I’ve been wondering about honor names lately. Who gets honored? And is it meaningful to the child? [name_u]Or[/name_u] it is more about the parent? [name_u]Or[/name_u] more about the honoree? If you have any ideas you’d like to share please leave a comment Enjoy the polls! Thanks!
Who would you realistically consider honoring when naming your own child?
Your child’s parent/ Yourself
Your parent
Your grandparent
Another family member (sibling, aunt, etc…)
A friend
Someone you admire but don’t know personally
No one
0voters
Would you tell the honoree before your baby was born?
Yes
No
Maybe
0voters
If you chose a new name for yourself, would you include an honor name?
Yes, but just one
Yes, more than one
No
0voters
If you answered yes to the last question, who would the name(s) honor?
I’m not sure how to answer these polls considering I’d 1) only use a name if it were a honor name and 2) only do honor names for people that have died.
For the first poll:
The only honor names I have set in stone are for my grandparents. I’d be open to honoring other people, but obviously I’m not going to plan for the scenario “what if they die before I have kids?”
For the second poll:
No way to tell them
For the third and fourth poll:
[name_f]My[/name_f] chosen name honors both people I was originally named for.
Ah, I see. Yes, some of my potentially honorees couldn’t be told either since they’re no longer living. And my chosen name would likely be my given name which does include an honor name! Hard to cover all the possibilities!
1- I have honors for my parents, grandparents, siblings and friends in my combos
2- I’d maybe tell them, but most likely keep it a surprise I found they were still alive
3- One of the names my parents considered for me was [name_u]Omari[/name_u] (only pronounced how it is in Spanish though), my mom liked it cause it sounded like a mix of their names, [name_f]Amy[/name_f]* and [name_m]Omar[/name_m]. I love it and I’d definitely consider it if I changed my currant or added a middle name. I also love a lot of possible honors for my grandparents.
Interesting that so far most would not choose an honor name for themselves! I think this is supporting that honor names are not very significant to the one being named generally…
Also of those who would like an honor name would most likely honor their parents but few people want to give their kid a name honoring them… very interesting…
I know theyre called honor names on here but [name_m]Ive[/name_m] always thought of it more as a shared name history, or just sharing something in the same way that surnames are often shared than dedicating the name as an honor. So it doesn’t feel selfish to me.
1 & 2. I’m honoring very specific people, but they are people who have been some of the most amazing people in my life and the most inspiring people I know of.
Most of the people I’m choosing to honor are no longer living, but, for the ones that are, it would depend on who it is as to whether or not I tell them ahead of time.
I’m looking at changing part of my name in the future. I’m keeping my current middle name and adding on a second. Both are the names of two people who are most important to me.
Extra: [name_f]My[/name_f] middle name was to honor my Papa. He became one of the two most important people in my life. Both died within a month of each other when I was 10 years old. [name_f]My[/name_f] connection to him is even more significant since his death. I’m adding the name of the other person I spoke of to my name as a second middle name to have that connection to her as well.
I wouldn’t really do family honour names unless they had died - and even then it would have to be someone I had an incredible bond with AND a name that I like. I have such a large family (with some big feuds) that it would be hard to honour somebody and not upset other people.
I do have a few honour names for people who I admire (specifically filmmakers).
édit: there are a few people I’ve met who have really touched my life and are spécial to me and I would consider using a variation of one of their names as a middle because I’d rather my child know that they were named after a particularly awesome human being rather than just ‘you have the same middle name as your grandmother because it’s tradition’. I don’t want to knock families that pass down names traditionally, but mine doesn’t and it just doesn’t feel right for me as I’m not a traditional person in many senses. I’d rather just give my child amazing names that I have put months of thought into.
Totally agree. I’ve had to think long and hard about who my child(ren) would be named for when I finally do have them. I can’t imagine passing on a name for the sake of passing it on (or else I would probably have the 18th [name_m]Robert[/name_m] in my family in recent generations). Each of the people I add always has a reason besides “it’s a family name”. I’m absolutely thrilled to hear I am not the only one in this thought process.
