Naming boy after father....How much confusion does this cause?
Peggy Brown
My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after his
father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be too
confusing.
For those who've been through this, what do you think?
- Peggy -
Bonnie Weller
>- Peggy -
Both my mother and father had their parent's name and they hated it.
They said it was very confusing. My father was given a silly
nickname when he was growing up and was never called by his birth
name until he left home. He swore he would never name his son after
himself (and he didn't). I have not talked to anyone who liked having
their parents name except for the few individuals who are really hung
up on 'the family name' thing. You know the type ..."Oliver Barrett
III"... Why not give him your husbands first name as his middle
name?
kra...@ohsu.edu
Well, my husband is named after his father whose name is Bert (that's his full
name, not Albert or Bertram, just Bert). They named my husband Bert II instead
of Bert, Jr. which I don't understand. But apparently he was called either
little Bert or Bert Petty (both his and his father's middle name) when he was
growing up, and he didn't have any nicknames, strange or normal. Now he lives
about 2000 miles from his parents so both he and his father are just Bert. I
don't think it was that hard for him to have the same name as his dad.
But now I am wondering about a Bert III. I am 34 weeks pregnant and have
pretty much decided against naming our child Bert III if he is a boy, mostly
because I can't think of any good nicknames for a Bert III (and I don't really
like the name Bert anyway). I'm not big on Chip or Trip. But every now and
then I still think maybe we should name him Bert III to carry on the tradition.
My husband is not pushing for Bert III so I think we probably will not use
that name. But a lot of my reason for not using it is the hassle of two people
with the same name in the same household.
If you had different middle names you could call your son by his middl e name
and maybe later when he is older he might want to use the first name. I have
friends who have named their first son John for four generations (my friend is
the third generation). But they all go by their middle names. So my friend is
J. Robert or Bob and his son is J. Benjamin or Ben.
Kathryn Pyle Krages
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland, OR 97201
kra...@ohsu.edu
David Figge
As a son who has the same name as his father, I can give you some opinions from
my side of the fence:
Being the same name didn't really start to cause problems until I turned
teenage and my voice lowered enough to be close to my father's. At that point
we often misdirected phone calls. This was probably the biggest name hassle
while growing up. (And heck, we may have video phones in 10 years...)
As I got older, several times my name appeared in print and was confusing to
my father's circle of friends. For example, I had a friend running for city
council, and I whole-heartedly endorsed him. They went ahead and put my name
on their stationary as endorsing the candidate. Most of my father's friends
felt that reflected my _father's_ endorsement of the candidate.
Conclusions and opinions:
Was it a problem? No, not really. There were some misunderstandings (although
nothing big taken in the scheme of things). The phone calls we lived through
(mostly by my father being referred to as Dave and me as David). The
misunderstandings about my name in print -- well, I see that as a problem he
will have to deal with. I don't necessarily mind being named David, but the
decision to name me that was his, not mine.
Would I "continue the tradition"? No, I chose not to name my son David. Not
that I object in principle, just that my son having the same name as me isn't
important to me. It is to many people. It was to my father. It isn't to me.
And if it isn't important enough to make up for the few hassles along the
way, it isn't worth doing.
Should you name him Paul because "it's the manly thing to do"? Certainly not.
It isn't worth the added hassles.
If you like the name Paul, and/or you want him to have the same name as his
father, should this post stop you? Certainly not. Go for it.
What should I get out of this post? Recognize that there are some hassles
along the way. If it isn't important to you, don't do it (e.g. don't do it
because your friends say you should). If it is important to you, there's
nothing down the road that should dissuade you.
I hope this helps with your decision...
David Figge ___ / __ / ____/ / | / ____/
/ / / / / / | / /
Boeing Computer Services ___ / / / ___/ / / | / /
Bellevue, Washington / / / / / / / / / _/
fi...@bcstec.ca.boeing.com ______/ _____/ _____/ __/ __/ __/ _____/
Chris Nelson
and calling him "Lee". I much prefer that practice to a "silly
nickname". Any thoughts on calling "junior" by his middle name?
Chris
--
------------------------------+------------------------------------------
Chris Nelson | Rens-se-LEER is a county.
Internet: nel...@cs.rpi.edu | RENS-se-ler is a city.
CompuServe: 70441,3321 | R-P-I is a school in Troy!
Cynthia Maher
To avoid confusion, they both went by nicknames--Bud, and Little Bud!
