How did you get your name or your childrens name?

[Suki Wingy]

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 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.

[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 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.

[sallyandsnowx]

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.

[Taz_Zoee]

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

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.

[catnapper]

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!

[catnapper]

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.

[gemini9961]

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.

[Grace]

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 .......

?? Former Miss Michigan??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

[pomtzu]

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!

[sparks19]

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

[Edwina's Secretary]

Sara Lee. Because I was such a little cupcake. 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...

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

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
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 ) 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??

[Karen]

Sara Lee. Because I was such a little cupcake. 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...

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.

[Alysser]

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.