How did you get your name or your childrens name?

Since the dog and cat sections had this I thought we could share how our parents came up with our names and/or how you came up with your childrens (skin children:p) names.

My mom says she just liked the name Cynthia. And just thought Ann sounded good with it. She didn't realize, until after I was born, that her mother-in-law's middle name was also Ann. So she let her think I was named after her. :) And that's the same grandma that could never pronounce my name correctly. I was called Sydney for 28 years.

I wish I'd been able to pick my own name, because I absolutely HATE both my first and middle name. I don't remember the story about how I became Eleanor, but my middle name is after some dead aunt (I think) of my mother's. It's a very unusual name that I've never heard anywhere, and I can Google it for it's origin, and it never comes up there either. And no - I'm not revealing it, so don't ask. :p


My oldest son was named after his father, so he is a Jr. My advice to anyone thinking of naming a child after his father would be - DON'T DO IT!!!! I never imagined some of the nightmarish issues that arose because they had the same name. If he had been a girl, he would have been Lisa Jonette.

My 2nd is named Steven Charles. Steven just because I like the name, and Charles after both grandfathers that were named Charles. If he had been a girl, he would have been Holly Christine.

My mom has told me that my grandmother's husband suggested Elise and it just stuck. That's how it's spelled on my birth certificate, but we changed it to Elyse when I was in grade school because people kept calling me Elsie. I'd like to change it back, but it's not easy to do now that I have things like a driver's license, a nursing license and a mortgage! But Elise is a lot more popular than it was 45 years ago when I got it. ;)

My middle name is Kay after my great grandmother Katherine. My oldest niece's middle name is Kay and my youngest niece is Katherine Frances after her great-great grandmothers.

My dad and my brother are both Raymond. My brother and sister-in-law purposely decided not to make my nephew the third Raymond -- but there was another guy with the same name in one of his college classes so he now goes by Ray too. He likes it! (and I think my dad likes that my nephew goes by Ray)

My sister and my second youngest niece share the middle name Claire after my grandmother.

And Pomtzu, my sister-in-law's mother is Eleanor and i love that name!

My elder sibling's names start with I and J, so my name starts with a K. And they were thinking of Kristine, but then my Dad remembered his Aunt Christine who was a very prejudiced person, so they picked another "K" name. And my middle name, which is much more unusual, is after my grandmother, who didn't like her own name, or her middle name. As both my elder siblings have more unusual names, very Swedish ones, I once asked them why they picked Karen, which turned out to be so darned common. They said, "Hey, we didn't know everyone else was going to name their kid Karen, too!" Had I been a boy, I would have been a junior, so I think Dad was relieved I was a girl!

I really don't know how my parents came up with my first name Tracey. I do know that they were thinking of naming me Kimberly Clark but then my mom said that was the kleenex companies name so she didn't want to do that. They also thought about naming me Grace which most likely then turned into Tracey. They said that if I had been a boy I would've been named Scott. Now it seems like I meet a lot more Tracey's than I used to but I always have to spell my first name because everyone wants to spell it like Tracy. My middle name is very common and they probably just liked the way it flowed with my first name.

My brother's name is very common,Jon, except that most people spell it John. His middle name is my dad's first name.

My other brother's name is Todd and I have no idea how they came up with it. His middle name I think came from someone they knew.

My name is actually Barbara Briana, I go by my middle name.

Barbara is from my mom's sister who died before I was born. She was the one that told my mom "God was going to give her a baby." My mom wasn't supposed to have kids, so my mom named me after her baby sister of course.

My mom picked Briana just because she liked it, and she saw this spelling in a baby book. (And it's said like BriANNA, just spelled different! Many people pronounce it wrong, or if they get too confused just call me Bri :p)

Characters that Leslie Caron has played seems to be responsible for my name(s) as she is a favorite of my mothers.

My name is Lisa Dawn. Lisa from Leslie Caron's characters in An American in Paris (Lise) and Dawn since my father's name is Don.
I'm now referred to has GG by our great grandchildren (another Leslie Caron movie GiGi) which stands for Great Grandmother. They call me that to differentiate between me and their biological great grandmother. :D

Don't have any kids -- which may confuse you because of what I said above. But, when I married Bobcat, he had 3 children and 2 grandsons. Now we have 4 great-grandchildren.

My first name is Gayle, given to me because I was born during a blizzard. My parents initial thought was to name me Blizzard or Stormy. Thank goodness they went for a big wind GALE with a Y in the middle.

