Have any of you guys made it a point to honor a family member (deceased or alive) by using their name in your child’s/children’s names? Or is it not that important to you?
To me, it is very important. I was walking with my mom around the store last night, and I mentioned that, if I ever have a daughter, her middle name would be [name]Christine[/name] (after my mother). My mother said that’s nice, but she never liked her name. Then I told her that if I had a second daughter, her middle name wuold be [name]Alberta[/name]–after my step-father’s late mother. She died when I was about six. She was very loving towards my sister and I (her step-granchildren,. My older brother never met her, and my older sister resented my mother’s divorce and remarriage, so she never bothered to meet Grandma), and she treated us like we were her son’s biological children. I was sad when she died 
. My mother smiled when I told her this, and she said [name]Oscar[/name] (my step-father) would be thrilled. He loved his mother very much.
I have also considered using [name]Oscar[/name] as a middle name for a son, but then I thought my bio-dad would be mad. I had planned on using my bio-dad’s name as a middle name for a son, but my brother (who is a jr.) already claimed that name for his son.
My other middle name choices that honor family members are:
[name]Margaret[/name] (the name of two of my grandmothers)
[name]Matilda[/name] (my great-grandmother, who raised my triplets and a two year old by herself when her husband left her)
[name]Christopher[/name] (after my uncle on my dad’s side, who is the only one of my aunts/uncles on that side to give a crap about me)
[name]Robert[/name] (after my grandfather)
[name]Jeanette[/name] (my grandfather [name]Robert[/name]'s late mother. He meant alot to her, and she helped my mother out when she needed help the most)
It is also very important to my husband and I. We have already decided that our future children will have middle names that mean something to us.
Current Options:
Boys:
[name]August[/name] - husband’s grandpa’s middle name. He spent every summer with him.
[name]Anthony[/name] - a friend that passed away
[name]Daniel[/name] - hubby’s name. His name is his father’s middle name. [name]Carry[/name] on a tradition.
Girls:
[name]Adeline[/name] - my grandma’s middle name. Her and I are very close
[name]Alice[/name] - husband’s grandmothers’ are both named [name]Alice[/name]
[name]Ann[/name] - for my mother and grandmother ([name]Roxann[/name] and [name]Anna[/name])
With my family, everyone on both sides has been named after family. [name]Even[/name] me, my sister and my brother have been named after family members, though my parents chose to translate those names to something English speakers could also pronounce easily. I’m named after my greatgrandmother [name]Margaretha[/name], my sister ([name]Annabel[/name]) is named after greatuncle [name]Anne[/name] ([name]Anne[/name] is also a boys name here:)), en my brother ([name]Henry[/name]) after grandfather Henk.
I myself am not planning to names to honour family, since besides from our names, everyone in our family has at least 2 namesakes. Maybe I’ll use the initials, but not the full names:).
I am not in favor of naming children after family members for two reasons. The first is that I think each child deserves his/her own individual name. Secondly, unless you plan on having a ton of kids, you aren’t going to be able to honor everyone and relatives that do not get a namesake may feel slighted. Let’s say you name your first daughter after her paternal grandmother, if you don’t have any other daughters the maternal grandmother may wonder why the first daughter wasn’t named after her. Or, if you do have a second daughter, are you then obligated to name her after the maternal grandmother? I think if just opens up too big of a can of worms.