Family Name Traditions?

[chocolatechip]

Do you have any family name traditions? 

 

In our family it's father/son matching middle names. 

 

A family we know passes the same first name to every firstborn son. Every other generation goes by his middle name.

 

I think names are fascinating.

 

Care to share yours?

 

 

[JustEm]

My sister has the same name as my aunt who has the same name as her aunt. If I have another girl I will likely give her that name to continue the tradition that was unintentionally created.

[KrissiK]

Ruth is a middle name that is traditional in my side of the family.

[Hunter's Moon]

Thankfully, no.

 

I think they can be sweet, but I don't like the obligation that many families put on their children to keep to the tradition.

 

The name Richard was possibly a "tradition," in that my brother, my father, his father, and his father (along with a few cousins) have that name as either a first or middle. But, I have never heard Richard mentioned as a name that needs to live on. I think it was just done (though, I have absolutely no idea why -- my grandfather was a horrible man).

 

My sister has my maternal grandmother's first name as her middle.

 

And, I really can't think of anymore instances.

[Susan in TN]

All of dh's nephews have first names beginning with "J" in honor of my FIL. By the time we had our first boy, it was expected that we would follow suit, which we did. For our 2nd son there weren't any "J" names we wanted to use, so we went another direction. The response from dh's family was decidedly "unfavorable".

[HRAAB]

My grandmother was 36 when my mom was born and passed on her middle name to her.  My mom was 36 when I was born and gave me the same middle name.  I was 36 when my middle dd was born, and who was I to break with tradition.  My dd says she is going to have a dd at 36 and continue with the naming tradition.

 

I hated my middle name until my middle dd came along.  She loves it.  It was after that when I started to appreciate it.

[Orthodox6]

We followed traditional Greek practice only for our eldest. By that system, Boy #1 has first name same as the father's father. Boy #2 has same first name as did his mother's father. Girl #1 is named same as her father's mother. Girl #2 is named same as her mother's mother. Subsequent children may be named anything. . . . The middle name is same as the child's father is named. For example, a girl whose father is named "John" would have the middle name "Joanna." . . . Without exception, a first name must be that of a recognized Eastern Orthodox saint.

 

A typical Greek joke is that when in a movie theatre, if someone suddenly calls out, "Niko, where are you?!" -- at least half of the audience will stand up.

[TechWife]

We  have a tradition of passing along the middle name of "Lee" to the first born, for both boys and girls. My sister changed the spelling for her girl to the feminine version, "Leigh." This tradition goes back at least five generations. We did not carry on the tradition, as my husband's family had a similar tradition of passing along a middle name to the first born male and his father died just two months before our son was born, so we decided to pass along his middle name.

 

 

[HS Mom in NC]

I'm not someone prone to liking traditions for the sake of traditions. 

 

We gave our kids names my husband and I liked.  Under no circumstances would we give a child his/her parents' name.

 

We chose to give our girls my maiden name as their middle name.  When I got married I dropped my middle name, moved my maiden name to the middle name spot and took my husband's last name.  I'm not a fan of hyphenated last names.

 

I expect my kids will choose their children's names based on their personal preferences and not based on how we named them.

[gaillardia]

I kept my given middle name and dropped my maiden name; most women I know drop their middle name and take the maiden name as the middle name when they get married. People seem baffled that I kept my middle name, it sounds like a last name. My first name is my maternal grandmother's middle name, and my middle name is my paternal grandmother's middle name. My mom's name was feminized after her father's name. You know, come to think of it, I guess we have named some of our kids first or middle names after other family members, but didn't do it as a tradition. In some cases, didn't even know they were family names until way after kid was named.

[kbernt]

We have a lot of grandparents' names used as middle names in our family.

 

[Laura Corin]

There were three generations of exactly the same names from father to son, ending with Husband's older brother, who had three daughters.  There was no pressure on us to take on the tradition, but we did use one of the names as Hobbes' middle name.

 

My brothers and I have family names from my mothers' family as our middle names.

 

L

[Laura Corin]

I kept my given middle name and dropped my maiden name; most women I know drop their middle name and take the maiden name as the middle name when they get married. People seem baffled that I kept my middle name.

 

I noticed the 'keep the maiden name' habit among US relatives.  In the UK, for women who change their names on marriage, it's more normal to drop the maiden name and keep the given names intact, as I did.

