|
|
Post by epeanymous on Apr 4, 2024 14:25:08 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. I am thankful, at least, that it means you don’t get pressured into using specific names, at least. In our family the compromise has been that people usually use the letter for the Hebrew name, and may or may not use it for the baby’s given name. |
|
|
|
Post by janet on Apr 4, 2024 14:26:58 GMT
I come from a long line of Abigail Elizabeths on my mom's side. She hated the name so I got Janet.
My oldest daughter's name? Abigail Elizabeth!
|
|
breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,888 
Location: PNW
|
Post by breetheflea on Apr 4, 2024 14:36:24 GMT
Lee. DH grandpa, dad, step-grandpa (other side), and brother’s middle name, plus my middle name (Leigh spelling.). I didn’t want to use it for oldest DS because the name DH insisted on naming DS already ended in an L and it didn’t sound good blended together.
I also thought DH brother would want to use it since it was his middle name not DH, but he had two girls…
The middle name on my side that keeps being used is Mae/May. My grandma, aunt, and cousin have that as a middle name. I used it by naming my youngest DS Mason…
|
|
|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 4, 2024 19:33:56 GMT
My older sister had the first boy born and used our family last name as her son’s middle name. I had been considering using that myself, but since she got there first, it lost the appeal for me. My sister had to be the center of attention in all things and never did get over the fact that my parents went on to have two more children after her. Her nickname when we were growing up was Queen Bee and she lived up to it.
When I got engaged first, she was livid. But she wasn’t even dating anyone at the time. We set our date for the next summer, giving us a year to plan. During that year she began dating a guy and the very weekend before my wedding, we ended up in Vegas at HER wedding because she had to be first. We didn’t even find out she was engaged until a few days prior to that weekend.
So since I didn’t want to use our last name as my son’s name any longer, I ended up having his initials honor my father’s name. Dad’s name was Jack and my last name started with a C instead of a K, but we named him with the initials JAC and everyone had a habit of calling him Little Jack, which annoyed the heck out of my sister. I don’t think she was ever within earshot of someone calling my son Little Jack that she didn’t correct them saying that his name wasn’t Jack!
|
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Apr 4, 2024 19:41:20 GMT
I was lucky and no one really said anything except my MIL. I had to laugh because she said my son's name (could be used as male or female or last name, for that matter), wasn't masculine enough. That is why she named her son Patrick. There was no way anyone would think he was a girl. Hahahaha. I've never heard anyone but his mom call hm Patrick. Everyone calls him Pat. I believe SNL skewered that name.
Both of my son's grandfathers' had the same first name, but I just wasn't feeling it. My older son has three names that are all from the books of the Bible. None of them were taken from that though. Just worked out that way.
|
|
|
|
Post by **GypsyGirl** on Apr 4, 2024 20:01:11 GMT
Fortunately no one on either side of the family pressured us to use family names. One of DD's middle names is mine. She is the 7th generation of oldest daughter's to carry the name. My MIL had a melt down because we opted to give DD two middle names but that was her issue and we just ignored her. My uncle's first name was Shirley (went by his middle name instead) as was his dad (who went by Shirley). That name died out with my uncle and I don't see it being revived. There were not a lot of good boy names on my side of the family, what with Elton, Harl, Newt, Theron, Delma. Girl names were even odder - Eula and Zula (sisters), Vyrtle, Melvinia, Saphronia. All of those names seem to have died out from what I can tell. I also thought DH brother would want to use it since it was his middle name not DH, but he had two girls Dad's middle name was Lee and they gave one of my sisters the name, but spelled it Leigh. |
|
|
|
Post by ~summer~ on Apr 4, 2024 21:06:03 GMT
I gave my first born a family name (Charles) - I love the name Charlie.
My name (Katherine) is also a family name. If I’d had a daughter I might have named her Katherine too (with a nickname).
Several other Katherines named their daughters Katherine.
