I thought it would be fun to find out what naming traditions different families have.
Example:
With a friend of mine, every first born son is name [name]Thomas[/name] (and given different mn names.) Grandpa is [name]Thomas[/name], his dad is [name]Thomas[/name], he is a [name]Thomas[/name] and his son is [name]Thomas[/name].
[name]One[/name] of my cousins and her husband gave all 4 of their boys mn’s from each side of the family. (Mom’s mom, mom’s dad, dad’s dad and dad’s mom.)
They can just be within your immediate family, or a tradition handed down from generation to generation. Whatcha’ got!?!
In my family, every first born daughter has the middle name [name]Rae[/name], since my great-grandpa on my mom’s side was named [name]Ray[/name]. So far, there is [name]Donna[/name] [name]Rae[/name], my grandma, [name]Lori[/name] [name]Rae[/name], my mom, and [name]Courtney[/name] [name]Rae[/name], me.
On my dad’s side, my grandpa was named [name]Milo[/name], but he hated that name so we went by [name]Mike[/name]. Then they named my dad [name]Michael[/name], after my grandpa’s nickname. And so far there are 2 grandchildren of my grandpa’s with the middle name [name]Milo[/name] (which he hated because he thinks its so ugly)
Oh, man. I really don’t have any naming traditions in my family. Well there’s the whole having “two” names thing on my mom’s.
Everyone in my mom’s home country has their legal name, and then their “nickname” but they’re nickname is the name that’s used all the time. Example: My cousin [name]Joan[/name] is [name]Tash[/name], everyone calls her [name]Tash[/name], except at work, but her family always calls her [name]Tash[/name]. It can be full names too, like my grandfather. His birth name is [name]Hilton[/name], but his father ALWAYS called him [name]James[/name]/[name]Jimmy[/name]. Always. My grandmother calls him [name]Jim[/name] all the time, everyone calls my grandfather [name]Jim[/name]. Grandpa [name]Jim[/name], Uncle [name]Jim[/name] etc.
My boyfriend’s mom’s parents named all their kids with Es. [name]Eileen[/name], [name]Ellen[/name], [name]Elise[/name], [name]Elaine[/name], [name]Eric[/name], [name]Earl[/name], [name]Edward[/name]. And a lot of his cousin’s names start with M, [name]Mark[/name], [name]Maisie[/name], [name]Madison[/name], [name]Mckenna[/name] are the ones I remember.
In my family it’s the name [name]Mae[/name], since my great-great-grandma, each first born daughter has the name [name]Mae[/name], for example My gandma is [name]Mae[/name], my mum is [name]Caroline[/name] [name]Mae[/name] and I’m [name]Pollyanna[/name] [name]Mae[/name]. [name]Pollyanna[/name] is also my great-grandma
In my husbands family, all the boy’s have family last names as middle names. My father-in-law is [name]John[/name] Keller, my husband is [name]Jack[/name] [name]Sawyer[/name] and our sons are [name]Edward[/name] [name]Paxton[/name], [name]Maxwell[/name] [name]Tennyson[/name] and [name]August[/name] [name]Sawyer[/name]…[name]Paxton[/name] and [name]Tennyson[/name] are names from my side of the family and our next bub will have [name]Ellington[/name], a last name from [name]Jack[/name]'s side, as a middle name.
None on my mom’s side. I’ve posted about it before but on my dad’s side all the firstborn boys have double middle names. The first middle starts with D, and the second is [name]Dodge[/name] (a family surname).
My dad’s middles are DeLanci [name]Dodge[/name] (both family surnames), his son’s (my half-brother) middles are [name]Douglass[/name] [name]Dodge[/name], and my oldest nephew is a [name]Jr[/name]. so his middles are also [name]Douglass[/name] [name]Dodge[/name]. If I had been a boy, I would have had the middle names [name]David[/name] [name]Dodge[/name]. Still debating whether to continue this with my children… it would be convenient, since my first son will absolutely have the middle name [name]Donald[/name] anyway and I love the name [name]Dodge[/name]. But we’ll see.
Pretty much every first born male on both of my parents sides of the family have their fathers first name as their middle name. As a child, I thought this was what everyone did, especially since so many boys I knew in the small town we lived in growing up had their fathers first names as their middle name.
My husband and I broke all family traditions and started our own, fine with me.
Oh, I didnt see you wanted to see our family traditions until I re-read…
My DH’s middle name starts with a L and my middle name starts with an E. All of our children have middle names that start with an L or E. The girls both have variations of our middle names ([name]Andy[/name]'s ie [name]Leonard[/name] after his grandfather so we have a [name]Leona[/name], mine is [name]Elizabeth[/name] after a great-grandmother so we have an [name]Eliza[/name]). The boys have names that are chosen for meaning and just so happen to be old testament/Hebrew names as well. [name]Linus[/name] has a “G” middle name, but its his second so “doesnt count”, lol. But it was chosen for meaning so it still fits. Of course this is difficult since we feel we need to abide by these “rules” with middle names this time around and its been difficult thus far.
My dad is [name]Harry[/name] [name]Benjamin[/name] M III (HBM) and I am Hollyann [name]Beth[/name] M (HBM) and my nephew is [name]Hunter[/name] [name]Brady[/name] M (HBM)… so we now have 5 generations of HBMs. There are a ton of repeated names on both sides of my family, but nothing that I would truly call a tradition.
My grandfather was [name]Paul[/name] [name]Jr[/name]. (so his dad was [name]Paul[/name] Sr., although we never met). My dad’s middle name is [name]Paul[/name]. For me, it’s [name]Paula[/name], as a first name, and my boy has [name]Paul[/name] as a middle name too.
I think that is why I’m having a hard time liking a baby girl name, since we don’t have a family name in it.
Erm, I’m not sure we have a ton of naming traditions, haha. My brother is [name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name], III, and before my grandfather, my great grandfather was a [name]John[/name] [name]Russel[/name]. His twin sons got one name each from his full name–[name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name] and [name]Jerome[/name] [name]Russel[/name] ([name]Jack[/name] and [name]Jerry[/name]). And I guess it’s a pretty thing to honor parents in my family–my paternal grandparents were [name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name] and [name]Ruth[/name] [name]Mae[/name]; their two children were [name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name], II, and [name]Jacquelyn[/name] [name]Ruth[/name]. And then on my mom’s side, my grandparents are L. B. and [name]Arlene[/name] [name]Grace[/name]; my mom is [name]Karen[/name] [name]Arlene[/name]. My mom’s brother, [name]Christopher[/name] [name]Earl[/name], didn’t get a name from my grandfather (how do you honor an LB?!), but he is named after my grandmother’s father.
Other than that, I guess it’s just that my siblings and I all have family names, although it wasn’t intentional at all with me. I’m [name]Ashley[/name] [name]Marie[/name]–my uncle is [name]Bruce[/name] [name]Ashley[/name], and two of my maternal grandmother’s sister’s have the MN [name]Marie[/name] ([name]Wanda[/name] [name]Marie[/name] and [name]Patricia[/name] [name]Marie[/name]). My brother is named after my dad, my sister is [name]Rebecca[/name] [name]Eileen[/name] ([name]Eileen[/name] sort of for my grandma, since it rhymes with [name]Arlene[/name]), and my baby sister is [name]Natalie[/name] [name]Ruth[/name] after my other grandma.
I don’t really have any traditions to pass down, since I’m not [name]John[/name] [name]Robert[/name], haha, but I know I’ll be honoring family with each of my children, in some way, at least, and all my children will have two MNs. I guess I’ll have to wait until I meet my husband to know what other naming traditions we’ll have!
