Naming children - after somebody or completely unique? How do you feel?
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
June 28, 2008 1:11pm CST
How do you feel about this subject? Were you named after somebody in your family or did your parents choose your name based on what they liked? I was named after somebody and I know many people who are named after somebody. We gave our daughter (youngest) her own unique name, she was not named for anybody else and I'm glad. I also think it's important to consider how the name sounds, and how it looks on paper. If a stranger sees the name you picked out for your child, are they going to have any preconceived notions that may be incorrect about your child? Would this bother you? I prefer things that are classic yet trendy, something that sounds cute when a child is an infant yet it's still relevant when they are an 80 year old grandparent.
Names are very important because that is how you are known your whole life. While you can change your name, it isn't always an easy or fast process, at least with first names. At least with a last name you can change it if you are female when you get married - or not if you choose, or you can hyphenate it with your last name or change it legally to your middle name. Again it depends whether you actually like it or not. I was SO glad to be rid of my original last name lol. It was a spelling and pronunciation nightmare (Dutch).
If you were named after somebody, are you proud or embarrassed? Did you or will you name your own children after somebody or not? How about things like 'jr' or 'the second' or 'the third'? I know this is adding an additional topic but I'm looking for opinions and experiences.
4 people like this
16 responses
@34momma (13882)
• United States
29 Jun 08
Names are very important. My mother got my name from her sister, she asked her what is a good girls name and my aunt told her to name me Sakina, which i love. I wanted to give my own children strong names that would make them feel good and go with their personalities. My oldest son's name is Victor, my middle son is Donovan, and my baby girl is Olivia. I think their names fit them and will carry them through life with their heads held high
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
30 Jun 08
I love your name.. Sakina? I have never heard that before, you are lucky to probably be the only one =) I like the names your kids have too, I have always loved the name Donovan. I'm probably not having any more kids but that would have been a contender for a middle name. If I had a boy I'd probably have named him Travis. The funniest part is that my best friend's youngest son is Travis.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
28 Jun 08
My husband's grown son is named after him and he regrets it more and more each day because of the confusion it causes. My stepson has a few creditors trying to contact him so they call here because we're listed in the phone book and he only has a cell phone, plus he lived with us for several months when he first moved here. Medical bills come to our house and it's sometimes hard to tell which one of them it's for. We accidentally threw away a credit card that came for his son because it wasn't addressed to "jr" so we thought it was one of those pre-approved cards and we didn't want it. My son is named after his father and there has been some confusion for them as well so, personally, I'm not a big fan of naming a son after his father.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
29 Jun 08
Thanks for your input! This is one of the biggest complaints I have seen. My son...err.. my husband's son was named after my husband. My husband did NOT want this but apparently he didn't get a choice in the matter. I consider this kind of funny since who is raising him, my husband and I, not the person who insisted on his name. Anyway, it already causes problems, especially with packages. Most of the time we can tell if the package is for my husband or my son based on the shipping address it came from, but once in awhile we can't. Good thing he is 17 and isn't shopping naughty stores online yet. =P
I like my husband's name, but if I had helped name his son, I think we'd have gone for something different. Like I tell him, there's only supposed to be ONE of him, and although our son looks just like his dad, they do not have the same personality LOL.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
29 Jun 08
I know that a lot of guys want to have a namesake but I think swapping the first and middle, or using an entirely different middle name, would be better than having a carbon copy of your name. It might help cut down on some of the confusion.
1 person likes this
@ambkeb (782)
• United States
29 Jun 08
We named both our children after someone....Kind of. They both have unique first names but both have middle names after someone. My son has my husbands first name as his middle name (which is also a family name), and my daughter also has a family name as her middle (goes back about 6 or more generations...first daughter type thing). I agree though that you should always make sure the name..."fits" before writing it on paper. Both of my kids name arent off the wall...and they tend to "flow" well together. My sons name...Aiden Michael and My daughters Kaydence Elaine. Another thing we looked at when picking out names for them was if the initials made a word. We didnt want that. A friend of mines initials are A.S.S.....imagine how that was for her growing up LOL
1 person likes this
@ravismartcoder (179)
• India
29 Jun 08
Hi.. I am in favor of unique name.. I have one kid and I gave a unique name to him... and I liked it.. my son name is Guruvansh...
what is the name of your daughter?
