What honour names would you consider and how did you get there? They can be honours for anything I just like seeing all the cool ways people honour things!
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I’m generally not a huge fan of honour names, but I’ve considered a) using my girlfriend’s grandmother’s or grandfather’s name directly as a middle to honour them, b) using a variation of my grandfather’s or grandmother’s name to honour them (e.g. Teodora or Teodor for Theodoros, Maristella or Amaryllis or Marijan for Maria) and c) just using any Greek name in the middle to honour my heritage! Since I’m Greek but our children probably won’t have Greek first names, as we’d be a multicultural family living abroad. Some of my favourites are Orfeas, Orestis, Perseas, Ioli, Margarita, Aliki and Iro!
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I decided that if I was to honour my late Grandma with a daughter’s name, I’d use [name_f]June[/name_f] as a middle. Her name was [name_f]Jean[/name_f] [name_f]Clara[/name_f] (first and middle) which gives a lot of lovely options. Her birthday was in [name_f]June[/name_f] and she was an avid gardener/lover of nature and the month reminds me of flowers in full bloom as we celebrated her birthday. I like the strong letter similarity between [name_f]Jean[/name_f] and [name_f]June[/name_f].
[name_f][/name_f]I haven’t given quite so much thought to a masculine name, but [name_m]Gene[/name_m] as a middle would be a contender.
[name_f][/name_f](All hypothetical as I’m not having any more children.)
Other family names and ideas:
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Brian[/name_m] → [name_m]Bryer[/name_m]
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Josie[/name_f] → [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], [name_f]Jolie[/name_f], [name_f]Joni[/name_f], [name_m]Josian[/name_m], [name_f]Jo[/name_f] as a middle or the second part of a double barrel
[name_f][/name_f]Surname [name_m]Shepherd[/name_m] → [name_m]Shepherd[/name_m] as a first
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Edith[/name_f] → [name_f]Edythe[/name_f] (a medieval spelling) or [name_f]Edie[/name_f]
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I remembered two more:
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Marianne[/name_f] [name_f][/name_f]- in honour of [name_f]Jane[/name_f] [name_m]Austen[/name_m]. [name_f]Marianne[/name_f] in Sense and Sensibility is not my favourite character, but it’s my favourite name that she used 
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Georgette[/name_f] [name_f][/name_f]- I like this and [name_f]Georgetta[/name_f] in honour of my Grandma again, who loved the author [name_f]Georgette[/name_f] Heyer. Heyer makes a good name as well I think, for any gender.
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I’d consider:
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Caedmon[/name_m] → the name of one of the ferries we used to take when I was younger for family holidays [name_f][/name_f]- kind of a nod to a favourite place and family
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Opal[/name_f] → birthstone of a significant month and associated with various memories
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Birdie[/name_f] → a kind of nod to my ma and brother, associated with one of their favourite things 
[name_f]Ginevra[/name_f] → literally just the name of a favourite character
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Keats[/name_m] + [name_m]Benvolio[/name_m] → mostly just for my UC/for fun, but they’re to honour two of my guinea pigs
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[name_f]My[/name_f] family have never used honour names. But I have considered using my grandmother and great grandmother’s names through using a smooch name, Mollyanne. [name_f]My[/name_f] grandmother was [name_f]Molly[/name_f] and my great grandmother was [name_f]Annie[/name_f], so it would be very appropriate.
[name_f][/name_f]If I were to have a boy, I would honour my dad whose name was [name_m]Richard[/name_m] [name_m]Charles[/name_m] [name_m]Brown[/name_m]. I would do this by naming my son, [name_m]Bruno[/name_m] [name_m]Charlie[/name_m], [name_m]Bruno[/name_m] means [name_m]Brown[/name_m], and I suppose the name would honour the family I grew up with too.
Honors I have on my list:
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Linnéa[/name_f]: I love this name, and it’s an honor for a person I’ve always greatly admired.
