I love the idea of using family names. I personally plan on using some family names for my future children (i am currently ttc baby #1). I like the idea of being able to honor somebody that has done something significant in mine or my husbands life or was a big impact in our lives. I think its a large honor to give that person, something no card can give that person. We plan on using my mothers middle name, my fathers firth name, my husbands father’s middle name, and possibly my paternal grandfathers firth name, as my maternal grandparents names have all been used by other cousins, aunts, uncles, ect;. I would also like to honor my high school anatomy teacher who had a very large impact in mine and my husbands (we were high school sweethearts) lives. I can’t imagine not wanting to honor someone, it is something that is very important to me and i believe it is to my husband as well. I think it gives names character, that there is a reason behind it. Not that all names that dont honor somebody are usless (a majority of mine and my husbands names we have picked are not family names), but i do think that middle names could be an easy way to honor as well.
I have a name that hadn’t been used in my family before. I don’t want my children to have names duplicated within the family.
I don’t know a large number of my relatives. The ones that I know, I wouldn’t want to copy, and the ones that I don’t, I won’t gain a greater connection to by using their names.
My immediate family had a falling-out with my grandparents on one side, and it would be quite awkward to use their names. My grandfather on the other side had the same name as his father and his father before him - and, by his time, it was becoming a girl’s name. Also, several relatives have distinctly Catholic names, and my immediate family aren’t.
Neither my first or middle names are family names, so I think I would like to use one of my children’s names to honour family, as I feel sometimes I miss the connection. I would love to honour my maternal grandparents (but I think my sister has dibs on my grandfather’s name, haha), my mother, and for DH, I think it would be nice to honour his maternal grandparents.
I think it gives the child a connection to their family and heritage without being too obvious - as I’d probably use family names in the middle spot.
I personally don’t like repeating first names in a family, so I probably wouldn’t do that, for instance, I wouldn’t name a daughter [name]Elizabeth[/name] after myself.
I would also consider using similar names or variations, like [name]Eliza[/name] instead of [name]Elizabeth[/name] or [name]Liliana[/name] instead of [name]Lillian[/name].
Personally, I like for a child’s name to have some sort of significance beyond just liking the sound of it. BUT, while that may mean incorporating a family name, the two things are not always synonymous. A child’s name could honor a place or a character, author, or hobby that is significant to the parents - truly, the options for adding personal meaning into a child’s name are infinite. Likewise, a name that happens to have belonged to someone’s great aunt might not carry much sentimentality at all, especially if said aunt was a mean old witch who just happend to have a beautiful name. That said, for many people, one of the most important types of meaning is to honor a family member, and that is wonderful if it is important to you as the parent. But just using a “family name” does not in and of itself create meaning and significance for the child. There is a difference between naming a child after a beloved grandmother and naming a child after some person on a family tree you’ve never even heard of before you were searching for a perfect name (of course, that is not to say the latter can never have significance - some people just really like the idea of honoring their ancestry or even using an obscure name that is related to an ethnicity they feel strongly connected to). The key, I think, is not where the name comes from but what it means to you that it comes from there.
I think family names can be a great way to honor relatives that you love. I don’t think it is necessary though and I think it should be a personal decision everyone makes. I’m loosely named after family members, my first name [name]Lisa[/name] is for my great-grandmother [name]Elizabeth[/name] and my middle name [name]Paige[/name] is after my grandfather [name]Paul[/name] who died before I was born. My names honor my family but are not so direct that I share my name with lots of cousins. I think giving your child a name with a special and personal meaning to you and your partner is important though, because one day your child will probably ask you “why did you chose my name?” and you can regale them with a nice story about how and why you picked the name. I personally have a lot of names on my family tree that I love and will probably use for my children. My grandmother and I were very close and she died when I was a child. I definitely will somehow use her name ([name]Iris[/name]) when naming my future children. Again, it’s really a personal decision. If you’re close with your family and there are certain names that you feel very connected with than that is certainly a lovely way to connect your children to their predecessors. However, if not, your child won’t be cheated or missing out if their name is not from the family tree.
