Family Names?
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Family Names?
| Fri, 07-21-2006 - 8:59pm |
Family Names?
- Did you use a family name for your child(ren)?
- Yes, all their fns & mns are family names
- Yes, either a fn or mn
- Some children have family names, but not all of them do
- No, none of their names are family names
- (Just wondering how common it is to use family names)
You will be able to change your vote.

Yes, all first and middle. Annelise is for my grandmother Aili Anna Lisa so not the exact name but after her. Jean is after my other grandmother. This was easy since I only have one child so far. The twins will be officially nameless until they arrive.
I only have one child so far, Weston Layne - his mn is Layne after my dh who is Nathan Layne. So I voted yes, either fn or mn. I am probably going to use a family name from my side for the mn of our second.
Michelle
Of my three children only my oldest son has my dh name as a middle name. It is also the name of one of his great grandfathers and many, many cousins. I did give my dd the middle name of my best friend of 30+ years. I didn't want to use any family names because I didn't want anyone to get their feelings hurt.
Edited 7/22/2006 12:08 pm ET by belle_petite
Brendan's middle name is Ryan--DH's first name. Aaron's middle name is Michael--DH's middle name. Joshua's middle name (Vincent) is my brother's middle name, which is also our Great-Grandfather's name.
My sister is still trying to decide what to do about her baby. She and her Dh are going between Nicholas William or Nicholas David. David is her Dh's Dad's name; William is our Grandfather's name. I like both choices, but think Nicholas Davis flows a bit better.
Question for you--did you name your girls after anyone at all?? I know it is done so less often for girls than boys.
Theresa
No, my girls' names are theirs alone. ;)
That's kind of why I wondered how popular using family names really was (since you hear it all the time on here). It might be a regional thing, or just my own family and friends, but I don't know that many people that actually have family names or have used them for their children (and the few that I do know of are usually Juniors, and for them it just seems to be an often-confusing inconvenience, getting mixed up with their fathers all the time, etc.).
There are a lot of repeating names in my family (especially my grandmother's large extended family), but none of them are purposefully named for anyone. Just common names that are popular with that side of the family -- Joseph, Anthony, Jason, John, Nicholas, Sam, etc. In fact, I know I mentioned this recently in another thread, but my grandfather's name is George, and my uncle's name is also George -- but only because my grandmother really liked the name. My grandfather made sure he had a different mn so that he wouldn't be a Junior. ;)
I actually like the idea of names honoring special people in your life, family or not. It's always seemed a bit odd when names from many generations ago are randomly pulled from the family tree and thus called "family names." It just seems you can't really name a child for someone without ever having known that person (or at least known of them). I do think it would be nice to remember one of my grandparents (Mary and George, still living) in this way, but it just hasn't felt quite right when we were naming the girls. Not to mention the fact that, while I love Mary, I've tried to avoid using an M name with our ln because it just sounds off to my ear. Also, I don't really care for many feminine forms of George (although Deorsa is a guilty pleasure of mine, but I know many on here won't care for it LOL).
Anyway, enough babbling from me. ;)
~Kelli
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I actually like the idea of names honoring special people in your life, family or not. It's always seemed a bit odd when names from many generations ago are randomly pulled from the family tree and thus called "family names."
I feel the same way. I think family trees are a great source for finding names you might love, but if your great-great-great-great-great Aunt was named Isobel and you name your daughter Isabella...that doesn't so much seem like a family name to me. And I'm much more inclined to name my child after someone I admire than after a random person in my family with whom I have no emotional connection.
Family names are VERY common in my family, which is why I'm so inclined to use names that mean something to me, whether they are family names or names that belong to heroes of mine. In my family, Gerald has been used for three generations -- my great grandfather, grandfather and uncle. My uncle (always called Jerry) named his son Jeremy as a way to carry on the tradition without using Gerald again. Jeremy's sister is named Natalie Grace, Grace being the middle name used for at least one daughter in each family (sometimes on every daughter)