I wonder how many of us named their child after a special loved one? Do you think this tradition is fading?

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I wonder how many of us named their child after a special loved one? Do you think this tradition is fading?

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I did not do this. I do think it’s a sweet way to honor a loved one.

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The spelling is often changed too. I like traditional spelling for names.

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At one point there were three Marys in my family. Two were my Aunts.

I has three kids and each has a middle name that was a family name on my side. I did not choose their first names, although my daughter’s name was one we discussed and her dad choose the spelling.

Neither of my parents have ‘easy’ names and certainly not a name that would be given to a child today. The other grandparents either were known by nick names their whole life or had names I would not use either.

My brother’s first name was my fathers middle name and out grandmother’s maiden name. His son’s first name is my brother’s middle name.

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Tothill,

Look at the crazy names out there now! Those names might be considered ‘cool’ nowadays.

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I wanted my son to have his own name for a first name and gave him a family name of mine (my grandmothers maiden name) and then my husbands last name. I chose my grandmothers maiden name because I was very close to her brother, big close family, who passed while I was pregnant so honoring him, my great grandmother (who I was also very close to) and my grandmother. We gave him a very individual first name so it is very much his own.

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That is sweet to honor your family member. I like when this is done.

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Interesting issue about nice names. My two daughters share a middle name with the grandmother on each side, whose names were Dora Lucy and Everett Mary. I liked ‘Lucy’and ‘Mary’. My sister did the same for her twin girls, with grandma's first names, and they got ‘Jean’ and ‘Everett’ as their middle names. Mine got the better deal!

My sisters and I don’t have middle names, as my mother thought they were a waste of time. Every time I fill in a form, I feel grateful. We were three sisters, Mary, Margaret and Marion, which made labelling hand-me-downs very easy – all Ms. My mother was a practical woman!

I really don’t like ‘made up’ names. I used to say use the names of kings and queens or the Bible, but I cut out the Bible when threatened with Nebuchadnezzar. My kids took no notice anyway!

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I wasn't given a middle name either, I think the idea was that my maiden name would become my middle name as it was assumed I would marry a man and have children. I chose to take my mothers maiden name as a middle name when my grandfather passed and although it was many years later I have to admit I still am torn about dropping either the middle name I chose or my maiden name so I guess my parents had a point.

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I didn’t name any of my three children after a loved one. I wanted them to have their very own name. Besides, my grandad was Idus and my dad was Hiley, on the female side it’s Belle’s and Mae’s. Nope, wasn’t going to saddle my kids with an “awful” name just for tradition. My husband is Tony, named NOT after a relative, but the actor Tony Curtis. Thank goodness he wasn’t named after Elvis!

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That’s true. We may love a person but not care for their name.

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Our son's first name was taken from my maternal grandfather. His middle name was taken from his father, which is family tradition for first sons on his side.

My take is that no traditions are vanishing, but that new ones are being added.

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My middle name came from both my Grandmothers who had exactly the same middle name, spelled the same way.
My nieces and nephews all have some name either first or middle that is from a relative.

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Isn’t that something, the same name? Kind of like fate.

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It seems to still be going in some ways. I was named for my great-grandmother who immigrated to the US from Sweden. Was fate, as she and I followed some similar life paths when it came to one of our children (special needs). All four of my children have middle names that connect to family. #1's middle name is the same as his (paternal) grandfather, #2's middle name is that of a great-great uncle (paternal), #3's middle name is a variation on my (paternal) grandmother's first name, and #4's middle name is a female variation of my (maternal) grandfather's name. I hope that my kids that do go on to have children might consider doing this. They're still young though, I still have time to exert power LOL :P

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I like it because the names have great sentimental meaning.

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My middle name is my aunt’s first name (mom’s sister).

We named our son after my husbands’ grandfather because he was born on his birthday. MIL and and my husband loved him dearly. It was nice because his GG grandfather had what sounded like a first name as his last name. With our son our last name was added, so we got to use his GGG’s full name.

Wow, rereading that sure is confusing! 🤪

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Oh, I think it’s sweet.

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Riverdale,

That’s interesting. I’ll remember that if I ever get to be a grandma.

Well, I discussed names with my mom and mom in law. We loved the conversations. Neither tried to persuade me in any direction. Some do though. I have friends who purposely did not tell names to anyone because they did not want to hear if someone disliked it. I get that.

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I will advise anyone what not to do. Do not spend 9 months discussing names with your pregnant daughter or terribly interested son even if they fully indicate the desire to do so. Out pops the baby and gets a name you never heard mentioned. It took me a week to not call her what I thought was the choice and that was not on purpose but instinct.

Then flash forward several years and while having an unrelated argument you are told in a manner that reeks of talk therapy that you were out of bounds discussing names. At least I could reply that I had been asked. For baby "2 I never brought up names nor did I with 2nd daughter nor will I hopefully ever again.

Unless a daughter in law to be asks about any family names but I will tread lightly.

