To wonder why it's mainly boys that are given their parents name?

[sweeneytoddsrazor]

By that I mean naming a boy Fred jr when Dad is Fred? I know a fair number of boys with their dads name but absolutely no girls with Mums name as a first name.
Not quite as random a thought as it sounds as someone I know has just done this with their son yet daughter doesnt have Mums name or any variant of Mums name.as either a first or middle name.

I pity Nigella Lawson...

But in answer to your question, patriarchy.

It's always struck me as a weird thing to do, whichever. Maybe it is just patriarchy. Or maybe boys names are just so dull some people can't be arsed to think of one?
I do know someone who's parents were desperate to call their son Joe after his dad, wheen she turned out to be girl they chose Joanna, Jo for short. When her younger brother came along, he became Joe, so they ended up with Jo and Joe...I don't get some people.

Definitely a Patriarchal type thing, that in built "instinct" to carry on the name of the "man of the house" I think it's nice as a middle name to remember or honour a loved one but give the kid their own name fgs

I have my mum's name as a middle name, and then my daughter has my mum's name (my Mum died before she was born). Personally, I think two people in the house with the same name would be confusing. My DH wanted our son to have his name and I vetoed it

I find it creepy, why is that wonderful squishy young baby worthy of a name of it's own?

Patriarchy, carrying on the name, men being arrogant unimaginative dullards, and so on.

Eh, it's not creepy. I was always really pleased to have my mum's name. People on here are so harsh.

I have a friend who is called something like Nicole and she has called her daughter Nicola. It's cute. Sort of.

We have a family tradition of the women on my mum’s side having a particular middle name. I think it’s a fair comment about children being named after dads not mums.

Boys names have a good core of traditional names because they cycle over multiple generations. There is a patriarchy element to it, plus biblical references.

Girls names have more fashionable, generational names and date to a particular age group more obviously. There are few positive female names in the Bible compared to male names so that's another factor in a smaller pool of multi-generational names.

If a parent with a top 10 name of the 80s/ 90s named their child after themself, the boys names would be less obviously dated than the Lauras, Gemmas and Jessicas which have become less fashionable.

It's like saying 'we literally can't think of any other names in the world' or 'there is no one else we'd want this child to emulate' which is both mind blowingly arrogant and/or smacks of no imagination whatsoever.

I changed my name so that I didn’t have the same as my mother

My brother was named after my dad...dad was arguing against it all the way to the Christening. But poor mum just couldn't think of another boys name she liked.

For some reason I dislike girls named after their father even more. Thomasina after Thomas, Noeleen after Noel..

Men are more vain in that sense, I think women aren’t fussed but a lot of men like to show off about how they’ve produced boys from their loins

Like it's a massive achievement for the wee souls

The only IRL person i know is a woman who named her son after herself

She's named after her dad, who is a locally famous hard bastard

Jr is expected to name first child of whatever sex with the same name

Women don't have ego issues

I don't think it's creepy or weird. I wouldn't do it, though.
Also, for women names seem to date by generation: my mums generation were all named things like Debbie, Patricia, Susan and Linda. My generation was a lot of Danielle, Kimberley, Samantha, Jessica, Rebecca etc.
Boys naming trends tend to stay more constant through the years.

My ex was like this, he was (example) David James Smith, as was his dad and his granddad and his great granddad and so on. To make matters worse they had all been referred to and known as both names - So Davie James, wee Davie James, Auld Davie James etc etc.
I told him hell would freeze over before I saddled our child with the same damn name. All his family expected us to use that name.

As it happened our child wasn't a boy so then they all stopped giving a shit what the child was called as she was just a 'mere girl'.
There are many reasons he is an ex but this attitude is one of them.

We have Margherita as a family name, GGM was one, GM is one, She only had boys so one of her neices was Margherita, then it skipped my generation and now one of my cousins has a little Greta. If I ever have a DD she'll probably have Margaret or Margot as a middle name.

In my friends family there's 3 generations of middle name 'Rose'

My great grandmother named my grandmother after her. I have my mum's name as a middle name. So it does happen a bit although agreeably to a much lesser extent.

Where I’m from the place, time of birth (nakshatra) etc determine your most used name, but a boys first name is usually mohammed, but boys typically take their dads name as a middle name and girls take their mums (or maternal grans) name as a middle name. Their most used name is the one they go by, it can be a middle name, or completely different to any of their legal names.

Is junior unisex? So could a girl be Katie Jr?

I gave my son a masculine version of my middle name.

@SimonJT I have also wondered if a girl could be junior. As I said I have never come across a girl with the same first name as her mother. Maybe there is a Katie jr out there somewhere?

I don’t know anyone who has the same name as a parent but know several children who have their parents name as a middle name (male and female). It’s not for me but doesn’t offend me.