I named my sons Holden, Milo, and Sawyer because I liked the sound of each of the names with our (in my opinion, hard-to-work-with) surname and, to a lesser degree, each other.
Not the best story, huh?
As I was speaking to some friends last night, another mom gave the “because we liked the sound of it” reason for her son’s name, Max. It occurred to me that maybe we owe our children a fictional special story to go with their names.
So rather than these half-truths, I could invent a more beautiful fiction citing family tradition and the poetic meaning of each, a story they can tell their classmates:
Holden, we named you after an average brand car in Australia where I’ve never been.
Milo, we named you after some hot chocolate that I have never tried.
Sawyer, we named you after a water filtration product that I have never used.
Then again, if I really cared about those things, I could have done it that way from the start. What do you think?
My kids first names are similar to yours – we just liked them best. Their middle names are family names, so if it’s important for them to learn that names come from some place special, I think we get a C+. Scarlett Lake knows that she’s “named after” Grandma Lake, while Julian Moss knows that a lot of boys, including his dad, have their mom’s last names as their middle names.
Landis actually has a story for all 3 of his names. Brooklyn only does for her middle name — Brooklyn is just because we liked it. We picked it as our “girl name” year before she was born, but just because we liked it. People constantly ask “Are you from Brooklyn?” Nope, just liked the name — and I feel like if I WERE from Brooklyn I probably wouldn’t name my kid that…
My first son’s first name was the one we liked best of all after strongly considering similar names (Nolan and Colin I think).
For Milo, I introduced drama and rules: http://www.rookiemoms.com/why-naming-my-baby-was-so-hard/
For naming Sawyer, I introduced more drama trying to continue those rules: http://www.rookiemoms.com/would-you-steal-a-friends-baby-name/
And all my little guys have family names for middle names.
UMMM, this name story puts all y’alls to shame! http://www.thedaddycomplex.com/post/441812435/david-i-was-wondering-about-how-you-chose-your-sons I’m gonna write one of these.
We gave our daughter a string of 4 family names, in keeping with the family tradition of cherry-picking names from the family tree. So our story is all about the people she is named after and the gift of family – and also to a degree, the virtues those people embody: her great grandmother (Ella) – who was graceful, strong, and elegant – and her grandmother (Jane), who is also strong – but a tomboy who can ride, fish, garden and make art (a nice counterpoint, we want the girl to have identity options!). Then the middle- middle name, Ashton – which has been given to every firstborn child on her father’s side for 5 generations (and then we get to tell her stories about the brave pioneer Ashton brothers). Sometimes I think it’s kind of a heavy burden to lay on a kid – all these ancestor people to live up to! But…I think it can also be grounding to have a sense of family history. It’s nice to know where you come from. Of course – we ALSO chose her names because we liked how they sounded
Son #1 was given the first name of my half-brother who passed away about 10 years ago. His middle name is the same as mine, a family name that goes back to our native Californian ancestors.
Son #2 was given a first name that we liked – it ends with an N, which I found myself favoring. His middle name starts with an A like my husband, but again we just chose a name we liked.
Those names sound perfectly meaningful.
All three of my kids’ middle names begin with J, in memory of my sister who died before they were born. My daughter’s first name is the same letter as my husband’s uncle who died many, many years ago. My middle son’s name we just loved and has no meaning, and my baby’s first name begins with the same letter as my paternal grandfather who also died way before I was born. The names themselves don’t mean anything but the letters are all special.
@Ghani I started reading your comment and thought “Wait, I know that story”;)