As a woman, would you consider naming your daughter after yourself in the way men do?

[mrziggycoco]

As a woman, would you consider naming your daughter after yourself in the way men do?

You get John and John Jnr but what about Lauren and Lauren Jnr?

Why not?

We should make this a thing. I think I would have done if I had thought about it 6 years ago.

Do people forget WHY we name people or things? To identify them!!

Simple enough, you would think - but clearly not! It just strikes me as either a real lack of imagination and/or egotism, seeing the child as an extension of you.

When our DS was about 2 or 3, he had several teddies and other anthropomorphic toys to whom he gave his own name: Tim the white bear, Tim the panda, Tim the crab, Tim the penguin, Tim the dinosaur (not his actual name); but you would think that most people who are old enough to be parents would have lived long enough to have heard of a variety of names - or know how to look up lists of them - and be long past that stage where they view the concept of a name as effectively equaling their name, now realising that people have one (or more) of lots of different names, not all the same one.

In fact, even in that example above, I had to state Tim the panda, Tim the crab etc. - which goes to prove the point that, if you don't understand/agree with the concept (and wise practicalities) of giving individual people each a different name (at least within a family), all you're doing is rendering the name pointless. If you're going to end up with Little Sally and Big Sally in one household, you may as well just do away with the 'Sally' and call them 'Little' and 'Big' as if they were their actual names.

With the example above of all the girls in the class being called Mary, you'd probably just end up calling them (Miss) Smith, Brown, Robinson, O'Hara, McDonald etc. to have any hope at all of knowing which one was being referred to - the net result of which is that, with all of these girls having the name Mary, none of them end up being known as Mary, as they just cancel each other out.

No. But I did give my son my maiden surname as his middle name!

I wouldn't do naming after either parent as it seems so boring - all those names to choose from and you choose.... yours?

I do know some people who have given daughter same name. Totally puzzles me, but each to their own....

I don't personally have any real issue with giving your name/maiden name as a middle name, as that's effectively an extension of the concept of a shared family surname and keeping the link alive. Apart from anything else, your maiden name hardly gets used if you've taken your DH's name and use that all the time, so it's basically 'available'.

It's definitely weird, though, to have a name that you are known by and called on a daily basis and to then go on to give your child the same name, for them to be known by and called on a daily basis.

As for the giving your first name as their first name but always expecting them to go by their middle name, to avoid confusion, their whole life - or possibly until you are dead - that just deliberately stores up frequent hassle for them with official form and situations, suggests that you don't understand the concept of what a middle name is for and is also somewhat narcissistic - saying that I get to use 'our' first name properly as my first name, but you have to be forever known by your middle name.

Yes, lots of people do later choose to go by their middle name, but why deliberately set it up that way from the very start? Ironically, you're taking away from them one of the benefits of a middle name - the option to use it OR your actual first name, because your actual first name is instantly rendered inappropriate and unavailable!

We gave my 2nd daughter my middle name for her middle name. We wanted a one syllable middle name and didn't like any others or they were already taken by close relatives.

No, I'd never lumber someone I love with this blah name. I hate my name, it was old fashioned when my mother gave me it back in the 60's and not old fashioned like granny chic either.

My Mum has done some family research and seen recurring names through the generations. I think it's very sweet to see some names going back generations. We've seen Philip and Philippa and Pippa going back to the 18th century. Arthur appears a few times and is now DS's middle name. Ellen also appears as Lilian and Ellen quite a few times - and is now DDs middle name

I don't think middle names are the same, nobody calls me Florence Clara MacDonald.
I had forgotten that my grandma had the same first name as her mother. Interestingly she was the youngest child in a big family and always said her parents had run out of name choices. I think she was the only one who never went by a shortened version of her nane, all the other siblings did.
My neighbour called his son the same name as him. I also know another couple who called their son the same name as the dad ( same name so for example 2 dad's called David called their sons David).
I met a man called Clifford who's dad was called Clifford and he then called his son Clifford. My friends fil made it clear he was disappointed that she refused to call her son the name his family had used for generations. Quite rude and entitled to expect a woman who had been through pregnancy and childbirth to succumb to your name choice. He made his opinion clear to everyone when I was visiting her once, I found it out of order.
I too dislike the name junior sets my teeth on edge.
I have heard several parents use it though mainly for boys.