Cindy
Kelly Majchrzak
|> oisp...@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peggy Brown) writes:
|>
|>
|> >My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after his
|> >father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be too
|> >confusing.
|>
|> >For those who've been through this, what do you think?
|>
|> >- Peggy -
were thinking of naming our baby after my husband she said not to do it! She
told us that she's had many people have problems with their credit because
they'll have their father's or son's debts on their credit report. For some
reason when things are reported to credit bureau they are reported by name, not
social security number (makes sense, huh??!!). My friend got a call from a
girl in another city because her stuff was on this girls credit report. And
I guess it's a real pain to get your credit report changed - lots of red tape.
something else to think about!!
kelly
CINDY FLASKERUD
>
>|> oisp...@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peggy Brown) writes:
>|>
>|>
>|> >My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after his
>|> >father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be too
>|> >confusing.
>|>
>|> >For those who've been through this, what do you think?
>|>
>|> >- Peggy -
>
>
My husband is Paul Douglas Jr. He and his father never bothered to
use either jr. or sr. on anything important. When we got married, we
started using Jr. on utility bills, new car loans, etc. We did have a
problem with our credit report because Paul's father (who goes by Doug
at home) had bounced a check once. Since Paul and Doug had the same
name and, at one time, the same address, this caused a big problem.
And it's almost impossible to have something like that taken off of your
credit report. When our first son was born, Paul mentioned naming him
Paul Douglas III, but after the problems we had, I refused. Besides, I
felt the child should have his own identity. And what kind of nicknames
would he get?... "Pauly", "Dougie", "little Paul", etc, Yuch! It may be
a traditional "macho" thing to do, but I personally don't agree with it.
---
Cindy Dagen-Flaskerud
Thomas G. Kiefer
>>My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after his
>>father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be too
>>confusing.
>>
>>For those who've been through this, what do you think?
>>
>>- Peggy -
In article <ByJrI...@news.cso.uiuc.edu> wel...@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (Bonnie Weller) writes:
>Both my mother and father had their parent's name and they hated it.
>They said it was very confusing. My father was given a silly
>nickname when he was growing up and was never called by his birth
>name until he left home. He swore he would never name his son after
>himself (and he didn't). I have not talked to anyone who liked having
>their parents name except for the few individuals who are really hung
>up on 'the family name' thing. You know the type ..."Oliver Barrett
>III"... Why not give him your husbands first name as his middle
>name?
Yeah. I know a "Thayer III" who has adamantly *vowed* that no son of
his shall have to bear the name "Thayer".
If you don't mind going by nicknames (and hope that Junior won't mind,
either), then I guess it's not a problem. My dad flatly refused when
my mom suggested they name me George, Jr., and I refused when my wife
asked me if I wanted a Thomas, Jr., basically because
(1) none of us want to put up with *necessary* nicknames, and
(2) when we call out "George" or "Tom", we want one person --
the one we're calling -- to answer, not half the household.
Again, YMMV, and how important all this is is entirely up to you.
Bonnie suggests giving Dad's (or Mom's) first name as Junior's middle
name. I happen to really like this practice, and this is what we plan
to do -- it gives some identity with parents to the kids, without
creating the possible identity crises of a Jr.
My opinions, obviously, sumbitted for thought.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Thomas George Kiefer |
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| son of George William Kiefer | father of Brynn Eve Kiefer |
| grandson of William John Kiefer | husband of Eve Monique Kiefer |
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+
ROBERT SMITH
recommend against it! It causes confusion. I also thought, "Couldn't my
parents think of a more original name?" (I was the 3rd son -- I guess they ran
out of ideas). I never experienced any major inconveniences, just small
things, e.g., phone rings; mom answers it; she calls "Bob, it's for you."
--
Bob Smith
E-mail => Robert....@daytonoh.ncr.com
Jim Fare
>>My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after his
>>father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be too
>>confusing.
>>For those who've been through this, what do you think?
>>- Peggy -
>Both my mother and father had their parent's name and they hated it.
>They said it was very confusing. My father was given a silly
>himself (and he didn't). I have not talked to anyone who liked having
>their parents name except for the few individuals who are really hung
>up on 'the family name' thing. You know the type ..."Oliver Barrett
>III"... Why not give him your husbands first name as his middle
>name?
Actually, I quite like having the exact same name as my father. Perhaps
it is one of those male bonding type things, but we both are a bit proud
when we introduce each other. My parents told me that we have the exact
same name to show that there is a continuity and unity. We don't use Sr.
or Jr. because, although tied to each other, we are both individuals. I
I like this.
Besides, we know who we are; we have fun with other's confusion. When a
person would call our house and asked for "Jim" we would chuckle and ask
if they wanted "Big Jim" or "Little Jim"; virtually everyone could guess
which they wanted.
