family name dilemma
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family name dilemma
| 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

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.
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
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
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
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
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.