I had a great grandmother named Dorkus - pretty sure that name died out in the family lol.
|
|
peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,597
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
|
Post by peabay on Apr 4, 2024 21:14:54 GMT
My dh is Sicilian and first sons are always named after the paternal grandfather. Always. And if there are multiple oldest sons among the children, they each get the name, but take different nicknames. For example, my husband's grandfather was Francesco and his children (he had 6) who had sons named their first ones after him. So, they had Frances, Frankie and Fran. My father-in-law, the loveliest man on the planet, was named Domenico (but went by Domenic). My husband's brother had the first son and nicknamed him Nick so we would've been stuck with Dom or Nicky or some such other nickname (I was willing to go with Nico.) We had 4 girls.  |
|
|
|
Post by pjaye on Apr 4, 2024 21:17:56 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) I'm surprised! My Dad hated it, and basically never told anyone. Have you seen the film 'Der Vorname'? It's a German film (comedy) about a couple who tell their family they are planning to call their unborn baby Adolf. Everyone is outraged, but the father makes some good points about other dictators such as Joseph Stalin ...but no-one objects to people calling their babies Joseph. We went to see it at the German film festival a few years ago (luckily there were subtitles) it's quite funny & worth watching if you can find it where you are. |
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Apr 5, 2024 0:01:16 GMT
I gave my first born a family name (Charles) - I love the name Charlie. My name (Katherine) is also a family name. If I’d had a daughter I might have named her Katherine too (with a nickname). Several other Katherines named their daughters Katherine. I had a great grandmother named Dorkus - pretty sure that name died out in the family lol. That name is used in our family, but it is not a given name!  |
|
|
|
Post by AngieandSnoopy on Apr 5, 2024 2:05:15 GMT
Fortunately no one on either side of the family pressured us to use family names. One of DD's middle names is mine. She is the 7th generation of oldest daughter's to carry the name. My MIL had a melt down because we opted to give DD two middle names but that was her issue and we just ignored her. My uncle's first name was Shirley (went by his middle name instead) as was his dad (who went by Shirley). That name died out with my uncle and I don't see it being revived. There were not a lot of good boy names on my side of the family, what with Elton, Harl, Newt, Theron, Delma. Girl names were even odder - Eula and Zula (sisters), Vyrtle, Melvinia, Saphronia. All of those names seem to have died out from what I can tell. I also thought DH brother would want to use it since it was his middle name not DH, but he had two girls Dad's middle name was Lee and they gave one of my sisters the name, but spelled it Leigh. Every one that I've ever known named Eula was born in 1909! My maternal grandmother Eula M... and when I was a teen, the lady who bought the house catty corner across the street was Eula B..... and the lady a block away but then moved into the house two houses UP from Eula B... who was Eula M...., almost the SAME married last name as my grandmother but instead of the last letter of the last name an "s", it was "er"!  The name sure died out because they are the only Eula's I've ever known! And my maternal grandfather had a cousin named Newt. |
|
|
|
Post by katlady on Apr 5, 2024 2:05:29 GMT
No, no passed down names in our family. I do have a couple of cousins that are Juniors, but it is not because of any family tradition. 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. I have a friend who hates his first name and has always gone by his middle name. So, what did he name his son?! Yup, his son is a Junior, and they call him by his first name. I was surprised. 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. I went to high school with a guy that one was one of 6 boys. All the boys had the same first name, but different middle names. |
|
|
|
Post by Linda on Apr 5, 2024 2:30:49 GMT
I had a great grandmother named Dorkus - pretty sure that name died out in the family lol. I actually really like the name Dorcas but DH said absolutely positively NOT |
|
|
|
Post by **GypsyGirl** on Apr 5, 2024 3:07:27 GMT
Every one that I've ever known named Eula was born in 1909! My maternal grandmother Eula M... and when I was a teen, the lady who bought the house catty corner across the street was Eula B..... and the lady a block away but then moved into the house two houses UP from Eula B... who was Eula M...., almost the SAME married last name as my grandmother but instead of the last letter of the last name an "s", it was "er"! The name sure died out because they are the only Eula's I've ever known! And my maternal grandfather had a cousin named Newt. Ma (as we called her) was born in in 1890 and was my great grandmother. Newt was her husband, my great grandpa (who we called Pa) was born in 1982. I have never heard of another Eula. Makes me wonder which names of our generation, or even the current one, will die out and future generations will be talking about what odd names we had!  |
|
|
|
Post by stampinfraulein on Apr 5, 2024 3:50:06 GMT
The tradition in DH's father's family was that the oldest son had a first name that started with Q and a middle name that started with E! Do you know how many decent Q names there are for boys? Not very many! I declined to keep up the tradition and I know FIL was miffed about it but I don't care!
