What about calling new baby after father? Old fashioned....

[sunray73]

I am about to give birth to 3rd baby, a boy this time, and we are having a hard time deciding on a boy's name. DH has a lovely unusual name which is neither pretentious or outlandish. I have a very popular '70's' name and never want my kids to be one of many 'xx's in a classroom as I was. Have managed this, so far, with my DD's. When mentioned naming after DH friend mentioned "son not having his own identity etc..." What do you think? Also is it practical, living in a house with two people with the same name? About to give birth within the next week & I think the hormones are affecting my decision making processes! Any comments welcome. Thanks x

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

It used to be normal for a son to have his father's name. If you like the name, go for it. :)

[stillstanding]

I like it when someone names their baby after a grandparent but for some reason always think it is slightly twee and arrogant to name one after yourself/partner. But I accept that this is irrational and if you like the name go for it! As for being practical is it a name that you called use in different ways to avoid the confusion, eg Thomas/Tom?

[KvetaBarry]

DH is named after his father and it is extremely frustrating - his dad is FOREVER opening his mail, and has once or twice signed forms and sent them back without informing DH - DH actually lost a lot of money on the second occasion, and still seethes about it from time to time!

It does have the small bonus that FIL can sign for post to DH or sign forms WHEN INSTRUCTED TO DO SO, as we are in a different country, which makes life a teeny bit more complicated.

But when I asked DH if we should name DS after him, he pretty much shouted NO! at me :o

I think it's grand for the middle name, but less so for the 1st name.

good luck :)

[soggybottomflancase]

There is a tradition in dps family to name children after their parents but it results in the child adopting their second name, then we have problems over official documents and "known as" etc. My fils name is RA known as R my dp is RA but a different A and he's known as a shortened version of A, our ds is same A as dp known as A. I wouldn't inflict dd with my name because I hate it, always have.
If you are going to name your son after DH make sure he has different middle names so that their initials are different, makes it much easier at the Doctors for instance.

[stillstanding]

My mother and sister have completely different names but the same initials and I remember my mum telling me to NEVER make the same mistake for post reasons. Must be much worse with the same name.

[rachel234]

I find it very unoriginal to say the least, sorry. Middle name yes but please give him his own first name!

[SarahBumBarer]

My son has his fathers name and middle name. Also his grandfathers and great-grandfathers name - ie they all have the same name.

They are an immigrant family and the name is an amalgamation of two of the great-great grandfathers names (neither of whom are the same nationality as us and both of whom are different nationalities). It is a source of pride and tradition in my DH's family and we are very keen that our son should know about his non-British roots and his heritage of immigration to where we live now.

My DH/DS's name is one which has a number of nick-names/pet names associated with it. My husband has one such nick-name and my DS has another which in any event can be a stand alone name in its own right and which I love (think John/Jack although this is not it). While wishing to pay tribute to my DH's ancestry, this did help me in agreeing to the request with regard to our DS's name (and I get a free hand on the next on ). Is that a possibility with the name you are considering OP?

It makes me laugh to see people being snobbish about naming a child after their forebearers - it is a mark of respect and no less "original" than trawling mumsnet or any babynames sites or book etc and generally has more meaning.

[grubbalo]

I don't think there is anything "wrong" with it and couldn't care less if it was egocentrical or not! The only issue that I can see (and I know a family in this situation) is that it is blooming confusing talking about it - the little one I know is still "baby Adam" and he is nearly 4 now!

Much, much easier in the John / Jack situation you have outlined SarahBum!

[Bunbaker]

"I find it very unoriginal to say the least, sorry. Middle name yes but please give him his own first name!"

I agree. OH has two cousins in the same family - one with mum's name and one with dad's name. The third cousin has her own name! And the American way of calling your child John Smith III for example is IMO.

[MeantToStopAtTwo]

My only concerns with it would be practical ones.

[sunray73]

Thanks for all the posts so far. The biggest problem is DH & I being unable to agree on a boy's name that we both love. He is not at all keen on my favourite name and we now only have 3 names, his included, that we both like. I am finding choosing a boys name so much more difficult!
It's been good to hear of the practicalities of it & I don't want to start prefixing "Daddy x" & "Baby x" whenever I'm talking to them!!

[SilkStalkings]

Have to say I would assume you were a very boring unimaginitive couple or slightly egomaniac. But perhaps anyone who actually knows you would not.

[SilkStalkings]

Kvetabarry - surely you don't have to actually have the same name to fake someone's signature? And anyone can sign for post too.

[catmad2010]

It's up to you obviously but my brother in law and father in law have the same name and it causes endless confusion among everyone...."which one? old or young", and my mother in law says that she regrets it now. I think the reason was the usual old fashioned and quite nice approach to naming the son after the father, who does have a bit of an unusual name. It's annoying but not the end of the world, and also the son will still be around when the father is not so.....

[curleywurley2]

Im 13 weeks pregnant with my second child and if this one is a boy we are naming him Patrick after "daddy". Its family tradition and i dont mind as im in total control of the middle name.
The way around confussion is husband is Paddy and baby wil be Patrick. Its gone back through all the generations, so im not going to rock the boat lol xx

[sweetkitty]

Very common here in Scotland and I know two baby boys named after their Dad, very 70s name so they will stand out in class.

In our own family we had Old John Smith, Big John Smith and Wee John Smith, Wee John is now 50 and will ever be known as Wee John, thankfully he had two daughters.

You could go all American and have John Smith II or John Smith Jnr

[vdbfamily]

In my husbands family the men all have the same first name (dating back hundreds of years) but get called by a second name.We called our son this name but actually call him by the name, not his middle name.I imagine official post may get confusing at a later stage(he does not get much yet!) and I have the same initials too but it has caused no problems so far.

[loislines]

As long as you like the name I think it's fine. It mught cause confusion for a while with post etc but eventually he'll leave home (presumably! ) and have another 60 years without post confusion. I would think that context would sort out most of the "old John" or "young John" problems.

[Tattiesthroughthebree]

We were going to name Ds John after his father / grandfather, till we bumped into one of his cousins who exclaimed "it's little John!" DH said that he'd forgotten how much he disliked being called "Little John" and he wasn't going to inflict it on DS. We used John as DS middle name instead.

[Rhubarbgarden]

I had a friend known as Little John when I was a child. Even though he grew up to be a hulking great man well over six foot, he was still known as Little John. Mighty embarrassing during his teenage years. He then went on to work with his Dad John in their family business, so I expect that he's still known as Little John to this day.

I wouldn't do that to a child.

[avocadotoast]

I think it comes across a bit egotistical...

Plus it'll play havoc with their credit files when the kid gets older. Info getting merged left right and centre.