If you give a child a middle name in memory of a family member, should you do the same for your other children?
My daughters middle name is [name]Jean[/name]; my dad, [name]Gene[/name], passed away about a year before she was born. [name]Jean[/name] also happened to be both of my dh’s grandmothers names - so that was an easy decision.
I’m expecting again (unsure of the baby’s gender), and I am wondering if it would be better if I find a middle name that is in memory of someone? Or should I at least stick to a family name, even if I never met the person? Does it really matter if it is a family name or not :?:
I don’t think it is necessary. I’m sure your child would rather have a name that his/her parents love instead of sharing a middle name with some great aunt they never knew, and that you never really had a close relationship with. If you have a family member you are close to, that is a different story.
We had the same dilemma with our second daughter. I have two sisters that I am very close to. When my first daughter was born, I wanted to honor them both (I couldn’t count on the fact we would have another girl, so I wanted to use both names) – we actually found a name that combines both of their names, so we used it. Then my second daughter came along and we didn’t know what to do. We ultimately decided to honor both grandfathers (they have names that start with ‘J’) by having her middle name start with ‘J’, and we picked a name that we simply both love ([name]Julia[/name]). So the name [name]Julia[/name] doesn’t really come from family at all, but her initial does, and we thought that was meaningful enough. So you might be able to do something like that…find a name you [name]LOVE[/name] that is also inspired by someone meaningful to you (by sharing initials, or part of the name, or sound of the name, etc)