I like DH's first name that begins with Q but I didn't want to name my son that. My husband is a junior so I guess my MIL followed the QE tradition, although DH went by a version of his middle name (the one that started with E) until he went away to college and started going by his first name. Having a junior name has led to all kinds of problems with credit reports between DH and his dad.
|
|
seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,408
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
|
Post by seaexplore on Apr 5, 2024 4:30:55 GMT
My moms middle name is Anne
MIL’s middle name is Ann
One of my middle names is Anne
My DD’s middle name is Anne
My cousin (dad’s side) is Ann
My niece’s (my side) middle name is Ann
DS’s middle name is Lewis
DH’s middle name is Lewis
FIL’s middle name is Lewis
FIL’s dads first name was Lewis
|
|
|
|
Post by dewryce on Apr 5, 2024 4:41:29 GMT
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. I went to high school with a guy that one was one of 6 boys. All the boys had the same first name, but different middle names. My Granma and her sister both had Billee as their first name and went by their middle names. Joyce and Jean. Initially, if we had a girl, I was going to name her Billee Alexandra. But instead we decided that Dewryce, my middle name that my parents made up a combo of their middle names Dewy and Joyce, would be better as it also honored my mom. No other children though so it’ll stop with me. No pressure from our families. But Hilliard was from DH’s grandpa and family and they were close so we gave our son his name as a middle name. So it won’t be passed on. Also from his side of the family, his adoptive Dad’s side, Kashmira was passed down to his sister. I think it’s beautiful, but she has only had one daughter and didn’t pass it down. From my (step)dad’s family, the father’s first name becomes the son’s middle name. |
|
|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 5, 2024 6:52:06 GMT
My moms middle name is Anne MIL’s middle name is Ann One of my middle names is Anne My DD’s middle name is Anne My cousin (dad’s side) is Ann My niece’s (my side) middle name is Ann DS’s middle name is Lewis DH’s middle name is Lewis FIL’s middle name is Lewis FIL’s dads first name was Lewis My grandmother’s middle name was Anne My middle name is Anne My younger sisters middle name is Ann Not a single Lewis |
|
RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,732
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
|
Post by RedSquirrelUK on Apr 5, 2024 8:14:38 GMT
Not unpopular, but my grandfather has a middle name which is a family surname. It is very unusual so I'm not going to post it here.
And interestingly both DH's side and my side have a sort of tradition of having the same middle name for the boys - and it's the same name.
My middle name is my granma's nickname. I have no idea why. I would have preferred her real name as my middle name.
