So, husband’s family is Greek… And since his brother isn’t a team player… He had two girls and is now calling it quits. The whole… We need a grandson task falls to my husband and moi.
[name]Even[/name] more fun… Is the way names are traditionally done in Greek families… First born boy is named after his pat grandfather and his father… Gpa’s first name as his first, dad’s first name as his middle and then of course the big Greek last name.
So to the point of this post, I have no raging issue with the naming tradition, in fact I am a huge proponent of family names (FYI… Some of my family’s more colorful hand me down contenders includes Oyer Lafitte, Minnnie Koi, [name]Edna[/name] and [name]Betty[/name]) they show where you came from and they have for me strong sentimental meaning, my name is totally recycled and I love that.
Issue is, I want to leave some sort of mark on our children’s names that comes from “my side” as well, I also don’t care very much for the first name we would have to use nor it’s English “definition”, but I worry will I be giving my kid too many syllables for one mouth?
Name would be Yirogios (pronounced Your-Gos) [name]Zacharias[/name] then our last name… Husband thinks we can call the kid Yogi, (whole other topic! I have a love hate relationship with this idea)
Potential “my side extra” middles would be… [name]Augustin[/name], [name]Harrison[/name], Lafitte, [name]Garrick[/name] and I am still pouring through family names… But crux of the situation is… Is there such a thing as too many good things/names?
I’m actually Greek Orthodox and my husband is not. We decided not to go with the Greek naming tradition. My mom already had one granddaughter named after her and my dad has two grandson’s named after him so it really wasn’t a big deal. With our first child we chose a first name we liked and a Greek Orthodox Middle name. We plan on doing the same with baby #2 due in the fall. I guess you already know that Yirogios is usually translated to [name]George[/name] in English, right? [name]How[/name] about [name]Gus[/name] as a nn instead? Too much of a stretch? I don’t think it’s too much to have 2 mn. We are considering doing that with our second child. Honestly, how often do you really use middle names? My husband has two middle names but he never uses them.
I think another middle could work fine since it’s not often one would use the full name anyway. It will be tricky when filling out forms, so I am sure one (or both, depending on how long your last name is) may get dropped. If you could find a second middle that was one syllable, that might be best.
Is there any possibility to compromise on this tradition? Maybe you can keep the grandfather’s first name, but use a name from your background for the middle as a way to blend the two families. I know traditions are important- and can be hard to tamper with- but I thought I’d toss it out there as an option.
I think the pp’s suggestion of translation the name to English is a great idea. Would the parents go for that? I can imagine that going through life as [name]George[/name] would be a lot easier than as Yirogios (which I would personally pronounce as yer-oh-gwa knowing no better)
Are you only planning on having one child? If not, why does your side need to be represented in his name? My middle comes from my mom’s side and my brother’s middle comes from dad’s side. Let this child be Yirogios [name]Zacharias[/name] and the next have your family names.
I like the sound, would the spelling Yorgos be better? I like Yirogios/Yorgos better than boring old [name]George[/name]
Yogi is cute, I think of Yogi Berra. Also [name]Yori[/name], [name]Ory[/name], [name]Gio[/name], and [name]Georgie[/name]
I’m Greek but I’m not traditional at all and neither is my family so we just name our kids whatever really. But anyway, I think that the English version of Yiorgios, [name]George[/name] is nicer name than the original Greek translation. Also the name [name]Harrison[/name] is adorable for a mn. My pick would be [name]George[/name] [name]Harrison[/name] [name]Zacharias[/name] But that may be a bit much having two long-ish middle names:confused: Wow this is stressful
I knew a couple and the husband had Greek heritage and he didn’t like the Greek naming tradition so named his son [name]Matthew[/name]. I say good on him I would hate to be stuck with a horrible name for my son because of tradition.
In your case to appease the Greek tradition stick the Yogi name in the middle not as a first name and give him a first name that lights your fire.
I say use the first name and chose a new middle name. [name]How[/name] badly does your husband want his son to be named after him? Is it more important to name the baby after his grandfather?
im greek, but im sorry - no child should have to go through life named Yirogios! unless you live in Greece, i think its just silly. but thats my opinion. Use it in the middle!
I think you can “kind of” follow the tradition and make it personal to you. Most older people want to know that they are being thought of with respect to the family line, but few of them seem to get offended if you don’t use the exact name. I would use [name]George[/name] as a way to honor grandpa, but here’s a link to other names that mean farmer or have a farm connection: Baby Names Meaning "FARMER" | SCBS Baby Club.
I would try to convince your hubby’s brother to have another go and pray for a son. I’d hate to end tradition but I understand your want to pass down your own tradition. Please remember that you can have more than one child and you could name the next one with your colorful names. I would appease my in-laws, but the first name suggested makes it hard to stand down. Again, convince your hubby’s brother…
But that may be a bit much having two long-ish middle names:confused: Wow this is stressful