Naming a child after someone who has died

There are some really good suggestions on this thread. I'm really sorry to hear about your sister but I think it's a lovely idea to honour her memory by passing on (some form of) her name. I'm named after a grandmother who died long before i was born and I always liked the connection, both to her and within my wider extended family (it's reasonably common in Ireland, where I'm from to name children for deceased relatives).

I'm pregnant with my first and am adamant that I'd like to name a boy after my father, who died when I was a child. It's a lovely name and not too common now (Richard) and I think we can make a son feel proud to be "honoured" with such a name. I've also got a nephew named for both of his dead grandads and he loves being named after them...but then he doesn't get any inscribed gifts or sad adults telling him about men he'll never meet...instead he gets stories (when he wants them only) about lovely men.

Helen is a gorgeous name, with so many lovely versions. I personally love Galina (I have a friend called that and have been jealous of her name since I first met her!). You might find some inspiration on Wikipedia.

I think it depends how you explain it to your child in years to come.

If you say you were named after helen who died very young. XXX was very upset..giving you this name made xxx happy then its baggage pressure your child will feel through their life

however if you say we chose this name because we knew another little girl who was beautiful, clever and brave. That little girl is now in heaven and seeing as you are beautiful clever and brave like her we thought it would suit you .. then it becomes a name your daughter can be proud of.

It also depends whether it will make the family smile or cry everytime they hear it

My first little boy was stillborn and I was going to use his name as a middle name for ds2 but I realised I was going to be sad every time I said it so I decided not to

sorry this is so long

My FIL died a couple of months before our sone was born and we gave the baby the grandfather's name as a middle name, as a way of commemorating alovely man. We thought using it as a first name was a bit too close though. Also, we night have still used the name if FIL was still alive.

ooh yes, Elena is lovely, or Eleanor, Elaine, Elanora - all v. pretty! Ellen too, you would have loads of options.

I was named after my aunt who died in her early 20s when my mum was a teenager - common naming practice in my mum's culture. When I was a child I liked it, made me feel special, but it has since seemed a bit odd tbh, as if in a way I was supposed to be a 'replacement' person iyswim? I got given all her stuff too (inscribed christening gifts etc).

I lost my dad when pg 1st time round and wanted his name as part of my son's but used it as a middle name instead.

The phonetic link is a good way of getting round it though, esp. since you have options like Helena etc for a girl.

Elena? It's Helena in Spanish and Italian and very pretty - so almost the same but not quite?

what about helena or middle name as helen my ds has my [deceased]best friends name as one of his middle names