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As if we needed yet ANOTHER reason that religion is useless. We named the child after the mother, who was named after her mother, lather, rinse, repeat. And we are doing this not because of ego (or at least not just because of ego), but because the original woman in the family named Mary worshiped the Christian God and naming these subsequent women Mary reminds us of the Christian virgin birth thousands of years ago
They were devout. I'm not. Nevertheless, I recognize why it was important to them to give their children Christian names. I think Mary is a lovely name. It's one we considered for our daughter, too, and it had nothing to do with religion.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 03-16-2015 at 12:29 AM..
Reason: Edited quote
I get why people do it when there's a family history going back some generations. Otherwise I think it's silly and can lead to a lifetime of confusion and issues. Anytime you go to any professionals (doctor, dentist, etc) there's a decent chance the wrong files will get pulled at least until they look at the age. I know of one Jr. who last week spent well over an hour trying to straighten out a bank transfer mistake because father and son have almost the same name and use the same bank. If both father and son use the same accountant or lawyer's office there will almost certainly be confusion at some point and you will have to spend extra time explaining who is who and the wrong documents can end up in the wrong file.
Most of the Jr.'s I've met do not make their sons become a III because of all the hassles they've been dealing with their entire lives by being a Jr. I've only met 1 woman with the same name as her mother and it was as confusing as can be dealing with them in a professional capacity. The same name would be even worse for a woman. At least men get a Jr., III, etc; no such thing for a woman.
I personally know two women who are named after their mothers. One of them, once she had a job that put her in the public eye, called herself Jane Blank, Jr., so as not to be confused with her mother, who was also well-known. Like many other Juniors, she was proud of her parent's accomplishments and didn't seem to mind at all bearing her mother's name into the next generation. The other woman I know eventually added her husband's last name to hers, but continued to use her maiden name as her middle name.
I overheard a discussion today between a father-to-be and a friend (I'm guessing that's what he was). The mod edit: father to be told the other guy that they were going to name the son after him, the father.
I think this is something that fathers do. I've never heard of a mother naming a daughter after her... but I could be wrong. The first impression I get is that this is a male ego thing. What else could it be? The son (or daughter) is supposed to be an original, so why not give them their own name?
What do you think?
In our family we name the children after the paternal grandparents and then move on to maternal grandparents if there are more children. I am perfectly satisfied with the tradition.
Generally speaking, no, women are not "juniors" or "the III" like men. My dad is a "the III" and the buck stopped there since he only had daughters. However, my sister's son has our dad's first name now.
My aunt was named after her mother, but given a nickname as a baby that stuck - she is never called by her actual first name. Well, when she worked she did because the nickname would have been wholly inappropriate in a work environment. (don't ask)
We opted not to give our kids family names - although there was brief discussion of having our son be a "junior" - but my husband said no in the end.
If you won't say the name can you give us a similar name or type of name?
My father was the youngest of nine children and many people called him Kid or The Kid (ie. the littlest kid in the family) until he died just before his 80th birthday. Since he was so well known by that name we even used it in the title of his obituary and at the funeral.
His siblings all used their childhood nicknames until they passed away in their 80s and 90s.
It used to be common here, and patronymics was a thing so the children would have as a middle or last name their father's name plus the word to denote son or daughter. Looking back through my family tree they'd often get both - saw a lot of instances of someone's name being Lauri Laurinpoika (Lauri Lauri's son) but it has been abolished now with naming laws. Every child has to have their own first name, not the name of an immediate family member and I don't think anyone uses patronyms for middle names any more.
My dad is Scottish though and in his family they had the tradition of the oldest son being named after the father, and he wanted my brother to have his name. My parents compromised and my brother has it as his middle name.
I think children should have their own first name, instead of being named after their mother or father, give it as a middle name instead. My daughter has my middle name as her first name so I'm passing on my name in a sense but still giving her her own name. Her middle name is my mother's middle name and coincidently also her paternal grandmother's middle name. So tradition is passed on but not in a confusing way and she doesn't have to share her first name with me or anyone else in the family.
