Question of the Day: Names

This question is a double-header. Are you named after anyone AND (if applicable) are your children named after someone?

Comments

[FranMag]

I'm named after my paternal grandmother Frances and my maternal great-grandmother Sepe. My son's middle name (Scott-Wilson, yes, with the hyphen) is my father's name and my daughter's middle name (Florentina) is my husband's mother's name.

[N]

1. No. My name was the only name my parents could agree on. My uncle has the male form of it, but it was emphasized to me that I was not named after him. *eyeroll*

2. Some of the names we have picked out are after people, but not all of them.

[Fionnaigh]

My middle name, May, was my mother and grandmother's middle name, and my great-grandmother's first name.
I'd like to think about family names when we have kids.

[Whozat]

My mother, sister and I all have the same first name. My mother goes by her first and middle names, and my sister and I both go by diminuatives of our middle names.

Our daughter (due in November) will be named after both me and my partner. Her first name is my middle name (she'll go by a very different diminuative of it) and her middle name is Shrike's middle name.

[Heather in the 'shwa]

Hah I can actually answer a question like this now since my son was born Monday morning - I'm not named after anyone and neither is Graeme.

[kelly]

I was named after my parent's landlord's last name, Kelly. The interesting thing is that they thought I would be a boy and decided on Kelly for their son's name. I ended up as a girl and still got the name!

My daughter is named after my great-grandmother in Panama. There are in fact 7 in the family named after her. It is crazy keeping track of all of us cousins because many are named after someone. My daughter is known and Sabina, la de Kelly. (Kelly's Sabina!)

[B]

I am named after my great great grandmother and my middle name is a combination of both of my grandmother's names. I would love to be able to name a daughter after my paternal grandmother some day.

[Colette]

I'm named after the author. I'm relieved I'm a girl, because I would have been named Friedrich, after Nietzsche, had I been a boy. My family has a tradition of naming kids after literary figures.

[ppb]

I'm named after the neighbor's cat!
Apparently it was an outdoor cat, and my parents kept hearing them calling her, and grew fond of the name.

[Misti Delaney]

I was named for my paternal grandmother, though I have since legally changed my name. All three of my children are named for other people. Two for their paternal grandfathers and one for a friend who I just thought had a very cool name. (And one of the three was also named for *my* paternal grandfather.

[Tracey]

Yes, sort of. My Mum and her sister are very close so they decided to have their names in their daughters names, so I am Tracey Ann and my cousin is Amanda Frances. I'm only glad my Mum chose Ann, as my Aunt's other names are Charlotte and Madeline!

[suze]

My middle name Mary is after the Virgin Mother! It was also my mother's middle name and my paternal grandmother's name. My first name isn't after anyone and I have no idea why they chose it.
My son's name is one we both liked and it starts with the same unusual letter as my father's name. His middle name starts with the same letter as my name and is an Indian name, which is a reference to co-parent's birth in India. His middle name is after a well-known Indian sportsman, which is how I first heard of it, though we didn't exactly call him after that man.

[debra]

Yes, yes, and yes.

In Jewish tradition, I am named after a great-aunt Debra. My middle name is Susan. My mother went by Susi her entire life although her name was not Susi so she gave me the middle name Susan and declared that she was borrowing it.

My son is named after my mother who died 4 months before he was born.

My daughter is named after my partner's grandmother (first name) and sister (middle name).

[Frannyo]

Popular Question!!

I love that people have so much pride in their names.

I was named after my mother, my grandmother, my greatgrandmother, and greatgreatgrandmother. Maggie has the same name, I was relieved we had a little girl because a boy wouldn't really enjoy being called M*ry Fr*nceli*.

[stidmama]

Yes, and yes. My first name (never used since childhood, now dropped on all legal documents) was my mother's. Too confusing when I got old enough to write checks in the same town she lived in... my other name is for my mother's aunt-in-law that she adored who died just a little bit before I was born.

Our children are named after our families. First name from my family, second from his. Elder child has my brother's name first, husband's name second... younger child has old old old family names that used to be last names. Interestingly, though very different, the names really suit both children beautifully!

[Mayhem]

I love hearing how people got their names!

I'm kind of named after my dad. Our names have the same meaning. My parents thought they were being all original and cool, but Amanda turned out to be the Kaitlyn of the mid 70s. (Oh my lord, that sounds like so long ago.)

My oldest son's first name is my husband's middle name. He has two middle names-- my dad's name and the name his first mom gave him, and she named him after herself.

