# Traditional Family names



## hollydolly (Aug 25, 2021)

When I ws young it was common espeically in Celtic families like mine to pass down the name of the father or mother to the first son or first girl...and often the second children would be named after an uncle or aunt..

This is what happened in my family .. My grandfather's name was Charlie, my Father, My elder  brother, and his son my nephew , and his son too .. all Charlie, 

I was the first born girl..but my mother was determined that I wasn't going to be named after anyone in the family.. so I was given both my grandmothers' names ( they had the same first name).. as my middle name

My next Brother was named after our paternal Uncle  and also the name of my Maternal grandfather , who shared the name .. 

One of my sisters' was given the surname of my maternal grandmother as her middle name


How about you..did this happen in your family ?


----------



## Pepper (Aug 25, 2021)

We were supposed to use the same first letter of a lost loved one, i.e.  Little Thomas was named for his deceased grandfather Timothy.  The loved one must be deceased.  We did not do this when our son was named, so I guess I broke the mold.


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 25, 2021)

Pepper said:


> We were supposed to use the same first letter of a lost loved one, i.e.  Little Thomas was named for his deceased grandfather Timothy.  The loved one must be deceased.  We did not do this when our son was named, so I guess I broke the mold.


Oh that's interesting, that your family chose only to name children after deceased family members... was that for any particular reason?

All my grandparents and uncles etc were very much alive when we were named after them ..in fact it's never occurred to me until now, but my father was the 3rd eldest of 16 kids.. 3  or 4 who died as children, none of us were given those children's names , maybe superstition being Irish/Scots..I don't know , but everyone was alive and well  of whose names we were given


----------



## Pepper (Aug 25, 2021)

It's part of Jewish traditions on naming, must be "tribal" as not every Jew has this "rule."  i.e. I've met Jews who will name children with the full first name of a relative, and (GASP) sometimes the relative is ALIVE.  Shocking.  Horror of horrors.

For example:  I have the same first initial as my Great-Grandma, let's call her "Patricia"---when I was given a P name, my father's boss' mother had been named "Paula"---so, the boss paid my father to name me Paula instead of Patricia, as no one in his family was allowed to do so, and the boss wanted someone he knew to have his mother's exact name.  So, I have 2 birth certificates:  one for Patricia and one for Paula.


----------



## horseless carriage (Aug 25, 2021)

No it didn't, thankfully. Dad's name was Parciphal but he shortened it to Percy. But, amusingly, my actual name is that of a 1940's film star, a huge celebrity of his day, and that is, Robert Taylor. Thankfully, I don't share any of my namesake's actual name. I'm not surprised that he changed it, the latter being: "Spangler Arlington Bruge."


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 25, 2021)

Pepper said:


> It's part of Jewish traditions on naming, must be "tribal" as not every Jew has this "rule."  i.e. I've met Jews who will name children with the full first name of a relative, and (GASP) sometimes the relative is ALIVE.  Shocking.  Horror of horrors.


wow... !!

In our family there was never any confusion  about who was who if we were all int eh same place..for example, one would be called Charlie, another chic. another chaz.. another Charles..  same with the females..Margaret, meg, peggy etc..


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 25, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> No it didn't, thankfully. Dad's name was Parciphal but he shortened it to Percy. But, amusingly, my actual name is that of a 1940's film star, a huge celebrity of his day, and that is, Robert Taylor. Thankfully, I don't share any of my namesake's actual name. I'm not surprised that he changed it, the latter being: "Spangler Arlington Bruge."


Parciphal.... wow,  wasn't that the name of an Opera by Wagner.. was your dad German ?


----------



## horseless carriage (Aug 25, 2021)

Grandmother worked in service, I don't know the full story, but the head of the household had that name. Did he do the deed? Nobody knows and it's best that it stays that way.


----------



## Murrmurr (Aug 25, 2021)

No naming traditions in my family as far as I know. My dad chose our first names and mom chose our middle names, but that's just what they decided; there was no precedence. Dad chose the names of prominent statesmen for his sons. My name is actually Franklin, but I've always used the foreshortened "Frank."

But everyone in my family calls me Mick because that's what dad started calling me when I was a toddler. No one knows why, and I never asked him.


----------



## Pink Biz (Aug 25, 2021)

Pepper said:


> We were supposed to use the same first letter of a lost loved one.



Same in my family. My first and middle names begin with the first letters of my two deceased grandmothers. I don't think that applied to my two older brothers though...I think my mom just picked names she liked, not really sure.