Well everyone assumes i was called carol because i was born five days before xmas, NOT SO, my mum actually knew of a girl called caroline, and she liked it, so shortened to carol, i added the E several years later,

As for my son scott, well we both had dogs we had loved in our childhood, called scott believe it or not, he gets quite offended that he was called after a dog, but should not be as we doted on them, and to be truthful it is a bit of a joke, i actually used to watch an american soapie called 'search for tomorrow' Now that is going back a bit, and i loved the guy who played scott and how the americans pronounced it, so that is really how he got his name, again because i am scottish people assume he is called scott because of that WRONG. He would have been Kim Suzanne if a girl.

As for Melissa, well we both just loved the name and her middle name is nicole, which we also think is pretty.If it had been a boy would have been Brandon Stephen if a boy.

I think my parents were going to name my brother Phabian (not sure of the spelling). Good thing they decided on Paul! There was NO way he was going to be named after my dad. My dad is a JR and he HATES his name. He goes by his initials....AL or his name given to him by my moms family....Sean.

My oldest niece has her moms middle name...Lynne. My sisters middle name is Lynn. So we have three, just with different spelling. Melissa (my oldest niece) would have been named Andrew Jacob and called AJ if she had been a boy.

My youngest niece was sort of named after a child I had in my day care class back then. I mentioned the name Tabitha to my sister-in-law and she really liked it. Then she asked me what Tabitha's middle name was. So I found out it was Rose. And that's what she ended up naming her! My moms sister is named Rose, but my SIL won't claim she is named after her.

Even though I was named after my mom's mom, Helen, I have never like my first name. Sorry Grandma Helen that I never met. :D
Growing up, to me, Helen seemed like an old lady's name. There was only one other Helen all through school and she was a bit weird. :rolleyes:

My middle name is Kay and I always wanted my first name to be that. Oh well.

My children are Caleb and Rachael. My son was the first born. I wanted to name him Evan. My husband liked Caleb. Up until the day I was induced for failure to go into labor we had not picked out a name. I had general anesthesia because I had a c-section and back in the day that was what they had to offer. So I was completely out of it for almost the first day after he was born and my baby boy became Caleb Evan, and now I would not change it for the world. He is 24, married and still my sweet boy! :love:

Rachael was a name we both liked. My ex wanted to be able to call her Rock for a nickname. :D She is 22 years old now and he still calls her "Rock" sometimes. When Rachael was a baby she had a full head of black hair and my husband (ex now) used to stand her hair up and call her his "punk rock girl". Still makes me smile after all these years.

So that's my story.....

I was named David after an old mayor of Pittsburgh. I almost got the mayor's last name, Lawrence, for a middle name, but my dad thought it was too long of a name so my middle name is Reed. I like all of the variations of the name "David" except for Davey (yuck!).

My name is Ashley Marie, it doesn't get more generic than that :P It's okay, I like it and most people call me Ash these days', or Actually Ashley. I was going to be an Amanda, but for some reason at the last minute they decided on Ashley.

My twin brother's name is Adam...you would never believe how many people ask me why my name isn't Eve.

My mom let my brothers and I name our little sister, we decided on Monica Star. I love her name.

I'd like to name future hypothetical children Isabel "Izzy" Rose after my grandmother and fMIL and Arwin Joe (or some variation of Arthur/Darwin. maybe Arwyn for a girl) after my dad and grandpa.

I was on the playground and someone called me "stupid", the name stuck.....;)

Cool stories!

Mine is Kari Ann . . . my mom read an article about the Kennedy family, and there was mention of a Karianne, with no middle name listed. She split the name and dropped the "E". :) I love my name, even though most people misspell it constantly and some mispronounce it. It's pronounced like the verb "carry", but I get people who call me "Car-ee" . . . "Car" like a vehicle. I always tell them I'm not that exotic haha.

Clara Elizabeth is our daughter, and we had a top three for most of my pregnancy - Clara, Natalie and Josephine. We ultimately went with Clara because it was unique (it ended up being a choice between Natalie and Clara). Elizabeth because that's both her grandmothers' first names. We plan to have a second, and if it's a girl, we are leaning towards Josephine Marie (Marie is my mom's middle name, Mariana is my husband's mother's middle name . . . funny how they have such similar names). If it's a boy, we are pretty sure we'll call him Kenneth Duane (first names of both our dads). My husband doesn't have a middle name, and I LOVE the name David, so I told him I'd be more than happy to name a son David and give him a middle name, so that he's not a Junior. ;) Although, I like the naming of sons after their fathers.