|
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 5, 2024 14:43:29 GMT
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. I went to high school with a guy that one was one of 6 boys. All the boys had the same first name, but different middle names. I dated a guy in high school where all five of the kid’s names started with D and they all had the same middle initial too which was the same as their dad’s, so there were six people in the family with the exact same initials.  My sister married a guy whose family did the same first letter thing, five kids all starting with the letter D. I think they had different initials for their middle names though. I still think it’s confusing. Life is hard enough, why make it intentionally harder on purpose? |
|
|
|
Post by dewryce on Apr 6, 2024 3:34:12 GMT
I went to high school with a guy that one was one of 6 boys. All the boys had the same first name, but different middle names. I dated a guy in high school where all five of the kid’s names started with D and they all had the same middle initial too which was the same as their dad’s, so there were six people in the family with the exact same initials. My sister married a guy whose family did the same first letter thing, five kids all starting with the letter D. I think they had different initials for their middle names though. I still think it’s confusing. Life is hard enough, why make it intentionally harder on purpose? Oh yeah that reminds me…my mom, father, sister and I all had the same initials. But she got remarried and messed it all up 🤣 |
|
|
|
Post by twistedscissors on Apr 6, 2024 3:36:23 GMT
Not in my family but in my ex-husbands family.
His grandpa was Russell Earl B. (Not sure what he was called)
His dad was Russell Earl B. Jr (went by Russ)
His brother was Russell Earl B III (went by Earl)
His nephew was RussellEarl B IV (went by Rehmmey)😂 Not sure why.
BUT….. nephew always hated his name. When he turned 18 he went and changed his name to Rehmmey A. ( his mom’s maiden name). He was the last boy in the family so the entire named died out with him. Including surname. 😂😂
|
|
|
|
Post by deekaye on Apr 7, 2024 23:35:28 GMT
Grandfather, father and brother all had the middle name Leonard. Sister-in-law insisted that the name end and my nephew Joshua thanks her! |
|
|
|
Post by scrapbookwriter on Apr 8, 2024 3:48:37 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. I have a Marion in my family tree. He was known as Marion Tate, but his birth name was Francis Marion Tate. I tried to learn more about him and was surprised by the number of men named Francis Marion in his home state (Tennessee). That led me to learn about the original Francis Marion, a revolutionary war soldier nicknamed the Swamp Fox . . . a total research rabbit hole. Francis Marion Tate named his daughter Frances Marian Tate, which I thought was cute. |
|
|
|
Post by melanell on Apr 8, 2024 18:59:37 GMT
There was a story several generations ago in my family about a mother wanting her daughter to name not just one, but two of the grandchildren after her, LOL! But other than that, no, I'm not aware of anyone putting pressure on anyone else to use certain names. So basically, Susan's mom was Elizabeth. Susan named her first daughter "Beth" in honor of Elizabeth. But then when Susan had daughter number three, Elizabeth was insisting Susan name that child "Libby", also after herself. Nervy, eh?  Now there have been a lot of people named after others in my family, simply because that was tradition at the time. But "Elizabeth" was the only story I know of where the naming parents really didn't want any part of going with the name tradition or another relative was suggesting. |
|
|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 8, 2024 20:33:25 GMT
There was a story several generations ago in my family about a mother wanting her daughter to name not just one, but two of the grandchildren after her, LOL! But other than that, no, I'm not aware of anyone putting pressure on anyone else to use certain names. So basically, Susan's mom was Elizabeth. Susan named her first daughter "Beth" in honor of Elizabeth. But then when Susan had daughter number three, Elizabeth was insisting Susan name that child "Libby", also after herself. Nervy, eh? Now there have been a lot of people named after others in my family, simply because that was tradition at the time. But "Elizabeth" was the only story I know of where the naming parents really didn't want any part of going with the name tradition or another relative was suggesting. That is being super pushy demanding two grandchildren honor her. It isn’t an honor if you have to push for it. My only child has decided he doesn’t want children so this will never be an issue, but if he had a daughter, I would have hated for that baby to be named after me because I don’t like my own name. Why push it on another generation? |
|
|
|
Post by melanell on Apr 8, 2024 20:38:05 GMT
There was a story several generations ago in my family about a mother wanting her daughter to name not just one, but two of the grandchildren after her, LOL! But other than that, no, I'm not aware of anyone putting pressure on anyone else to use certain names. So basically, Susan's mom was Elizabeth. Susan named her first daughter "Beth" in honor of Elizabeth. But then when Susan had daughter number three, Elizabeth was insisting Susan name that child "Libby", also after herself. Nervy, eh? Now there have been a lot of people named after others in my family, simply because that was tradition at the time. But "Elizabeth" was the only story I know of where the naming parents really didn't want any part of going with the name tradition or another relative was suggesting. That is being super pushy demanding two grandchildren honor her. It isn’t an honor if you have to push for it. My only child has decided he doesn’t want children so this will never be an issue, but if he had a daughter, I would have hated for that baby to be named after me because I don’t like my own name. Why push it on another generation? Yeah, and she wanted 2 kids in the same household to use her name, no less. (Also, I forgot to mention, one of her other children named their first daughter "Beth" after her as well, so she already had 2 granddaughters names after her!) |
|
mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,017
|
Post by mimima on Apr 8, 2024 21:40:13 GMT
My siblings and I are all M names, though we have different letters for middle names.
