A Compelling Way to Name a Baby

I wasn’t quite brave enough to go full name (I hate that I regard this as an act of “bravery”!), but my son and I share a first initial and he has my last name as his middle. It is my very understated “F you” to the patriarchy.

I gave my daughter my last name; my husband and son share my husband’s last name. It felt so powerful to give my daughter my name. I love being able to live our values in this way. I was… surprised at how taken aback others in our world were at our choice. There was concern that the kids would be confused. (They’re not.) Or others wouldn’t treat us as a family. (They do, though my in-laws insist on calling my daughter and me by my husband’s name. Sigh + eye roll.) All told, it’s one of the best patenting decisions we have made.

I’m sure someone else has mentioned this, but this made me think of the Gilmore Girls! ♥️ (Which is the only show I’ve watched all the way through twice. :) Not the same thing exactly, but my daughter and I are named after my great-grandmother and her sister (My name was my gg’s first name, my daughter’s name was my gg’s sister’s name, and my daughter’s middle name was my gg’s nickname). Here’s to our women ancestors ✨

I have the same first name as my mother, though I have always gone by a nickname and she uses the full name. I like it! There is a tradition on my mother’s side to use the maternal grandmother’s maiden name as a girl’s middle name (I have one of those names). However, the convention didn’t work well for my daughter because my mother’s maiden name is so common as is our last name. So, each of my kid’s has a middle name that is one of their grandfather’s mother’s maiden name (different names, one Polish and one Basque). It’s a nice way to keep those family names in circulation.

what a beautiful child in the picture… you can see the love and kindness in her eyes!

Before we were pregnant we had girl names locked and loaded, when we had the premonition and then confirmation we were having a boy we were at a loss. Boy names seemed so plain and we didn’t have a clear winner from either side. We ended up looking at our shared (distant) Danish heritage and love of animals. Three kids later and three Scandinavian and animal themed names: Bjorn (bear) John, Tove Kanin (rabbit), Ivar Alces (genus for Moose).

I wanted to note that although I love having my mum’s name (thank you, mum!), my husband and I named our son after his grandfather. Since then (our son is now a young adult) a lot has changed, a lot has been learned, and we’re no longer in contact with that side of the family. Our son hasn’t seen his grandfather for years (his choice), and my guess is he may never in the future either. I guess what I’m saying is be careful about family names, as you never know how circumstances may change.

My name is Anna and I was named after a derivative of my mum’s name (just a few letters different). We also share the same middle name, and until I got married and changed my last name, we had the same surname. Interestingly, my mum didn’t name me after herself, but because she and my dad really liked my name. I love my name too. It’s a connection I’ll always have. :-)

Family names are common in Ireland, but did my strong feminist family take it too far?! My mother is Anne, my grandmother is Annie. My niece is Anne. And me……well I am Gillian (but pronounced Gilly-ANNE)…and my middle name is………..erhm…well it’s Anne too. Ok, I’m off to make two cups of tea and tease this one out with my mum (that’s Anne to you).

My husband comes from a long line of John’s. Most go by their middle name but all the first born sons are John and it goes back many generations. We thought it was a bit too expected, traditional, mainstream…so we didn’t do it. Instead our son’s have middle names that come from the women in our families!

We might name our second child after our son if it is a girl. I am superstitious about sharing the name before birth, but if my son was say, Julius Alexander our daughter would be Alexandra Julia. Cute? Weird? No one will know if the middle name isn’t shared anyway, and when my son heard our proposed middle name with the first name he smiled hugely and said “yeah. Let’s do that.”

In my first job out of law school, I had a short-term rotation in another division of my government agency where I reported to a pretty kick-ass woman named Ivy. From time to time she’d casually mention things like Ivy is doing this, Ivy is doing that, and I thought it was odd, but whatever. But at one point she started talking about how Ivy was graduating college and moving to Germany and all the things she had to do to prepare and I started worrying that Ivy was having some sort of psychotic break and I struggled to know how to proceed. I talked to the head of the office and had a good laugh when I learned Ivy named her daughter after herself.

In my family it’s a tradition to give the child the first name of the godmother/godfather as a middle name. So my middle name is Alberta as my godfather is Albert and my children’s second names are Elisa and Daniel after my sister and sister in law who are the godmothers.

In Portugal, names can get long, even up to eight parts, since hyphenated ones only count as one. “Maria do/a” is the classic choice: elegant, strong, and so traditional it often repeats across mothers, grandmothers, and daughters. On my mother’s side, though, the tradition is Isabel. Every generation had one… until now. The latest generation is all boys, so we’re just waiting for the next Isabel to show up.

all six of my children (four girls and two boys) have my maiden name as their middle name. all of my sisters and lots of my cousins did the same thing—all of our children have their mom’s maiden name as their middle name. i love feeling connected to the women in our family.

