long line of that name. She gave her oldest son - not my DH - the same name. She was disappointed we didn’t name first DS that as well - he has neither name as they didn’t appeal to me, even though I think they are totally OK names, just not my style.
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Post by jackietex on Apr 4, 2024 4:29:47 GMT
My father's middle name was Duncan, his mother's maiden name, and he gave my brother that as his middle name. I didn't feel any pressure to name my son that, especially after they named their dog Duncan. James and Ann run in my husband's family, but we didn't use either of them.
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scrappinwithoutpeas
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Post by scrappinwithoutpeas on Apr 4, 2024 4:40:14 GMT
No but my in-laws were annoyed that we didn’t seem to adhere to the initial tradition ( it’s a Jewish tradition to name a child with the first initial of the most recent deceased family member ) I heard them grumbling about it once so I know they were annoyed. First of all, we had a hard enough time coming up with names we both agreed on. Adding any further requirements would have been problematic. In fact, DS has the only name we agreed upon if he would have come out & not looked like that name we’d have been screwed.
Second of all they have no idea if we used an initial from MY side of the family as they didn’t ask ( we didn’t but they didn’t ask ) Their middle names did, sort of. Third DS got Ex’s grandfather’s name for a middle name instead of my grandfather’s name. And I couldn’t argue because ex’s logic about what my mother would do with the initials if we used my grandfathers name was absolutely true, my mother was a narcissistic witch and would have called him whatever she wanted no matter how many times we said not to. So even though I filled out the birth certificate papers I didn’t switch because I didn’t want to hear my mother annoy the crap out of me with a nickname I hated for the rest of her life. And it killed me that ex was right about my mother. So there’s the long saga you didn’t ask for LOL, this was us too - DD2 & DS are named the only things we could finally agree on. DH's "rule" was that people needed to be able to hear it and know how to spell it so my first and second choice names for DD were ruled right out because there are too many different ways to spell Megan and Caitlyn. His other "rule" was that he wanted a name that did not have a nickname/diminutive form. His name has a very common diminutive form that he hates and people who don't know him well call him that. He hates it, but doesn't like to correct them because its sooo common & he knows it's not deliberate or mean-spirited. I always said that it was a good thing DD1 (from my previous marriage) already had a name I loved because it would've never passed muster according to his rules LOL. We do have some repeated family names but not in every generation - it skips around a bit. A niece has my late Mom's middle name, my grandchild has a relative's name on my Dad's side; my brother's middle name is a surname from several generations before on my Dad's side, several others have surnames from prior generations on my Mom's side.
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Post by Zee on Apr 4, 2024 4:52:39 GMT
There are multiple James, Robert, David, and John Paul. We had a George and Muriel also.
There aren't really naming traditions in my family per se but the first generation of boys named one of their boys with a brother's name, hence the multiples.
Muriel was my Irish great-grandmother, not sure if it's also a traditional English name.
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Post by pjaye on Apr 4, 2024 5:08:16 GMT
My dad was born in 1938, his middle name was Adolf. I didn't have kids, but I don't think anyone else will be using that name for a long time to come.
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Post by Lexica on Apr 4, 2024 8:00:35 GMT
My father’s parents were both born in Ukraine and their names are very Ukrainian. They both moved to Canada, independently, and met there in their early 20s. They had many boys and one girl. Fortunately, they named the boys very common names like Jack, Mark, Robert, Steve, etc. Not a Ukrainian name among them, and none has a middle name.
The daughter wasn’t as fortunate, although it could have been worse for her. She was told the choices were narrowed to Irene, Olga, and Nastya. She was given Irene. And although she hated it, she felt it was the best of the choices they were considering, but she wanted to know why the boys got more vanilla names. She was born in the 1920s, so I don’t think Irene was so strange to that generation with their Gertrudes and Wilmas, and Mildreds.
