A girl...with a boy's middle name?

In Connemara, lineage names are used, with the genitive case used for second and third, fourth, etc. names.

So you would have someone named Jude Phaidi Mhairtin, 'Jude the son of Paidi the son of Mairtin'.

Flora and Katie -- my mum's parents (in Ireland) used a family hierarchy system to name their children: first boy, grandad's father, first girl, grandad's mother; second boy and girl, named after grandad's aunt and uncle from whom he inherited the farm as they were childless and he had worked it since age 14 alongside his uncle; third boy, granny's long dead father, third girl, granny's long dead mother (she was orphaned at a young age); remaining two children (boys), brothers of grandad's as granny had lost touch with her biological relatives.

The normal custom in their neck of the woods was to use first the father's parents' names, then the mother's parents' names, and other family names from each side once there were two girls and two boys, or while waiting for two of each. They adapted the custom to their own circumstances.

Names in that particular area tended to come from a fairly small pool of names, though within that pool there were some that are unusual. So you would have Michael, James, Patrick, John, Brigid, Anne/Anna, Mary, Margaret and the like, and then names like Laserian, Moling, Anastatia and Moses.

my dd has a male middle name but we left off the e to make it the female version. doesnt affect the pronunciation

she loves it and she knows it was someone who meant a lot to me

I know girls named Rebecca James and Daphne Michael..

I was going to say that this is really common in Wales. I like it.

A family name as a middle name is really common - especially if it's James, since that is such a common surname.

You say it's not your name choice, so why are you doing it?

My grandma was given a boys middle name and has hated it and been embarrassed by it all her life. Personally I wouldn't do it but if you feel strongly about it then I think you should do what you want.

Squoosh - I think it's partly/mainly because there are relatively few Gaelic names, and people need/want/like to express a bit of individuality.

I know Scottish people, usually from Gaelic speaking areas, who have two first names. I find it hard to get used to calling someone Iain Robert or Catriona Seona, just feels really clunky. And none of them ever abbreviate to just Iain or Catriona.

Hi Katie - I don't know about fishing traditions, but I've come across similar grandsons-named-after-father's-grandfather-then-mother's, in the past.

My grandmother's middle name was her mother's maiden surname, just like you!

Also in Scotland, I've met men and women with two first names - eg Jimmy Angus. Both are used, not just the first one. Like your fishing boat names, that helps distinguish people with similar first names and surnames living in the same small community from each other.

Hi Flora - have you come across the naming traditions in Scottish fisher families?
1st son is named after father's father
2nd son is named after mother's father etc.

One family I know, it turned out that both grandfathers had the same name, so son 2 got his mother's maiden name (Stewart) as a first name. It was not uncommon to have villages full of men with identical names, and you'd find legal documents referring to "John "Silver Waves" MacDonald", where Silver Waves was the name of the boat he worked on. (they were known as "boat names"). Or John "Farrier" MacDonald.

Scotland is different in that women never lose their maiden name upon marriage and for legal purposes become Jane MaidenName or Surname - known as "or women" for short!

I believe JM Barrie's mother used her maiden name.

Why are you giving a girl a boys middle name? Curious.

Agree with Katie. Also in Scotland, the mother's surname was sometimes used as a first name for a younger son (the first son was often named after the paternal grandfather, though not everyone followed this custom).

And, until the 19th century, when UK-wide government documents such as censuses standardised naming customs, Scottish women often kept their maiden surname after marriage.

I also have my mums maiden name as a middle name. And it can be a boys name. This is an old Scottish custom to emphasise ties to the maternal line.

The difference is that in this case the girl will know her parents deliberately gave her a boys first name, not a surname that also happens to be a first name.

Why not give her your name as a middle name and do the same with DHs if you have a DS?

My daughter has my surname, which is also a man's name, as her second middle name. I don't really expect her to use it though, I probably won't put it on school forms or the like. I just wanted it on the birth certificate. If she likes it and uses it when she grows up, great, if not, no problem.

I know a woman who's middle name is Stuart - a family surname. She likes it. I can't see any issue with it at all.

I would hate to have a boys name as a mn. Nope. I wouldn't.

James was a unisex name for hundreds of years across Britain, and only fell out of favour for girls in the 18th century, so it's definitely not unprecedented. If you like it, go for it.

James for a girl is just not nice IMO. She won't thank you.

I have a surname as my middle name which is also a boy's first name.

Hated it as a kid, don't really care now, but sometimes folk get confused and think I have a double barreled surname, which I don't.

Missed much of the type- meant to say 'first name' Jude 'surname'.

Our dd1 is Jude .
She's 7 and loves it.

I say go for it, I know several people with their mothers maiden name eg Adams as their middle names and a little girl with her uncles first name as her middle name.
I myself have a fairly extensive list of middle names but they've never caused me much hassle, when I want to use them I do and when I don't I don't.

Some of my great aunts (all in Wales) had family surnames as middle names, and two of those would also work as first names - for boys. Never thought anything of it (they all had unusual first names, too, even for their generation.) Not sure if I'd do it myself.