My younger son has one middle name that is my husband's mom's name.

What about Pearl and Carrie?

[domi]

I'm named after my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother. I went without a name for 3 weeks, and ended up with the worse possible choice.

[valerie]

My dad picked my first name from an Elton John/Bernie Taupin song that most people have heard of. It's called "First Episode at Heinton" and my dad loved the name. My middle name is my dad's middle name. It's a name that has both masculine and feminine versions that sound the name, but I have the male spelling of it. When I was a kid I hated it, but as I got to be a teenager and grown-up, I didn't mind at all because my dad is a pretty cool guy! :-)

[betty]

I'm named after my rockin leather wearing motorcycle riding southern sweat as pie grandma. I was going to be named after my mothers mom but Guadelupe didn't fit too well on a blond blue eyed baby. I named both my kids after family and friends. All people I admired. They both have three names. We did this so that if they decided they didn't like their name they could pick one of the other ones.

[Carly]

My first name is after Carly Simon. My middle name is also my mother's middle name. Both she and I love it, and if I have a daughter one day, her middle name will be the same. Since I'm Carly and my mother is Nancy, she will also have a first name that ends in "y".

I am completely name-obsessed. I love talking about them.

[Att]

I'm named after two women in my life. My grandmother on my father's side, Elizabeth, whose name is my first. My middle name, Yvonne, from my maternal grandmother, her middle name as well.

My partner is named after that old pop star, Melanie? Who sang that Brand New Key song. Mm... yeah.

[girlranting]

I am not named after anyone. I was rather resentful of this after I realized both my brother and sister were.

When I have a child, if it's a girl, she will get my paternal grandmother's name at least as a middle name, if not for her first. If I have a boy I will name him unrelated to my family. I don't particularly like any of the male names in my family, or the people who have them, either....

[Vicky]

I was named Samantha after the Bewitch character. I was actually born the same year the show premiered. My mother wanted to name me Vicky Jo but due to there being a lot of members on both sides of the family named Jo, my dad wouldn't let her. So she named me Samantha Victoria and I go by Vicky.

In turn, I named my daughter Tia after the girl in Escape to Witch Mountain.

My son is Raymond Lee. He's the third one and we call him RayLee.

[kat]

I was named after somebody on the Price is Right. I was overdue and my mom was miserable. Each of my kids are named after either a close relative or somebody with a significant impact on my life.

I run a shelter for teen moms, and four weeks ago one of our moms was struggling with a name for her baby. I told her to give her the name of somebody who had the qualities she admired and wanted her baby to have. . . three days later she gave birth and gave her my name. It is powerful to know that I had that much impact on her life!

Kat(rina)

[oneofhismoms]

I'm named after my grandfather.
My older son's first name is my partner's mother's maiden name and his middle name is my grandfather's name.

My new baby's first name is after a very cute baby we saw at a concert in the park about eight years ago... it was the first name we both agreed upon, so we stuck with it. His middle name is after my good friend Joannie, a great photographer who died of cancer. It also happens to be my brother's middle name.

I like naming my kids after people I love. It connects them to the universe in a way that gets repeated daily and becomes central to their identities.

[Julia]

My first name doesn't come from anyone special
but my second name is from my mom's name

I'm Julia Claire
and she's Marie-Claire

:)

[marta]

my name was chosen on purpuse not to be anyone's else (in the family)

anyhow, here in Portugal it's normal to have a line of names in the family. that happens with the name Octávio (the "C" is silent).
since my great-great grandfather the first boy has that name. BUT, it happened that my father was the first son and he only had two girls so my cousin got that name.

i wonder if the new generation will continue...

[alice, uptown]

When I was growing up, I was told I was named for my mother's grandmother Hannah, in keeping with Jewish tradition of naming for a dead relative (that way the generations don't get confused when you try to do genealogy). Later, I discovered a Hannah another generation back in my father's family.

I know both of my parents were named for previous generations, although, like my actual name, the Hebrew names are the same, but the English translations came from more modern sources.

[Matilda]

I am named after my dad's grandmother. She lived alone with 7 children in a small cottage (without running water and electricity), and whenever she got angry she used to throw chunks of wood (for the stove) at the kids to get them to leave her alone. I don't know it this is a good or a bad person to be named after...

[Laura]

True story...my father was so disgusted I wasn't a boy he refused to let my mother name me. I have no idea if I'm named after anyone because the nurses named me.

Doesn't that suck wind?