If I am ever blessed with kids, I would like give my son the same name I
have because he is a part of me. I will not make him Jr. or "the third"
because he is an individual in his own right. Now if only my wife would
agree with this :-<.
[J.F.]
Keith E Gatling
Well, I haven't been through this myself, but my brother-in-law's name is
Vincenzo, but we've all known him as Vince. When their son was born almost
two years ago, they named Vincenzo also, but he's known as Enzo. Actually
in their case the choice was partially based on wanting to give the kid a
name where he had a choice between going by the obviously Italian Enzo or
the more American Vince, but for the moment they didn't want to have to deal
with "Big Vince and Little Vince."
What have you considered as a middle name? Maybe you could call him by his
initials so he wouldn't be confused every time someone yelled "Paul!" Or
maybe Paul as a middle name would work. Hmm...I wonder what other
variations of Paul there are that you could use...I'm pretty sure it's Pablo
in Spanish, what are the French, German, and Italian variations? I just
checked my 20,000 baby names book and there aren't a whole lot of variations
that sound distinctive, you're pretty much limited to Pablo, Paolo, and
Pavel.
But hey, name your kid what you want! Remember, I'm the one who's going to
name his kid Devra Marie if it's a girl, and Geordie LeVar if it's a boy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Keith E Gatling kgat...@mailbox.syr.edu *
* Opinions? I've got plenty of them. Just ask my wife! *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tamara Shaffer
>Message-ID: <1992Dec1.0...@ohsu.edu>
definitely carry on a name if my husband were Jr., II, III, etc.
So, that said, I think it is a fine thing to do. I agree with
Kathryn that using the middle name (or whichever the dad doesn't
use) is the easiest way to go.
I knew a boy in school who was a III. His nickname was "Tres". (It
is "three" in Spanish.) I knew him a long time before I ever knew
it was a nickname. Guess I was a little slow. :)
My husband is Richard Ferrell (mother's maiden name) Shaffer. He
has always been called "Ferrell". I have every intention (I hope
he doesn't mind! :)) of naming a son (if that's what we have)
"First name" Ferrell Shaffer and calling him by the first name (which
is totally undecided as of now).
We named Melissa Lin Shaffer after me, Tamara Lin. Guess we're just
kind of weird like that. (My great-grandfather was Lynn, my mother
is Linda, hence the "Lin".)
Ultimately, do what pleases you.
TAMARA
mommy to Melissa (5/1/91) and ? (due 5/8/93)
ps: Kathryn, did you get my e-mail???
Peggy Brown
>In article <ByJ96...@acsu.buffalo.edu> oisp...@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu
>(Peggy Brown) writes:
>
> > My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after
> > his father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be
> > too confusing.
>
>initials so he wouldn't be confused every time someone yelled "Paul!" Or
>maybe Paul as a middle name would work. Hmm...I wonder what other
>variations of Paul there are that you could use...
You know how it is naming kids, a lot to consider.... We decided
that I would pick the girl's name and my husband would pick the
boy's name (short of anything the other totally hated). For me
it was a toss between Allysson and Amanda, but my husband
preferred Amanda so I went with that. I made sure *NOT* to name
the girl after anyone. Everyone in my family is named after
someone and I'm tired of that. Come to find out my grandmother,
Bridget Teresa, said Amanda is a nickname my grandfather had for
her when they were young - can't win.
The amnio showed it was a boy.
My husband originally picked Richard Leonard, after his father.
I couldn't stand Leonard and suggested Paul instead (his name) so
he went with that. Then after touring the hospital and looking
at babies he said that maybe he should name the baby after
himself. I thought this was really cute, his parental pride
showing, but my brother was named after my father and it always
was (IMO) a PITA (pain in the ass). Since everyone in my family
is named after other people, there are multiple Pats, Margarets,
Teresas, Johns, Roberts etc.... Confusing. (Personally, I would
have given him an "unused" firstname, but its no big deal
with only 2 Richards and the grandfather going by Dick. Ours
will be Rich or Richy.)
We'll probably go with Richard Paul, since my husband doesn't
feel *real* strongly about naming the baby after himself, and I
don't want to deal with 2 with the same name. Maybe he would
have gone with Joseph Paul (his middlename first) but I just
don't care for Joseph.
>But hey, name your kid what you want!
The hard part is figuring out what you want and also
compromising with your spouse.
>Remember, I'm the one who's going to
>name his kid Devra Marie if it's a girl, and Geordie LeVar if it's a boy.