[name_f]Nora[/name_f]: the name of one of my closest friends.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Susanna[/name_f]: a family name that I like.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Alice[/name_f]: my little sisters middle that our mom gave her because she loved it and it felt special.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Helena[/name_f]: to honor my mom who’s name is [name_f]Elin[/name_f]. I preferred [name_f]Helena[/name_f].
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Isola[/name_f]: honoring a band I love, this is the title of one of their albums.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Martina[/name_f]: my moms middle name.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Dolores[/name_f]: I’ve always loved this name, and I love it even more because of [name_f]Dolores[/name_f] O’Riordan.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Julie[/name_f]: to honor [name_f]Julie[/name_f] [name_m]Andrews[/name_m], my favorite actress.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Christine[/name_f]: a family name, although it’s originally [name_f]Kristina[/name_f], but I prefer [name_f]Christine[/name_f]. Then it’s also a nod to the phantom of the opera, a special interest I had as a child.
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Johanna[/name_f]: the name of one of my teachers who changed my life.
[name_f][/name_f]Syrene: a unique beautiful name that was my grandmas sisters middle.
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Linnaeus[/name_m]: to honor the [name_f]Linnéa[/name_f] I spoke of in the beginning.
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Aaron[/name_m]: mainly it’s on my list since I like it, but it happens to be a family name aswell.
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Nore[/name_m]: to honor my friend, same as [name_f]Nora[/name_f].
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Jens[/name_m]: my fathers name.
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Riordan[/name_m]: in honor of [name_f]Dolores[/name_f] O’Riordan.
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Johannes[/name_m]: same as [name_f]Johanna[/name_f].
[name_f][/name_f]I’m personally fond of honor names. Putting a name of someone I’m fond of on my list, or in the names of my future children, is to me the greatest sign of appreciation. It’s sort of my love language. If your name is on my list, you’re in my heart forever.
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I only honour people whose names I like. Was my baby named after my great uncle because of the close bond between niece and old, out of state uncle? No, I just liked his name. I like that baby has a piece of it heritage though.
my feelings about honor names are quite complicated… im not sure if my aversion to them is more about the general concept of honor names or if it’s because all of the people in my life who id consider honoring have names that I just really dont like. it’s probably some combination of these
[name_f][/name_f]however, I do need my names to have a significant personal meaning if I feel like I can use them on a real child. balancing this with my dislike of honor names proves difficult. in some my current combos this looks like: [name_m]Rowan[/name_m] and [name_f]Dalila[/name_f] are book characters I adore, and [name_f]Dalila[/name_f] also references one of my favorite poems. [name_m]Kelso[/name_m] reminds me of a specific place/memory and [name_m]Sky[/name_m] is a soft unisex nature name, which I love for a boy.
[name_f][/name_f]I would be willing to use an honor name if my partner felt really strongly about it, granted it isn’t a name I have a negative association with or a name I just hate.
In my family, honour names are a must for the middle name. [name_f]My[/name_f] name is a variation of my mum’s which I don’t mind and would consider but I have more names that I’d prefer to use. I don’t think I’d use a direct honour as a first name.
[name_f][/name_f]For honours, when I do have kids, I plan to honour my mum and siblings. Initially the honours in the middle spot were Annelyn [name_f]Rosalee[/name_f] and Jaxlee [name_m]Miller[/name_m] (probably not very NB popular choices but they honour everyone I wanted to) [name_f][/name_f]- though I have another (negative) association that makes me question whether I could bring myself to use [name_m]Lee[/name_m] so not currently sure.
[name_f][/name_f]Current ideas:
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Cate[/name_f]
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Jasmine[/name_f]
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Anne[/name_f]
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Millie[/name_f]
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Wren[/name_f]
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Lee[/name_m] (?)