Not the same AT ALL but when my husband filled out a form for a dog license, he misread it and put his name on the line for the dog’s name. When the local council called to check the application they said “And I’m speaking with WALTER PLIMPTON?” (not his real name ;))), and he was like “Yes,” and she said very sincerely, “And your dog is ALSO named WALTER PLIMPTON?” So now sometimes we like to call the dog, “Here, Walter Plimpton!”

I love this! My mom was named Marilyn after my grandmother who was named Mina Marilyn, though she only went by Marilyn. My middle name is Lyn, a somewhat uncommon spelling, but straight off of Marilyn.

Repeating names even to the extent that there might be multiple sons with the same first name but different middle name ( but actually referred to by the middle name) stemmed from the Middle Ages to confuse the demons so they wouldn’t know for which male they were looking.

My husband and I have two children, and we each passed on a family name – one to our daughter, one to our son. We realized when we brought our daughter to the pediatrician for the first time at 3 days old that she and I had the same (legal) first and last name. It somehow had not occurred to us during the pregnancy since she and I both go by nicknames. Luckily we have different middle initials, but we’ve had some funny mixups, especially at TSA where they often think I’m my own infant in arms!

My daughters both have their own first names, but I gave my eldest the same middle name as my mom, both my aunts, and one of my cousins. It is deeply meaningful to me to connect her with the women who made me who I am, and I hope she will feel that tie throughout her life! In a spin on this, I (Stephanie) was named after my dad (Stephen). My husband and I gave our youngest Stephen as a middle name, and it’s super sweet to me to be a girl named after my dad with my son named after both me and my dad!

My mother had a completely different name picked out for me, but in hospital after I was born, when the nurse came around with the birth certificate, she decided to name me after herself. I was born on Super Bowl Sunday, and I think my father leaving the room to watch the game that evening might have had something to do with it! :) But I LOVE being named after her. I think names hold so much power, and our name fits both of us beautifully, even though we are different people. and though we’ve both lived such different lives, we can always return to this one simple connection and shared history.

My aunt gave her daughter her name. At her wedding her Dad said, ‘well finally my A- gets her name back’. The cheek! Only by getting married did my cousin get her own name- and it was her husband’s. It’s a hard pass from me.

Sounds like my dad’s family! His dad was Donald Sr., my dad is Donald Jr., then there was Donald Ray, Donna, and Doug. The D’s did not continue with my immediate fam!

I could have been the 4th Vivian, but my mom broke the chain! Might have to bring it back if I have a baby girl

In the original story of the parent trap, the twins are called Luise and Lotte after their mom – Luiselotte. I loved Lotte for a girls name (and Luise), but we had twins and the book is still quite popular, that would have been too much.

My third is Alexandra, like her momma. But we call her Honey.

I come from a long line of Elizabeths – but it was always the middle name: Helen Elizabeth, Nancy Elizabeth, Toni Elizabeth (my mom), until I was born and my mom pulled it to the front! Now I have a niece/goddaughter named Elle Elizabeth and I hope we keep it going for generations to come.

My mom is Roberta Ann, I’m Elizabeth Ann (but go by Annie), and named my daughter Alice Elizabeth to carry on the tradition of passing on our unused names :)

My maternal grandmother and great grandmother were both Dorian, and when my son was born we gave him Dorian as a middle name. I cannot wait until he’s old enough to ask about it and I can share these amazing women with him.

Hard pass! It’s hard enough grappling with the reality that your kid is their own person—not a mini-me, not a sequel of you, not a way to fix all your unfinished achievements. Not sure what is feminist about this. Our children are their own people who will already unintentionally be burdened with our unresolved stuff, why foist your name and identity onto them as well!

My mom, grandma, and I all have the same name! My grandma was Adeline because her dad was in a barber shop quartet and would sing the song “Sweet Adeline”, so he named her after that song. When my mom was born, she was baby girl #4, so her parents let her big sisters name her and they said to “name her after mom”! My mom went by the nickname Addie her whole life. My grandma had passed away before I was born, and my dad suggested they name me after her. My mom liked the nickname Addie so that’s my full name. 3 Addie’s! Back when no one had ever heard of that name. As a kid I never met another Addie my age, but now I hear it all the time.

My oldest son’s name is my maiden name- Beck. I’m from Georgia, and it’s a decently common way in the south to ensure both of your last names live on.

I am pregnant with my third child and my first two children have names to honor my grandparents. Now I am struggling as I would love to give a name to honor one of my husband’s (amazing, inspiring, incredible) grandparents but Ashkenazi Jews don’t typically name after living relatives so we don’t know if they will be honored by this nod. It feels weird to ask but I guess we must!