|
|
RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,732
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
|
Post by RedSquirrelUK on Apr 8, 2024 22:23:01 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. I have a Marion in my family tree. He was known as Marion Tate, but his birth name was Francis Marion Tate. I tried to learn more about him and was surprised by the number of men named Francis Marion in his home state (Tennessee). That led me to learn about the original Francis Marion, a revolutionary war soldier nicknamed the Swamp Fox . . . a total research rabbit hole. Francis Marion Tate named his daughter Frances Marian Tate, which I thought was cute. And you folks are justifying my understanding that the male spelling is Marion and the female spelling is Marian, and yet I know two women whose names are spelled Marion.  There was a story several generations ago in my family about a mother wanting her daughter to name not just one, but two of the grandchildren after her, LOL! But other than that, no, I'm not aware of anyone putting pressure on anyone else to use certain names. So basically, Susan's mom was Elizabeth. Susan named her first daughter "Beth" in honor of Elizabeth. But then when Susan had daughter number three, Elizabeth was insisting Susan name that child "Libby", also after herself. Nervy, eh? Now there have been a lot of people named after others in my family, simply because that was tradition at the time. But "Elizabeth" was the only story I know of where the naming parents really didn't want any part of going with the name tradition or another relative was suggesting. I also know someone who named her children Alex, Lexie and Xander. I often wondered whether she actually realised that they were all the same name. I grew up with brothers called Christopher and Robin, and the parents had to be quite careful when they called them in public.  I love these name threads. Names fascinate me. |
|
|
|
Post by melanell on Apr 9, 2024 11:51:57 GMT
I have a Marion in my family tree. He was known as Marion Tate, but his birth name was Francis Marion Tate. I tried to learn more about him and was surprised by the number of men named Francis Marion in his home state (Tennessee). That led me to learn about the original Francis Marion, a revolutionary war soldier nicknamed the Swamp Fox . . . a total research rabbit hole. Francis Marion Tate named his daughter Frances Marian Tate, which I thought was cute. And you folks are justifying my understanding that the male spelling is Marion and the female spelling is Marian, and yet I know two women whose names are spelled Marion. I think that as names that were once used for men or women (with only a spelling difference) shift to being used only by women, the spelling differences tend to stop mattering and parents just choose what they like best. When only girls are named Marion, then it doesn't matter if you use the old "male" spelling. Same with Lindsey/Lindsay. Today, we still see enough Franks around to know that hasn't happened with Francis/Frances, but I imagine that if someday in the future, Frank & Francis stop being used for boys, then we may start to see little girls named Francis if their parents prefer it...or you know Fransiss or Francys o whatever all else one might dream up. And sometimes, people just don't care even when a name is still used by both, like Jamie/Jaime/Jamey/Jaymee/etc. People just use what they want. |
|
The name sure died out because they are the only Eula's I've ever known! And my maternal grandfather had a cousin named Newt. 
My sister married a guy whose family did the same first letter thing, five kids all starting with the letter D. I think they had different initials for their middle names though. I still think it’s confusing. Life is hard enough, why make it intentionally harder on purpose?
