Ways to honour people called....

[ncforbabynames]

• Ian
• Margaret
• Doreen
• Maureen
• Ethel
• Carol
• Marlon

Creating my first names list in preparation for ttc this year. We thought it was important for us to have family names, but then please don't be offended realised we didn't actually like any family names. So we're looking for any variations, similar names etc that have some kind of link (even if it's a bit tenuous). For either gender for any name, whatever you can come up with! Thank you!

Also if any of you have named a child after someone but not actually used their name, how did it go down?

Euan
Margot
Dora (isadora/Theodora)

• Ian - Iana...much prettier
• Margaret - Maggie
• Doreen - Dora?
• Maureen - Nope, stumped sorry!
• Ethel - Ettie?
• Carol - Caroline
• Marlon - Marlow or Marley

Ian - John/Sean/Ewan etc
Margaret - Margot, Maggie, Daisy
Doreen - Dora
Maureen - Maura
Ethel - Ettie/Etta
Carol - Caroline (or Carl for a boy)
Marion - Marie/Maria

Somy, last name is Marlon not Marion!! I rather like it as it is.

Really not a fan of Caroline but loving the other suggestions, especially Iana and Etta - so thank you.

Could you use a surname or maiden name at all?

Ian is the Scottish form of John, so you could go for Evan, the Welsh form.
For Margaret, there's Pearl, Maggie, Maisie, Marnie, Peggy, Daisy, Greta.

You could choose a name you liked that behinds with the same letter as a relative
Eg
Clara for carol

Cara

Meg

Reenie

Just drop all ideas if ‘honouring’.
A baby deserves their own name, to be them in their own right. They are not born as some sort of tribute to honour other family members.

Plus it gives you all this tortuous shenanigans that will sound fake and tenous in the connection.

My name is of it’s time. I would be aghast if my Dc named my Dgc using that name. If they then used some tenuous ‘version’ I would think it pointless and a bit patronising.

We wanted to honour mil but only had boys so we gave ds2 the masculine form of her name as a middle name (Charles for Caroline).

We use Margot to honour a Margaret and Margery.

Nicola - it's quite common in my family to be named after someone else and I like it. We won't be naming a child directly after someone living (e.g. Ian is alive, and we wouldn't name a daughter Iana, but we would use it as a middle name. Whereas Doreen is deceased so using Dora etc is perfectly fine by me).

Could Cora work for Carol or is that a bit of a push? DP suggested Coral but I'm not sure about that one.

I love Evan and John (ironically, said Ian's brother is called John, though - so it would seem more like naming the child after the brother!).

On the surname/maiden name front: not really. As I've NC I'll say the real surnames - White and Hopkins - neither of which work as middle names to honour family imo.

I actually agree with Nicola. There might be a tradition in your family of naming children after relatives but unless you use the actual name or the name they went by its not really honouring them. If great aunt Ethel was only ever referred to as Ethel then why is using a name like Etta or Ettie a sign you are honouring her memory? It's a nice idea when the actual name is used and it is done for the reason of honouring that person but in this situation it seems your only doing it because that's what has happened to other children born into the family.

If you don't actually like any of the names then find names you do like and use those surely it would be more meaningful to tell your child in the future we chose those names because we loved them rather than we picked it because it had 2/3 letters the same as great granny Maureen?

How about a name that means White? Like Fiona, Ivory, pearl, Nola, Jennifer

Or look at name meanings eg Margaret means pearl. Carol is a type of song, so maybe Melodie or Kerin means white song

Ian - Ianto, Ianthe, Ivan
Margaret - Greta, Megan
Doreen - Dora, Doris, Dorelia
Maureen - Maura, Marina
Ethel - Ethlynn
Carol - Carina, Carla, Carly, Carlina
Marion - Marianne, Marilyn, Marina, Marnie

headsdown - I do see your point, but at this stage we are just trying to gather some names we like and thought a good place to start would be family names. We will keep all names and variations on the list in case they warm to us if/when we need to get serious. Neither of us have ever given thought to naming a child so we're really starting from 0. And if I can find a name that reminds me of us of a passed relative or someone I admire, I'll use it to make myself (and others who knew them) happy.

Etta would be in memory of Ethel because I would know the association and so would those who remember her. I would hope it would help future dd to connect with family she will never meet and in the hope she turn out like them. However I know that you don't need to be named after someone to want to know about them etc.

Also love Maura inktank thank you.

Reenie for Maureen?

I have a friend called Máirín - pronounced exactly the same as Maureen, it's the same name, just the Irish spelling. The spelling makes all the difference somehow!

Alba for White?

You could always use them as middle names or pick names so they share innitials.

Just use them as second names. That’s what second names are for-as a nod to family.

I read a story once where the name of the baby was created by taking the first letter of each relatives name to make a new name. That would please everyone. You could add your own initial to as well to have more letters to play with, you might even come up with something quite unique.