My oldest brother didn't approve of the first name my mom picked out for me (she was a classmate who he disliked), so he got to choose my name!


----------



## jujube (Aug 25, 2021)

One of my sisters was born on my maternal grandmother's birthday.  There were some words exchanged when my mother didn't name the baby after her in any way.

In my late husband's family there were 11 kids. The next generation started recycling names. At family reunions, you had to ask, "Now are you talking about Chuck's John or Cathy's John.  Third generation did the same thing. Now you have 3-4 Johns and at least a half dozen Cathys. 

We declined to participate in the naming game.


----------



## IrisSenior (Aug 25, 2021)

Eldest sister's middle name was an aunt
Oldest brother had mom's maiden name as his first but he was called by his second
Next brother's middle name was a co-worker friend of parents
Me - I received my mothers middle name and passed it on to my daughter
Next sister's middle name was an aunt
Next sister's 2 middle names were the nurses that helped deliver him
Last son - was picked out of a book?


----------



## CinnamonSugar (Aug 25, 2021)

No family name traditions that I know of but my parents named all four of us kids with names that started with 'J.'

As the youngest, I lost count of how many times I got called "Jimmyjoejanetjeanne"


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 25, 2021)

@jujube , I was born on my fathers' Birthday.. thank god they didn't name me after him..

@Pink Biz , that was wise of your mum... or else your brother may have never bonded with you right from the beginning bearing a name of a girl he actively disliked


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 25, 2021)

CinnamonSugar said:


> No family name traditions that I know of but my parents named all four of us kids with names that started with 'J.'
> 
> As the youngest, I lost count of how many times I got called "Jimmyjoejanetjeanne"


Now, I see that all the time.. doesn't that cause huge confusion in the house when the Mail Comes addressed to J Smith ?


----------



## CinnamonSugar (Aug 25, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> Now, I see that all the time.. doesn't that cause huge confusion in the house when the Mail Comes addressed to J Smith ?


It could I guess.  But brothers/sister were all gone by the time I was six years old, so it was a moot point for us


----------



## Pappy (Aug 25, 2021)

My middle name was dads first name..Walter..My first born boy is named after me.


----------



## Ceege (Aug 25, 2021)

On my father's side, instead of naming the first born son after the father with 'Jr.' added at the end of his name, the child would get the first name of his father and his mother's maiden name would become his middle name.  They were Scottish.


----------



## Sassycakes (Aug 25, 2021)

My Mom named Her first child Salvatore after My Dad's father. Next my sister she named Charlotte after a book she read. When I was born she hadn't picked out a name because she lost my twin in the 2nd month of pregnancy and she thought I would never survive. I was born exactly on my due date and weighed 7 Pounds. My Dad asked the nurse her name and she said it was Barbara Jane. My Mom said she liked Barbara but it had to be Barbara Ann because she prayed to St Ann. Besides the fact that I already had cousins named after both my Grandmothers.


----------



## AnnieA (Aug 25, 2021)

Ours just keeps recycling them ....no particular order.  I'm the 5th generation of a variant of Ann on my mom's side and one of my nieces continues that tradition.  On my dad's side, there are several pages of William as a given name in a genealogy directory of his surname ...by far the most common given name in that family; my dad and nephew are both named William.


----------



## DaveA (Aug 25, 2021)

I have no idea where my first name, David, came from but my middle name was my mom's maiden name.  I ended up  carrying both mom and dad's family names.


----------



## jujube (Aug 25, 2021)

My mother got my first and middle name, odd spellings and all, from a death notice of an elderly woman who lived down the street.  Creepy, huh?


----------



## AnnieA (Aug 26, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> When I ws young it was common espeically in Celtic families like mine to pass down the name of the father or mother to the first son or first girl...and often the second children would be named after an uncle or aunt..
> 
> ....
> 
> How about you..did this happen in your family ?



Have been trying to track down a ggggg-something grandfather using Scottish naming patterns.  Only problem is the name is John Fraser born in Inverness-shire in the 1720s.   Will probably never find that due to scant records at that time (lots of losses post Culloden)  and the fact that there are a lot!!! of John Frasers through centuries in the Highlands.


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 26, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> Have been trying to track down a ggggg-something grandfather using Scottish naming patterns.  Only problem is the name is John Fraser born in Inverness-shire in the 1720s.   Will probably never find that due to scant records at that time (lots of losses post Culloden)  and the fact that there are a lot!!! of John Frasers through centuries in the Highlands.


there certainly is.. ..yes John Fraser a very common name indeed in my home country.....and of course Inverness-shire is the largest county in Scotland covering not only towns and cities but the outlying Islands as well... including the outer Hebrides, where parish records weren't always kept for births and deaths...