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Carter[/name_m]
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Miller[/name_m]
[name_f][/name_f]Jack/Jax/Jackson
Either that or I’d ask them for suggestions and then the honour is that they chose the name I suppose
I love the name Polites [name_m]Cade[/name_m], which is my favorite character from a musical and then the first few letters of my brother’s name. If it was a girl I’d probably go with [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] Elizabeth/Clara [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] for my great grandma [name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. Other names I’ll probably only ever use for characters honoring various people is:
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Jayce[/name_m] (pronounced like Jace), [name_m]Jayson[/name_m] (as a middle)
I’ve got a ton of family names on my list (like, my top names are entirely comprised of honors)
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]My[/name_f] grandmother’s last name is [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], so I have that and [name_f]Olive[/name_f] on my list
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] are family names, my sister’s first and middle name, and both are on my list (Elizabeth as a middle, [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] as a first), and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is also my mom’s middle name
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Margaret[/name_f] is also after my grandmother’s late sister who I never met but I look uncannily like her so it would be nice to use her name in some capacity
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Willow[/name_f] (for a boy) and [name_f]Wilhelmine[/name_f] are both on my list for my dad [name_m]Willie[/name_m]
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Isidore[/name_m] is on my lists as a loose connection to [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] (Elizabeth → [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] → Isidore)
[name_f][/name_f][name_m]Ocean[/name_m], [name_f]Pearl[/name_f], and [name_f]Madelief[/name_f] are all on there as connections to Margaret’s possible meanings
[name_f][/name_f][name_f]Vanessa[/name_f] is a family name so I’ve been thinking of possible honors (namely Essie)
[name_f][/name_f]I have this weird idea about using [name_f]Pepper[/name_f] because I love [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] from Greek myth so much but I haven’t added it to my list yet (Wilhelmine [name_f]Pepper[/name_f]? [name_f]Pepper[/name_f] Madelief?)
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I’ve used several honor names, so I’ll just explain why we chose them:
[name_f][/name_f]- [name_f][/name_f]
- [name_f]My[/name_f] oldest son’s middle name is [name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m]. It’s a direct honor for my ex-husband’s grandfather, and a family name that has been passed on for generations [name_f][/name_f]
- One of our sons has the middle name [name_m]Zakynthos[/name_m], and it’s a stretchy honor for my twin brother. [name_m]Zakynthos[/name_m], the place in Greece, has a very special significance for us [name_f][/name_f]
- Our daughter’s first name, [name_f]Vienna[/name_f], is the name of my father’s favourite song. He passed away before she was born, and the song is a lovely connection [name_f][/name_f]
- Our youngest son’s middle name is [name_m]Yosef[/name_m], after my husband’s cousin who passed away not too long before our son was born. It’s a direct honor [name_f][/name_f]
[name_f]Honor[/name_f] names I considered but didn’t use:
[name_f][/name_f]- [name_f][/name_f]
- Jóhannes, or basically any variation of this name [name_f][/name_f]- my father’s name, and a name that has been passed on for generations in our family in different forms. [name_f]My[/name_f] twin brother used a variation for his stillborn[name_f][/name_f] son, and the name has felt off limits to me ever since [name_f][/name_f]
- [name_m]Robert[/name_m] / [name_m]Róbert[/name_m] [name_f][/name_f]- it’s my twin brother’s middle name and also a family name with great significance. I’d never have used it as a first name because it’s just not our style, but I do love it because of the meaning it has for us [name_f][/name_f]
- [name_m]Maxwell[/name_m] or, more stretchy, [name_m]Maxfield[/name_m] [name_f][/name_f]- these would honor my best friend [name_f][/name_f]
- [name_f]Elisheva[/name_f] or [name_f]Elizaveta[/name_f] [name_f][/name_f]- they’d honor both my and my husband’s grandmother [name_f][/name_f]
- [name_m]Ulysses[/name_m] [name_f][/name_f]- my husband and I met at a bookshop, and got to talking about [name_m]Ulysses[/name_m][name_f][/name_f] by [name_m]James[/name_m] [name_f]Joyce[/name_f]. It would have been a nice nod, but maybe not so much an honor name [name_f][/name_f]
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I grew up with a family where the parents loved baseball so all of their boys had baseball field names (Wrigley, Camden, Turner) and their dog was Fenway.