I got my name because my mom lost a bet. My very pregnant mom hastily agreed to naming her baby after her youngest sister IF the baby was born on sister’s birthday (which was several days after mom’s due date), and IF it was a girl (this was the late 80s). Mom thought, sure, I’ll agree to that- what are the odds!? Well, lo and behold, this baby girl arrived on Aunt Sheila’s birthday, and that is why my name is Sheila. Aunt Sheila paid it forward several years later by naming one of her daughters after another sister- so I have a cousin affectionally known as Baby Eileen.

Rory Gilmore!

My middle name is Moira as an Irish clap-back to my Mom’s name, Mary. Crazy to me that I wasn’t crazy about it when I was little. Now I LOVE it and honestly wish Moira were my first name. Doesn’t hurt that I share it with the fabulous Moira Rose of Schitt’s Creek :)

We did this with our boys’ middle names! First kiddo got Dad’s name as middle, and our second is Rowan Jenson because he’s Jen’s Son It’s my favorite fun fact :)

Proudly named after my mother AND great-grandmother. I didn’t continue the trend, but maybe one of my kiddos will. I joke that anyone who knows me long enough to have called the house phone and asked for me by name uses both my first and middle name (which, my mom’s is the same, but was the differentiator when I was a kid!)

I was totally delighted when my 25-year old daughter said that if she ever had a girl baby she would consider naming it after herself because she loves her name so much. I’m so happy she thinks her name is as great as we think it is!

Wow I never realized that my grandmother Ann did this! Her daughters were Jaan, Suzanne, and Lizanne. Thanks for this post making this click!

My mother sort of did this, I think. Her given name was Virginia and she went by Ginny most of her life. She named me Ginger, which is pretty close to her name and honestly was pretty confusing for us once I hit adolescence and sounded like an adult, because when I’d answer the phone all her friends assumed I was her! The only thing she ever said about my name was that I was not named after Ginger Rogers.

My friend, Anna Jo, named her first daughter Joanna! Cute as all get out, imo!

This has to do with giving MYSELF a name, not my child, but still on the topic of naming as a feminist act. When I got divorced I didn’t want to return to my “maiden” name as I felt no connection to it. Instead I adopted my grandmothers maiden name, as it had become dead in my family lineage and is also my child’s middle name. Now I still share a name with my child (the only reason I ever would’ve considered keeping my married name), and was able to resurrect my grandmothers beautiful “maiden” name and keep it going!

Damn this really made me think about my internalized misogyny. My step-sister named her daughter after herself, but with a tiny one letter difference. I remember first hearing it and thinking – wow, thats a bit self centered/conceited. Well I’ll be damned – it never crossed my mind that men do this ALL THE TIME FOREVER and I never had any thoughts about it. Thanks for the metaphorical forehead slap.

My daughter is an Anna, with my mom’s name as her middle name. We like to call her Anna Banana, and when she was three, she was convinced that her Banana was her first middle name, with my mom’s name coming after. She’d proudly introduce her “full” name to everyone—I loved that she thought we’d name her after a fruit! A rhyming fruit, no less :)

I am the fifth generation in my family with a version of the same name. For me it’s my middle name, and I love the name. But I have a strained relationship with my mother and a loving but distant relationship with my late grandmother. So the name makes me a little sad and I don’t use it.

My Grandmother’s middle name is Ann, my mom’s first name is Anne, my middle name is Anne, my daughter’s middle name is Anne. Not quite as forward as first names being the same, but a generational tie that makes me so happy. Plus a built in fondness for Anne of Green Gables, as an ‘Anne with an E’. My daughter has a gorgeous illustration of a map of Avonlea in her nursery!

My grandmother’s name was Sara, my mom’s name was Sara, and my name is Sara. I love being in the lineage of “Sara’s.” Yes, men have this tradition, so why not women?

In Hungarian culture sons are often names after the father. I find this a bit oudated and a bit creepy. But maybe because of the idea behind it….to have your minnie-me and you are the”big” one the child should look up to or be compared to.

My three kids all have legacy names as middle names (their grandparents’ first names or middle names that have been in the family for generations). I have a very old-fashioned sounding middle name, my paternal grandmother’s first name. I would never use it and I have never considered passing it on to my daughter. But I like the connection it has brought me, especially since I never met my grandmother. My daughter has two middle names, my mother’s first name and a middle name carried by many women on my husband’s side. I hope these names will give my daughter a sense of connection with earlier generations as well.