----------



## JustBonee (Aug 26, 2021)

Funny   ...    I like being original,   and not overusing  family names. 

When our first daughter was born,   the first grandchild on both sides,  everyone in the family thought they knew what her name would be ..... as she had one grandmother &  two great grandmothers    named  "Mary"   .... 

NO WAY   was that even    a consideration  ...   I guess they got over it.


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 26, 2021)

Bonnie said:


> Funny   ...    I like being original,   and not overusing  family names.
> 
> When our first daughter was born,   the first grandchild on both sides,  everyone in the family thought they knew what her name would be ..... as she had one grandmother &  two great grandmothers    named  "Mary"   ....
> 
> NO WAY   was that even    a consideration  ...   I guess they got over it.


I was the same, didn't name mine after anyone in the family at all....


----------



## Pinky (Aug 26, 2021)

My hubby's middle name is his maternal grandfather's surname.

Our daughter's middle name is my mother's given name. It's Japanese. It is also the given name of my niece (brother's daughter).


----------



## Alligatorob (Aug 26, 2021)

On my mother's side we have a long line of men named "_Reps_", it seems to come with the last name Jones, so maybe Welsh??  I had several ancestors named Reps Jones.  

I don't know its origin, but it is a rare name, in the US anyway.


----------



## Jules (Aug 26, 2021)

For my husband, the sons got his first name as their middle name.  His second son was named after my husband’s brother, who is now deceased.  They were common names then. 

If you were to look on the stats of the favourite names of the year, they would be very low nowadays. 

My first daughter’s middle name is for her only aunt.  This is not a common name.  Should have used it for my second daughter too since I like the name.  

Neither of my daughters have common first names.


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 26, 2021)

Alligatorob said:


> On my mother's side we have a long line of men named "_Reps_", it seems to come with the last name Jones, so maybe Welsh??  I had several ancestors named Reps Jones.
> 
> I don't know its origin, but it is a rare name, in the US anyway.


I've never heard the name 'reps''... so I had to look it up given that you think it might be Welsh because of the surname ..there was a few listed but all in the USA., but a very rare name ... I found this too...any relation ?

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/c...A&death=1915_Brunswick-+Virginia-+USA&types=p


----------



## Sassycakes (Aug 26, 2021)

It's funny reading this again. When I had my son we named him after my husband. So when we had my daughter I said to my husband why didn't we give her my name. He said that would be dumb because then we would have John, John, Barbara, Barbara. Of course when my first grandson was born He became John the 3rd, but there still is only one Barbara.LOL


----------



## Raven (Aug 26, 2021)

My husband was named after his father and then called by a nickname.
It caused him problems in school, at work and with mail his whole life.

I think the very least a child should have is a name of their own.


----------



## AnnieA (Aug 26, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> there certainly is.. ..yes John Fraser a very common name indeed in my home country.....and of course Inverness-shire is the largest county in Scotland covering not only towns and cities but the outlying Islands as well... including the outer Hebrides, where parish records weren't always kept for births and deaths...



I have his death date.   He was a Boston MA based ship captain and died at sea of an illness.  Some family lore says his body was brought back to Boston for burial but he's not listed as buried in Copps Hill with other family.   He was a member of the Scots’ Charitable Society (oldest charitable organization in North America and it's still in existence) and listed his birth date and place in his membership info.   I correspond with a direct line male descendant in California who has y-DNA tested, but so far, he has no matches beyond this John Fraser.  I keep hoping he'll someday match a direct line descendant of a branch that's still in Scotland.


----------



## Alligatorob (Aug 26, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> I found this too...any relation ?


Thanks for doing this and yes, Reps Hardaway Jones was my great grand father.  

He is the only Reps shown, the others have an R initial and without a membership in ancestry I cannot tell if they are named Reps or not.  I don't recognize any of the others.

You are right I just guessed Welsh because of the Jones name, maybe its just a local American name??


----------



## hollydolly (Aug 26, 2021)

Alligatorob said:


> Thanks for doing this and yes, Reps Hardaway Jones was my great grand father.
> 
> He is the only Reps shown, the others have an R initial and without a membership in ancestry I cannot tell if they are named Reps or not.  I don't recognize any of the others.
> 
> You are right I just guessed Welsh because of the Jones name, maybe its just a local American name??


