I would like to use my grandmother’s name, definitely as a middle name, perhaps as a first name. I love the name regardless, it being my wonderful grandmother’s adds to it’s appeal. The problem is that everyone in my family hates it (well everyone that’s ever been in a conversation regarding it). I know people would comment as it’s something that has been spoken about at length before. They all know I love the name (much to their disappointment) but I’ve never actually said I would give it to my child.
Has anyone used a name despite mass disapproval? What was the outcome?
I’m not going to be much help here as I’ve never done that, but just to bump up your post:
I would happily use a name my family hated. The choice is up to me and the baby’s father, not them. In all the stories I’ve heard on the matter, the family’s learned to love the name, or come up with a cute nickname and got used to it that way Plus, if it’s your grandmother’s name and you want to honour her, they really have nothing to complain about!
Thanks. Yeah I would definitely use it as a middle name, but if it was her first name then I wouldn’t want the first thing they think of to be ‘why didn’t they pick something better?’ And although it is highly rude to do so, I am sure they would comment. Tirelessly.
Sorry to disappoint, it’s nothing crazy - [name]Florence[/name].
Tbh they don’t really give a lot of reasons, aside from not liking the nicknames. It’s also the name of one of my aunts but she strictly goes by her middle name and resents ever being called it. It’s really quite unreasonable but they simply hate it.
I love [name]Florence[/name]! A friend of mine had an Auntie [name]Florence[/name] that was sometimes petal to her family ([name]Florence[/name] -> [name]Flora[/name] -> [name]Flower[/name] -> petal, I guess) but that isn’t terribly intuitive. I also knew of a [name]Florence[/name] who went by [name]Wren[/name] (from the “rence” part of the name). The only problem with the idea of your family adapting is that they didn’t to your grandmother’s or aunt’s name. That makes it less likely that they’d adapt to [name]Florence[/name] on your child. Personally, if I loved it, I’d still use it, but it depends how ready you are to face the criticism and defend your choice.
Yeah that’s the problem really, I wouldn’t be upset by it, it would just irritate me. But I’ve pretty much settled on it being a middle name (not due to this) so it doesn’t really matter anymore. There is no way I’d use a nickname or whatever, I love the full name and I don’t really like the idea anyway.
The weird thing is that both my grandmother and aunt have always been known by their middle name so I can’t really understand why my great-grandparents or grandparents used it in the first place.
My sister was named with mass disapproval and her name was never accepted by my grandmother. She has an [name]Indian[/name] name even though we are of European descent. Grandma called her by a nickname until she passed away. Other relatives just couldn’t “get it” and still mess up her name decades later. However, my sister has a beautiful and unique name and gets many compliments. If you love the name use it, especially a pretty name like [name]Florence[/name].
But do they just hate the name or do they hate the namesake too? That might be a different problem…
No they definitely don’t hate the namesake. I’m sure it’s the name. I’m going to ask them next time I see them for a proper answer as to why. I imagine it’s just their usual inexplicable fussiness.
Yes that is my concern really, I would hate for them to call her by another name. My siblings have ‘unusual’ (not really but judging by the reaction you’d think they were called Table) names and most of our family still spell their names wrong on cards etc. One even gets called a different (but similar) name by distant relatives. I find it really rude, if you can’t be bothered to remember someone’s name it says something about you as a person.
Plus, if it’s your grandmother’s name and you want to honour her, they really have nothing to complain about!