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sueg
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Post by sueg on Apr 4, 2024 9:47:46 GMT
My dad was born in 1938, his middle name was Adolf. I didn't have kids, but I don't think anyone else will be using that name for a long time to come. I am actually surprised at how many Adolfs under age 60 I have come across living in Germany and visiting Austria. They tend to go by ‘Adi’. There aren’t many very young (under 25) with the name - it is possible it is now on the ‘banned’ list in Germany (actually it’s the other way - there are ‘approved’ names and you have to make a case for a name that’s not on the list)
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Post by littlemama on Apr 4, 2024 10:25:19 GMT
Grace is a family name- I would have preferred that to my actual name! And according to tradition, my middle name would have been my maternal grandmother's maiden name
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Post by mandolyn9909 on Apr 4, 2024 11:59:05 GMT
My husband is a 4th generation Frederick. We had two sons and neither of them are Frederick. My in-laws were highly disappointed we didn't name one or both Frederick (my husbands brother was a Frederick too)…LOL
I will be honest the thought crossed our mind but the clincher was we went in for a mortgage and they pulled our credit rating stuff and my DH father's stuff was on our credit rating...They have different middle names and were born 25 years apart so this really shouldn't happen but there was two loans on his name that we had a hell of a time getting off.
All my kids are in a way name after family. My youngest son is named after my grandma. His middle name Leeder was her maiden name.
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Post by mandolyn9909 on Apr 4, 2024 12:01:59 GMT
On my side of the family the name Jack/John is a family name that has gone back many years. I have cousins that have already used these so didn't feel the pressure to name my sons Jack, although I do like it.
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huskergal
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Post by huskergal on Apr 4, 2024 12:31:49 GMT
We don't have any names that passed down. My parents were both Latvian so the older generation of cousins all have Latvian names. The further down the line, the more American the names became.
Interestingly, both my grandmothers were named: Anna.
My dad's name was Vitauts. 2 of the grandsons have his names as their middle name.
I have a niece who has the Latvian version of Maya: Maija.
My granddaughter is named Arija. (It was a name I wanted to use.) The j is like a y in Latvian so it is pronounced Aria.
Arnold is being passed down. I had an uncle Arnold. My brother was Arnold. We used it for our oldest son's middle name.
On dh's side. Mom, Rose is being used as a middle name for several of the grandchildren and great grandchildren. Edward, dad, same thing. Lots of middle names.
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Post by kitkath on Apr 4, 2024 12:47:46 GMT
Both of my Grandmas and one aunt were named Virginia so that’s my middle name. We used it for my 2nd daughter’s middle name. I’m not sure why we didn’t use it for first daughter but the 2nd daughter loves that she has the name of both of her great-grandmas. They were both alive until she was in high school and had a special bond with my girls.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 4, 2024 13:03:06 GMT
As someone who grew up with a name very similar to my mom and her twin’s names (and the resulting confusion with medical records, dental records, Social Security and mail), I refused to give my kid any name that any family member on either side had had within anyone’s memory. It was easy to not use anything from DH’s side because his extended family is small and riddled with weird names or “old” sounding names (no thanks) but not so easy with my extended family which is huge and they have used and reused every common name imaginable. I didn’t even want to give her a name where the initials would be the same as either of us. Thankfully there was no pressure from either side to use a specific name, although if there would have been I still wouldn’t have done it. I’m a rebel like that, LOL.
I also don’t understand people who have multiple kids and give them all names that start with the same letter (like the Duggars) or have all the same initials. It’s just asking for confusion.