And, FYI, I think Eleanor is beautiful.

I love some of the classic names my friends are going with . . . Genevieve (Evie for short), Evelyn (also Evy for short), Edie (she was almost named Edith, but they went with the short name for her full name). :)

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Originally Posted by cassiesmom

My mom has told me that my grandmother's husband suggested Elise and it just stuck. That's how it's spelled on my birth certificate, but we changed it to Elyse when I was in grade school because people kept calling me Elsie. I'd like to change it back, but it's not easy to do now that I have things like a driver's license, a nursing license and a mortgage! But Elise is a lot more popular than it was 45 years ago when I got it. ;)

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My aunt's legal name is Elise, but when she was in grade school she decided to start going by Lisa because she was having the same problem as you.

My legal name is Evangeline, but I go by Eva everywhere. My parents saw it on a gravestone when they were walking in a cemetery one day and really liked it. My mom still says I was named after the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow character, but I'm pretty sure she's just embarrassed to admit she picked her daughter's name from a grave.

My sisters and I all have the same middle name. It's my mother's last name. The women in my family usually don't change their last name when they get married, but she wanted us to have her name as well. (I guess we just see it as anti-feminist and backwards) I think it's a really good way to give us a name from each side of the family.

With both of my sisters my mom and step-dad guarded their names until it was official. I was the only one who knew Isabel's name until she was born, and none of us expected Lindy to be Lindy until my step-dad called us to let us know after she was born. We all thought her name would be Beatrice because that's what my mom was leaning towards.

My brother was named after the first of our relatives to come to America from Ireland 150 years ago and incidentally has the same name (first name and surname, just spelled differently) as an actor who was in a big production film at the time, but my dad and step-mom weren't aware of it until well after his birth when someone pointed it out to them.

My first and middle names, spelled differently from the original owner, reflect a bet or wager made between my mom and dad.

If a boy, I would have been Daniel. I told her I wouldn't have minded Danielle or Daniella, even though that meant I would have been named after a dog. She was in love with Scottish-Irish lore and loved the name Danny. She bought a Scottie and name him Danny a year or so later.

If a girl, they couldn't decide. I was born a week after the Miss America of ??????? (I'm not telling). This was the bet. I would get the winner's name. Not to disparage others names, but I've always been grateful her name wasn't Brunhilda, Daffodil, or .......

My brothers are John and Joe, very simple names. A coincidence maybe, but Joseph means "increase" or "he who adds" and he was born after my dad's (and his doctor's) unsuccessful attempt to prevent further problems because of my mother's lupus.

Originally, I was suppose to be named Samantha, but my moms friend had a baby right before her and took the name. My mom didn't want it to seem like she was copying her. So I wound up with Erin, her second favorite name. My grandmother picked out my middle name, which is Elizabeth. She always told my mom she wanted a girl just so she could name her elizabeth, but she ended up with four boys. When I was born, my mom gave me that for my middle name for her. :)

& my bestfriend from when I was a little girl is named Eleanor. She absolutely hates it too! But I think it's such a pretty name.

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Originally Posted by RICHARD

I was on the playground and someone called me "stupid", the name stuck.....;)

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We were never allowed to call each other stupid or say shut up growing up. The reason was because my dad's father never called him by his name. He only called him stupid or shorty. Apparently my grandfather (that I never met) didn't like his name either, but my dad (his third son) got stuck with it.
It is a bad name, but I often thought if I ever had a daughter (which will NEVER happen) I might have named her after him.......sort of. His name is (oh, he'd kill me if he knew I was putting this out there on the internet) Arbrie. I think Aubrey is a pretty name for a girl. Or Audrey. But we don't have to worry about that happening. :)

My kids were named by my husband and his first wife. I decided they answered to their names os I kept the names ;)


Cameron was supposed to be Collin. Then the day before he was born, mommy found out daddy was cheating on her. She finally told him that the baby would have her last name. After hours of labor, she was exhausted enough to bemanipulated into being named Cameron after some member of his family. Story of their relatiosnhip --- lies and manipulation. Happily, we got a great little kid out of it! :love:

The story of my name: I was supposed to be Debra. Mom heard a nurse talking about her sister Kim and liked it. She was signing hte birth certificate as Kimberlee, when the nurse told her how to properly spell it. In highschool, I wanted to have that "lee", but now I am soooo glad to have the normal "ly". Thank goodness for that nurse!


My husband was named after the family's horse! No idea why, but I think its hysterical.

