Question of the Week: Who were you named after? [closed]

Question

Were you named after someone? Tell us with an answer here, or on Facebook, or share the question image on social media for friends and family. 

Comments

I was named after some American actress whose name was Evelyn. My mom wasn't a fan of her or anything, but she liked the name. She and my dad decided to turn Evelyn into Evelina because they are both from the Soviet Union where female names generally ended with an A.

Turns out a lot of other Russian and Polish immigrants in Germany chose the same name for their daughters. There are two more Evelinas in our family and also one of my dad's acquaintances named his youngest daughter Evelina. Even though I was born and grew up in Germany, people regularly recognize that we're Eastern Europeans immigrants just because of my name (which is ironic considering that my mom wanted to change her own name to sound more German!)

edit: ugh, I constantly confuse the "comment" and "reply" functions. One day I'll learn.

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Great answer, Evelina, and I might not have noticed it if it hadn't been a comment.

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I was named Laura after my 2 times great grandmother as my mother knew her and loved her. My mom was 10 years old when her great grandmother passed away.

The funny thing is my dad thought I was named after the famous song of the era! But mom said, No, after my great grandmother.

I never liked the name Laura. My family usually called me Laurie, which my dad still does. I find Laura to be a formal name and I never thought it fit me.

When I moved to a new school at age 13, I introduced myself to those who would become my friends, and no matter how much I corrected them, they would call me Lori and write notes to me spelled this way. After a week or so I decided I liked this spelling and pronunciation better (my sister and cousins used this pronunciation) and so I began to adopt it for myself and would use that spelling on all my school work, even though my grade cards all had my birth name of Laura on them.

When I was 21 I wanted to change my name officially to Lori from Laura. Both of my parents were aghast, especially my mother who said I was disrespecting her grandmother's memory. To keep peace in the family, when I got married, I registered with the Social Security office as AKA as Lori so I can use this moniker legally on all official papers (work (paychecks), voting, driver's license, banking, etc)

I never paid to have my name changed and I can legally use my preferred name. I have never officially used the name Laura again since June of 1983 and never will. I detest the name and do not believe it fits me.

In no way am I trying to disrespect my mom (now deceased) or my dad (still living), or my two-times great grandmother. I am going with what I like and feel most comfortable with. My parents, grandparents and uncles all called me Laurie, and my grandma, aunts, cousins and siblings always pronounced my name as Lori (even before I was 13).

By changing the spelling of my name with Social Security and registering it as 'aka', I can use this preferred name and not change my official name on my birth certificate. Everyone is happy, and when I die my husband and children will bury me as Lori. It will not matter to anyone else, but it matters to me.

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I was named after my father and his youngest brother.

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I was named after both my grandfathers, Clayton Ray Bolick & Davis Anthony Martinez. My first name is Clayton, from my maternal grandfather. My middle name is Anthony, from my paternal grandfather.

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My father named my first name - Carol after Carole Lombard the movie actress, and my mother gave me her middle name Audrey, she said because she disliked it so, she wanted to share it with someone - thanks MOM !!!

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I was named Judith Wesley for my maternal grandfather, James Wesley Bonds.  During the World War II years, he worked as an itinerant plumber, serving all the families and farms in and around our rural town.  I was a small child then, and because my father was in the military and my mother was working in the ship yards (Rosie the Riveter), he often took me with him on service calls.  We became known as Big Wes and Little Wes.  I've always loved the name, and I am thrilled that my granddaughter has named her daugher, Wesley.  I hope the tradition continues.

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I was named after my gr gr grandmother- Margaret McSwiggin and my grandmother Esther Henrietta ( Jensen) Snouffer, thus Margaret Esther. I did not know how to spell Esther when in 2 nd grade, I spelled it Easter from the bulletin board, my family call me Margaret Easter.

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I was named after a lady who was kind to my parents. They married in 1946, when there was post-war rationing in England and people needed dockets to buy furniture. My parents didn’t have enough. When they bought their house, Maynessa was emigrating to Australia, so she sold them all her furniture without dockets.   My mother liked the name, so when I was born, I got it.

I travelled a lot, but never met anyone who had heard of my name. I googled it every now and then for years, and I was the only Maynessa that came up (now there are a few). One day, an obituary came up for Maynessa Molly Whyte, in Wodonga, Victoria. She was the same age as my mother.