Goodness me , fancy me choosng your great grandfather to post a link to... wow!!...hopefully tho'  with both you and @AnnieA  if there's anyone else out there looking for these names, these posts will help them find you both


----------



## Alligatorob (Aug 26, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> Goodness me , fancy me choosng your great grandfather to post a link to... wow!!


Small world I guess.  And thanks again!


----------



## fuzzybuddy (Aug 28, 2021)

There's a ten year difference in my, & my brothers birthdays. So I was around for the discussions of his name. At first, they wanted to call him, "John". But  then, "no", people would call him Johnny, and they didn't like that. So they settled on "James". How's that working for you, Jimmy?


----------



## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

One of my sons is named after my grandfather and my father (James).
I wanted to name one of them after their paternal grandfather, but my husband said no, because it rhymed with something that our son would be teased about school. (Briscoe = Crisco) I found out later that my FIL had been called something like Tim or Tom most of his life, so I guess he didn't like Briscoe either.

He was a very nice man, but he died two months after we got married, from a massive stroke. He used to call me every evening just to chat. He'd ask me what I was fixing for dinner. I thought this was strange, since my father called me maybe twice -- it was my job to call him. But I really enjoyed these easy conversations with my FIL.

My sister and I didn't have middle names, and I hated having to explain that when filling out forms. My dad said girls get middle names when they get married. So I made sure my maiden name was in my legal name so I wouldn't have to keep either explaining or writing NMI on forms.


----------



## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

fuzzybuddy said:


> There's a ten year difference in my, & my brothers birthdays. So I was around for the discussions of his name. At first, they wanted to call him, "John". But  then, "no", people would call him Johnny, and they didn't like that. So they settled on "James". How's that working for you, Jimmy?


My mom thought she'd have a girl when my brother was born. By then, she was glad he was a boy because my sister and I promptly named all of our dolls Patricia, which was the name for the baby if it was another girl. She hated that name by the time she gave birth to James/Jimmy/Jimbo/Jim/Tigerino (all one boy).

My dad, also Jim/Jimmy had several friends who were named Jim, and all of them had sons named Jim. It was kind of confusing at our house when all the friends got together. Everybody answered to that name at once.


----------



## jujube (Sep 12, 2021)

I asked the Spousal Equivalent why, as the oldest
 son, he wasn't the "Junior" and his second brother was.  

He claimed not to know, so I finally got up the nerve to ask his mother.   She said that when he was born, she asked his father if he wanted him to be a Junior and he told her to do whatever she wanted. So she named him her favorite male name.

When son #2 came along, her husband decided he did want  a Junior after all.  

Funny thing.....#1 was the spitting image of the dad.


----------



## Capt Lightning (Sep 12, 2021)

On my father's side, for many generations the eldest boy was called William.  It was also common to give the eldest child the mother's maiden name as a middle name.  Hence my grandfather was William and his eldest son and first grandson were also William.  On the female side, my sister's middle name is my mother's maiden name - Allan  (part of clan McDonald).

Mrs L has a 'portmanteau' name made from her parent's names, but I simply have names that were popular at the time.  We broke tradition by just  giving our children names that we liked.


----------



## Sassycakes (Sep 13, 2021)

My Mom and my Dad's mothers were both named Concetta so I have Aunts with that name and many cousins. My Dad's father was named Salvatore and so was my brother and 2 cousins and an Uncle named Salvatore. My brother named his first son Frank after my Dad and his 2nd son is named Salvatore. Lucky for me I was named Barbara after the nurse that helped deliver me.


----------



## hollydolly (Sep 13, 2021)

Does anyone still have their surname on their front door these days ?  We used to when I was a kid as did everyone else that we knew ... but I haven't seen anyone do it for a very long time...

My paternal  grandfathers' name plate on his door were the same 2 initials and surname as my father so the same as our door name plate ...some people took great pride in polishing the brass or metal name plate on the door, as did my granny and my mother, .. and I remember being very excited in the 60's when we got a Plastic light up perspex one with a ding dong  bell.. where we could just print our surname on the paper inside the case..


----------



## Capt Lightning (Sep 14, 2021)

My parents had a small embossed brass name plate on their door.  Mother would keep it well polished.
A few people here have their names on doors, but the most common surname in this area is 'Milne' so you still have to know who's who.


----------



## timoc (Sep 14, 2021)

I went to school with a lad called Richard (he liked to be called, Dick), who was named after his father (Richard) who in turn was named after his father (Richard). 
Anyway, my mate, Richard's sister, Susan, married a feller called Frank Large and had a son they named, Richard.
Now think about it, that poor lad with the name, Richard Large, must have been the butt of jokes to his school-mates.


