Thanksgiving? It is too much?

[Cma1988]

Hiya, I’ve name changed here as I’m giving my child’s name so just using this username for this thread.
I’m due baby girl in a few days, (Dd3) and my DH and I are trying to pick a name.

We are really looking for a virtue name - we have Dd1 who is Honour, and we also had dd2 who sadly was born sleeping, due to lots of complications in pregnancy, who we also gave a virtue name.

We are looking for a name that marks the joy of having another girl after our loss and for what has been thankfully a good pregnancy.

We can’t use Joy though as a baby in our very close friendship circle has just been name Joy. Also can’t use Grace for a similar reason.

We are thinking ‘Thanksgiving’, as this conveys thankfulness and a sense of giving back for our blessing. DH loves it and wants it to be a done deal but I am thinking - it’s quite a mouthful and a big name to give to a little girl, what if it’s too much? And what would we shorten Thanksgiving to?

Can I have your thoughts on Thanksgiving, or if you think it’s too much, do you have any other suggestions?

We are Christians if that gives any context.

Thanksgiving is called the National Day of Mourning by some Americans, due to the genocide of Native Americans, so even if it sounded pretty (it doesn’t) it wouldn’t be a suitable baby name at all.

There are dozens of beautiful virtue names to choose from.

Please don't do this.

Every time someone says a polite acknowledgement of Thanks in earshot of her, her ears would prick up at the sound of her name. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Multiple times a day, every single day, for the rest of her life.

Don't do that to a child!

Sorry but I t’s too much.

I really like all your other names (in your second post) including Hannah which is biblical (as you would know ). The names of siblings do not need to match, if you feel strongly, could it be a middle name?

Eg Hannah Joy
Or Hannah Grace

Grazia? Gratia is Latin for thanks and obviously has the direct link to gratitude.

I second Thea/Theodora “Gift from God”.

Charity or Agape? Both forms of Christian Love.

Talitha “little girl”, direct biblical quote from Jesus “Talitha Koum”.

Tamar (Tay-mar) is one of my favourite biblical names.

I also have considered Corinthia as I love Corinthians - “Love is Patient, Love is Kind etc”.

Or the “strong women” of the bible with great names...Ruth (Ruthie?), Esther, Magdalene, Martha, Mary/Marie/Maria, Elizabeth, Sarah/Sarai, Leah, Rachel etc.

Good luck with the new little blessing!

Also - Iris means “rainbow”, the sign from God after the flood was a rainbow, after a pregnancy loss or loss of a child, a new baby is often referred to as a rainbow baby. I know it’s not a virtue name, but it’s significant on many levels.

Sorry...me again! I know of a Hosanna... Honour and Hosanna go pretty well together...

Aletheia is also a beautiful Christian name meaning truth.

Mehetable is a biblical name meaning gift from God. You could shorten it to Hetty.

I love virtue names. my girls have Constance and Grace as middle names and my son would have had Faith if he was a girl.

Personally I'd go for Faith or Blessing, both beautiful names.

Hosanna
Rejoice
Blessing
Felicity

All names with the right meaning and not so out there. Thanksgiving is a bit too Puritan in style.

While I like it in theory, I think in today’s world such a name would make her a target of ridicule from her peers and would stand out in a negative way. Thankful is a similar historical Puritan name that is a bit more wearable. I would suggest giving her a more commonplace first name with Thankful as a middle.

So sorry for your loss, my heart goes out to you. You're right thanksgiving is way way too much. How about

Mercy
Jubilee
Liberty

I've known girls with these names and they really suited them.

It's awful OP but I think you know that. I also think it's totally wrong to saddle your child with this as a reminder of what you lost before. Give them a name in their own right

I'm struggling to think what you could shorten Thanksgiving to.

I love the name Gloria. I also heard Nicky Gumbel has a daughter called Hosanna. I quite like that.

How about Eve?

I came on to say Gloria.

I like Hero too.

I love Rejoice

Rejoice is a GORGEOUS name!

Ooh I love the suggestion of Hosanna! Perfect imo, an exclamation of joy, and goes beautifully with Honour.

I understand you wanting to express your gratitude to God for your lovely new baby, but... no, don't name her Thanksgiving.

Faith, Hope and Felicity are all lovely virtue names which express the same sentiment of trust in God and happiness for the wonderful blessing he has given you.

I love the virtue names of people I know who are from African cultures.

I think if you are part of a community where that wouldn't be too unusual then you could get away with Thanksgiving. I don't hate it actually.

I do like Blessing, Joy, Cherish and Faith more though.

I'm so sorry for your loss OP.
Having taught a lot of Nigerian children with lots of beautiful faith-based names, I wouldn't bat an eyelid if a Nigerian family named their child Thanksgiving- I would think it slightly strange if a British family did, but you quickly get used to names and they don't seem unusual for long.
If you like Thanksgiving, use it. But if people's reactions here have put you off, I would agree with the posters who have suggested Blessing, Precious, Comfort (my first midwife was called Comfort - what a fitting name), Glory, Beloved, etc. I once knew a child called Sunday - I thought that was lovely too.

So sorry for your loss op, but no it is a really bad name. I really think she'd suffer going through school and even adulthood having to introduce herself as that.

Hope is beautiful and very fitting.
Brayleigh means ray of hope
Evangeline means bearer of good news
Vita means hope of life
Alya is Arabic for sent from heaven
Eudora means generous gift
Gia means gods gracious gift
Thea means blessing of the lord
Sian is welsh for gods gift
Shani means god sent this
Ayah is Arabic for a miracle
Genevieve is french for gods blessing
Elladora sent from heaven and full of light
Giovanna the gift from god
Macie a gift from god
Madsen which is a feminine Matthew which also means gift from god in danish
Matisse same meaning as above

There's so many names that mean blessing or hope or gift, those are just a small few!

I teach a lot of children of African heritage so wouldn't bat an eyelid at thanksgiving, and neither would her classmates in my experience. But I do prefer Blessing, and have previously taught a Blessing.

Google names that mean Thanksgiving and no shortage of very lovely names come up that will not saddle your child with a lifetime of negative comments. I also found a list of names inspired by American Thanksgiving which also looked very promising.

I understand that the meaning behind a name can be important. My own DD’s name has very disparate meanings depending on which derivation of the name is used as the source. That dichotomy is partly what drew me to the name because the meanings are very powerful opposites.

In the West African language of Yoruba, Ope means thanks and is a very popular short form of several long versions; Mofope (I give thanks), Mofopefunoluwa ( I give thanks to God) this one has been particularly popular in the last 15years. Modupe (I'm thankful) short form is Dupe (give thanks) which is my very dear late mum's name. Modupeoreoluwa (I'm thankful for God's blessings/gifts). Mofiyin (I give praise) Mofiyinfunoluwa (I give praise to God).

There're many names that express thanks and gratitude to God but usually in more traditional cultures.

I'm over 40 and my hubs is over 50, we don't have kids yet; so I understand how happy you must be.

I know your heart is full of thanks and I pray you find a way to express and honour it.