It was obviously the lady that I was named after and I was very sorry that I never met her. By some strange coincidence,  we emigrated to Australia from the UK in 1985, so I could have visited her, if I had found her in time.

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I was named for my mother, who was named for her maternal grandmother, but the "Elizabeth" part of my name was also that of my paternal grandmother and her maternal grandmother, a well as my maternal great-grandmother's mother.  So Lizabeth has been a tradition. However, it has now switched to "Margaret, for my mother; there must be half-a-dozen, including one of my grandchildren.

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I wasn't named for anyone in particular, but my family has a namesake history for girls. Every second daughter - except in the case of my niece because she's the only daughter - is named Marian. Only one generation missed in the five generations before me. So, my 3x great grandmother (Marian Chandler who married Royal Hatch), 1x great grandmother (Marian Chandler Hatch who married Bernard Sykes), maternal grandmother (Marian Chandler Sykes who married Andrew Longacre), mother (Marian Longacre who married Bruce McCart), sister (Marian McCart who married Bill Motz), and niece (Marian Mattie Motz) are all Marians.

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Lori, I have done the same thing - given name Teresa, but have used Teri most of my life, and got my social security account changed to Teri in 1993.

About 10 years ago I needed to get a copy of the birth certificate of my son who was born in 1988. I literally could NOT get it myself, because my name on his birth certificate is Teresa. We had to have my husband request it instead.

The records clerk was very sympathetic. She strongly advised me to get my name change to Teri on my birth certificate. She said when it's time to file for Social Security, if your name on your social security account doesn't match your name on your birth certificate that it can cause a lot of trouble.

Just a heads up!

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I was named after my Father, John Charles Quigley, instead of Junior they stuck me with II (2nd). I asked my Dad why they did that, he said we are related to Irish royalty. I searched in all the records I could find, and thought that my Dad was wrong about that. Turns out he was only part wrong. I got a note from my wife's cousin who told me we were related and told me it was a Howard that was in my direct line. Turns out, she was right, and so was my Dad, sort of. Robert Howard was the son of Lord Thomas Howard and Lady Margaret Douglas, whose mother was Mary Queen of Scots, who later became Queen of Ireland and Scotland. She was related to King Henry the 5th. Margaret was 3rd or 4th in line to the English Throne. There is much intrigue in this story, but it is not relevant to this conversation.

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From ancestral family members

Answer 1

I was named after the patron saint of anestheologists and my father's favorite scrub nurse. After hearing what Mother wanted to name me, I am thankful that Dad was a workaholic who got to the birth certificate first.

Comments

What would your name have been if mom got to choose?

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Dierdre. It's a beautiful name but definitely not me.

Answer 2

I was named after a little girl in my dad’s congregation (he is a retired pastor) named Mary Jane.  She died, while Mom was expecting me, of some kind of heart ailment.

Answer 3

I was named Nancy after my great-grandmother, Nancy Covacevich, on my mother's side. She was named Nancy after her grandmother, Nancy Dixon of FL who married Levi Collar of MA. My middle name Johanna was probably after Nancy's sister Johanna(Covacevich) Brandon but also could have been after my mother's uncle's mother in law, Johanna Zilphia Walker of Texas of whom my mother was very fond.

Answer 4

I was named after my paternal great grandmother, Jennie Emma Ruth Walker. My mother never cared for the name Jennie and has always called me Jennifer, which I felt was too formal when I was younger and insisted on being called Jenny. After the birth of my daughter everyone started calling me Jen and when I started my first white collar job I introduced myself as Jennifer. Now if someone from my past calls me Jenny it kind of startles me, it’s so unexpected. I am most definitely either Jen or Jennifer.

Answer 5

My name is Roberta Jacquelyn Nance and I was named after my Father (Robert Earl II) and grandfather (Robert Earl I) and since both my mother and father had brothers named Jack, thus, Jacquelyn.  My Mother agreed to my middle name only if spelled as is because I am known as "Lyn" .  I was a second child and parents were told I would be last so no son. Four years laater, my brother , you guessed it, Robert Earl Nance III was born.  Two sisters followed.

Answer 6

 I was named for my maternal grandfather, Walter Wallace Patrick.  He was born 17 Dec 1885, and married my grandmother, Lily May (Burley) Patrick on 25 Jun 1913.

His family roots are in Scotland.  My mother always claimed Irish ancestry, but searching our family tree that branch come to a brick wall in Lanarkshire, Scotland.  Grandfather Walter died 1 Jan 1819 of the Flu epidemic.