I think honor names make up the majority of my list of names, some of them might be more of a stretch than others but I figure as long as it means something to me, it’s an honor name.
*Ansel: My parents (their favorite photographer)
*Aslan, Haidar: A family surname means lion and my grandmother loved lions
*August: My grandmother, parents, and uncle (grandmother’s birthday was in August, parents’ anniversary is in August, my uncle’s nickname is Gus)
*Chord: Dad (he loves guitar and I am an only child so it was just mom, dad and me = 3 three notes in a chord)
*Coast, Cove, Tide, Wave, Harbor, Beacon, Delta, Isla, Seaton, Bay, etc.: Hometown (I grew up in a port city)
*Dickens, Bram, Alucard, Aramis, Hawthorne, Puck, Scout, etc.: Dad’s side of the family (dad was an English teacher; grandmother, great aunts, and aunt were librarians; grandfather loved poetry)
*Embden: Grandmother (a significant place in my grandmother’s life)
*Evander: Dad’s side of the family and a friend (many Ev- names on my dad’s side and my friend is Alexandra after an Alexander)
*Jack: Both grandfathers and a friend (both went by Jack and a friend’s last name is Jackson)
*Monterey: My dad (from California)
*Oceander: Hometown and friend (see Coast etc and Evander)
*Otter, Baleen, Poseidon, Farley, Minnow: My love of aquatic ecology and marine biology
*Ronan: My love of aquatic ecology and marine biology (means little seal) and my Irish heritage on my mom’s side
*Tadhg: Dad’s side of the family (means poet; see Dickens etc) and mom’s side of the family (Irish)
*Talmadge: Grandmother and mother (Tal means dew in Hebrew and grandmother’s maiden initials were DEW and Madge is a nickname for mom’s full name)
*Thor: Dad (Scandinavian heritage)
*Alice: Both sides of the family and many of my favorite literary characters (multiple great aunts named Alice)
*Callie: Dad’s side of the family (he was born in California and has Scottish ancestry, Roman name for Scotland was Caledonia)
*Coralie: Grandmother (her favorite book growing up was The Tale of Corally Crothers)
*Gem: Mom (her nickname backwards)
*Dew: Grandmother (her maiden initials were DEW)
*Juniper: Aunt (her name is Jennifer)
*Hazel: Great aunt and parents (great aunts name and both of my parents’ eye color)
*Linnea: My love of science (Carolus Linnaeus), my dad’s side of the family (books i.e. Linnea in Monet’s Garden, and Swedish heritage)
*Lupine: My grandmother (she read Miss Rumphius to me many times growing up)
*Mako: My karate background (one of the five school rules for my dojo is sincerity and mako means sincerity), my love of marine life (mako shark), my cousins and friends (mako means sincerity in Japanese and my cousins grew up in Japan and my friends spent significant amounts of time in Japan as adults)
*Maple: Great aunt (her name was Mabel)
*Sage: Mom and friends (my mom and a friend’s favorite color is green and another friend who passed away’s name was Kelly)
*Selkie: My love of marine life (selkies can change between human and seal form) and Scottish heritage
*Otto: Friend (friend who passed away’s dog was named Otto)
*Svea: Dad’s family (means Swede and dad’s family is Swedish)
*Jean: Grandparents (one grandmother was Dean, the other’s middle was Joan combined to get Jean, one grandfather’s name was John and Jean is the French form of John and the other grandfather’s middle was Eugene)
*Marigold: Grandmother and great grandmother (part of my grandmother’s name was Mary and my great grandmother’s name means golden)
*Marja: Mom and grandmothers (my mom’s and both grandmothers’ favorite fruit was raspberries and Marja means raspberry. It’s also a form of Mary which part of one grandmother’s name)
I love using honor names, so there’s a lot on my radar at any given time. [name_f][/name_f] It’s very rare that there’s a family name that I love as is, but I would happily use [name_f]Grace[/name_f] & [name_f]Ruth[/name_f], which are part of my grandmothers’ names.