I personally follow the Jewish tradition of not naming a child after a living person. It solves a lot of jealousy problems. I also like using variations, if they are legitimate variations. E.g. [name]Lucy[/name] for grandmother [name]Lucia[/name]. However, if someone was going to name a child after me and didn’t like my name and used something not related (e.g. [name]Felicity[/name] for [name]Fay[/name]), I would be a little offended. I would prefer they used my maiden name or something like [name]Francis[/name] (after the patron saint because I love animals)
I also like “mashups” if they work. Like [name]Rose[/name] + [name]Linda[/name] = [name]Rosalind[/name]
I’ve also noticed that very few people plan on using family surnames/maiden names as middles, which is odd to me. It’s very common where I live. I personally would rather have a maiden name as a middle than a filler name for flow.
Hey [name]Cecily[/name]!
I honestly think that children should be given their own names, especially boys. Boys keep the familial surname, so they have a link to their famliy that way. For girls, I personally wouldn’t mind maybe giving them a name with the same meaning or something like that as mine or my husbands, to keep some sort of continuity, but honestly I think that people have enough pressure on them to live up to family expectations without being the namesake of another family member. My husbands family gives the first born son the fathers given name as a middle (eg fathers name is [name]Andrew[/name], sons name is [name]Luke[/name] [name]Andrew[/name]), and my husband hates it - he beleives that it blurs the lines between who you are and who you are expected to be (in thy fathers image etc), and creates a lot more tension when you disagree - the nunmber of times he has heard, “you aren’t only my son, but my namesake…” can’t be counted. For my kids, I think I might go for a theme (hopefully subtle!) so they can see that they are all connected, but individual. Like maybe give them all names that feature in [name]Shakespeare[/name] or something. Anyway!! That’s my 2 cents worth.
Great topic [name]Cecily[/name], love your work!
I am a fan of using family names when naming children. I personally have not had children, but hope to at the very least incorporate meaningful names as middle names, if not first names. My current first place choice for a girl is my grandmothers middle name [name]Mae[/name]. I wouldnt use it just because it was my grandmothers middle name, but because I love her and the name. In my family it is tradition that middle names honor family, in my brothers case it is our moms maiden name, and mine is a grandmothers maiden name. I love when a name has a story and a personal significance to the parents, I feel like it gives it more depth. There are so many things that had a significant impact on your life, whether it be a aunt, uncle, teacher, author, activities or geographic locations, why not have a lovely story to tell your child about why you chose the name you did.
My mother and I both have the same middle name, as do my brother and my father. I personally think that children should have their own first names, and middle names can honor a relative. Or variation of a relative’s name for a first name. For instance my daughter [name]Madelaine[/name] [name]Amelia[/name] is named after both her grandmothers, [name]Elaine[/name] and [name]Amelia[/name]. She has her own first name that honors my mother and she has DH’s mom’s name for her middle. I am currently expecting [name]Baby[/name] #2, who will have his or her own first name and a family middle.
My sisters and I all have middle names that are family. My dad also has one. Sisters: [name]Madison[/name] [name]Marie[/name] and [name]Sadie[/name] [name]Caroline[/name]. Me: [name]Savannah[/name] [name]Rae[/name]. Dad: [name]David[/name] Cummings. He got his mother’s maiden name.
i would have loved to name my daughter after my mother and mother-in-law…but i couldnt figure out how to do it with [name]Tammy[/name] and [name]Micaela[/name]…so yeah i love the idea of using family names, but only if u really like the name just for the name itself…dont force it
Using family names has been rather traditional in my family. My older brother’s first name is after our dad and paternal grandfather, but my brother has always gone by his middle name. My first name is after my maternal grandmother, and my middle name ([name]Jane[/name]) is after my mother, [name]Mary[/name] [name]Jane[/name]. My twin sister’s first name is after my paternal grandmother. She was given her ‘own’ middle name.
For our three children, my husband and I really liked the idea of giving each child his or her OWN first name, but a middle name after family. Our first son [name]Daniel[/name]'s middle name is [name]Glen[/name] after my father-in-law’s middle name. Our second son [name]Timothy[/name]'s middle name ([name]Austin[/name]) was 'supposed to be [name]August[/name] after my grandfather (promise I made to him when I was 14 yrs old) , but my husband only approved a variation of the name, so [name]Austin[/name] instead. Our daughter [name]Rebecca[/name]'s middle name is [name]Jane[/name] – being that my mother was [name]Mary[/name] [name]Jane[/name] and [name]Jane[/name] is my middle name too).