----------



## hollydolly (Sep 14, 2021)

Capt Lightning said:


> My parents had a small embossed brass name plate on their door.  Mother would keep it well polished.
> A few people here have their names on doors, but the most common surname in this area is 'Milne' so you still have to know who's who.


Milne is a very common name in Aberdeen I know that ... doesn't sound Scottish to those outside of the country but very traditional up there in Aberdeenshire ..

of course when I was growing up on the west coast,  the vast majority of people were either Called mac something.. MacIntosh, Mackay..McDonald, Donaldson, Robertson.. etc.. or Campbell, Cameron  or Gibson. or an Irish surname Connelly, Cassidy , Boyle etc.... so when we lived in the red sandstone tenement buidling with 8 families in each apartment block 2 families on each floor ,  it was imperative that people had their names on their doors for the postman to know who was who... ...

We have one of the most traditional Scottish surnames in my family so there's a lot of us spread around the whole world...


----------



## Lewkat (Sep 14, 2021)

I have my paternal grandmother's first name as my middle name.  My sister was named for my mom and her mother.  My brother next to me was named for my dad and the youngest boy wasn't named for anyone.  My son is named Liam and it wasn't a well known name in the U.S. at the time, but when Liam Neeson hit the scene, everyone started naming their boys Liam it seems.  Still, in checking with, "howmanyofme.com" my kid is the only one with his name in the U.S.  This of course is use Christian and surname.


----------



## Capt Lightning (Sep 14, 2021)

My surname is very common in the Scottish borders where my father's family were from, but very uncommon in Hampshire where I lived for many years.  Although it's a short name, I usually had to spell it for people.  Then I ended up working in Edinburgh and on day one, I went to the reception desk at the office.  Hello, my name is ..., that's xxxx.  The man behind the desk looked at me and said "We know how to spell here".

I found myself working in an environment where several people had the same names as me.

As well as 'Milne', a lot of names here end in 'ie' - Cowie, Lovie, Hosie, Cassie, Howie  etc..

A quick aside...  I notice that in the US, you seem to say "named for"  while we say "named after".


----------



## hollydolly (Sep 14, 2021)

Capt Lightning said:


> My surname is very common in the Scottish borders where my father's family were from, but very uncommon in Hampshire where I lived for many years.  Although it's a short name, I usually had to spell it for people.  Then I ended up working in Edinburgh and on day one, I went to the reception desk at the office.  Hello, my name is ..., that's xxxx.  The man behind the desk looked at me and said "We know how to spell here".
> 
> I found myself working in an environment where several people had the same names as me.
> 
> ...


...or _called _after


----------



## hollydolly (Sep 14, 2021)

Lewkat said:


> I have my paternal grandmother's first name as my middle name.  My sister was named for my mom and her mother.  My brother next to me was named for my dad and the youngest boy wasn't named for anyone.  My son is named Liam and it wasn't a well known name in the U.S. at the time, but when Liam Neeson hit the scene, everyone started naming their boys Liam it seems.  Still, in checking with, "howmanyofme.com" my kid is the only one with his name in the U.S.  This of course is use Christian and surname.


Liam is an extremely popular boys name here in the under 40's...


----------



## WheatenLover (Sep 14, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> I was the same, didn't name mine after anyone in the family at all....


My husband didn't like any of the name I did. We ended up with what I call "white bread names". While I was in the hospital, I had to fill out a form for the boys' birth certificates I seriously considered giving them names I liked. But I figured that wasn't fair, and that he would get very angry. So, the boys kept the names we agreed upon.

Two of the names I wanted were Maximilian and Augustus. I haven't met any kids with those names. I can't remember the third name I chose.

Then I claimed "the right" to name my daughter. I didn't have a computer, and I'd given away my baby name book. The first name I chose for her was Octavia. i should have stuck to my guns, even though no one liked it. So I decided on another name. It seemed like every other kid we came into contact with had that name. Once, I took the kids to the playground when my daughter was a toddler, and there were 4 kids there with her name, and one of those kids even had her middle name.

Then we got a dog, a collie. I registered him as Holly Jolly Collie (like the song about having a holly jolly Christmas). But the name we used was Teddy, courtesy of the kids.

We got another dog, and again the kids named him a popular name. I didn't care that he is an Irish breed, or what the name meant, I wanted to name him Jetson. If I had a dollar for everyone whose said to us that their son is named Aidan, I'd be rich.

I figure names are not a hill to die on, as long as they aren't horrible or embarrassing.


----------