Good for you!
- Peggy -
Julia K. Miller
I have only one negative about naming a child after a parent and
then using the middle name. My uncle is a child that was so named. In
school everyone called him Russ. At home, he was Jack because his father
was Russ. People who didn't know his this could get confused when they
called or when his father was around. When his father died, it caused some
confusion with the credit agencies and some other things. The son was
marked as deceased in several places which cause problems. The bank
closed some accounts for the son when cross checking accounts for the father.
I guess some places do cross references of names. Since he had lived
with his parents for awhile, the address of the parents was on his credit
reports which didn't help.
After the father was dead, he wants to be called Russ. I still
can't remember to do so all the time.
Julia
christine.m.dakes
> Hi Peggy! My aunt works for a local bank as a morgage specialist and when we
> were thinking of naming our baby after my husband she said not to do it! She
> told us that she's had many people have problems with their credit because
> they'll have their father's or son's debts on their credit report. For some
> reason when things are reported to credit bureau they are reported by name, not
> social security number (makes sense, huh??!!). My friend got a call from a
> girl in another city because her stuff was on this girls credit report. And
> I guess it's a real pain to get your credit report changed - lots of red tape.
>
> something else to think about!!
>
So true! My husband is named after his father and told me this funny
but true story: He just started working and was applying for a credit
card or something like that. His application was rejected based on
something about a mortgage and his debt compared to his salary, they
insisted he got a mortgage in 1970.....at the age of 10! Turns out
the credit reports were really screwed up, some of it true (half the
data correctly his) and half was his dad's data (oh his dad has an
excellent credit rating, it was just that Joe Jr.'s salary couldn't
match Joe Sr.'s mortgage or something like that). A mess to clean up.
You'd think they'd report based on SSN, not just name. Ah well. So
yes, this can be a concern. My husband's response to them was :
"A mortgage in 1970? I was only 10! What'd I do? Get a mortgage on
a tree house??!!" As if they couldn't understand the mix up, duh?!!
Christine
first-time-mom-2-b 1/19/93
Beth Weiss
|> She told us that she's had many people have problems with their credit
|> because they'll have their father's or son's debts on their credit report.
My father once was trying to get electricity turned on in his new
residence, and the Electric Company said they couldn't do it because
he had an outstanding bill with them. "No, I've never had electric
service in this town", he told them. "Well, some Ed Weiss has an
outstanding bill of $xxx.xx with us". My father, of course, hit the
roof: "it's hardly my fault ... blah blah blah ... some idiot with the
same name blah blah"
As he was telling this story to someone, he finally realized: it
_was too_ his fault: he named his son Ed!
--Beth Weiss
bwe...@cs.arizona.edu
(true story--honest!--but don't tell my brother I told :-)
Kate Gregory
>maybe Paul as a middle name would work. Hmm...I wonder what other
>variations of Paul there are that you could use...I'm pretty sure it's Pablo
>in Spanish, what are the French, German, and Italian variations? I just
>checked my 20,000 baby names book and there aren't a whole lot of variations
>that sound distinctive, you're pretty much limited to Pablo, Paolo, and
>Pavel.
>
>
of the parent's names in your baby name book. You know "the strong",
"gift from god", etc. Then see if you can find names from other
sources that mean the same. In their case the father is called
David, which means beloved in Hebrew, so they named their daughter
Aimee, which means beloved in French, and when people ask they say
she is named after her father :-)
Kate
David Kassover
>Since everyone in my family
>is named after other people, there are multiple Pats, Margarets,
>Teresas, Johns, Roberts etc.... Confusing. (Personally, I would
>have given him an "unused" firstname, but its no big deal
>with only 2 Richards and the grandfather going by Dick. Ours
>will be Rich or Richy.)
I had dinner last week with my newest relative (my wife's
brother's wife), among others.
In the course of the discussion over the wedding pictures, it
came out that my wife's father is one of four brothers: Daniel,
Thaddeus, Edward, and Henry.
It was further discovered that my sister-in-law's mother has four
brothers: Daniel, Thaddeus, Edward, and Henry.
--
David Kassover "Proper technique helps protect you against
uupsi!khazad!kassover sharp weapons and dull judges."
kass...@aule-tek.com F. Collins
kass...@ra.crd.ge.com
Teri Miller
>>My husband and I might give our son the firstname Paul, after his
>>father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be too
>>confusing.