[name_f][/name_f]I also love variants [name_f][/name_f]- like [name_m]Jack[/name_m] for [name_m]John[/name_m], Eilidh/Helena/Eleni for [name_f]Eileen[/name_f], Nathaniel/Natalia for [name_f]Natalie[/name_f], Beckett/Breccan/Ebba for [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], [name_f]Irene[/name_f] for [name_f]Arlene[/name_f] + [name_f]Irene[/name_f], Ciaran/Cara for [name_f]Karen[/name_f], etc.
[name_f][/name_f]I also lean toward bird names for my bird-loving grandma and floral names for my green thumb mom, and [name_f]Poppy[/name_f] for the veterans in my family (also love the idea of repurposing “names” from the military alphabet for an honor name for their service, too, like [name_m]Charlie[/name_m], [name_f]Juliet[/name_f], [name_f]Echo[/name_f], [name_f]Sierra[/name_f], etc.).
[name_f][/name_f]I also sponsor eight kiddos in [name_m]South[/name_m] [name_f]America[/name_f] and love finding names to honor them, I have [name_m]Augustine[/name_m] for [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Augusto[/name_m], [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] [name_f]Maria[/name_f] [name_f]Goldie[/name_f] for [name_f]Maria[/name_f] [name_f]Clara[/name_f], [name_f]Maria[/name_f] [name_f]Agatha[/name_f], and [name_f]Mariana[/name_f], [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] for [name_f]Isabel[/name_f], [name_f]Tess[/name_f] for [name_f]Esther[/name_f], Olivia/Livia/Liv (still deciding) for [name_f]Livia[/name_f], and I’m still working on honoring [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] in some way.
[name_f][/name_f]I also love names that honor my faith in some way, love the meanings of [name_f]Cecilia[/name_f], [name_f]Tess[/name_f], [name_f]Arabella[/name_f], [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_f]Felicity[/name_f], etc. for my faith.
[name_f][/name_f]I also love [name_m]Danish[/name_m] names for my parents, they both have special ties to [name_m]Denmark[/name_m], and Nordic/French/German names for other special friends & family members. [name_f][/name_f] I have [name_m]Caspar[/name_m] on my list in part for my best friend about 15-20 years ago; she passed away in 2011 but she meant so much to me. [name_f][/name_f] [name_m]Caspar[/name_m] was one of her favorite boys’ names but she never got to use it.
[name_f][/name_f]I’m sure there are more, but I can’t think of them now!
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I’m one who loves honor names, but I won’t use the exact name as a first name. [name_f][/name_f] I prefer to use variations for the first names as I have issues with having so many people in the family with the same names and/or nicknames (hello, Chrɪs x 6, Krɪssy and Krɪsti). [name_f][/name_f] [name_f][/name_f] For middle names, I would tend to use the actual name. [name_f][/name_f] For either the first or the middle name, I could combine it with another honor name.
[name_f][/name_f]For example, when honoring an [name_f]Ann[/name_f], I could use Αnnɪkᴀ for a first name. Also I could use [name_f]Ann[/name_f] as the middle. [name_f][/name_f] In addition, Lɛɛ Αnn (Lɛɛ being a second honoree) could work for either a first name or a middle name.
[name_f][/name_f]If a family member we wanted to honor truly hated their name or it brings on a bad association for one of us, then we would certainly find an alternative to honor that person.
[name_f][/name_f]For example, my Granny hated her first name so badly that even her pastor didn’t know it until after her death… she went by her middle name. [name_f][/name_f] In its place, we could use [name_f]Ivy[/name_f] (her favorite plant), [name_m]Baxter[/name_m] (she was the baker in the family and the communities she was apart of), [name_f]Essa[/name_f] (she was a nurse) or Jɛᴀn (her middle name)
[name_f][/name_f]I would honor people important to us or places and things – usually using nature names to accomplish it. [name_f][/name_f] [name_m]An[/name_m] example would be Αlᴀnɪ (meaning: orange tree) to represent where I’m from.