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

Question

Who were you named after? A family member? Someone famous?

Please tell us with an answer below. You could also answer on Facebook or upload the question image to any social media site. If you share it you may get family members talking.

Comments

My father, Dr. Jerry E. King, was an anesthesiologist who was quite passionate about his work. I was named after his favorite scrub nurse and the patron saint of anesthesiologists. Could be worse, had Daddy been a psychiatrist I could have been named Dymphna.

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I was named after my grand father Robert Gerrish and my father Paul Gerrish so I am Robert Paul Gerrish.  My wife and I thought this was a nice tradition but we preferred using grandparents. Our first child was named Elizabeth Rose after her grandmothers.  Our second after her great grandmothers so she is Christina Anne, but her personality turned out that the other two great grandmother's would have fit her better had we used Bertha Grace.  Our third child is named after his grandfathers Paul Jacob.

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I was named after Suellen O'Hara from Gone With The Wind.  My mom was reading the book when I was born and like the name.

Answer 1

My father told me that he named me after his grandfather. John Alexander William "Jack" Thompson.

Comments

John, I had forgotten that Alexander was your middle name. My mother really wanted to name me Alexandria, but she decided to shorten it.

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Alexis.....I got a new 'son-in-law' for Christmas, named Alex, short for Alejandro.....life is great! 

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John, you will have to let us know more about Alex—now that he is part of your family.       What a wonderful Christmas present!

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Alexis.....Alex was born in Manitoba, of a Canadian mother and Mexican father and has a 14 year old son.

Answer 2

I was never explicitly told that but I can make some guesses.

My forenames are "Robert Michael". My mum told me that they were going to name me Michael but her sister's son was born first and she named him Michael - stealing the name! I don't know where the idea for Michael came from. There are really not any Michael's in my Ancestry.

Robert was one of my father's middle names and probably comes from his grandfather Robert Brain (Brain-388).

Comments

My mother told me, at a young age, that I had an older brother, who was strangled at birth with the umbilical cord and she wanted to call him Michael, which I did.....then, I found she had a grandfather, of that name, who passed away at a early age.

Answer 3

My grandmother supposedly made up the name "Armorita." It was my mother's first name and it is my first name. My mother's middle name was "Nell." She had a work colleague named "Nelda," which she liked, so she gave me that as my middle name and my "called by" name.

Comments

Nelda.....you reminded me of the 'made up' name of my 2nd wife, Leina.....a combination of her grandmother's names, Lee and Ina.

Answer 4

I'm named after an "aunt" who was my mother's best friend (not an actual blood relation).

Answer 5

My full name is Dieter Martin. I got my first given name after the king of the Ostrogoths, Theoderic the Great. Dieter is a short form of Theoderic. I got my second given name after my paternal grandfather, Martin Lewerenz.

Answer 6

I'm named after both my grandmothers and my godmother.

Answer 7

Not really anyone, but my name caused considerable controversy in my mother's family because it sounded like it did.

My father picked my first name because it was his favorite male name.

However, my maternal grandparents were mortified because it has a checkered history in my grandfather's family.  My grandfather's uncle Roger Freiherr von Budberg was a missionary doctor in China, who operated a hospital, helped fight a cholera epidemic and wrote scholarly articles on the Chinese.  All of that was okay, but he also married a Chinese woman, with whom he had a daughter.  It was still a scandal in the family over 50 years later.

My father just ignored them.

Comments

Roger, what a great story about your grandfather's uncle. If I was a man living in China, I think I would fall in love with a Chinese woman; I have always thought Asian women were beautiful.

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Alexis:

    My brother actually married an Indonesian of Chinese extraction. It's probably the pernicious effect of my name on him (grin).

                                  Roger

Answer 8

My father told me I was named after Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France (De_Bretagne-28).

I just looked and apparently we are 3rd cousins 18 times removed but my father would not have known that. She was somebody he admired. 

I must ask him more.

Answer 9

Doesnʻt exactly answer your question, but my answer is "no one". My parents told us they wanted us all to be individuals and not have someone elseʻs name. So none of us have any name of an ancestor, unless it was a complete accident. My son got both his father and grandfatherʻs middle names (the same name), my daughter is just herself.

Apparently individuality wasnʻt too important since my daughter named both her daughters using both paternal and maternal ancestor names for both first and middle names.

Answer 10

My parents decided that I was going to be a boy, and they would name me David; no girl's name was chosen. My father was killed in WWII, and I was born 18 weeks later. My mother decided to name me after my father Clare Alexander Lovelace Jr., so it is also my grandfather's name Clare Alexander Lovelace Sr.. My birth name is Alexis Clare Lovelace. 

Comments

Alexis:

     That is a wonderful story.  It is also a great way to honor your father.

                                Roger

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Roger--Thank you for your very nice comment.

Answer 11

My father is a Junior, and I was nearly III, but my mother objected. So my first name is one that was popular when I was born; my most recent ancestor who shares it was born in 1682 (I do have the same middle name as my father and his father, though).

Answer 12

My first name is my mother's maiden name. My middle name was my paternal grandfather's middle name, which in turn was the last name of the doctor who delivered him in a breech birth.

Stuart Ellsworth Bloom

Comments

My uncle got two surnames (Gordon, and Newton) as his name.  Fortunately for him they worked as forenames.  I like your Ellsworth.  

(Not sure why I always mix up the names Ellsworth(y) and Ellsmore, but I do. )

Answer 13

There are some wonderful stories behind some of your names. I wish mine was as cool. True story ~ My mother told me I was named after a soap opera star way back in the day. Probably some guy she liked on the The Guiding Light or As The World Turns! Thanks mom.  

Comments

Me too. The same soaps as well. I can’t remember if it was a character or actress that inspired her.

Answer 14

My first (Given name) came from a penpal my mother had when she took French in High School at Lebanon, Wilson county, Tennessee, USA , the name , address of the woman is still written in my mother's French book from high school which I still have my middle name, Leigh  is after my dad , his middle name was Lee

Answer 15

I was named after my father, who was named after his grandfather, who was named after the president of the Confederacy, who was named after president  Thomas Jefferson. So my Jefferson name has come a long way.

Answer 16

My grandmother and my mother.

Answer 17

Directly after my Grand-mother Gré (Margaretha Maria) and indirect after my great, great, grand-mother Grietje (Margaretha).

Answer 18

My Papaw named me. He had a neighbor that was Mexican. He said she was the prettiest woman he had ever seen and that is who he named me after. Her name was Pamala Anna. I was named Pamela Ann.

Answer 19

I wasn't named after anyone. My mother was named for her grandfather. I think she didn't want my sister or I to be named for anyone.

Answer 20

Gisele Mackenzie. She was a Canadian-American singer, actress and accomplished classical violinist. She was very popular when I was born and my mother was a fan.