>
>They said it was very confusing. My father was given a silly
>nickname when he was growing up and was never called by his birth
>name until he left home. He swore he would never name his son after
>himself (and he didn't). I have not talked to anyone who liked having
>their parents name except for the few individuals who are really hung
>up on 'the family name' thing. You know the type ..."Oliver Barrett
>III"... Why not give him your husbands first name as his middle
>name?
I'm with you, Bonnie.
My husband is Raymond Alexander Trent, Jr. His sister is Teri Marie
Trent.
When we got married, I thought long and hard about it, and decided
to keep my name. Otherwise, I would have become another Teri Trent,
and I was already feeling wierd enough about the name game.
When we apply for credit and such, we are very careful. I recently
combed our credit histories, just to make sure there was nothing
untoward on there. We just bought a house, and were very careful
throughout the paperwork to make sure that Ray's name was specific
enough so that I didn't wind up owning the house with his dad.
It doesn't help matters much that there is another Theresa Miller
in this area. Medical records have almost been swapped, veternarian
records almost got filed together, and I have received some threatening
phone calls from creditors. (I'm not trying to imply that she's a
deadbeat or anything - mistakes happen. It's still spooky.)
It's difficult enough, having a name like someone else's - parts of
your life can be duplicated (like Theresa and I using the same
pharmacy and vet) but in the case of siblings or parents, it's
doubly easy for a mistake to be made. Why chance it?
If I hadn't thought that it would give my beloved father a heart
attack, I would have changed my name to Kimberly Anne Trent. That
would have solved the whole Theresa Miller/Teri Trent dilemma, while
still giving me my parents' second choice name. I just didn't have
the guts to do it. I now wish I'd had.
So, now, when we go home, we have to be careful to refer to my husband
Ray and "Raymond" else everyone gets confused. They use my nickname
"Shannah" so as not to confuse me with Teri. It's a complete mess.
(The other interesting thing to note is that my husband has a card
from AAA in honor of 25 years of being a member - he's only *26*!)
Please, take my advice, and name your child something else. Use
part of your name as part of theirs, if you must, but please don't
duplicate a name. It can be a real nightmare, not only for them,
but if worse comes to worse and they wind up with a bad credit
history or something, you may be glad there is no chance of confusing
the two of you!
Here, let me get off this soapbox, sorry.
--
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
Teri Miller tmi...@cisco.com -or- sha...@netcom.com
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
Joe Mastroianni
There was never any confusion in my house. My mother would say, "Joe, where
did this American Express charge for a hotel room in Cannes come from?"
The appropriate Joe would make the excuse. Or my mother would say, "Joe,
why are there melted G.I. Joe action figures embedded in the sofa cushions?"
And my father would explain he was playing with napalm again.
Joe
--
Joe Mastroianni AKA: AA6YD AA6YD @ N6LDL.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NA
Cadence Design Systems
Santa Clara Ca. "Up the airy mountain;down the rushy glen; we
j...@cadence.com daren't go a hunting; for fear of little men "
Kim Barnard
>Subject: Re: Naming boy after father....How much confusion does this cause?
>From: bwe...@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss)
>Date: 2 Dec 92 22:23:46 GMT
My husband's oldest brother is named after his father. About six years ago
his brother got into some trouble with the law. It's a long story, but my
father-in-law had all the money in his accounts confiscated by the IRS and
the brother wrote bad checks on his father's account. I think the worst
part for my father-in-law was that he is a very nice religious man and they
lived in a small town. News of what the brother was doing was always in the
paper and people didn't know if it was the brother or the father that was
doing the bad deeds. When my husband and I had our first son my father-in-
law told my husband never to name your kid after yourself because you never
know what he is going to do with your name.
Of course, we all hope that our kids would do good things with our names,
but you never know.
Kim
Johan Thole
>In article <10...@ncrwat.Waterloo.NCR.COM>, jim@ (Jim Fare) writes:
>|> Actually, I quite like having the exact same name as my father. Perhaps
>|> it is one of those male bonding type things, but we both are a bit proud
>|> when we introduce each other. My parents told me that we have the exact
>|> same name to show that there is a continuity and unity. We don't use Sr.
>|> or Jr. because, although tied to each other, we are both individuals. I
>|> I like this.
>|> ...
>|> If I am ever blessed with kids, I would like give my son the same name I
>|> have because he is a part of me. I will not make him Jr. or "the third"
>|> because he is an individual in his own right. Now if only my wife would
>|> agree with this :-<.
>Ack! You say that because you're an individual in your own right, you don't
>get anything to distinguish your name from your father's?