 

L

[Arcadia]

Hubby and my family have two first names (not hyphenated) for our Chinese names.  My side of the family is more traditional. The first part of my first name is the same for all the lady cousins.  The first part of my  brother's first name is the same for all the guy cousins.  My dad has the same first part of his first name as all his brothers and male cousins.  My paternal nephews all have the same first part of their first names.   By looking at the first part of my relatives first names, I can tell which generation they belong to (my paternal granduncle family has the same naming convention).  My hubby's side is less traditional but still keep having the first part of the first name same among same gender siblings but not among cousins.  My boys have the same first part of their first names so it gets comical when their first names are shortened by camp instructors. 

[Mom in High Heels]

Not on my side, but on James Bond's side, all the first born guys have the same first and middle name.  One goes by the first name, one by the second name, and the next by both names.  It's confusing, but not as much as if they all went by the first name.  I really don't like it.  I like kids having their own names.  My grandfather hated his name, yet saddled his oldest son with it. WHY?

 

There's no tradition on my dad's side of the family, though my dad's middle name is his dad's first name.  Actually, my grandfather only had one name, so it's not like they could pass on a first and middle.  BTW, my dad is the youngest of 9, and he's the only one that got a name passed to him.  On my dad's side there are no Sr.'s or Jr.'s at all.

 

In my mom's family, the family's last name is the middle name of so many boys born to the female side of the family, it's not funny.  Indy is the only one who has it for a first name.  Han Solo's middle name is my great grandfather's first name, which was HIS grandmother's maiden name.  Yes, they are family names, but it's not traditional to pass them on.

[T'smom]

My MIL randomly decided that we should have given our daughter her middle name. So she just started calling her "first name wished for middle name". We don't generally use her middle name. I would have insisted MIL stop, but dd has told her "you can call me whatever you want, Grandma."

[Carrie12345]

I am the evil B who messed up dh's family's tradition (or what I'm told was tradition... it doesn't seem to fully track.) :svengo:

Grandfathers' names were "supposed" to be handed down in some combination.  In our case, that would have meant naming my 2nd son with what happens to be my first son's evil father's name. Wasn't. Gonna. Happen!

 

On the bright side, my sil eventually had a boy.  She used the name.

 

ETA:  We did use that name for one of ds's middle names as a bit of a compromise. And my evil ex thinks it's hysterical. :glare:

 

[Indian summer]

No traditions in my family, but in Dh's culture all females have same mn and all males have same mn. This seems to have ended with the current generation. Dh and I, as well as his sis and her dh have come up with our own ideas for middle names.

[PrincessMommy]

We have a few.  My middle name goes back several generations as a female middle name.  My daughter's first name is a generational name on my dh's side, and she has my middle name.   DD's soon-to-be born daughter will have another first name that goes back a few generations on my dh's side as well.

 

None of it is pressured or expected...it's just a nice tradition.  There's enough children in the family that we assume at least one child will pick it up again when they all start having kids.  If not, it will be okay.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

In my dh's father side, first born males have the same middle name going back many generations. We continued this tradition with my first-born.

 

Although it's not the tradition of either my or my husband's family, my second ds has my maiden name as his middle name. Even with setting these parameters for naming, I'm really very happy with their names.

 

I was the first in my family to drop my middle name and adopt my last name as my middle name.

 

K

[craftyerin]

Yep.

 

my maternal grandmother > my mom > me > my daughter, all have the middle name of Catherine

 

DH's paternal great grandfather > DH's father > DH > one of our sons, all have the middle name of William

 

My mom made it VERY clear that I had no obligation whatsoever to carry on the Catherine, but I wanted to.  I will tell my children the same thing.  I'm perfectly happy if it stops with them.  I happened to like both names and wanted to use them, but they do not need to if they feel differently. 

[Orthodox6]

Gaillardia, I did the same thing -- retained my middle name as my "new" middle name, rather than place my maiden name in that position.  My middle name is the given name of my mother's father, whom I never met because he died many decades before I was born.  My parents had no problem when I explained to them that it was the only "thing that I had" from that grandfather. 

 

Many of the cultural traditions handed down within families are wonderful, for they engender a sense of community with those who precede us.  They are not at all just "empty" practices. 

[mommaduck]

We followed traditional Greek practice only for our eldest. By that system, Boy #1 has first name same as the father's father. Boy #2 has same first name as did his mother's father. Girl #1 is named same as her father's mother. Girl #2 is named same as her mother's mother. Subsequent children may be named anything. . . . The middle name is same as the child's father is named. For example, a girl whose father is named "John" would have the middle name "Joanna." . . . Without exception, a first name must be that of a recognized Eastern Orthodox saint.