I overheard a discussion today between a father-to-be and a friend (I'm guessing that's what he was). The mod edit: father to be told the other guy that they were going to name the son after him, the father.
I think this is something that fathers do. I've never heard of a mother naming a daughter after her... but I could be wrong. The first impression I get is that this is a male ego thing. What else could it be? The son (or daughter) is supposed to be an original, so why not give them their own name?
What do you think?
It seems to be split amongst who decides the baby's name. I have found, any way. Mother's want to honor someone, like the father, or other members of the family just as much as a father wants the boy to be named after him.
And I DO know of a few daughters named or loosely named after the mothers. {Jean and Jeana, for instance}
I don't believe in that, and am SO glad I am not a "Ed Jr, or Ed Sr." I am so gald there wasn't isn't a need for a "BIG John or Little John" at our house. and I would NEVER do that to my child either!
Naming a middle name after someone is FINE, I think, It honors, but allows for the poor child to have his/her own name.
It was "confusing enough' for the person on the other end of the phone when my brother and I would visit at my father's {We are adults now obviously} and the phone would ring. My brother loved to answer it and when asked if they "could speak to MR. X", My brother delighted in saying "which one?"!!! Whne they expressed confusion, he'd further delight in saying "There are three Mr. X's here rihgt now, which one do you want to speak to?" Silly boy.
I found it really confusing in genealogy as it seems my paternal 3-9 Greats were all named "John'" and "James" {alternating} for those 6 generations,and it seems that someone FINALLY broke that chain. It gets confusing then, when the names are all similar/same. It seems the sons were always named after their grandfathers, rather than after their fathers, the confusion sets in when tracking one or the other. Especially with sketchy records of that time period. You'd THINK it would be easier, but NOT necessarily! I could imagine the futher confusion it COULD cause if they were all neamed after the fathers! Or "II, III, IV, Etc} Maybe it would be easier, I don't know, that was not my case.
I think each individual deserves their own name as they are each unique individuals. And a common spelling at that, not an "odd spelling" as they will be disappointed at "named trinkets" that NEVER have their spelling on it! MOH {My Other Half} has complained for years that we could never find a named trinket-notably a key chain fob- with MOH's name on it. I finally had ONE MADE at Disney World with MOH's name on it spelled correctly! MOH was delighted {til it fell apart}.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 03-16-2015 at 12:30 AM..
Reason: Removed icon
I had a hard time naming a son because there are too many males in my family and they all wanted me to use their name. I tried making one name out of eight common male names, but nothing worked.
It didn't matter anyway... I was sure I was having a girl! I had her name all picked out and never changed my mind.
Then I had a boy - who I had no name for. He was born on a Friday and was nameless until Sunday morning. I was holding him, listening to the radio and I asked this precious baby boy, "What is your name, baby?" In seconds I saw his name at the foot of my hospital bed: in puffy white letters, about a foot high, there was the perfect name for this tiny baby.
I know how weird this sounds, but it is the truth. He feels special because he got to choose his own name.
As for naming him after any relatives - he does have the middle name of one uncle, but that is purely coincidental. I think all people deserve their own name, and I would never have named my son Jr.
I agree that passing father's name on as his son's middle name is a great idea.
My brother's wife's family has used family and maiden names as first names for children. It has made for some interesting first names but so far, nothing outrageous. Like mother's maiden name as the first name of her daughter is easy enough if the name was Paige. Something like Kizlowski as a first name could get tricky........LOL
I am of Greek descent, we name our first boy after my father, the first girl after my mother, then if there are any others it goes to the wife's side, and after that it is free game on the names.
I have boys, triplets, so one is after my father and the other two are names are names that meant something to us.
Now when any of my sons have sons, they will have to be named after me, even if all three of my sons have boys, they will all be named after me......
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