>I'm not flaming, but I think you completely missed the point of "junior"
>and "senior", which is to give each individual a designation of his own,
>to distinguish his name from that of the other individuals of the same
>name. Your family obviously doesn't need this, but when it *is* used, the
>purpose of the suffix is exactly the opposite of what you suggest--not to
>erase individuality, but to increase it slightly.
I totally agree! I have the same name (and all initials) as my father. Until
I moved out we always had Jr. and Sr. behind our names. It can be very
annoying (or maybe worse) everytime opening letters etc. which are for the
other J.H. Thole. If we are going to have kids, they will not have the same
initials as we have.
>Paula Burch
>pbu...@bcm.tmc.edu
Johan. (for the curious; the H. comes from Herman)
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Johan Thole (th...@cs.rulimburg.nl) | The wrong side of a door is
University of Limburg | where the dog is.
Dept. of computer science | #include <std/disclaimer.h>
Marcy Thompson
>I've always planned on naming my son after me (Christopher Lee Nelson)
>and calling him "Lee". I much prefer that practice to a "silly
>nickname". Any thoughts on calling "junior" by his middle name?
I don't know about calling "junior" by his middle name, but my father
and his sister are both called by their middle names. I've never heard
either of them complain about it. My father has his full name in the
phone book, so he can always tell calls that aren't for him or are
sales calls, because the callers say "Hi, Edwin!". I believe he
considers this to be an advantage (otherwise he'd be listed the
way he signs his name: E. Dale).
On the other hand, neither my father nor his aunt called any of their
four children by our middle names. I believe this was because their
spouses (my mother and my uncle) had middle names which they hated.
My father-in-law also goes by one of his middle names (he has two). He
started this as a young adult, because he didn't like either his first
or second name. (A living argument for giving a child a middle name that
can be used as a given name if the kid grows up to hate its first name...)
I guess calling any child Mark and I have by its middle name would just
be carrying on a family tradition :-)
Marcy
--
Marcy Thompson
SoftQuad (West)
ma...@sqwest.wimsey.bc.ca (preferred) or ma...@sq.com
Diane Segelhorst
(Long story about two Theresa Millers and husband with same name as
Dad deleted)
Whew! I never thought I would be so glad that I had such an unusual
name. THanks to all of you for these stories.
(My maiden name was Diane Kay Miquelon. Everyone with that last name
is VERY closely related to me. When I married, NO WAY was I keeping
my maiden name as my middle name. I couldn't face being
Diane Miquelon Segelhorst!)
On the same names thread, my brother in law is Robert James Segelhorst.
His cousin named his son Robert James Segelhorst. My brother in law
was (and still is) FURIOUS!
Diane Segelhorst
dseg...@oasys.dt.navy.mil
Mom to Bradley James Segelhorst and Carolyn Marie Segelhorst
Jan Yarnot
"crazy" (well, shell-shocked: on a VA pension and unable to care for himself,
unmarried, but sweet) Uncle Stephen, and number two son, Mr. Cool, after Rich's
college (though turns out there's another Vincent Yarnot around, too, a
second-cousin or somesuch.)
A little background: family feud going on means that I haven't seen Steve since
his father's birthday in February. In August, Mr. Cool and I made a trip to
Washington (State) looking at colleges and rocks and bookstores, and we got
back _very_ late one Thursday morning. Later that day, Rich had to leave on
a trip to Ohio, and we barely had a chance to say "hi, bye" to each other.
So Vince and I are in church, and there are the prayers of the faithful, for the
recently deceased... including "Steve Yarnoh". Now, even mispronounced, I
think I know the name. I went thoroughly pale, then realized that if my son
had died and my daughter-in-law was still too pissed to let us know, she was
hardly likely to notify the church, since they've rather loudly and proudly
left it for a different one (a whole OTHER story, but that's NOT what the
feud is about.) I hoped the mispronunciation would pass over people's heads,
but one neighbor thought it must be Matthew and brought us a (very nice, too!)
plant. By that time, I had the story from Rich, who'd forgotten to mention
to me that his Uncle Steve had died. Vince, not being satisfied with my
thoughts about how it couldn't be our Steve, had called, but of course his
brother didn't call back. An interesting Sunday, indeed.
--
---Jan Yarnot, net.grandma.-- | A lifetime of smirking behind your hand
| is a lot better than a few seconds of
| triumph.
CSUS depends on my every word. Kinsella, _Box Socials_
Joni Snyder
> his father. But we're concerned that having 2 Pauls might be
> too confusing.
I come from a family really in to using the same names.
Example:
On my fathers family I have:
George: my father (George William) and grandfather(George Joseph)
Mary: my grandmother, an aunt(Joan Mary) and cousin (Mary Joan)
Helen: my great grandmother,a great aunt, an aunt and second cousin
On my mothers side:
John: my grandfather, my uncle, a first cousin and 2 2nd cousins
Leah: my great grandmother, and an aunt
Helen: my grandmother (just co-incidence from fathers side)
My mother and I are both named Mary Jo, but neither go by it she is
Jodi and I have always be called Joni (pretty close). She know says
she wishes she named me Leah.
The only problems we ever had were records at Air Force hospitals, we
alway had each others and usually through the doctors for a loop. They
finally had to label them "Wife" and "Daughter" and we always had to
tell them which to get.
My husband's name is Brent William and I wanted to name our son the
same, but he didn't so we settled on George William after my father
and grandfather (actually George Joseph). So far no problems with
son and grandfather being named George. I would also love to have
a grandson named George if that what my George wants.
When my son was 1 and while my parents were visiting once we went
to visit my grandfathers grave in New York and it hit me this would
probably be the only time the 3 George's would be together. I told
my father is and it brought a tear to his eyes, I'll never forget it.
Sorry this got so long, but the only problems that may arise are other
peoples problems as long it's OK with you. I think it's wonderful to
carry on the tradition.
Joni Snyder
Jim Fare
>
>In article <10...@ncrwat.Waterloo.NCR.COM>, jim@ (Jim Fare) writes:
>|> have because he is a part of me. I will not make him Jr. or "the third"
>|> because he is an individual in his own right. Now if only my wife would
>|> agree with this :-<.
>
>get anything to distinguish your name from your father's?
>
>I'm not flaming, but I think you completely missed the point of "junior"
>and "senior", which is to give each individual a designation of his own,
>to distinguish his name from that of the other individuals of the same
>name. Your family obviously doesn't need this, but when it *is* used, the
>purpose of the suffix is exactly the opposite of what you suggest--not to
>erase individuality, but to increase it slightly.
>
>pbu...@bcm.tmc.edu
Perhaps, but a name is something you carry with you all your life, only the
first <20% of which is with your parents. If you use a "Jr." label, everyone
will always know that you are named after your father - even when you are
90+ and deserve to be a "Sr.". Throughout my life, other than the first 5
years, my father and I have existed in very different social circles; _I_
control who knows that we have the same name. Now if we both existed in the
same professional field I may consider using a "Junior" to distinguish myself.
The label "jr." is a relation to another person, and hence, IMO, reduces
individuality. Our "True" individuality follows from our different peer
groups anyway.
As for Credit problems, I don't worry about that too much; of course, I would
not have the same address or Telephone number as my father any more either.
After all, how many John Smith's are out there? Their credit seems to survive.
(Yes, I know this is very week :-) )
Besides the confusion when we are in the same house at the expense of others is
still fun ;-> (For some reason, we seem to know which of us is being addressed
even if the other people don't)
[J.F.]
Tamara Shaffer
>Message-ID: <1992Dec3.0...@netcom.com>
>
>[...]
>Please, take my advice, and name your child something else. Use
>part of your name as part of theirs, if you must, but please don't
>duplicate a name. It can be a real nightmare, not only for them,
>but if worse comes to worse and they wind up with a bad credit
>history or something, you may be glad there is no chance of confusing
>the two of you!
>
>Here, let me get off this soapbox, sorry.
>
>--
>*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
>Teri Miller tmi...@cisco.com -or- sha...@netcom.com
>*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
>
posted before in this thread, I want to name a son, if we are so
blessed, "Firstname" Ferrell Shaffer. Ferrell is my husband's middle
name, and he is called by it. When Melissa was born, we had agreed
that we would name a boy Justin. (Ferrell's dad is Justin Alphonzo
and is called "Al".) Wellllllll, this past April Ferrell's brother
John, and his wife, named our cute little nephew Justin Logan. He
is called "Logan". Soooooo... (I know this is long and confusing),
what do the masses think about Justin "Logan" Shaffer and "Justin"
Ferrell Shaffer if they are 13 months apart in age, live in the
same community, and probably will go to school together??? Is it
too much? We really love the name as it is special to both his side
and my side of the family (I have a cousin who's very special named
Justin.) Granted, there would be 3 living Justin Shaffer's, but
they would all be called by different names.
Let me know what y'all think.
Thanks!
Rob Steele
> In article <1fiqon...@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> pbu...@bcm.tmc.edu
(Paula Burch) writes:
If I remember my Miss Manners correctly, a man never uses "Sr.". The
elder John Smith is simply Mr. John Smith and his son is John Jr. The
only person to go by "Sr." is the elder Mrs. Smith if she is ever
widowed, at which point the son drops the "Jr."
-------------------------------------------------------
Rob Steele r...@ll.mit.edu
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood St., M-203 Children are hereditary;
Lexington, MA 02173 if your parents didn't have
617/981-2575 any, neither will you.
Lynn Gazis
She has her mother's first name as her middle name. Our
family also tends to name children after grandparents
more often than parents. I would probably be more likely
to do that, since it seems less confusing, but YMMV and
probably either naming children for parents or not naming
children for parents is OK. The children I've known who
were named for parents didn't express any objection, and
one wanted to continue the tradition.
Lynn Diana Gazis-Sax
Kerri South
I wonder why it's so common to give the son the same name as the father
but not to give the daughter the same name as the mother. I feel like that
is saying the father's name is more important than the mother's and needs
to be passed on. Couple that with women giving up their surnames upon marriage
to take on the name of their husbands, and you get a sense of men
perpetuating their first and last names all over the place. Of course, many
daughters are named after grandmothers: I am one example.
Just imagine a Lucille Paxton Sr. and her daughter Lucille Paxton Jr. (names
I made up). I mean, why have Sr. and Jr. male bonding but no similar female
tie or link? Are male generational ties more important or significant than
female?
My husband is Courtney and I am Kerri. Just seeing our two names, many assume
that the husband is Kerri and the wife is Courtney, though an "i" ending for
Kerri seems feminine. We've thought of naming a son Kerry and a daughter
Courtney, but that would surely seem a bit laughable. Everyone would be
confused!
--
Kerri South, Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Design Systems Division, P.O. Box 8070,
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 (801) 582-5847
INET: kso...@dsd.es.com
Thomas G. Kiefer
>I wonder why it's so common to give the son the same name as the father
>but not to give the daughter the same name as the mother. I feel like that
>is saying the father's name is more important than the mother's and needs
>to be passed on. Couple that with women giving up their surnames upon marriage
>to take on the name of their husbands, and you get a sense of men
>perpetuating their first and last names all over the place.
It is kinda silly (in my mind, anyway; obvious other see it differently).
But the above reminded me of something else. Does it seem like there are
extremely common "default" girls' middle names? Like Mary/Marie/Maria,
which seems very common.
Personally, I like the fact that my wife's first name is my daughter's
middle name, and that any son we might have will have my first name as
his middle.
--
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Thomas Kiefer (tho...@cco.caltech.edu) | "Gumpf gumpf gumpf gumpf." |
| father to Brynn (5.3 months!) | - Brynn Eve Kiefer |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Keith E Gatling
> father but not to give the daughter the same name as the mother.
> I feel like that is saying the father's name is more important
> than the mother's and needs to be passed on. Couple that with
> women giving up their surnames upon marriage to take on the name
> of their husbands, and you get a sense of men perpetuating their
> first and last names all over the place. Of course, many
> daughters are named after grandmothers: I am one example.
Maybe it just matters more to men than to women. Of course when you think
about it, the chances are greater that John Smith, Jr is going to remain
John Smith, Jr for the rest of his life, while on the other hand, Jane
Smith, Jr is more likely to become Jane Wilson somewhere down the line, so
some people may figure why bother.
Now as a matter of fact, there have been repeated female names in my
family. My great-aunt was Big Clara and one of her daughters was Little
Clara. I also met a woman this Summer whose name was Binney...as was her
mother's, her grandmother's, and her great-grandmother's...and is her
daughter's. So it *is* done, but we just don't hear about it as often.
Oh yeah...and to the person who posted Miss Manners' rules on using Sr, Jr,
III, and so on. There are many things I've disagreed with Miss Manner on
(mainly because they assume that the social customs of one particular group
are binding on all, and don't take into consideration that what might be
considered rude if you did it at a wedding of one ethnic group might be
perfectly acceptable at the wedding of another), and her rules about this
are among them. Sure, she says that you only use Sr, Jr, and III until the
one at the top of the food chain dies, then everyone either moves up one or
if it's only a Sr and Jr, you drop the suffix (and then goes on to say how
only royalty keep the same number for their entire lives), but let's face
it, all that shifting of numbers can get just way too confusing. I say it
makes more sense for John Smith, Jr to remain Jr even after Sr dies, and for
all the kids and grandkids to remain III, IV, V, VI, and so on. It's easier
for everyone to keep track all around. Geez, what a stupid rule!