Keeping names in the family, your thoughts, like it or loathe it?

Question

Just had a convosation with my friend who doesnt agree with carrying on names in the family as she thinks every child should have its own identity i on the other hand proberly do not think like that if you look at names in our family lol
my first son (8) is named jordan michael ... michael is the name of both his grandfathers
my husband of 4 years is called mchael as his dad and grandfather and great grandfather is and also his son from previous relationship is called michael. our 2 youngest children are both girls and they have middle names anne and sandra (both are names of relatives on both sides)
i have to agree it does get confusing lol what do u think????

it does get very confusing specially at family gatherings our wedding was just horrid to arrange the seating plan my husbands family all are first named michael as is my step dad im glad i maned my son jordan micheal, we kinda get round it at home granda b granda l mich my husband mickey my step son
we have said though if any more kids come along defo no more michaels

Answer 1

It happened a lot years, ago, I think it was a 'repect' thing. When we researched my husbands family tree, all the males had the combination of Russell/Hunter/George in them, wether as a first name or middle name.......which I like, but nowadays, there is a trend to call children 'trendy' names that mean nothing, and will sound ridiculous when they are 60!!
I secretly hoped any of my grandaughters would have either my mum's name(same as my mum-in-law's!) or mine, somewhere in their names, but it didn't happen, and they have lovely names (not gimmicky ones) so I shouldn't grumble.............but I think the previous generation should be remembered somewhere in the naming....as a sign of respect.

Answer 2

Blimey thats a lot of Michael's! In our family, we tend to have a first name which has nothing to do with the family, and the middle name someone in the family.

I'm going to carry on the tradition ; I'm either going to use a relatives name as a middle name or a variant of the name so it stil keeps the tradition but it updates and it gives them more individuality.

I'm preggy and gonna call mine Scarlett Alysia or Jasmyn Emily for a girl or Harvey James for a boy. Scarlett and Jasmyn are just names my husband and I like, Alysia is a variant of Alice (my name) and my late great grandmothers name (Alyssa). Emily is a varient of my grandmother Emma. Harvey is my late uncles middle name and James is my husband's name and my dad's middle name. So I've tried to get most of the family involved! lol

I think it's better to have it as a middle name than first name because not many people use their middle name, but it's still there as a tradition.

Good question by the way! Alice x x x x

Answer 3

I think it's perfectly fine to keep some family names. I'm a bit more partial to giving the children a family members name for a middle name, not for a first. Also, never been a big fan of Jr.'s. Oh and every child has their own identity, they are who they are, they aren't repeats of anyone else even if they carry the name.

I like it, I also plan to do it for the most part lol.

Answer 4

I like it.
We have a couple of people in our family named after Grandparents and even more who have been given a middle name of parents/grandparents.
I plan to give any children I have middle names that are other family members names.
I think it shows how much family means to a person and it's nice to think that someone had that name in your family hundreds of years ago.
I'm all for a person having individuality but surely a name isn't what defines someone as an "individual". It's about personality and character and traits in a person.

Having the same names gets really confusing when researching your family tree though! But that makes it all the more fun and interesting!

Answer 5

My daughter's middle name is my grandmother's name and also the middle name of my great aunt, but her first name is unique in the family. I think it's a lovely way of keeping memories alive; when she's older I'll tell her where her middle name comes from and tell her stories about her namesakes.

I have a large family and there are quite a few repeated names which leads to nick names so we have Big John, Little Jon, Jonny, Jon T, English John, etc. Not so good.

Answer 6

I think it's great to honor family names and use them as MIDDLE NAMES. I don't think you should use the same first name as a family member but if you just use their name as a mn you child still has their own identity. My siblings and I all have our own first names and two middle names after family and we love it! I go back and forth on whether or not I will give my children family names, right now i'm not feeling it, LOL!

Answer 7

I agree with your friend.... no family names will be used for my children. I was dating my now husband for only about two months when I asked him if he wanted ot expected a son to be name dafter him. Thankfully he said no.

My husband has his father's name as a middle name, and my mother gave me her first name as a middle name.... I hate it. Not the name, but the fact that my name isn't all mine. My middle name is Denise, which isn't an extremely common name. It's better than Lynn or Marie, which so many people have... and my first name is Carson - I guess it's why I like different names... I get it from my mother. I thank god everyday she didn't name me one of the popular names of my generation - Jennifer, Danielle, Stephany, Angela.... Ugh!

Answer 8

I named my some isaac matthew as my hubby's middle name is matthew and I really liked it. I don't think its wrong to use family names but not such and such Jnr. I don't think a child should have the identical name of dad or grandad but to use a family name as a middle name is a lovely idea. I hope that my son uses Isaac or matthew in his son's name (should he have a son that is!) I couldn't find a family name for my daughter that i liked or that fitted with her first and last name or that hadn't already been used on my nieces so she got a different name.
Overall its not a bad thing as long as its not a 'Jnr' name.

Answer 9

It's ok to use a family name as a middle name in specific situations. I did that with my second child as my husbands grandmother had just died not long before our daughter was born. I would think that it's ok in that situation but otherwise no I think you should bring a new name each time or else eventually everyone will be called Mary or Bob or something.

Answer 10

Too confusing and no I don't loathe it, but surely it's nice to have individual names too. It just seems a bit of appeasement to parents, and think what will happen if someone wants to compile a family history! I have a similar problem of having male relatives going back many generations with the same names, and having started this tree keep getting the same names in my searches, it doesn't make it easy to do.