My first name is [name]Kathy[/name]. I am supposed to be named after my paternal great-grandmother [name]Catherine[/name] but they decided to shorten it to just [name]Kathy[/name]. My middle name is [name]Sue[/name] and its my mothers middle name also. I got it from her.
[name]How[/name] did your parents choose your name?
My mom used to care for an old woman before I was born, and she suggested the name [name]Shelly[/name] to my mom, which they both liked. My mom’s name is [name]Mary[/name], so I got [name]Marie[/name] for a middle name.
I’m named for myGrandda - [name]John[/name]. The feminine version is [name]Johnna[/name]. My middle name is [name]Rosemary[/name] after my Mom’s mother.
My dad picked out my name because my mom picked out my older sisters name. Our youngest sister’s name was a compromise. My mom wanted [name]Lindsay[/name] and my dad wanted [name]Kelly[/name].
[name]Katheleen[/name] ([name]Katie[/name]) [name]Ann[/name]
[name]Sara[/name] [name]Beth[/name]
[name]Kelsey[/name] [name]Lynn[/name]
My parents sat at a hospital holding a baby
“[name]Dana[/name]?”
“No”
“[name]Ryan[/name]?”
“No”
“[name]Amy[/name]?”
“Meh”
“[name]Jamie[/name]”
“Yes”
My dad wanted to name me all kinds of stupid things. Finally a co-worker suggested my name; my dad liked it, and my mom was just relieved it wasn’t completely ridiculous. The same thing happened again with my sister’s name (which was fairly unusual twenty years ago but is now in the Top 10). I wish there was some kind of story or even a little thought behind my name.
The story changes slightly every time I ask, but basically this: As soon as my mom found out she was pregnant she knew that I was a girl. She and my dad never entertained any name other than [name]Emily[/name] for me, because a) “it was just my name” and b) they loved that it was pretty, unusual (ha!), and a little old-fashioned. My middle name was more of a struggle. My dad wanted [name]Felecia[/name] for some unknown reason and my mom hated it. [name]Madison[/name] was a family name that my parents were considering in that off chance that I was a boy, and my mom suggested it for my middle name last minute and it stuck.
My sister was going to be [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Mackenzie[/name], but our great-grandfather [name]Charlie[/name] died a few months before she was born. My parents didn’t want our family thinking she was named after him and have to deal with any hurt feelings because I wasn’t named after anyone. They named her [name]Sarah[/name] instead. My mom and my sister really wish they’d stuck to [name]Charlotte[/name]. [name]Sarah[/name] would have been [name]Joshua[/name] [name]Hamilton[/name] had she been a boy.
Bascially from what I’ve heard (though I think this was probably several conversations):
My mum - What about [name]Catherine[/name]? (my great granny)
My dad - I don’t really like [name]Catherine[/name], but it can be the middle. (It is.)
My dad - What about [name]Elizabeth[/name]? (my mum’s first name - she goes by her middle)
My mum - No. Awkward rhyme with common nickname and first syllable of first name.
My dad - What about [name]Victoria[/name]?
My mum - No. they’ll call her [name]Vicky[/name]. I hate the name [name]Vicky[/name].
My aunt - Suggests [name]Hannah[/name] cause she can’t use it herself cause of her surname.
My mum - Loves it, suggests it to my dad.
My dad - Loves it. Biblical, great meaning, doesn’t know any Hannahs (I’m guessing this means they thought it was uncommon!).
[name]Hence[/name] my name. 
My parents put little to no effort in to my name. They just went with what they liked. They didn’t even talk about names till I was born. I know they considered [name]Karen[/name], [name]Sarah[/name] and [name]Ellen[/name] for me. I was very nearly a [name]Sarah[/name], but my mum changed her mind.
My mum originally wanted to name me [name]Robin[/name] (which mainly is used as a boys name here in Denmark) because the European [name]Robin[/name] is her favourite bird. My mémé absolutely despised the name though, and I think I have her to thank for not being named [name]Robin[/name] right now. She then contemplated naming me [name]Selma[/name] after her great-grandmother, but for some reason she decided against it (sadly, I absolutely adore that name). Finally she watched some film and in the credits she saw [name]Zelia[/name] and apparently instantly knew that it was the name. [name]Elvira[/name], which is my middle name, is after my great-grandmother whose name was [name]Laura[/name] [name]Elvira[/name].
Well, they didn’t want started by the firsts nor one of the last letters of the alphabet, because they didn’t want me to be the first or the last in my class (here we are ordered by our 1st name, not our surname). A J-name was perfect, then. They didn’t knew any Joanas (only an acquaintance…). Too bad is was actually the #3 (or so) most popular name at the moment in my country - is the only thing I don’t like about my name 
My grandfaher is [name]Leo[/name], hence my mom’s middle name is [name]Lea[/name]. they both liked [name]Lea[/name] and went with that spelling since it is my mom’s middle name, and im happy they did since i honestly hate the h on [name]Leah[/name], [name]Lea[/name] makes me feel all exotic [name]Elizabeth[/name] is great grandmother, who i aparently look exactly like.
The other names my parents were considering were [name]Zoe[/name], [name]Amanda[/name] and [name]Jillian[/name]. All were established names, but then they decided they wanted to use a family name. [name]How[/name] they got from [name]Amanda[/name], a name that reeks '90s kid, to [name]Reine[/name], a name that barely even made the extended list in 1998 (four other girls besides me were given my name), is beyond me. [name]Reine[/name] was my paternal grandmother’s maiden name, though it was spelled with the accent on the ‘e’. [name]Rebecca[/name], my middle, comes from my aunt.
