Your Children's Names, How Did You Decide?

I worked in a small business where there were 5 men named John. My wife and I agreed, no very common names. We ruled out Mitchell because we lived on Mitchell Ave. We selected Randall and Victoria, and they are satisfied with that. They are both now in their 50s.
 

One unfortunate aspect of choosing names was caused by religion. I don't know if this happens in the US, but in Scotland and N.Ireland, religious differences entered every part of life. As Presbyterians, it would have been most inappropriate to give the children an 'Irish sounding' name. Names like Patrick or Siobhan were almost exclusively Catholic. We stuck mainly to names like William, Andrew, Margaret, Ann etc.. Traditional Scottish names were more acceptable.

I expect things are changing, but now it's all 'Celebrities' with poor kids called 'Chardonay' or a diminutive name like 'Freddie'.

I once heard that the most commonly asked question in the Citicens' Advice Bureau, was "How do I change my name?" .
 

I was born and raised in a Scottish home and as you say Cpt lightening...that's the way names were chosen back in the day...and all the men on the paternal side including my grandfather, father , eldest brother and his eldest son (my nephew) have the same first name.

I was given the middle name of both my grandmothers.(who just happened to have the same name as each other)..very protestant names!!...although my mother bucked the family trend and gave all the girls First names that weren't traditional within the family nor presbyterian, ( Jaqueline, Laura-marie etc.. because she was from irish stock, and my father was protestant..

When it came to choosing a name for my own daughter, I'd always always wanted to call a girl I had ''Jill''..but my newly wed husband and father of my baby wasn't having any of it..and I wanted to please him (then)...so my daughter ended up being called Donna-marie ..not my favourite, but she's always liked her name so that's all that matters.


BTW Sassycakes...I love the name Barbara Ann , it was always my very favourite beach boys song... :)
 
Fellow Brits will understand this one... After leaving my IT job, I filled in time working as a school janitor. One of the children was called Ryan Eyre and and at the school where my wife worked, they had a Harley Davison !

My mother ( Margaret) always said that she didn't want any grandkids named after her and wasn't too pleased when my brother gave his daughter Margaret as a middle name. My wife is called Dianne which is a mix of her parent's names, David and Annie.
 
I thought I posted this yesterday, but it somehow got lost in the shuffle.

My comment to Fureverywhere is, with a name like that, it's no wonder kids made fun of you. :D

My serious answer is: my first name is Hannette. I've spent my entire life explaining it, spelling it, etc. Consequently, when my own kids came along, they were given very common, recognizable names: Laurie, Karen, and Bruce. Odd names should never be inflicted on an innocent helpless baby.
 
My daughter is named Jamie Michelle and my son Johnny Michael (after his dad), both so they would have the same initials as their father. We called my son, Mikey and still do.
 
Interesting that some generations there is a trend back to traditional names. Then other years some people get creative indeed. The combined grandkids in our family have Kayden, a boy. Kennedy is a girl and Ardel is a boy. It's been a bit tricky with my daughter getting birthday invitations sometimes. Until I can ask her I don't know the appropriate gift for a Muenda or Sharik, The first a boy and the second a girl.
 
We have 6 children.

When #6 was coming along, the wife and I wrote down our names and the names of our 5 children. It was then
discovered that we all had double letters within our first or second names!! This was never planned out beforehand.

My name.. Kenneth
Wife.........Donna
#1 Child....Kenneth
#2............Roxanne
#3............Randall
#4............Cheryl Lynn
#5............Kristen Eileen
#6............Kevin Scott
 
On an sort of related note, both of my parents had odd names. My dad is a junior and his name is Joseph Pineset, but he went by JP. Not that I blame him. My mom only had one given name, Vanlier, so she was stuck with using it. One of my father's sisters was named Ninnie. Can you imagine naming a child that?
 
My oldest is named after his father... Richard... and my youngest son has a name that sounded good with Richard.... Ronald.
 

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