 

A typical Greek joke is that when in a movie theatre, if someone suddenly calls out, "Niko, where are you?!" -- at least half of the audience will stand up.

 

Half the parish will be named Nicos, George, or Alexander. 

 

Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Niki, Nick....and I am Gus.

 

 

In our family (not Greek), we have avoided family names. My stepfather's family was against any "Juniors", so one of my brothers has his father's first name, but a different middle name. On my mother's side, I don't know of a single name passed down...everyone is different. On my father's side there is an Elizabeth in every generation....starting with a Frances Elizabeth or an Elizabeth Frances (there are both and I don't remember which was first). Frances is carried on every other generation. There has been one name for the last three generations, but I think we've all agreed to let that name die. Another name is a family name from more than one side and is being past down.either as first or middle name. 

[Orthodox6]

Half the parish will be named Nicos, George, or Alexander. 

 

Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Niki, Nick....and I am Gus.

 

 

 

 

. . . or "John".

 

"Gus", anyway, is the American name randomly associated with the name "Kostas" (nickname for Constantinos).

[mommaduck]

. . . or "John".

 

"Gus", anyway, is the American name randomly associated with the name "Kostas" (nickname for Constantinos).

 

I was wondering what name it was standing in for! Thank you! I know whenever a Greek woman tells me her name is Tina, Nancy, or Kathy, it's standing in for (Tina, I forget...Constantina?), Nitsa, or Katerina...or other closely related names. 

 

("Gus" actor was at my youngest child's nouna's wedding ;) )

[Orthodox6]

I wonder if there is any truth to what has seemed to me a "sociological stereotype" --  Whenever I have met a male who is "____, II", "______, III", or even (poor guy!) "______, IV" or greater . . . In my experience, these always have been wealthy families, with numerous doctors, lawyers, and bankers hanging from the family tree branches.

[Orthodox6]

I was wondering what name it was standing in for! Thank you! I know whenever a Greek woman tells me her name is Tina, Nancy, or Kathy, it's standing in for (Tina, I forget...Constantina?), Nitsa, or Katerina...or other closely related names. 

 

("Gus" actor was at my youngest child's nouna's wedding ;) )

 

"Tina" can be nickname for Constantina.  It also can be nickname for Katherine, via the chain reduction of Ekaterini becomes Katina becomes Tina.

 

Female nicknames ending in "-itsa" baffle me.  One (reposed) aunt went by "Litsa", and I never knew her real name!  Same confusion (to me) from female nicknames ending in "-oula".  We have a cousin Toula, and I don't know the derivation of her name, either.

[mommaduck]

Yes, I think Nitsa was even short for something...but at church, she was Nitsa and at work she was Nancy.

I'm worse as a convert...there was no saint variation on my name. My name is two words. So I became Brigid/Brighid, which no one seems able to spell or pronounce properly other than my own nouna. Everyone else says Bridgette or some further variation :P 

[J-rap]

In my husband's family, all of the boys have the same middle name and all of the girls have the same middle name.  We haven't carried on that tradition.  A lot of people think our children are named after an older relative because they're all kind of old-fashioned names, but they aren't.  :)

 

 

[Orthodox6]

Yes, I think Nitsa was even short for something...but at church, she was Nitsa and at work she was Nancy.

 

I'm worse as a convert...there was no saint variation on my name. My name is two words. So I became Brigid/Brighid, which no one seems able to spell or pronounce properly other than my own nouna. Everyone else says Bridgette or some further variation :p

 

I can't imagine people not having heard (or read, at least) the name "Brigid."  It feels an "ordinary" (you know what I mean) name, not some far-out invention.

 

We had so many laughs at home over people who insisted that we were supposed to call our son Vasilios the wholly unrelated name of "Bill."  Had we wished to name him William, we would have done so!  His name never caused any difficulty for people at all until he was in high school and met one boy who was exceptionally lazy and refused to pronounce this simple name.  The guy dubbed my son "Vhee" -- and the name has stuck among many of his non-Orthodox friends.  . . .  The only other "variation" came from our daughter who, when a toddler, called her eldest brother, "Sooty".

[KellieK]

My friend has a tradition that I find fascinating. Her children's initials spell their first name. Her oldest is Zoe Olivia Erickson. The next is Kyle Yeshua Lance Erickson. The third is Jane Anna Natalia Erickson. They admit that this limits the names they can use, but don't plan on having many more children.

[sassenach]

We have 3 names on dh's side that are continually in rotation. The first born son gets some combo of 2 of the 3 names. We broke tradition and just used one of the names as a middle name and chose our own first name.