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Yes, this tradition is fading. I have no children, but my sig-other's two grown children aren't named after any relatives, and neither are his grand-children. But he is named after an Uncle, and probably three dozen of other Italian relatives if I did his family tree :)

I've been shaking my German/Czech family tree via Ancestry, and the same names were given from one generation to the next, and to the next, but it seemed to have slowed down in the 1950's.

Boys sometimes were given their Mother's maiden name as their first or middle name [depending on the name]. Some of the girls would have their grandmother's maiden name as their middle name.

Very common to find a daughter named after her mother, and of course, a son named after his father, back then.

One thing I found interesting, if a child died as an infant or toddler, the next child of that gender would get that child's name. I saw that in a lot in the family tree.

I could easily figure out a middle initial on a family name just by looking to see the family full name of the parents or the two sets of grandparents.

But that has been changing over time. Gone are the Mary Ann's, Mary Elizabeth's, Mary Katherine's that were very popular back in the 1940's. Some families are naming children after famous celebrity's names, which can be cute. Some are named after cities. Then there are names that are very difficult to pronounce.... well, I am finding names like that also in the 1700's.

Names are so fascinating !

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Freqflyer,

Oh yes, names come and go. I am such a wanna be Italian. I married a good looking italian man. Does that count? Hahaha

My mom’s family is English, Spanish, French and German. Dad’s side is Scotch/Irish. No Italian, boo hoo.

We are a Catholic family so there had to be a saint name as well. That isn’t followed as much by the younger generation either.

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Rainman is named after my father - who I adored.

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My 4 kids all have middle names (or a version of) after a Grandparent, but my 3 Grandsons all have unique middle names, Foxx, Cruze, and Trax. Don't ask me where That came from, but I like it! Lol!

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Very cool! I love hearing names. Thanks for sharing. Of course, I want to know how mom and baby are doing after a birth, then I am always interested in what they named the baby.

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Middle names but my girls have their own first names. Its so hard to do family trees when people chose to name a child after them. There were so many Charles's on both sides of my Moms family hsrd to remember who was who. Used to be a at least one son was a jr and a girl named after her Mom. But things are changing, I think, and thats good,

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JoAnn,

Just like the junior, senior thing, then young and old, big and little. Okay, then the third one is Trey. Well, my friend who was the third named his baby the 4th and they were going to call him Quad! Poor kid! Haha

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My parents first born child was stillborn. I was born almost a year later & we have the same first name. Weird right? My mom had a planned c-section and she told my dad to choose my name when he saw me, either Stephanie or same name as their first daughter. He chose the name of their first daughter/my sister.

when I had my daughter, I gave her the same middle name as my stillborn sister.

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Cali,

Names are very sentimental. So sweet of you to do that, to remember your sister, to honor her. 💗

I had fertility issues and I did in vitro fertilization three times. None were successful. Well, to protect myself emotionally I wouldn’t allow myself to think of names unless I was told that I was pregnant.

We adopted our our first child and I had so much fun picking out her name. Seven years later, surprise, I became pregnant! I loved choosing names for my girls.

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I am named for my beloved paternal grandmother. 4 of my granddaughters have this as a first name--in fact my oldest g-daughter's IS named for 'me' and 3 others have the name as a middle name.

I don't see this fading. The g-daughters are already 'fighting' over who gets to name their firs girl after me--really, after their GG Grandma.

I DO see a LOT of odd 'millennial names' that are going to haunt these poor kids:
Captain, Chief and Pharoah---I already feel your pain. Can't go by the middle names as they are all named for dad.

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Those odd names are especially being assigned to some celebrity children,one in particular I find so absurd. I guess they will be insulated with the accompanying wealth their parents provide as long as it doesn't evaporate. I appreciate unique names but I feel a persons name should associate them as being a person as supposed to God only knows what although I don't think God has a clue either.

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I do not think its fading. My sister gave her daughters middle name from my mothers first name. I was named after my grandmother. My niece was named after a friend that took her mother to the ER when her mother went into labor. My Niece named her son after his father. My brother was named after the doctor that delivered him. My other niece named her daughter after a favorite Aunt. My mother was named after the doctor that delivered her. My father was named after his father, my brother was named after my father then my brother named his son after himself and my father. My other brother named his first daughter after a favorite Aunt and his other daughter was named after an Aunt on the mothers side. My sister was named after my mothers favorite author. Two of my brothers were named after two of the prophets in the Bible. BAM!
I had a friend that did not do that to any of her kids cuz she did not want to offend anyone. I think its a great idea!

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hgnhgn,

It’s special to know why we were named our names, right?

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I used the middle names of my children to answer your question.One was a great grandmother's name as well as a beloved aunt. One was a grandfather's name. The third was the English version of my name. My daughters have done this too with their children. I think it can be nice for children to have their own identity name wise but I feel that if possible it is a positive tradition to honor previous generations with names of those who we felt good about.

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Riverdale,

I agree. My husband did not want to have a junior if we had a boy. He wanted the child to have their own identity. We had girls.

Some girls are named after their mom. I like my name but I don’t think I would want my daughters named after me. Maybe a middle name. But I say do what feels right to you. It’s very personal.

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I wonder how many of us named their child after a special loved one? Do you think this tradition is fading?

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