He was a farmer and owned a small farm and kept some livestock.  His family did not approve of his choice of marriage and refused to help her after his death. 

Grandmother was left with three small children, the youngest of which died at age about 1 1/2 years of age.  Grandmother raised her children by herself with very little assistance.  Both my mother, Ruth (Patrick) Joslin and her sister Virginia (Patrick) Jones Married and  raised families of their own.  

Answer 7

I am the youngest of 11 children born to a potato farmer and a school teacher.  My older siblings named me or at least participated in the discussion for naming me.   We don't have any "Roberts" or "Georges" in our family.  I think "Robert" was just a popular name in northern Maine in 1969.  I graduated from high school with five or six other Roberts.

Answer 8

I am Kathryn Elizabeth, after my grandmother and mother. Nana’s birth name was Catherine, but she changed the spelling by the time she married. She went by Kathryn, my mother was called Kay, and I use Kathy. I broke the pattern and named my daughter after my husband’s great-grandmother (following the tradition of naming a child to honor a deceased but not a living relative). My father and brother were both named after my grandfather, but neither liked the name Walter, so they both used their middle name almost exclusively except on legal documents.

Answer 9

My adoptive parents did not like my birth forename so they decided to call me Christine. It turned out this was the name of a character in a very popular radio programme "The Archers ". ( It is still on BBC radio today)

When I started school there were 11 Christines in the class so you imagine the confusion that caused

I have always detested the name as I was only ever called that when I was in trouble ( a pretty frequent occasion). Being a tomboy I became Chris which stuck though my godfather always called me Kit

Answer 10

My full name is Donald Lester LaMunion, Jr.

I am a Jr, so technically I was named after my father.  But my Father’s first name was after my Grandmother’s brother Donald Silas Bush and his middle name was after my Grandfather’s brother Lester Lansing LaMunion.

Answer 11

My Mum always admired the skating star Deanna Durbin and when I eventually arrived was to be named after her ... however, before the happy event my parents made a visit to see the movie Wizard of Oz and after that I was to be named Dorothy ...

Answer 12

I have no clue as to who I was named for and I have never come across another Cecilia Eyvon, that is the correct spelling, in my family.  I was born in my maternal grandparents' home and when my grandfather was told what my name was his response was, "Ya'll can call her whatever you want to but I'm calling her Cindy."  There was a song that was popular at the time that he liked.  He would sing it to me all the time.  I thank him all the time for my nickname.

Answer 13

My first name, Richard, was purportedly inspired by Little Ricky, the fictional baby son of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on my mother's beloved "I Love Lucy", who was born earlier the same year. In fact, I risked being christened Ricky; but my father reportedly said, "Give the boy a chance."

I'm prouder genealogically of my middle name, Cameron, which reflects my descent from the illustrious Clan Cameron of Lochiel.

Answer 14

I can not find a sole anywhere in my tree with my name just about every other name but mine hmmmm....

Answer 15

Hello, my name is Paula Mary Vinson and I was named after my mother's (Susan Adella Merrick) dad, Paul Emmett Merrick, My mother's mom, Mary Adella Parvin and my dad, Bobby Leon Vinson.

Answer 16

My first name is my mom's childhood best friend's name.  My middle name was my paternal grandmother, great grandmother, and possibly my great-great grandmothers middle name.  My daughter also has my middle name.

Answer 17

My mother named me for my father, adding Roman numeral II after my name (Donald Bain Mackintosh II) as she didn't want me to be called  Junior.  At the time of my birth my mother didn't know that my father was named for his grandfather making me the third in the direct lineage.  When my/our son was born I asked my wife if we could name him after my father (and therefore me too).  She agreed and although we know he is the fourth in the recent lineage we named him Donald Bain Mackintosh III to preclude too much explanation between he and me.  Our son has made us proud and honored the name with his accomplishments a bit more than I or his grandpa I believe.

Answer 18

I was named after my mother (Carol) and her mother (May).

Answer 19

I was named after my 2nd great grandmother, Marietta Williams Harp Cunningham and my 8th great grandmother Maria Joris Rapalje (Marretie Jorise) "Marritje" Rapalje aka Rappalje van der Voort.

Answer 20

My last name is the same as my father's last name. Not everyone in my family tree can say that.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vanderbogart-8