I’ve only talked to my mom about this, but she really didn’t think it through all the options.
Me: Who else could you have named me after?
Mom: I always loved my Aunt [name]Alice[/name]. She was a nurse that lived during the Depression. She took four teenaged girls off the street, gave them a place to live and helped them through nursing school. But the name’s too old lady.
Me: What about [name]Alicia[/name]? Or better yet, [name]Adelaide[/name]? Or [name]Heidi[/name], or [name]Alida[/name]?
Sigh… I could’ve been [name]Adelaide[/name] and gone by [name]Dell[/name], [name]Addy[/name] or [name]Heidi[/name]…
And then, the infamous conversation…
Mom: My grandmother was amazing. But her name… I could never have a [name]Florence[/name], who would be a [name]Flo[/name].
Me: I would have gone by [name]Flora[/name]. Or [name]Ren[/name].
Mom: That’s pretty… But [name]Florence[/name] by itself is very old lady… A bit too much.
Me: What about [name]Fiorella[/name] or [name]Florentina[/name]?
Mom: We only had name books, not websites and forums.
My mom also says that she would have pushed hard for [name]Elizabeth[/name] if she knew the meaning. I could be a [name]Libby[/name]…
The better story comes from my brother. They chose to keep the gender a surprise, and the only girls’ name they could agree on was [name]Haley[/name]. There was a small problem, though. My name is pronounced [name]Rainey[/name]. [name]Rain[/name]-y and Hail-y. Thank goodness he came as my little brother!
Hah, my parents were a bit like this! But it was a couple weeks before they had me.
Boy Version
[name]Will[/name]?
No. People will call him [name]Willy[/name].
[name]How[/name] about [name]Sam[/name]? You know the name that we call all geckos…
Sure, and we will give him the full name [name]Samuel[/name].
Girl Version
[name]Victoria[/name]?
No.
[name]Georgia[/name]?
Neh.
[name]Olivia[/name]?
Yes, like my favorite singer!
My dad liked the name [name]Beth[/name], but my mom didn’t like it as a first name, so they stuck it in the middle name spot. Then my dad suggested [name]Harley[/name] and that was the plan for a really long time until my mom found out about the motorcycle. So they sat down with a big book of baby names to find the name of a girl my dad had never dated.
Thus, [name]Amanda[/name] [name]Beth[/name] was born!
My middle (Rutledge) is a family name. My first ([name]Renee[/name]) I think they picked out of a name book.
I can only assume this was because they couldn’t decide on a family name as the first, which I’m mostly thankful for, because more than likely, I would have been [name]Martha[/name]. Though my great-grandparents had nine children, five of whom were girls, apparently the only one whose name was worth passing on was my great-aunt [name]Martha[/name]. My mother and at least three of her female cousins (not to mention two of their children) are all named [name]Martha[/name].
Personally, I’d loved to have been named [name]Genevieve[/name] or some variant of [name]Margaret[/name] (two more great-aunts).
My mom liked names that were Irish but recognizable. She had a boys name and a girls name that she had picked out long before having kids. [name]Hence[/name] how I was named [name]Shannon[/name]! As for middle names, I have 3… All are family names (my grandmothers, my mothers and my godmothers names).
My mum was a bookworm thus had a very strange eclectic pick of names for me and my twin brother. My dad said “absolutely not” to :
[name]Tuesday[/name]
[name]Dorothea[/name]
[name]Sorrel[/name]
[name]Sage[/name]
[name]Kizzy[/name]
[name]Erica[/name] and [name]Eric[/name] ( after the footballer [name]Eric[/name] cantona ,their favourite player when we were born)
[name]Penny[/name]
[name]Francesca[/name]
I’m so glad they settled on [name]Lily[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name]!
My name was chosen off a list brought back to the hospital by my mom’s boyfriend. She wanted to name me [name]Cassandra[/name] [name]Jean[/name], but he said he didn’t like it. My mom also considered [name]Katerina[/name] nn [name]Kat[/name], and [name]Anna[/name], after her nurse. He came back with [name]April[/name] [name]Storm[/name] (thank God they passed on that one!) and [name]Stephanie[/name] on his list, and I think my mom just liked the name [name]Brooke[/name]. So they picked [name]Stephanie[/name] [name]Brooke[/name].
My dad jokingly wanted to name my little sister [name]Dusty[/name] (our last name is [name]Dalton[/name], he thought it would be hilarious because it sounded like an outlaw) but they pretty much quickly agreed on [name]Mariah[/name]. They asked me what I wanted to name her, and I gave them the name [name]Cherish[/name]. I heard it on the TV show Lambchop’s Play-Along. So they used it as her middle name.
Mum was certain I was a boy. I’m clearly not a boy, parents had not one single girl name. [name]Gram[/name] comes to visit in the hospital, says “What about [name]?” Mum was like, “Huh, ok.” Throw on filler middle name and there you have it. Can’t stand my name, no thought was put in to it, it wasn’t anyone’s favourite, or meaningful in any way. It’s the biggest reason I have become a name nerd and my kids know the whole well-thought-out meaning and story behind their names.