In my DM's family, Mary/Marie comes up a lot, either as a first or middle name.

In DH's family, Emily, Cecily/Cecelia and Florence come up, again as first or middle names.

It's not a new idea.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider
"...No I wouldn't saddle a kid with my horrible name ( Clare ) I absolutely despise it. I've never truly forgave my parents for my name......."

It's not a horrible name honestly.
Gobnait ( an Irish saint's name ) is.
I remember a co worker many years ago said if she ever had a girl she'd call it Clare as she absolutely loved the name. She had two boys and her third pregnancy ended in a miscarriage

I think it’s a bit peculiar for either sex tbh. I did used to know a family where the men all had the same name l, and a few years later I ran into them again and they’d given their new baby daughter the mum’s name. Was quite pleased to see they’d been fair but it’s still odd.

No but I dislike my name so woild not pass it to a child

My auntie has my Nana's name but don't think I know any others.

It’s pretty unusual to have sons named after fathers now.

I don’t think a child should be named after either parent. They are their own person.

No but then I think it's weird when men do it too. Also they invariably get called Little Bob and Big Bob and I'm not ready to label myself as big.

My DD1 has my name but in Scandinavian form so it sounds quite different. Our names are also a form of my MILs name but again hers is quite different in sound.

No and I've always found it weird when men do it. Especially when it's a super common name. I know a Peter whose dad and grandad are also Peter. So everyone calls him Pete except his parents generation call him Peter to distinguish him from his dad whom they call Pete. I can't help but wonder how this worked when the grandfather was alive. Do you inherit the diminutive when the one above you dies?

His son has a completely different and slightly unusual name btw!

Depends if you like your name I suppose. Most mums now were born 1980s-1990s and a lot of the names used were horrible. I wouldn’t want to saddle a daughter with my 80s name. If I had a classic name I’d be more likely to pass it down.

No. But I don't know any male juniors either - and my husband is one of six boys who all have sons (he had three, brother had three, other had two and so on). Not one named their sons after themselves or their own fathers as it happens.

No I wouldnt, but im weirded out by men wanting this. I like the tradition of honouring a grandparent or parent with a middle name though

I don't know anyone who has named their child after themselves, male or female. I have never heard of anyone doing this in real life! I have friends from many different countries, cities, classes, etc, and not known a single person to do this.

I wouldn't do it personally, because my name is boring.

In my family it’s quite common to reuse names, but across cousins and grandchildren. Although my Great Nan named her daughter her middle name, and her other daughter (my Nan) after her sister. I personally wouldn’t do it, but I don’t like when men do it either. I do have family members who’ve done it with boys though. Eg, Thomas has a son called Tom.

I think it all depends on how you define your identity - as a lone individual first and foremost, or as a member of a family. In the past, family identity and the sense of obligation/duty/support/protection that went with it were arguably more important than they are today. So, in a small, traditional community was a sense of ancestry - you knew who your relatives were, and tended to favour them - or at least, not to do them down. Small business networks could also act rather like families, hence ' William Jones and Son' etc etc. In all these contexts, family names could be much more significant than they might be today.

In some Christian traditions, as Irish Mumsnetters have said, being named after particular saints, especially Mary, was very important. Another practice common in some places was naming children after godparents. Since these quite often were aunts and uncles, a small number of family names tended to get passed on and on.

@scottishnames
"In some Christian traditions, as Irish Mumsnetters have said, being named after particular saints, especially Mary was very important....."

Mary was the ultimate saint. The mother of Jesus. Hence the proliferation of Marys of a certain age in Ireland.
Not nowadays though, hence I was considering calling DD2 Mary as it would be unusual in her age group. I didn't in the end.

It was pretty common in the past. I spend a lot of time researching my family history and it happened in lots of the families, especially the bigger ones, and both parents names were used as well as grandparents, aunts and uncles and even deceased siblings.

One set of friends used both of their names and combined them to create a 'new' name for their child; quite common in the country the woman grew up in.