We have an honor name in my family that is my great grandma’s maiden name- my sister and my cousin got it but I’d add it or a variation to mine if I were changing my name. I would also use it or a variant in my kid’s names.
If I can convince my future husband, I will most likely use my mom’s maiden name and my dad/grandfather’s (they are Sr/Jr) names for boys and [name_f]Ann[/name_f] on a girl because it has connections on both sides of my family.
I think honour names are really special! Then again, most middle names in my family are honour names, so maybe I’m just conditioned to think they’re normal?
I have always wanted to name a child after my grandfather because he’s one of my favourite people. I also selected parent, because my dad’s middle name is a name I like and could see myself realistically using. I could also see myself honouring my sister in the future. And althought I didn’t select this option, I do like the male version of my own middle name, which is already an honour name for someone else. I would use this, although I wouldn’t necessarily think of this as giving an honour name to myself.
I might tell the person before the child was born, but I’d probably leave it as a surprise.
& 4. I am currently considering swapping out my current middle name for my maternal last name as a stage/pen name. It’s a classic male name, with the possesive “s” on the end, which I would drop. Think Johns becoming [name_m]John[/name_m], so Taylor [name_m]John[/name_m] LN. I count this as honouring my grandparents and my mother.
I love honor names! Realistically, I don’t think I’d give one of my children a name that didn’t pay homage to someone, regardless of how much I love it (I really hope my future husband has relatives with names that are in my “Unhonored” combos).
My list has combos to honor just about everyone that’s important to me (favorite Saints/patrons of parishes I’ve belonged to, grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts/uncles, closest friends, and myself), and I get really excited when I can honor multiple people with just one name.
I won’t tell the people I’m honoring before the baby is born because I want to be surprised with the baby’s gender and I think you need to meet someone before giving them a name. That being said, I’d likely run the name by the honoree before finalizing paperwork.
I would never change my name, but if I had to I’d switch my first and middle names. [name_f]My[/name_f] first name is my mom’s confirmation name and my granny’s middle and my middle name is my other grandma’s first name. I love that I’m connected to all three of them!
Neither of my girls have a name honoring a specific family member, though [name_f]Xochitl[/name_f] kind of honors my husband’s heritage in a way. [name_f]My[/name_f] youngest has the middle name [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f], which is similar to my aunt [name_f]Rosie[/name_f] ([name_f]Rosemary[/name_f]), but we didn’t use it because of my aunt.
I’m pregnant with our third, and we have been wanting to name a boy after my husband’s grandfather. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband’s grandfather passed away years before we met. I’ve also considered using a version of my grandfather’s name, [name_m]Joseph[/name_m], for either a boy or a girl ([name_f]Josefina[/name_f]). I’m thinking I would mostly use names of my grandparents, or names related ([name_f]Daisy[/name_f] for [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]).
My mom recently passed away, and I wish I could come up with a name to honor her, but I don’t like her name, and there’s not a lot of options to make it masculine either if we have a boy.
I wouldn’t use my husband’s first name as a first name for our child, but I think using his first or middle as the middle name would be fine. I want my child to have his or her own name, and not have the same name as a living family member (close family).
I named my two eldest after fictions characters that I loved growing up (Hermione [name_f]Elise[/name_f] & Ferris [name_u]Jay[/name_u]) and my eldest son’s middle name is after a mutual friend of DH and I’s (who was actually the one who set us up on a date!). I had known him since I was about 7 or 8 and DH met him in University/College so we thought it was appropriate to name our son after him.
My third daughter is named [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] nn [name_f]Lucy[/name_f]. [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] is a family name, it is my Mothers name, my elder sisters middle and we wanted to use it as well but found [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] to be a slightly cooler alternative.
Enjoy the polls! Thanks!