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

My mother was so sure I was going to be a boy that when I came along she hadn't thought of any girl names. Her doctor suggested she name me Sharon which was the name of his daughter and she added my paternal grandmother's middle name Elizabeth which is how I became Sharon Elizabeth.

Answer 2

MY DADDY LOVED LITTLE SHIRLEY TEMPLE, SO HE NAMED ME SHIRLEY.

Answer 3

My middle name is my mother's middle name.  Willene

Funny thing is, I actually found another Valerie Willene in Ohio.  Different spelling.

Answer 4

My given names are Stephen Clyde. Stephen comes from my father, who is named after Saint Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity. Clyde comes from my mother's maternal grandfather.

Answer 5

I am called James Wright Erickson. My father's next older brother was called Allrick James Erickson. Allrick died during his second year away at college. My mother's growing up name was Esther Margaret Wright. And the family name is Erickson.

My twin brother was called Claiborne Reed Erickson, Our father was a pastor, and his favorite seminary professor was called Claiborne M. Hill. Our maternal grandmother's growing up name was Sarah Richards Reed. And the family name is Erickson.

We two boys, as pre-teeners, had a puppy, whose name was 'Rithmetic.

It's good to keep the family memories together.

Answer 6

I was given three last names, my first name came from my grandmother's second husband's last name Douglas, Middle name was my grandmother's maiden name Monroe and my last name Skinner is the last name of my step-father by whom I was adopted

Answer 7

I have no idea where my first name came from, but being from a good Catholic family my second name is Mary.

My mother's name was apparently the cause of a significant disagreement between her parents, her mum wanted to call her Elizabeth and her father wanted to call her Anne, so her mum got her way, her official name was Elizabeth Anne, but she was always called Anne.

We could always tell if someone somewhat official like a nurse or bank teller didn't actually know her because they called her Elizabeth and she usually didn't respond

Answer 8

My first name is the same as my Father and Grandfather. My middle name. Michael. Was the name of my Uncle on my mother's side who had passed away in a car accident during the early 90's.

Answer 9

Having been adopted as an infant I was named by my adoptive parents Glenn, when I finally got to see my adoption papers  I found my name was James Donald Brooks. Now that I have been reunited with my birth family, U find that the name James belongs to 4 of my great grandfathers back to the 1530's. One an officer in the American Revolutionary  War.

Strangely enough my maternal half brother is also named Glenn, who knew.

Answer 10

My grandmother picked out my name. She clipped an ad out of the paper with a picture of a baby named Jessica and mailed it to my mother, with a note that said, "This is what I want." I asked my mother once what she would've named me had I turned out to be a boy. She said I would've been Jesse, as my grandmother would've insisted.

My middle name was after my mother's favorite soap opera character! And my brother was named after a character Troy Donahue played in a movie.

I know someone who was born just as ultrasound sex determination was becoming a thing. His parents were told they were having a girl. They had a pink nursery, pink everything, and a name picked out: Maria. Then he was born and the doctor says, "It's a boy!" His parents said back, "No she's not!" They were dumbfounded and apparently were so sure he was a girl, they never picked out a boy's name just in case. They came up with Marcos, which I suspect was the first thing they could think of!

Answer 11

I was named after a lady at church that my mother liked. My brother was named after a young man at a different church who had kind, thoughtful and considerate manners.

Answer 12

My birth name is Elizabeth Borden Munson. My Mother's birth name was Jeanette Elizabeth Borden. Kind of obvious. But that's only the surface of things. (My younger brother is F.M.M.3rd; also obvious.)

My father, whom I believe did the naming, was seemingly very keen on 'Elizabeth' (although I never liked it much; long and formal). He claimed I was named after the then Princess Elizabeth II of England, on whom he seemed to be fixated (along with all things British).When calling out my name he would pronounce it sing-song: e-LIZ...-a-BETH! I had to put up with it as I disliked all the numerous derivatives even more. Once in adulthood I tried to change over to 'Lisa' which I liked but I couldn't get used to it. And not really my personality in any case!

When my father was elderly and in a nursing home and of dubious mentality he hooked up by telephone with his first flame, who astonishingly was still unmarried and living in her childhood home (or as he put it, was holding the torch for him). I know the calls to be true as I saw the rather extravagant phone bills! As you might have guessed, she was his first 'Elizabeth'! My parents had separated years before and I don't think my mother ever had a clue!

As for 'Borden', my mother's maiden name, I don't actually know who was responsible for this unusual choice for a girl's middle name. I suspect it was again my father. My grandfather Borden was my favorite relative and now that I am researching his family back to Richard B. c.1595 of Headcorn, Kent, England , who is possibly the progenitor of most if not all the Borden's in America I feel very proud and grateful to carry his name.

In 1997 my London-born husband and I emigrated to Kent, England, very near to Headcorn and also a small village nearby called 'Borden'. Until very recently I was totally unaware of my family connections to this area, a revelation that has, as the English say, 'gobsmacked' me! What's in a name? Quite a lot in this case!

Answer 13

My husband’s middle name is Irvine, a family last name. He never like the name because people thought it was Irving, and he did NOT like that name.

Answer 14

I was named after the famous hockey player (goaltender) of the Montreal Canadiens, Ken Dryden.

Everyone in my family is francophone (from the province of Quebec) but some people like to have English/US-sounding names. My older sister is named Karen and from what I can remember, my godmother suggested Ken for me.

There aren't many Kens around here. I personally know nobody named Ken (except celebrities). Let's just say no other Ken knows me :)  My last name is EXTREMELY frequent, though. So it's a funny mix.

Answer 15

My first name MARLA was my dads milk customer.  He showed the check to my mom and she liked it.  My middle name RAE is after my moms middle name and after her fathers name Ray.  My mom wanted to name me Adrienne and my dad didn’t like it, if I was a boy I was going to be named after my dad and be a Jr!  I’m thankful of my name, it’s unique and it’s me

Answer 16

My first first name is not a name given as a "named after" name. The other three first names came from  both my grandmothers and my godmother but in a modernized  way:

Eva Dymphe Henriëtte Dorothé

Answer 17

I'm Thomas Emerson Byerly. I was named from my father who is a Sr. and got his name from my 2nd great grandfather. I don't know very much about him yet. Something I have yet to figure out about him is what actual order his name is in. On the 1900 census his name is Thomas Byerly. However on the 1880 census he's put down as Emerson T. Byerly and his grave says E. Thomas Byerly lol. A little confusing. He didn't live very long, only to the age of 26.

Answer 18

I was named after my gr gr grandmother, Margaret McSwiggin,who lived in Belfast Ireland and my grandmother- Esther Henrietta Jensen

Answer 19

I was named after my Father, John Charles Quigley II is my full name.

Answer 20

I was named after my grandfather Johannes and my father Jacobus and (as was very common in Roman Catholic Netherlands up to at least the late 1970's) after the Virgin Mary. So: Johannes Jacobus Maria.

The birthname Johannes/Johan/Jan and Johanna for females dates back to the early 1400's - at last in my direct family line Ruijgrok/Ruigrok/Ruychrock/Ruijchrock. In another famliy line (van Arkel) the name Jan dates back to early 1200's.

I am dying to join the pre-1500 group....