I'm not entirely sure how my name came to be but I can tell you how we named our kids. Our first born is Connor Jeffrey. Hubby picked the first name. He saw it in a baby book when my BIL and SIL were trying to name their kid. Hubby liked it so we used it for our son. Jeffrey is after his daddy (my hubby). Baby boy #2 (due to arrive any day) will be Carson Robert. I picked Carson. My lady that does my hair has a son named Carson. I didn't like it at first but it grew on me and I suggested it to hubby. He wasn't digging it right away but then he said we could go with it. Robert is after my grandfather on my mom's side. I miss him dearly, he passed away in 1998.

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Originally Posted by mrspunkysmom

My first and middle names, spelled differently from the original owner, reflect a bet or wager made between my mom and dad.

If a girl, they couldn't decide. I was born a week after the Miss America of ??????? (I'm not telling). This was the bet. I would get the winner's name. Not to disparage others names, but I've always been grateful her name wasn't Brunhilda, Daffodil, or .......

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?? Former Miss Michigan??

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My name is Gretchen - no middle name. I was very distressed as a child, as it is not a common name, and there is no decent nickname. My mother hated her middle name, and she figured since my first name was/is unusual, I could use my maiden name as a middle name - which I do. So I am Gretchen Craig S . . . . .

My son is Michael. That is his father's middle name. If I'd had my druthers, his middle name would have been Andrew - my brother's name. But my first husband didn't want that. Whatever. Michael's middle name is Stuart - so we at least stuck with a Scottish name.

Interesting topic - thanks.

Funny to see 3 people here that like the name Eleanor.

When I was a kid (back in ancient times), I always thought the name sounded so "old", and I wished I had a more common name of the times like, Carol or Linda or Susan or Patricia or Jean, etc. I do see the name Eleanor becoming more popular and making a comeback tho, along with a lot of older names. But I still intensely dislike it! :eek:

My mom and dad couldn't agree on a name even up until my mom went into labor. BUT my mom just happened to be listening to Tanya Tucker on the radio when she went into labor so Viola! Tanya... my middle name (Marie) is after my maternal grandmother.

Hannah's name doesn't have much of a story. We had all kinds of boys names picked out but I had nothing for a girl. One day we were just driving around and Brian said "you know what I like for a girls name? Hannah" hmmm Hannah... I like that. and it stuck lol. her middle name is Marie also. kind of keep the tradition going I guess lol.

Except now people keep mixing us up. Tanya Marie and Hannah marie... they sound similar so we get some funny mix ups like Tana or Hannya lol

Sara Lee. Because I was such a little cupcake.:p:p Never knew another Sara until I was grown and every other little girl was Sara. And please note, unlike a certain "politician" I spell it correctly...;)

Here in Belgium a middle name isn't important at all, as people never use it! Kids get extra names though, but these name or names are just the names of the godmother and godfather. Sometimes parents change the name to the female version when it is a girl! My parents forgat to do this, so I am wearing a male name as 3rd name :eek:
But like I said, we never use our extra names here at all!
What is my full name like then: Lutgarde Mariëtte Jacques:)
Lutgarde is the name of e Flemish saint; my parents and all my friends shorten my name to "LUT"
Mariëtte is my godmother (mom's 3rd sister), and Jacques (male name :rolleyes:) is my godfather(dad's younger brother).

We didn't do this with our kids' names. Our son kept his original name from Korea, we only skipped an "o" in his first name, to make it easier for him. So his full name is JO HYUN (used to be JOO HYUN) . For our daughter we chose another but also Indian name, because the one she had in India was to difficult for here! We chose her new name from a list of Indian names, and kept her original name as her second name! So her full name is now Indra Mukul.

I hope that my explanation is clear??

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Originally Posted by Edwina's Secretary

Sara Lee. Because I was such a little cupcake.:p:p Never knew another Sara until I was grown and every other little girl was Sara. And please note, unlike a certain "politician" I spell it correctly...;)

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It's funny, the girls named Sara I grew up with (there were always more than one) were about 50/50 as to whether it was Sara or Sarah! And while I was one of three girls in my own fairly small hometown with the same first and last names, all the teachers spelled Karen "my" way and the one whose parents chose the Norwegian (instead of Swedish) version and spelled it Karin had a heck of time getting anyone to spell HER name correctly. Her older brother and my younger brother were the same age and in a Boy Scout troop together.

I was supposed to be Abigail, which I am glad was changed to Alyssa at the last minute. I am not sure how they came up with the name Alyssa, but my middle name Grace, was my great-grandmothers name.