 

All if my kids have A middle names and they all seem to be into that. I'm told that they'll continue the tradition.

[Jennifer3141]

My son is  a IV so yes... This was explained to me on our first date so it wasn't a surprise. Out of solidarity for my future daughter, I then insisted that she have her great-grandmother's and grandmother's names. So that's how I ended up with two kids with very old names. :)

[chocolatechip]

Half the parish will be named Nicos, George, or Alexander. 

 

Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Niki, Nick....and I am Gus.

 

And 50% of the girls will be Maria or some variation thereof.

[indigomama]

I kept my given middle name and dropped my maiden name; most women I know drop their middle name and take the maiden name as the middle name when they get married. People seem baffled that I kept my middle name, it sounds like a last name. My first name is my maternal grandmother's middle name, and my middle name is my paternal grandmother's middle name. My mom's name was feminized after her father's name. You know, come to think of it, I guess we have named some of our kids first or middle names after other family members, but didn't do it as a tradition. In some cases, didn't even know they were family names until way after kid was named.

 

 

You are in the states? It must be regional, because I do not know one person IRL, who dropped their middle name and used their maiden name as a new middle name upon marriage. I've never even heard of such a thing until I read your post and someone's follow up post. Interesting.

[purpleowl]

No real traditions.  FIL's first name is DH's middle name, and DH likes that connection, so DS's middle name is DH's first name.  But it doesn't go back farther than that, and we'll certainly make sure DS knows that he's under no pressure to continue it.

 

 

[Hunter's Moon]

If my maiden name had been a name easily used as a middle, I would have transferred it. But, I also really like my middle name. I feel bare without my maiden name. *shrug*

 

My mother's middle name is her mother's maiden name with "ann" tagged on. It is nice, and I have considered using it. DH doesn't like it much, though.

[Orthodox6]

You are in the states? It must be regional, because I do not know one person IRL, who dropped their middle name and used their maiden name as a new middle name upon marriage. I never even heard of such a thing until I read your post and someone following. Interesting.

I'm in the U.S. where nearly unanimous practice for probably "forever" has been for a woman to marry and then use her first name, maiden name, then husband's surname. I was unusual to do as did Gaillardia. My observations, however, are limited to Western European backgrounds.

 

I would enjoy hearing of other people's understanding of this topic.

[Closeacademy]

One of the traditions in our family is that they use the middle name rather than the first name. 

[mommaduck]

I'm in the U.S. where nearly unanimous practice for probably "forever" has been for a woman to marry and then use her first name, maiden name, then husband's surname. I was unusual to do as did Gaillardia. My observations, however, are limited to Western European backgrounds.

 

I would enjoy hearing of other people's understanding of this topic.

I've lived all over the US and I've only known a few that traded their middle name for their maiden name upon marriage. Most I've known, including myself, have kept their first and middle and have entirely dropped their maiden name for their married name. I've lived in the Northwest, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic Region, and the Southeast. No female in my family or my stepfather's family have replaced their middle names with maiden names when marrying. I do genealogy and I don't often find this either...not even on my husband's side or other's that I have helped.

 

If I had known I could entirely change my name, I would have put my first and middle back in proper order (my stepfather demanded it's change when I was a child due to his biogtry as my names are very ethnic words...one acceptable to him and the other not) and then added my proper maiden name (was raised with stepfather's name from age four on) and then my married.

[vonfirmath]

Ruth is a middle name that is traditional in my side of the family.

 

We don't have an established tradition with the name Ruth... But who knows. I might have started one.

 

I know my mother is named after her Aunt Margaret (Ruth)

 

And I named my daughter (Ruth) after my mother... (And several other Ruths in the family)

 

My husband's family seems to have a tradition that, every other generation, the oldest boy takes the mother's maiden name as his middle name. Since DH does not have his mom's maiden name, we passed that on to our son. (In addition, it makes my dad happy. He had only daughters and his name lives on a bit longer this way).

 

 

[bobbeym]

DH broke his family's tradition by refusing to pass down his first name to eldest DS.  He doesn't like his name and wasn't going to subject it on anyone else.

 

My dad's paternal family had a tradition of naming the boys John but they were each called something different.   My oldest brother John doesn't have kids, but our younger brother named his son John and calls him by his middle name.

 

My dad's maternal family gave each girl their mother's first name and a different J-middle name.  Most of those girls then did the same thing and named all their own girls with the same letter.  It's a very large Catholic family and extended reunions are crazy.

 

Both my boys and my DIL have an A name.  We joke that DS16 will have to marry a girl with an A name to carry on the tradition.

