My best friend is expecting a baby girl in [name]September[/name]. She wants to use a family name, Widow. Her friends and I are all skeptical of this choice, but she’s sure she wants to use it.
She initially wanted to use it as a first name, but a few friends and myself have all been careful only to offer suggestions with it as a middle name. As of now, her top choice is [name]Anne[/name] Widow… does anyone else think this might not be the best name choice? Or are we being dramatic?
Oh no there is nothing dramatic about freaking out about naming a person Widow. That’s a pretty bad name to live up to (I picture an old woman in black crying when I think of Widow, then the spider.) [name]Even[/name] though it’s a family name, you’d have to do a lot of explaining your whole life that no, you weren’t named with a woman who lost her husband in mind that it’s a family name, which is not something I’d like to do. I’m glad however, she’s using it in the middle name slot instead of as a first name which makes it more bareable.It was pretty smart to only offer it as a middle name.
Widow isn’t the best choice of a name, but as long as it’s not the first name it’s not so horribly bad. If I were in your shoes, I’d make sure she knows that the rest of the world isn’t going to know that Widow was a family name, that they’re going to think otherwise and ask her if she would like to be known as Widow (tell her in a very nice and calm way!)
[name]September[/name] is a long ways away, mabey she’ll have a change in heart (fingers crossed)
Widow? A family name? Interesting. I think as long as it’s in the middle, it won’t matter. Hardly anyone will ever know her middle name. Have you tried talking her into [name]Willow[/name] as an alternative?
I agree…she needs go with [name]Willow[/name]. Widow is so dark and depressing. It conjures up an old lady, dressed in black head to toe…or a black widow spider…not things I would want associated with my daughter.
Yikes!
Widalia
Widolyn
Widola
Widell
Widonda
Widdah
Unles she is planning for her daughter to be goth or a supervillain I think Widow has to be middle name only. [name]Even[/name] then I would swap it out for a more pleasant W name.
Widow? Yeah that’s a horrible name no question in there for me. I’m sure there are worse names but this one is awful. No redeeming quality I can think of here. I agree [name]Willow[/name] is nice or ANYTHING else.
I’m sure that the mother and father have considered the issues with the name. After listening to advice from friends, they chose to use it as a middle name. However, it must be a very important name to them if they choose to use it despite the unfortunate connotation. When the child asks about her name, I’m sure her parents will have a lovely family story to tell her. Either way, at this point I would not presume to tell the mother what middle name to give her daughter.