1 person likes this
@Bluepatch (2476)
• Trinidad And Tobago
29 Jun 08
In my family we were named after what first name my mother liked and our middle names all came from Joseph and Mary, Jesus' parents or a combination of one of these.
One of my sister's was named after a girl I liked in primary school and used to come home and talk a lot about her. So mum said this one ( the baby that was currently on the way, if it was a girl ) would get my girlfriend's name, which she did.
We followed the French Creole tradition in Trinidad of naming children, in some way, after Jesus's parents.
Recently, in the last 20 years or so, people have started making up names for children.
Whatever they liked.
In my parents day names came after a king or famous person from history or the community.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
30 Jun 08
I like that there are so many names available, such a wide variety from historical ones to classic ones to new ones. There are also many unisex type names, last names as first names, place names as first names, etc. My mom was the youngest of eight kids, I think she was given the feminine form of her dad's name =)
@piknik (43)
• Philippines
29 Jun 08
hi mommybooo! I agree with you that name is very important not to mention that this is the first personal information asked to you and this how the people will call you or will signifies you. My name was taken from the first three letters of my grandfather, my parents just add some letters to make it sounds feminine and i proud of it, but neither my name was taken from somebody or named after somebody i think we should be proud of it no matter what besides its our personality who makes our name sounds beautiful to others. But then, having a lot of similar name as yours is also difficult especially in obtaining documents in government...that is always a problem of my Dad.Lol!
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
30 Jun 08
You have a unique name! I figure that's how new names come around, parents simply come up with something, combining other family names to come up with something they like. Then other people meet their child with the new name and sooner or later, somebody else will like it also and pass it on.
@rogue13xmen13 (14402)
• United States
29 Jun 08
If my boyfriend and I ever decide to have children, our son will have his father's first name and his uncle's first name for a middle name. Our daughter, on the other hand, will be named as we see fit. I want to name her Katherine Ann, but I know how some people feel about that name and the X-Men character that they quickly associate it with (Katherine Ann is actually Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde's real name in X-Men).
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
30 Jun 08
You could spell 'Katherine' differently. I don't think it matters what people think, if it's a beautiful name that you love, who cares? My older daughter has a very trendy popular name and my husband was always bothered that people thought he named her after a singer. LOL!
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
2 Aug 08
Well in a way we are all named after someone else, be it from our family or not, unless our name is so original that nobody else in the world has a name like ours.
In any case I was not named after anyone in my family. I don't like or dislike my name. It's my name:)
My kids were also not named after any one in our families. We choose names that we liked paying attention to some of the things that you mention like how the first and last name go together, if other kids would find something in their names that would make it easy to make fun of them or hurt them somehow, and trying to avoid names that bring connotations that we preferred to avoid.
As for Jr or second/third I don't like it at all, and I wouldn't add it to any of my children's names.
@newtondak (3946)
• United States
29 Jun 08
My first name was a name that was popular at the time (my Grandmother hated it) and my middle name was after my great aunt on my mother's side.
My daughter's name is not after anyone - her father chose it - her first name is the month that we were married. My oldest son's first name is from the Bible and his middle name was his paternal great-grandfather's name. My younger son's first name is from the Bible and his middle name was my father's middle name.
I don't have any complaints about my name and if my children have complaints, I haven't heard them. My daughter went by her first name until third grade and then wanted to be called by a nickname of her middle name (which is Nichole and she went by Nicky), which she went by until she entered college, when it was easier to use her first name again than to tell everyone to use her middle name. Her first name is also more "grown-up" sounding than the nickname.