[vonfirmath]

I've lived all over the US and I've only known a few that traded their middle name for their maiden name upon marriage. Most I've known, including myself, have kept their first and middle and have entirely dropped their maiden name for their married name. I've lived in the Northwest, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic Region, and the Southeast. No female in my family or my stepfather's family have replaced their middle names with maiden names when marrying. I do genealogy and I don't often find this either...not even on my husband's side or other's that I have helped.

 

If I had known I could entirely change my name, I would have put my first and middle back in proper order (my stepfather demanded it's change when I was a child due to his biogtry as my names are very ethnic words...one acceptable to him and the other not) and then added my proper maiden name (was raised with stepfather's name from age four on) and then my married.

 

I have the Same first and middle name with my husband's sister. He didn't think that was a big deal because the only tradition he knew of for married names was what his parents, aunts, etc. all did -- drop the middle name and put their maiden name in there.

 

In MY family, the maiden name is dropped and the middle name is kept. I like my middle name so that is what I did. And, at least until next October when my SIL is due to get married, we now share all three names.

 

 

I'm in the U.S. where nearly unanimous practice for probably "forever" has been for a woman to marry and then use her first name, maiden name, then husband's surname. I was unusual to do as did Gaillardia. My observations, however, are limited to Western European backgrounds.

 

I would enjoy hearing of other people's understanding of this topic.

 

Unanimous? I'd never heard of it until I met my now-husband.

 

 

[Jackie]

My husband's family uses the same-gender parent's first name as the child's middle name. His parents are Charles and Jane, so he and his brother have the middle name Charles and his three sisters have the middle name Jane.

 

I told him we could follow the tradition for a boy, but the name Jacquelyn just didn't fit as a middle name IMO so the tradition ended for us when we had a girl.

[peachskittles]

My great-grandmother, my mother and my daughter all have the same middle name.  I have been working on my family tree for awhile and did not notice any patterns in naming, minus naming the next alive child the name of the child that died previously.  One family in my tree had like four 4 Henry's (I think that was the name), 3 who died before the age of one and then finally the one that lived well into his 60s.  All of my children has either a first or middle name from someone in our family, minus one child who is completely original.

[Jean in Newcastle]

One of the traditions in our family is that they use the middle name rather than the first name. 

We do this too.  This does make a phenomena where most of my doctors call me by my first name but some are friendlier and have found out my middle name and call me that.  So when I call for appointments I always have to think about which name they know me as!  

[sassenach]

My friend has a tradition that I find fascinating. Her children's initials spell their first name. Her oldest is Zoe Olivia Erickson. The next is Kyle Yeshua Lance Erickson. The third is Jane Anna Natalia Erickson. They admit that this limits the names they can use, but don't plan on having many more children.

That happened with one of my kids unintentionally.  The first three letters of his name (which form his natural nickname) are also his initials.  Pretty fun!

[melbotoast]

I'm in the U.S. where nearly unanimous practice for probably "forever" has been for a woman to marry and then use her first name, maiden name, then husband's surname. I was unusual to do as did Gaillardia. My observations, however, are limited to Western European backgrounds.

 

I would enjoy hearing of other people's understanding of this topic.

I'm also in the US and my family drops the maiden name completely and keeps the middle name. My mom doesn't have a middle name, so now she is FirstName MarriedLastName.

[sassenach]

I'm in the U.S. where nearly unanimous practice for probably "forever" has been for a woman to marry and then use her first name, maiden name, then husband's surname. I was unusual to do as did Gaillardia. My observations, however, are limited to Western European backgrounds.

 

I would enjoy hearing of other people's understanding of this topic.

I don't consider that a typical tradition in the US at all.  I know a lot of Mexicans, and they have a somewhat elaborate naming system- http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/afburns/merida/yuc/mexinam.htm

 

The American women I know mostly drop their maiden name altogether.  A few keep it, not taking their dh's name at all.  I haven't met any hyphenated women, but plenty of hyphenated kids.

[Lolly]

Dh's family is full of Katherines. The eldest dd of Katherine is a Katherine. Variations in spelling have occurred occasionally from C to K. THe line goes back...a long, long, long, way (like cross the ocean before the revolution long way). Once it went from the Katherine to a niece because there were no female offspring from the K. There is a broach that goes with it that belonged to the original K. One of my girls will be in line for it as this generational K has no dc. She will be the second niece to have inherited, and the first to not actually use the name. She does plan to name her firstborn dd Katherine. It is extremely cool, but there are far too many Katherines in the family!