I have a daughter and a son, and am now preggers with another boy. My husband’s middle name is [name]Keith[/name], as was his father’s and grandfather’s, so we gave our first son the middle name [name]Keith[/name]. After rejecting the middle name I picked out for our second son, my husband now wants to use [name]Keith[/name] for his middle name, too! I object. My husband and his father were both first born sons; his dad has a younger brother and I’m trying to find out if his middle name is [name]Keith[/name], too (I doubt it). I just think the new boy should have his own unique middle name. Carrying on a middle name across four generations is great, but I don’t think it should be done twice in one family. What do y’all think?
I agree with you. Unless it’s traditional in your husband’s family that every single boy gets the family middle name (like [name]George[/name] Forman or [name]Usher[/name]), he doesn’t really have much of an argument here.
Would he accept something close to [name]Keith[/name], like [name]Kenneth[/name], [name]Keaton[/name], Keating, [name]Kent[/name], [name]Kennett[/name], [name]Knight[/name]?
You already gave the mn of [name]Keith[/name] to your first son so the tradition has been continued and the torch has been passed! My advice is to choose another mn for your second son. Are there any other family names from either side of the family that can be chosen?
There are So many names out there to choose from. I don’t think it’s appropriate to make siblings share an exact name. I would feel cheated, personally, if I were the second child. Like my parents were slacking a great deal with me from the very beginning and couldn’t be bothered to choose a name special for me. I’d implore for another honoring name, possibly from your side this time, unless your daughter has a name connection to your side. Then it could be a boys with Daddy’s side (with a Different name) and girls with Mommy’s side.
Let your next have his own! Stick to it, I think it’s too much to have all your boys share the middle name of [name]Keith[/name].
I know a family who gave all their kids the middle name of [name]Ali[/name], which is the father’s name, even to the girls. However, they were quintuplets, so I can understand why they’d do that there. I think it’s kind of cute as well tbh. But for kids who aren’t multiples? Definitely not my style.
This is traditional in the Arab world. All children, boys and girls, get the father’s name as their middle. It comes from the days before surnames (which in some countries was s recently as 1970), when everyone was identifed as “ibn __ Father” [son of ___] or “bint ____ Father” [ daughter of ____]. The names would stay for generations, so some people’s names would be paragraphs long. It was a point of pride to be able to recite your entire lineage back through the centuries. So you would be “Yussuf, ibn Moussa” coloquially ([name]Joseph[/name], [name]Moses[/name]’ son) but formally, Yussef ibn Moussa ibn [name]Fahd[/name] ibn Moussa ibn Bassam… all the way back.
Anyway, with the name [name]Keith[/name] I’m guessing your husband isn’t Arab :), so this probably doesn’t apply.