Naming kids after ancestors

[RachelK]

I like the idea of naming children after ancestors. Tell your hubby it's not morbid Nutkin! LOL.

There's already a lot of this in my family which I didn't realise till I started with the tree.

My g grandma was Letitia Ralph (after her g gran -  there are 7 Letitias in the tree). She had brothers James (named after one grandad) and Matthew (after the other).

Her 3 sons were named,
Joseph James Thomas K
James Matthew K
Thomas Ralph K (my grandad)
her daughter was called Letitia  

Joseph was her husbands name and Thomas her fathers.

My dad is Ralph William K.
My brother is Mark Ralph K, and he has a son called Thomas.

So what will I name my boys if I have any? You've guessed it... Joseph & James. NO MORE LETITIA'S THOUGH! Sorry I don't like it.

[jinks]

The naming practice on Lancashire in days gone by
was 1st son named after Father Father
        1st daughter named after Father Mother
        2nd son named after Mothers Father
        2nd daughter named after Mothers Mother
        3rd son named after Father

Occasionally  1st daughter was named after Mothers Mother.

Jinks

If you are talking morbid what about naming a child
after one that as just died, plenty of this went on
in my family.

[RachelK]

You'd think this re-naming would help, but obviously I'm just daft.

Been looking for my gx2 grandad Thomas Kendrick's family with no luck. Someone kindly found him for me on the 1851 census.

He was there with his family including 2 older brothers, Joseph and James.

D'oh.

[NigelG]

If you are talking morbid what about naming a child
after one that as just died, plenty of this went on
in my family.

I was amazed at how often this was done in my family - my one GG Grandfather had 22 (at last count) children by two wives - 2 Johns, 2 Harrietts, 2 Janes, 3 Thomas and 5 Henrys! My other GG Grandmother had 3 Williams, 2 Evans and 3 Hannahs - only 1 Hannah and William surviving to adulthood - very sad 

[ozwendy]

Hi,

This is very interesting! I have four children my husbands family are Spanish, mine English. So we decided we would pick first names that are basically the same in both languages. Their second names are family names and because we had four we managed to include all four main branches.  They are: Tomas Emilio (husbands & his fathers name), Ines May ( my maternal grandmothers name), Olivia Estefania (husband's maternal grandmother's name) and Isabel Esther ( my paternal grandmother's name) All but one were still alive when the first child was born. Thomas was also my grandad's name, but my husband picked it.
Good Luck
Wendy
PS If you don't want family interferrence or adverse opinions on your chosen name don't tell anyone what it is until after the child is born. Before hand everyone has an opinion and/or suggestions, after they seems to think it is a 'fate-a-complee' and so keep their opinions to themselves.

[Kennington]

I think its a great idea and I hope I can suggest it to my three daughters if they have children.

some of my family have used mothers maiden names as middle names and if they are used for boys it seems to work. (eg Carrick, Russell, Couch and Dash).

I wished I had known some of my family names when I named my three.

Mary

[Cell]

I don't think there is anything morbid about it all, it's very traditional. It's paying respect to your ancestors. Carrying on their names.

I am named after my Great Grandmother ( my middle name). The reason my mum told me ; because she  loved her granny, and wanted to name her daughter after her. she died before I was born.

 My mum has two middle names, one after her uncle and the other is her mum's maiden name - to keep the maiden name in the family.
My brother and father have the same names. Their names go back for generations, his father and his father and so on. It's a pain when tracing that side of the family though, I always get mixed up at who I am looking at when they all have the same names, junior senior, older senior lol etc

Coming from a traditional  naming family,  I found it a bit odd  that hubby's lot are not named after anyone at all. They all have middle names, but for no reason what so ever. I asked my mum in law once why name so and so this , it was just she liked the names at the time.

Plenty of families do name children after their "dead" rellies ,  it's just traditional.

Hubby and I already have names planned out for any children we have , and yes they will be named after our dead rellies, my grandmother for one who I loved but is no longer living. others will be named after my Hubby's grandparents, besides our own parents of course 

[bigwood]

Quote from Cell.........I found it a bit odd that hubby's lot are not named after anyone at all............

I know someone whose mother admitted quite casually, that she found her daughter's name in a knitting pattern book.
meg 

[SamiW]

Interesting what was said about using maiden names as part of a child's given names - my grandmother was christened Florence Eliza Garland (surname:Gay).  In my research I have discovered that her grandmother's maiden name was Garland!  Wasn't that a nice tie-in?!
Talking of using old family names - what's wrong with 'Theophilus' anyway?!!
Best
Sami