Unfortunate namesakes

I have a lot of wonderful men in my family with rather unfortunate names. I’d love suggestions of ways to honor them without actually having to resort to using them.

  • [name]Maurice[/name] (pronounced [name]Morris[/name])
  • Gumphrey
  • Morrell
  • [name]Richard[/name]

Thanks!

  • [name]Maurice[/name] (pronounced [name]Morris[/name]) - this one isn’t bad if you use [name]Morris[/name]. But, Im a Saved By The [name]Bell[/name] fan, so I only think of [name]Zach[/name] [name]Morris[/name]! So [name]Morris[/name] seems pretty cool! I’m sure you’ll think this is even worse, but how about [name]Moses[/name]?
  • Gumphrey - yeesh. [name]Humphrey[/name]? Or… [name]Free[/name]? I think [name]Free[/name] would make a great middle name.
  • Morrell - you could use [name]Coral[/name] for a girl! Or anything that starts with [name]Mo[/name], like [name]Monroe[/name] or [name]Montgomery[/name]. And that would honor both Morell and [name]Maurice[/name]. I ran across a little [name]Mo[/name] once and it was waaaayyyyy cute than I expected it to be!
  • [name]Richard[/name] - ok, I would say [name]Richard[/name] isn’t so bad… But it’s my husbands middle name and I would never consider using it for a son! There are a lot of options here, actually. Adrick, Hatrick, anything[name]Rick[/name]. [name]Hardy[/name], [name]Hart[/name] (my favorite). [name]Dixon[/name]. [name]Dixie[/name] for a girl.

Good luck!

Merrick comes from the same root as [name]Maurice[/name]. :slight_smile: I think that would be an awesome way to update the name.

Gumphrey…the most I can think of is “Geoffery” or having the baby share the same initials. Like, if Gumphrey’s middle name starts with an E, you could go with [name]George[/name] [name]Elias[/name] (or whatever).

Morrell sounds kind of cool, though I’d probably stick it in the middle to avoid “Morrell Orell” teasing.

[name]Richard[/name] is timeless, but [name]Ricardo[/name] or even [name]Derrick[/name] could work as a tribute to it.

Good luck!!

I think [name]Richard[/name] is fine for a mddle name.

I agree [name]Richard[/name] isn’t that bad, especially as a middle name. In fact it’s my middle name, and I got it from my Granddad. I’m glad it’s not my first name, but it’s fine in the middle.

I think [name]Morris[/name] is also useable as a middle, it looks better with that spelling. [name]Maurice[/name] makes me think mor-ice. Gumphrey… maybe you could use [name]Jeffrey[/name]? or maybe spell it [name]Geoffrey[/name] so it’s even more similar. I think i would be fine as a middle. Morrell I’m stuck on. It just makes me think mushroom. [name]Mitchell[/name] maybe? Honestly you can stick anything in the middle, especially if its a family name. People never use their full names. I don’t even find naming your daughter [name]Sophia[/name] [name]Bertha[/name] horrible if its important to you. The middle name is the perfect place to hide a name that sounds bad, but is important for you to use.

Agreed! I absolutely adore Merrick. I love [name]Maurice[/name] pronounced “[name]Morris[/name]”, but since I live in [name]America[/name], that would obviously pose a problem for me. Anyhow, I do like just [name]Morris[/name] as well.