I wonder how many of us named their child after a special loved one? Do you think this tradition is fading?

Rainman is named after my father - who I adored.

I will advise anyone what not to do. Do not spend 9 months discussing names with your pregnant daughter or terribly interested son even if they fully indicate the desire to do so. Out pops the baby and gets a name you never heard mentioned. It took me a week to not call her what I thought was the choice and that was not on purpose but instinct.

Then flash forward several years and while having an unrelated argument you are told in a manner that reeks of talk therapy that you were out of bounds discussing names. At least I could reply that I had been asked. For baby "2 I never brought up names nor did I with 2nd daughter nor will I hopefully ever again.

Unless a daughter in law to be asks about any family names but I will tread lightly.

Riverdale,

That’s interesting. I’ll remember that if I ever get to be a grandma.

Well, I discussed names with my mom and mom in law. We loved the conversations. Neither tried to persuade me in any direction. Some do though. I have friends who purposely did not tell names to anyone because they did not want to hear if someone disliked it. I get that.

It seems to still be going in some ways. I was named for my great-grandmother who immigrated to the US from Sweden. Was fate, as she and I followed some similar life paths when it came to one of our children (special needs). All four of my children have middle names that connect to family. #1's middle name is the same as his (paternal) grandfather, #2's middle name is that of a great-great uncle (paternal), #3's middle name is a variation on my (paternal) grandmother's first name, and #4's middle name is a female variation of my (maternal) grandfather's name. I hope that my kids that do go on to have children might consider doing this. They're still young though, I still have time to exert power LOL :P

Our son's first name was taken from my maternal grandfather. His middle name was taken from his father, which is family tradition for first sons on his side.

My take is that no traditions are vanishing, but that new ones are being added.

Interesting issue about nice names. My two daughters share a middle name with the grandmother on each side, whose names were Dora Lucy and Everett Mary. I liked ‘Lucy’and ‘Mary’. My sister did the same for her twin girls, with grandma's first names, and they got ‘Jean’ and ‘Everett’ as their middle names. Mine got the better deal!

My sisters and I don’t have middle names, as my mother thought they were a waste of time. Every time I fill in a form, I feel grateful. We were three sisters, Mary, Margaret and Marion, which made labelling hand-me-downs very easy – all Ms. My mother was a practical woman!

I really don’t like ‘made up’ names. I used to say use the names of kings and queens or the Bible, but I cut out the Bible when threatened with Nebuchadnezzar. My kids took no notice anyway!

I used the middle names of my children to answer your question.One was a great grandmother's name as well as a beloved aunt. One was a grandfather's name. The third was the English version of my name. My daughters have done this too with their children. I think it can be nice for children to have their own identity name wise but I feel that if possible it is a positive tradition to honor previous generations with names of those who we felt good about.

My middle name is my aunt’s first name (mom’s sister).

We named our son after my husbands’ grandfather because he was born on his birthday. MIL and and my husband loved him dearly. It was nice because his GG grandfather had what sounded like a first name as his last name. With our son our last name was added, so we got to use his GGG’s full name.

Wow, rereading that sure is confusing! 🤪

My middle name came from both my Grandmothers who had exactly the same middle name, spelled the same way.
My nieces and nephews all have some name either first or middle that is from a relative.

At one point there were three Marys in my family. Two were my Aunts.

I has three kids and each has a middle name that was a family name on my side. I did not choose their first names, although my daughter’s name was one we discussed and her dad choose the spelling.

Neither of my parents have ‘easy’ names and certainly not a name that would be given to a child today. The other grandparents either were known by nick names their whole life or had names I would not use either.

My brother’s first name was my fathers middle name and out grandmother’s maiden name. His son’s first name is my brother’s middle name.