family name dilemma

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-30-2006
family name dilemma
9
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 9:49pm

My 2 DDs' MNs are their great-grandmothers names, now that we are expecting a boy... I am discouraged in continuing the tradition because I really don't like any of our male family names. I know my DH wants to continue the tradition (he's very traditional) but I just don't like the idea of having to pick the least worst name, not to mention that I don't think any sound good with our FN list. I was hoping that we could use a similar version of one of the names but there really aren't many good ones either.

Our male family names: Virgil, Maclyn, Eugene, Larry, William, Maurice.

Oh what to do, what to do.

~Melissa

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-29-2003
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 10:04pm
Go with William. Don't break the tradition.
Avatar for midwestmom2000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 10:11pm

I think William is an excellent middle name - classic, not trendy, not old fashioned. It is my DH's middle name and my oldest DS's middle name. Can't go wrong with that one.

I also like Maurice. I'd keep the tradition going, if possible.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-30-2006
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 10:19pm

Yeah, so far most say William... its just that there are soooo many Williams, Bills, Billys, etc in our family already so its hard to not feel that the name has been overused.

But maybe I just need to keep my mouth shut and let DH decide on what he wants. And/or maybe do the 2 middle name thing... thats always in the back of my mind (DH has 2 middle names, so its not far-fetched).

Its just hard to agree on a name I've never liked when names are so important to me.

But thanks for your advice! I really do appreciate a different angle.

~Melissa

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-16-2004
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 10:20pm

I think you could make it work.


From your picks.


William is great - you could use, Will even Liam as FN


Larry - possible - Lorenzo, Lawrence, Larson


Eugene -possible - Gene, Hugh


Maclyn - Mace, Mason, Lee


Virgil - maybe change to Vaughn


Maurice - I'd probably leave as is


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-30-2006
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 11:09pm

My boys first choice name is Macaiah (Meh-ki-ah). It can be spelled Micaiah or Macaiah, and I was thinking of spelling it MAC instead so that it could resemble Maclyn (DH great grandfather, he goes by Mac). I guess I was hoping that by including the "MAC" that could be the family heritage and wouldn't require a family middle name. Make any sense?
But I don't know if that is good enough or not. I think I am making this harder than it should be!! Sorry

~Melissa

Avatar for 3togetready
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-19-1999
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 1:09am
My ds has a 10 year old friend that is a Jr. His name is William but the dad goes by Bill and the son Will. I really like the name Will. Plus you really don't use the middle name very much. I pretty much only use it when my children are in trouble and I call them by their full name. LOL Also I stopped the naming tradition in my husbands family and I may have been the first but eveyone after me has also not gone with the tradition. If both my dh brother and us had gone by tradition our children would all have the same names. Mauro Vincenzo and Anna. Even if there were 5 brothers they would all have to use the same names of the husbands father and mother first. Some traditions just need to stop.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-30-2006
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 2:27pm

Wow, the tradition you were given from your DH sounds quite extreme!! What fun is there in already having all your kids named?!

My maternal grandfather's name was William, along with my oldest uncle and his oldest son... and great grandfather, etc, etc (I don't really know how far back it goes, but it goes a ways). My cousin refused to name his first son (or any other) William and thus broke that tradition, unfortunately. You can kind of see where I have been overwhelmed by the name.

I guess this probably sounds selfish and not the nicest but I feel like letting the overused names dry out for a few generations so they can become special and honorable again and not feel like a family curse. Which is why I was thinking, as I said in an earlier post, to include the name of DH grandfather in the spelling instead of using the actual name.

I don't know, I am not that against using a family name I don't like, I was just playing around with ideas--- something I do too much!!

~Melissa

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2006
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 2:31pm
What about Liam, which is a form of William? Or use William, then you could call him Will, or Liam, or all of the other variations of William. I think the name Will is very cute, and I would consider using it, but our last name is Smith....don't think I can get away with it! Good luck
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2005
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 6:22pm

I'm going to sound like an echo and say stick with tradition and pick the name William. My second choice would be Maclyn (it is, after all, a clan name so not too weird). Most guys with that name seem to go by the nickname of Mac, so if you want, shorten it to that.

Nothing wrong with the other names, really, but they are very dated and are not enjoying a resurgence yet.