Day 3: Let's talk names
My maiden name is an English/Scottish version of the German meaning lion and my married name means the outer courtyard of a castle or someone who lives there.
My first name was chosen by my dad; my mom a) sure that I was a boy and b) having a favorite name she wanted to use let my dad take the lead in selecting the 'girl' name. Joy had been a favorite of his since he knew someone by that name in college. I was born in '73 and when my mom first heard his choice she thought it sounded too much like the names Hippies were using; Sunshine & Peace-like ~ but stuck to the deal and quickly came to love the name. My middle name Marie-Hazel are my grandmothers names.
My husband is a junior; his first name is his paternal grandmother's maiden name and his grandfather's first name is his middle. As it happens both his grandfather's had versions of the same name as their first name.
Elisabeth (our oldest) is my favorite girl name since I'm a teenager and her middle names are family names from both our families.
My husband did not want our son to be 'a third' but did like the idea of him having the same initials as his dad and grandfather. Liam was our favorite boy name starting with 'L'.
Finally Caitlin is my husband's favorite girl name (returning the favor from getting my favorite first time round) and again we used family names as her middle names.
Love 'name stories'; please share some of yours.
Linking up with Dara for 31 days of family writing fun.
I like your middle name and that it's your grandmother's names! If we had that custom in our family (we don't name after those still living) my middle name could have been Martha-Selma! And my daughter's could have been Carol-Myrna! Ha. Neither are quite as nice as Marie-Hazel.
ReplyDeleteMy mom named me after a girl she knew in high school who had beautiful red hair and was very nice. My name, Gretchen, is also German and went very well with our Belgian last name.
ReplyDeleteOur son is a junior, against my better judgement, Javier Ernesto. Our daughter is Alice Andrea. After Saint Alice and my mother, Andrea, who was named after Saint Andre.
In-utero baby has no name at the moment and we haven't even come close to agreeing to any names. My husband insists that a boy should have a Spanish name to honor his heritage...but I feel like we already did that with our son. Plus he really likes some VERY spanish sounding names, that I just can't see myself using day-in day-out. Juan Pablo anyone?
Love hearing the stories behind your family's names. My first name was decided en route to the hospital after a long time of being Heidi Lynn. I was named for Molly in the Jazz Singer movie with Neil Diamond (whose birthday I share). I have 2 middle names. The first is a first name that my mom liked and the second is my paternal grandmother's maiden name.
ReplyDeleteMy son's name is the only boy name we could agree upon (Henry) and he also has 2 middle names. The first one is following a tradition in my husband's family where the men have John as a middle name, and it was also the name of my husband's paternal grandfather. The second middle name has double meaning: Francis. It's in honor of my maternal grandfather but it also has ties to Fatima. I truly believe my son is the result of a miracle from when I visited Fatima. So, I said I would have a name that would have a Fatima tie regardless of gender. So, he also has Francis for Francisco of Fatima.
My parents had a rule that if it was a girl my dad got to name her and if it was a boy my mom got to name her just so that the baby didn't end up with any awkward past relationship names. Well, my dad got to name two of us and my mom never got to name anybody. He also put a y in my name so that I would stand out - it worked.
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