Since our youngest started college, he uses his first and middle initials instead of his first name.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
30 Jun 08
My older daughter actually used a nickname that had nothing to do with her name, she used her first name for anything legal. Since my son has the same exact name as my husband, I usually call him 'Bubba' as it is easier. People have called him 'little G' or 'the second' and that bugs me.
@littleone3 (2063)
•
29 Jun 08
I was named my name because my parents liked it although they did change their mind at the last minute. My name was very popular at the time so there is alot of us around in my age group. And my middle name is after both my nans. With my children they have all been given middle names after family members. My four boys all have Irish names because i just love Irish names. I chose my daughters first name because it is a name i have loved for a long time.
@Xdrowninghavocx (3117)
• United States
30 Jun 08
If i do decide to have kids, I want their first name to be somewhat uncommon. And I already know what their middle name is going to be. My mom's first name is unisex so her name will be the child's middle name. There's nothing wrong with naming your kids after someone. I think it shows the love you have for your family. I'm not worried about naming my kid something crazy, that's not for me. But your child's own identity is the most important aspect when deciding on names.
@98765m (1017)
• India
30 Jun 08
Well,yea,you are right.Giving names of historic people or personality or celebrity would make you think that you also can achieve something and you would definitely be proud of your name that somebody with the same name had his name written in the history where it would never be forgotten.
Also,there are benefits or advantages of having a unique name.Having a unique name will highlight your uniqueness.It says that you are willing to go on your own way,not on an already trodden path.It will also give you the feeling that your name is your asset as nobody else has the same name.It would mean that wherever your name is spoken it would be referring only to you
.But,you can't be 100% sure that they are speaking about you although your name is spoken as there would be hundreds in fact thousands of people having the exactly the same name with same initials.
It all depends on the parents,whether they want to name their child a historic name or a unique name.I prefer unique name.
Cheers! Have a good day
Happy mylotting and happy earnings.
Also,there are benefits or advantages of having a unique name.Having a unique name will highlight your uniqueness.It says that you are willing to go on your own way,not on an already trodden path.It will also give you the feeling that your name is your asset as nobody else has the same name.It would mean that wherever your name is spoken it would be referring only to you.But,you can't be 100% sure that they are speaking about you although your name is spoken as there would be hundreds in fact thousands of people having the exactly the same name with same initials.
It all depends on the parents,whether they want to name their child a historic name or a unique name.I prefer unique name.
Cheers! Have a good day
Happy mylotting and happy earnings.
@fluffnflowers (1594)
• United States
28 Jun 08
I'm more in favor of unique names, myself. I'd hate to be called 'little XXXX' like my SO is or 'junior' which is even worse to me.
I can understand and respect the tradition of naming your children after family members, but it's not something I'd do. My parents come from families where several names are very common. As a result, they chose names for us that no one in the family has. I'm very, very, very glad for that! 
There's nothing like going to a family reunion, calling a name, and having twenty people turn around.
There's nothing like going to a family reunion, calling a name, and having twenty people turn around.@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
29 Jun 08
No kidding. My name is very common, it was one of the top girls names back in the 70s when I was born. To give a hint if my name isn't listed in my profile, the most popular boys name at the time was Jason. All of my school life, I was one of at least three, so usually I was known as mynamelastinitial. In the 4 year span of just high school, I had seven friends named Jason too. Fortunately it cycles because these days my name is no longer common and I only know one Jason under the age of 12.
@jamie62476 (33)
• United States
29 Jun 08
My aunt gave me my name. I didn't name my boyz after anyone, but gave my son's father's granfather's name to him as his middle name. He didn't have any son's and no one to pass his name on to. My second son, I didn't even know his name till I saw him.
1 person likes this
@Gargoyle0134 (1257)
• United States
29 Jun 08
We use family names. but of those that have passed away, as a sign of fondness. And it gives the child some tie to the family.
Named on child after his great grandfather. One after a beloved greta uncle, etc..
Works for us!
@celticeagle (168724)
• Boise, Idaho
29 Jun 08
It used to be that the family named their children after ancestors. Now it is just whatever the parents come up with. The middle name is sometimes after an ancestor. No juniors in our family.
