I have a bit of a dilemma. We have a son named [name_m]Chester[/name_m] [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] and we are expecting our second son in [name_u]March[/name_u]. [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] is a name that has been used in my husbands family on his father’s side for generations. Now we just found out that [name_m]Chester[/name_m] was my husband’s great-great-grandfather’s name on his mother’s side. We already have a list of names picked out for the baby that we both love ([name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_u]Monroe[/name_u], [name_m]Marvin[/name_m] [name_u]Monroe[/name_u], or [name_u]Sheldon[/name_u] [name_u]Monroe[/name_u]), but we’re now wondering if we should change the middle name so he would be named after family as well. We didn’t worry about that when it was only [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] that was a family name, but now that we found out that both [name_m]Chester[/name_m] and [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] are family names we’re wondering if the baby will feel left out when he gets older because he doesn’t have that connection.
What makes it more challenging is that I would probably want to use a name from my family since [name_m]Chester[/name_m]'s names come from DH’s side. My father left when I was a kid and I’m not close with anyone in his family so the name would have to come from my mother’s side. But my mother’s family is Scandinavian so the names might not be the easiest for Americans (which is where we live).
Some possible names from my family:
[name_m]Eero[/name_m]
[name_m]Kaarlo[/name_m]
[name_m]Arvid[/name_m]
[name_m]Valdemar[/name_m]
Bengt
[name_m]Lennart[/name_m]
[name_m]Johan[/name_m]
[name_m]Nils[/name_m]
[name_f]Nisse[/name_f]
[name_m]Juhani[/name_m]
[name_m]Einar[/name_m]
[name_m]Olavi[/name_m]
Miikka
[name_m]Erkki[/name_m]
And the options for first name:
[name_m]Linus[/name_m]
[name_u]Sheldon[/name_u]
[name_m]Marvin[/name_m]
[name_u]Monroe[/name_u] (?)
What do you guys think? Should we use a family name or stick to the names we picked? And what do you think about the Swedish and Finnish names on my list?
As an only child, I can’t speak to whether a child would feel left out in this situation. I don’t think it would have bothered me (I liked being different in any way possible), but who knows.
It sounds like you love the name choices you’ve already picked out, so I’d vote for keeping one of those.
But of the family names you’ve listed, I think several have potential, especially if you Anglicize/modify them. Maybe:
[name_m]Marvin[/name_m] [name_m]Leonard[/name_m]
[name_m]Marvin[/name_m] [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]/[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m] (a little more familiar than [name_m]Nils[/name_m]?)
[name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_m]John[/name_m]
[name_u]Sheldon[/name_u] [name_m]Karl[/name_m]/[name_m]Charles[/name_m]
[name_u]Sheldon[/name_u] [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]/[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]
If you don’t want to modify them, I don’t think it will be an issue to have an international name in the middle spot. He might think it’s cool and different! I like [name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_m]Arvid[/name_m] and [name_u]Sheldon[/name_u] [name_m]Kaarlo[/name_m].
You may not like this option as much, but you could also pull from your husband’s name with [name_u]Van[/name_u]/[name_m]Vann[/name_m] or even [name_m]Evander[/name_m]. That way both boys would have something from their father’s name.
To start off, I have a serious doubt that the child’s going to care about whether his middle name’s familial or not. Sure, kids are interested in origins of names, but I’ve never seen someone feel left out of the family for having a different name; actions of the family are what causes that, and as long as you’re accepting of your children, making sure to spend time with them, and making them feel loved then you will be fine.
If you’re truly worried about pronunciation, then you can choose one of the easier to pronounce names on the list, such as [name_m]Arvid[/name_m] or [name_m]Olavi[/name_m], or you can translate some of the names on the list to be more American, such as changing [name_m]Eero[/name_m] to [name_m]Eric[/name_m] or [name_m]Lennart[/name_m] to [name_m]Leonard[/name_m]. If pronunciation isn’t the upmost importance, then you can stick with the ones on the list. In my opinion, whether or not Americans can pronounce the names is not going to be important, as the only times Americans ever use middle names are for government documents and fun guess-what-my-middle-name-is games.
Overall, I say do what you feel is best. If you decide on a family name for the middle name, then that’s fine. If you decide on one of the first four names, then that’s fine. As long as you teach your kid to spell his full name and the acronyms don’t spell anything inappropriate then everything should go well, especially with the wonderful names you’ve picked out (btw [name_u]Monroe[/name_u] and [name_m]Linus[/name_m] are my favorites).
Hmm. I think you should stick with what you originally picked. I don’t think it is a huge deal if [name_m]Chester[/name_m]'s names came from relatives but the new baby’s wouldn’t. After all, you didn’t know that [name_m]Chester[/name_m] was a family name.
Truthfully, it isn’t something that kids think much about…even if they are little name nerds haha. I come from a family with 7 siblings and each of us have different names/name stories. One brother was named for my parents (he has dad’s first name and his mn is a male form of mom’s first name), one sister got her name after mom heard another mother yelling the name out on a playground, I got my names because my mom liked them, and so on. None of us feel left out or anything like that because of where our names came from. So I wouldn’t worry, mama
That being said, I am really liking [name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_m]Arvid[/name_m], [name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_m]Kaarlo[/name_m], and [name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_m]Johan[/name_m] from your list. I don’t think that us Americans would have too much of a hard time with those names, especially if they are in the middle spot
I don’t think you have to use family names. That said, I kinda like [name_m]Linus[/name_m] Bengt and [name_m]Linus[/name_m] [name_m]Juhani[/name_m]. Both are really unexpected. I like [name_m]Marvin[/name_m] [name_m]Leonard[/name_m] and [name_m]Johan[/name_m] [name_u]Monroe[/name_u] as well.