I am orginally from the Outer Hebrides and there are a lot of Donald-Johns, Donald-Euans, John-Donalds, Alastairs, Archies, Murdos and a few others for men. There are a lot of women that are named after men as well so my cousin is Archina after her Dads brother Archie, Murdina after her father Murdo, Donalda after an Uncle Donald, you get the picture. When we had our child the only thing I was adamant about was they were not name after anyone. I did toy with the idea that if we had a boy we would give him the middle name Ian as both my Dad and my Father In Law were Ian but decided against it. For me personally, I feel when you are named after someone, people always do that comparison thing whether they realise it or not. Oh you are so like your Aunty Anna who you were named after, oh you got that personality streak from your Grandfather who you were named after etc etc. I totally appreciate why people want to do it but it was just never something I or my Husband wanted to do.

Lorelai and Lorelai (Rory) Gilmore, the iconic mother-daughter duo from the early ‘00s. You can always nickname!

My husband and I have decided to give our first, soon-to-be-born daughter my middle name, which also happens to be my late grandmother’s name. I was named after my dad – the female version of his very similar German name, and I’ve always really loved it not being exactly the same but similar.

My five year old is also Anna! After I read Anna Karenina, I decided it was a beautiful name. Her surname is my husband’s and mine last. I always find women’s names always get inserted in the middle then get dropped, so I explained to my husband mine should be last as my name stops with me otherwise!

My mom and her best friend were both pregnant at the same time by chance and both with daughters. They decided to give each daughter the other’s name in tribute to their friendship. In turn, that love and friendship of our mothers passed down to us, making another generation of best friends. I feel lucky to share a name steeped in the magic of sisterhood.

My mom gave me her maiden name for my middle name. I gave my daughter my same middle name. As a toddler she knew some situations called for FULL names but she couldn’t grasp that not everyone had OUR middle name, so we had this little pip squeak storming around and grumbling “DADDY BLYTHE!” and chastising “PUPPY BLYTHE!” and shaking her head at the antics of “Daniel Tiger Blythe!”

When I grew up in the deep South, girls routinely dropped their middle names, kept their surname as their middle name, and took their husband’s last name as their last name. That’s what I did and have never regretted it. Nowadays, I like the tradition of using family names for children, like Coleman or Hudson or Lee or Campbell. And I think a name should look good on executive orders if the kid grows up to be president.

Childfree woman here, but I feel the weight of legacy because I was named after someone who was very famous at the time! My very anglo saxon moniker has never confused anyone nor put them off – I see my privilege there – but I still longed for a more unique identity. I wonder how often those who are named after family members feel that way as well. At the same time, I love the idea that a female junior is a feminist act. Whether you add to someone else’s story with a name or start fresh, there are certainly benefits to both.

My mom’s maiden name is Pierce. It’s my sister’s and I middle name. Now it’s my son’s middle name. I’m the first woman in my family to carry on my family name all on my own and make a family with that name. My last name was likely ending with me, but now my 3-year-old get’s to explain how to pronounce our last name for forever EVER ever.

Only here to say that I named my daughter Anna and love it so much and also love that you love it, Jo!

I was named after my mom! My name was her nickname for a long time and my parents chose it for me. I used to get confused when people would call my mom “Darby” when I was little but eventually it became my own:)

I gave my third daugher my same middle name (Skye) and now it feels like a special bond between us. She was a really hard baby so I thought maybe I had jinxed it with hubris by giving her my name, but now I see bits of myself in her and she has so much pride in our little connection :)

So funny but I think is coming in Latin American or at least not bizarre. My mom is named after her mom and I am named after my maternal and paternal grandmother. I don’t love it. While I could fantasize about the reasons, the truth is that it was done out of laziness and some sort of truce so neither families would feel left out.

My maiden name is Hunt and my daughter is Hunter. :)

We picked two names we loved for our twin girls, but hadn’t decided on middle names yet. We vaguely knew we wanted some kind of family tie-in, and when they were born early, it clicked—we gave them the same middle names as their two loving aunts to give them extra strength during their time in the NICU. Their middle names also happen to be the same or a variation of my two grandmothers first names.

I was doing some family tree research a little while back and stumbled on an ancestor (my third great grandmother I think) who had twin girls, and gave her first name to one and used her first name as the middle name for the other. Boss move!

We have 4 generations of Erna in my family, in a direct line!

You learn something new everyday! Didn’t think this was strange. Definitely a cultural thing. I’m latina and a lot of women I know are named after their mothers and often through a few generations.

I gave my daughter my middle name! I wanted to name her after myself but not in such an aggressive way, lol. Also “Joy Jr.” is kinda weird (but maybe kinda cute?). Also, my middle name is Hebrew and is a way I hold onto my Jewish heritage, and I wanted my daughter to have that, too. The funny thing is, I HATED my middle name growing up . . . and now my daughter hates it, too! But eventually I came to embrace it, and now use it all the time as my byline for publications.

When pregnant with our third, we decided to let our two kids (aged 9&7) pick the name. They chose “Teddy” after Teddy Lupin, the son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter.