Category: Parent Talk
Hi all.
I wasn't sure if i should put this one in here or in the language an calture but i think here is a better place for the topick.
So the subject speak on its own. How in different countries people choose the name of their children?
In Greece and Cyprus people give to their children the names of their parents. For example my name is Nikos because my dad's father was Nikos as well, my brother is Fotos because my dad's mother is called Fotini etc.
I personally i agree with what we do in Cyprus and Greece but sometimes there are extrim situations where couples argue, parents not liking the decisions their children made about the names etc.
I find it good to name children after our parents because it is a way of saying thanks to our parents of what they did for us and the things they gave to us but as i said there are ocations that it might coz problems.
So what is the situations in England, USA etc? how parents choose the names?
Thanks
I was named after no one. My mom just wanted something easy. Now hears something unique. My mom named all of us with the letter y at the end of our names. Not sure how she came up with that. As for me naming kids, I'd name them after names that I like or find unique.
Troy
A lot of pepole in the USA also name children after their own parents or after other relatives. My one brother is named after my dad and my middle name is the same as one of my aunt's first names. I don't think my oldest brother was named after anyone in the family. But being named after family members does happen a lot.
Unfortunately, there seems to be another tred in this country to give kids very unusual names. Sometimes I feel sorry for kids having to grow up with bizarre names.
I agree with you Becky. I was thinking the other day that name is the only thing probaply in our lives that others decide for us without asking if we like it lol. I am wondering how people would feel if they don't like their names? Fortunately i like mine but i am wondering how people would feel with names that they don't like.
My name has been handed down through several generations in various forms either in english, Alexander or in gaelic Alasdair.
Greetings Nikos,
In our home we opted to go on the Creative side ~
as far as our sons middle names..
The first is named after the lakes we so admire, Seabrook..
whileas the second has his middle name after the
Mountain Range we so dearly treasure, Brockway.
Connie ~ Grace
Goblin, you're lucky, you have a cool and interesting name with history behind it and the ethnic pride and awareness to appreciate it and to help others to appreciate it. Nikos, yes, a lot of families in the US use names of family members, but also the names of dear friends. I might name one of my children either Michael for a boy or michelle for a girl, after my best friend Mike. Also Kaitlyn my other and equal best friend might get a name-sake. It would depend a lot on my husband's or partner's thoughts though. I love the creative names and I don't think that children should be ashamed of them. Names like, storm, rain, winter, summer, forest, brook, arora, harmony or hope really appeal to me. I also love names from foreign cultures, for example the French name Didier, pronounced Dee, Dee ay. Well, close to that, try and make Jaws pronounce French. I also love Ireish names and also Russian names. It might be a stretch, but some of my children might end up with Indian, Chinese, Native American or African names.
Africian ~ Swahili ~ for the word, "Faith," ~ "Imani"
Neat. Thanks for that.
My family does a little of both I think. Not my immediate family, but out of all my relatives. Although I don't know how most of them got their names exactly, I do know that some are named after one of their parents or another relative: an aunt and her brother wich is my dad are named after and grama and grampa respectively, and I believe my uncles from that side are named after other relatives, I don't know about my aunts and uncles on my mom's side but an uncle is named after Grampa and a cousin is named after Grama and another cousin is named after two uncles and some are named after their parents. As for my immediate family, my mom chose our names because of what she thought of when she saw us or because she just liked the names, and my dad named one of my brothers (well just the first name as most of us have a first and middle name), my mom thinks, after a TV show character; why? I don't know; I don't know what his reason for the name was but it's not too weird or anything and my mom usually calls him by what I think is the Spanish version of that name. My sister named my first nephew after his father and the other three kids she named them names that she liked. My brother-in-law's family is weird though because his family really literally has several members with the same name so I think several of his relatives (including him) are at least partially named after parents or other relatives.
As for me, I'd probably want to do the same as my sister and name the first child after his or her father, and after that I would name them names that I like. Most names I like (that I would name my children if I gave birth to any) are because of sound and/or meaning. Aside from the fact that it would also depend on how it would sound with my husband's last name, I like names that are not very common to me. So if my husband were from another ethnic background or especially if he were from another country, I'd probably let him name one or maybe all of them names from that country, at least partially and I could try to pick a name I liked that would make sense in meaning. Otherwise, I'd totally pick names I like. *smile* Also, although most of the names I like are not Spanish, I know I'd want to name one or some with a Spanish name because of my Mexican-American background.
Thank you La Musique I'm very proud of the name and it's coming back which is great.
Well, five of my cousins have very unusual names and four of them are basically, unique. You wouldn't find between two or five of them in a class. Two of them I'm seeing later today. My Aunt's two children're Kezia (pronounced Kezzia) age 12 and Tegen (pronounced Teggan) age 9.
Everyone around them has always just taken their names for granted and they're two normal little girls for their age, and live their lives as if their names were Katy and Hannah. They don't reguard themselves or their names as unusual for the moment, they're just growing up with jmore unusual names. My cousins in Massachusetts though, are Devon, age 8 Tatum, age 5 and Brynne, age 3. I'm seeing them later on this year, probably shortly after my new cousin is born. We;re all expecting my Aunt to get the baby book out again like she did with Kezzie and Tegen and choose an unusual name for this baby. Some of Kezzie and Tegen's friends have unusual or more old-fashioned names as well. Kezzie has three friends, Oriana, Sienna and Ellen and Tegen has a friend called Alice, which like Alasdair, is coming back.
My dad came up with my first name after combining the middle names of his sisters. Michelle was chosen as my middle name because we have an uncle named Michael.
Only four weeks ago, my Aunt and her boyfriend came up with Robbie, short for Richard James Robertson for their new and very tiny but almost full-term baby, because we already had two Richards in the family. Robbie's dad's Richard and there's also Robbie's uncle and my Aunt's brother, Richard, so Richard James (Robbie) Robertson he is.
Jen.
Wow, I posted here a long time ago, long before I was pregnant. Now I actually have to think of some names. I have a few in mind, but I will start a seperate topic for that later. One thing I wanted to mention to the board's origional creater is the concept of the baby book, or the baby names book. They are very popular now and many many people use them. You can buy books with twenty names or twenty thousand. Usually the books give you tips and hints and naming guides and tell where most if not all of the names derived from in terms of location, language, culture and meaning. They are usually organized by gender then by ethnisity, length, number of silibals, popularity, etc. Many have fun catagories such as names of famous people, strong names, nature names, sophisticated names, gender nutral names, or have lists of the most popular names for different years or decades. I'm curious how popular baby naming books are in other countries. I believe they have them in the UK and in other countries, but exactly how popular are they? I mean, are they catching on like they are here?
My husband and I have recently become super serious about getting pregnant, and because of that I've started searching for parenting sites...IE sites with articles and so forth. Most of them I've found have baby names on them. The one I've found thus far to be the most accessible and so forth is:
parenting.com
We've already decided on our names...We've even made plans should twins be born as twins run in both sides of both of our families. Girl middle names are to be after those who have had a serious and positive influence on my life...My Mom and Grandmother. Boy middle names are to be names that have been handed down for generations in my husband's family. However, I personally don't like giving a child someone else's full name; or at least give the child that which is his/her own. These we've chosen by what we like and that which you don't hear everywhere. Also, they have to be names that have multiple nic names; or at least one nic name. This way the child can choose between his/her full name or one of its variations. Also, I'm one who doesn't like her own name...Why? Because I like nic names, and no nic (that doesn't sound stupid) can be made for mine.
Behind the Name is a site with tons of information on names from just about every region in the world. Gives the etymology (is that the correct term for the history of how the name came about? Hmm...), different meanings, phoenetic pronunciations, different lists (anagram names, clever ideas for names for twins, etc.), and there are forums for people to post about unusual or interesting names. When I wrote more often, I always used this site to jump-start my brain into creating a character.
I like the Behind the Name site too; I enjoy reading people's comments on the names.
I have had possible kids' names in mind since I was 15! LOL I'd choose names of favorite book characters, or a favorite actress's name, most likely. Though now I'm not at all sure my own children are what I want, so I like to browse name sites for character names for writing purposes. I tend to prefer names more popular in the first half of the last century: Bernice, Nora, Olivia, Doris, Jessie, etc. I'd insist on naming my daughter, if I had one, because that really matters to me, but I'd be flexible on a son's name. I *hate* trendy, newly thought-up names, Jadyn, and the like. I like girl names to sound like girl names! NO Madisons for me.
I, too, like the slightly more traditional names. I've always hated my name, since it seems like every other girl born in the mid-to-late 80's was named Amanda. My mom chose my name, while my dad chose both of my sisters' names. My older sister was named Anastacia after my dad's grandmother (he is Brazilian) and my little sister is named Anatalia after another of my dad's relatives (the other grandmother? Great grandmother? I can't remember...). I've always been jealous of their names. I know that a daughter of mine will definitely have Ana (or Anna, or Hannah, or some other variation) as a first or middle name as a tribute to my older sister. I'm willing to negotiate with a partner on a lot of things, but not on that.:)
I'm sure I put this in another topic, but I was named after Jennifer Agutta and Louise, after mum's sister is my middle name. This was apparently the only name both mum and dad liked, though I do wish mum had gone for Rebecca or Victoria anyway, but then, oo, 7 years later, my cousin Mandy had her second child, Victoria, little sister for Rosemary, so at least we didn't end up with two Victorias as well as two Richards and also, two Louises as uncle Richard's first wife was also a Louise, lmfao.
Jen.
Awsom, thanks to both posters for the sites. I will go frivvil away some time there. Yes, I know that's not really a word, but hey, I like it. It's fun to say. I don't like the perposly odd, new, trendy names that people choose because they think they sound cool, but a lot of the really traditional names bore me. I prefer the ethnic names and the sort of hippy names that are unusual names, but not made up words altogether. I love the name Madison, but not for a little girl, for a female German Shepherd. It would truly be an awsum kick ass name for a shep
LOL, that's one of my niece's middle names. *grin* I don't particularly like that one either.
Ok, lazyness over. I'm going to go and post that topic about baby names for our littlest and as of yet unborn family member right now.
Thanks for bringing this topick up Heather and i wish you all the best for the baby you are expecting.
Thanks so much Nikos. I have indeed created my seperate topic for baby names and I just thought to mention something that might interest you. My fiance is of German and Greek descent and when he saw me on the zone posting to these topics he noticed your name and said, "Hmmm, who is that guy? Well, anyway, that's an awsum name, would you consider it?" I told him I'd think about it and I actually have decided to add it to the list along with the name Luca, one of his Italian friends from the military. I love the ethnic names, especially those that sound so beautiful to pronounce.
lol. I am glad you found my name interesting so it is one of the possibilities.