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Post by Linda on Apr 4, 2024 13:11:01 GMT
no naming traditions in my family necessarily beyond giving two middle names but we used family names. My DS's 2nd middle name is my Dad's name. Dad was named for his father and great grandfather and it was also the name of his great great grandfather's uncle. There are a ton of cousins through the generations with that name. DD23's first name is a variant of my great aunt's name as well as my greatgrandmother's name. Her second middle name was my MILs name. DD17's first name is a family name. My dad's sister was named it in honour of her greatgrandmother who was named for her mother and grandmother. Again tons of cousins through the generations with that name. Her first middle name is my gran's name - but also honours several ancestors with the more formal version of the name (Gran's name can be a nickname for another name but wasn't in her case). DH vetoed almost all of the other family names I suggested. ‘banned’ list in Germany (actually it’s the other way - there are ‘approved’ names and you have to make a case for a name that’s not on the list) My youngest sister was born in Germany (dad was posted there) and I remember mum saying that her name wasn't on the list and dad had to persuade them to register her with it. She implied that a little money may have exchanged hands to facilitate that but I don't know it that really happened.
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theshyone
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Post by theshyone on Apr 4, 2024 13:13:42 GMT
My mom hated Ruth and demanded it not be used.
Marie actually goes back 5 generations on many branches of trees, so my daughters middle name is it
My sister was always pissed I was naming my son after his grandfather, as she had used the name ten years prior. Oh well we used it.
We did not pick any of the Swedish names but liked many of them.
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Post by Linda on Apr 4, 2024 13:15:14 GMT
I do remember a funny naming story - my dad was the second son. The first son, my gran wanted to name him after her husband (her family naming tradition) but gramps said no and he was named for gramps' father. Well, gramps was military and wasn't at home when my dad was born so gran registered his birth and gave named him after gramps.
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Post by mikklynn on Apr 4, 2024 13:15:54 GMT
And it killed me that ex was right about my mother.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day!
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Post by mikklynn on Apr 4, 2024 13:17:00 GMT
Absolutely not! My mum hated her middle name so much (an awful old fashioned name), there was no way she would ever saddle us with terrible old family names. My maternal great grandmother, when she heard that mum and dad had named me Megan, declared "Outlandish name!" My grandmother and her sisters were horrified when my mom named me Lynn. Apparently that was a boy's name in the 1950's. There were many Ole's in DH's dad's family, including his dad. Thank goodness my MIL let that tradition die, so I didn't have to.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 4, 2024 13:24:12 GMT
Absolutely not! My mum hated her middle name so much (an awful old fashioned name), there was no way she would ever saddle us with terrible old family names. My maternal great grandmother, when she heard that mum and dad had named me Megan, declared "Outlandish name!" My SIL gave both of her kids awful old fashioned names. The oldest rebelled midway through high school and started using a totally different first name. What was really funny was that the kid’s original first name could have been shortened to a number of different variants, all of which SIL hated and wouldn’t let anyone use. It was so dumb.
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anniebeth24
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Jun 26, 2014 14:12:17 GMT
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Post by anniebeth24 on Apr 4, 2024 13:55:03 GMT
I do remember a funny naming story - my dad was the second son. The first son, my gran wanted to name him after her husband (her family naming tradition) but gramps said no and he was named for gramps' father. Well, gramps was military and wasn't at home when my dad was born so gran registered his birth and gave named him after gramps. My mom was named in a similar situation. Grandma had traveled back home, out of state, to have the baby near her family. Grandpa wanted to use a feminine version of his name, which Grandma hated. Since he wasn't around when my mom was born, she chose something completely different. Grandma was an old-fashioned, very dutiful, subservient type of wife and that was likely the only rebellious moment of her life.
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Post by Linda on Apr 4, 2024 14:02:27 GMT
Grandma was an old-fashioned, very dutiful, subservient type of wife and that was likely the only rebellious moment of her life same for my Gran. Interestingly enough my dad was the only one baptised in Church of Scotland (Gramps church) both his older brother and younger sister were baptised Church of England. I wonder if that was Gran's way of placating her husband?
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Post by paulao on Apr 4, 2024 14:07:18 GMT
Grandma was Naomi. Mom was Naomi. My sister’s middle name is Naomi. My niece’s middle name is Naomi. My great niece’s middle name is Naomi.
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