Our 1st daughter Elizabeth is named after my husband's Mother.  She passed away at childbirth when he was 11-old.  He said that is when he decided if he ever had a daughter her name would be Elizabeth.  Our 2nd daughter is Angeline.  My Aunt Marie was born one Nov.17th,my Grandfater on Nov19,and our daughter on Nov.21st.  My Grandfater ofter said if he and my Grandmother had another daughter he wanted her named Angeline after my Granderfater.  Both girls were given the middle Marie after my favorite relative my Aunt Marie.  When I was born by parents couldn't agree on a name.  My Mon's best friend Lorraine told my Dad that since they can't agree on a name that they should just name me Lorraine after her and end the argument.  By Dad went to the hospital and told my Mom that my name was Lorraine because her friend said so.

When our son & his European wife were choosing a name, they had to consider how it would work in both countries.  Something OK here could be something inappropriate in the other, and so on.   So, they ended up with a short name of a friend from a 3rd country, which has worked well, even when mispronounced.    It also goes well with his father's name, which is his middle one.    On the other hand, one of my daughter's sons, ended up with initials which spelled an undergarment, so when we had something engraved, we put the last initial in the middle-----still spelled a word, but  one without the ensuing teasing.   ~CS~

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we cannot see."                                                              ~J. W. Whitehead~

Wow...this is a topic that has caused MUCH strife in my house...  KJuneBug hit the nail on the head when she called it 'a little test for married couples.'

Before we were even engaged (let alone married), I had heard from my mother-in-law how my husband had been named for his grandfather, my father-in-law for HIS grandfather, and so on, leading to the initials DHS and HGS leap-frogging back "for generations."  As an epilogue to this story - each of the numerous times I heard it - it was always reinforced to my husband that he would be expected to carry on this tradition by naming his first son Harold Gene, after my father-in-law.  Well...not exactly my choice of a name, but who was I to stand in the way of "generations of tradition?"

Well, a few years after we did indeed get married, we attended a family reunion at which we learned that this story was just simply not true.  Yes, my husband's initials were the same as his grandfather's, but my FIL's initials were NOT the same as HIS grandfather's.  It was a tradition my mother-in-law HOPED to start...hence the badgering...but one I didn't feel the slightest bit compelled to go along with when we found we were expecting our first child.  My husband had often said how he hadn't even liked having the name Harold as a middle name himself, so I discounted it further.  

Don't get me wrong - I love the idea of giving children meaningful family names.  But I also believe that a parent should LIKE the names they're contemplating.  This actually became such a sticking point between the two of us that we ended up arguing one evening on the way to the grocery store and sitting in his pickup until, tearful and exhausted, we just went home and forgot all about the groceries!  LOL  He really felt the need to bend to his parents' desire - that in order to be a good son, he HAD to name the baby after his dad.  As for me, I tried to assure him that he WAS (and IS) and good son, and that the name should be something WE chose, not something imposed upon us.  Bottom line, I hated the fact that an expectation of his parents had come between us in such a way.  I was more than willing to use Harold as a middle name - as a nod to BOTH my husband AND his dad; but I felt we needed to chose a first name we both liked and agreed on together. 

In the end, the point was moot - the baby was a girl - and received a family name:  Rachael Marr.  Her first name is one I've always liked and happens to be my mother-in-law's middle name (as well as HER mother's middle name), we just chose a different spelling because we liked it better.  Her middle name is the same as mine and my grandfather's, and was my grandfather's grandmother's maiden name.  Whew! 

We've had two more girls since...so the topic of a boy's name, while still there and still discussed (although with far less animousity), has never been a concrete issue.  I'm still willing to compromise and use Harold as a middle name if the chance to do so ever arises, but I'm planning to stick to my guns and hold out for a first name I like.

Rebecca

Yesterday my family welcomed a new addition to our family.  My mother's 4th great grandchild was born, her name is Alissa Nicole :)

Her older brother is named Xavior Alexander...he was named after a charctor from the X-Men Cartoon...most of the family just call him Alex!  Lol

I had a hard time on my last son's name so my mom helped.  His name is her maiden name and my dad's first name, Russell William.  My first son got his dad's name.

Came across this regarding 'weird' names, can't help but think 'What were those parents thinking?'http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,390028,00.html

One of the down falls of teaching, is finding a name that doesn't stir a not so pleasent memory of a student.  When I had my second son, my husband wanted to name him Eric Daniel but at the time I had a student who was an Eric and he was a handful.  I told this to my husband but he reminded me that I have had other Erics and they weren't bad.  So we name him Eric Daniel.  Came back from maternity leave to the 'handful' Eric and he asked what I named my baby and I told him Eric and he was excited and exclamed 'you named him after me!'  I told him that even thought they had the same first name his middle name was Daniel. His reply was 'mine too!'  Went to the office to check and sure enough his middle name was Daniel. I had to keep reminding myself that his name was spelled Erick and my son's was Eric.

As for all my 4 sons' names, I thought I was having a girl each time so I let my husband pick out the boy's name thinking that my girl name would be needed............

For my daughter I had her name picked out since I was five.  My Mom won me a cabbage patch doll when they were all the craze.  I wanted one so bad.  But, one we couldn't afford one and two they were all sold out in town.  So she went to Kmart to get my Dad some screws and she was given a ticket at the door to win a doll.  She told them no thanks she was just going to be in and out.  But, they insisted and she took it.  Her ticket was picked and she won a cabbage patch doll.  Security guard escorted her to her car...people were stealing them in Pensacola then.  I opened it that Christmas.  Her name was Lillian and I can't remember her middle name on the birth certificate.  So I renamed her Lilly and Rose after my grandmother.  I still have that dolls certificate with my name on it.  So when I got pregnant that was my first choice...among Addison, Abigail, and Ella.  But, Lilly Rose was the only name we could agree on.  Then I wanted Lillith so bad..but, everyone kept saying NO they'll call her Lillith Crane..after cheers.  Then I was going to change it to Lily b/c of Lily of the valley...makes me think of the Lord.  But, figured two flower names would be too cutsie.  So Lilly-Rose it was.  Plus, I had a cross stitch already done with her name on it and I added the extra L without realizing it...so it was set in stone:)  For years my grandmother wanted the family name passed down to another granddaughter.  She passed it to my Mom also.  Sadly she passed away before I was born and never got her wish.  So everyone on my Mom's side was so proud she had the family name.  They like to call her little Rose...what my grandmother was called and they say she looks like my grandmother and definately has her fiesty personality. So she is named after my grandmother and Mom.

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." - Micah 7:19

Stay at home wife and mommy!

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift... that's why they call it the present."

I first heard the name Brianna in high school, and I thought it was very pretty.  Then in college, I knew a very sweet, lovely girl named Breanne... and it happened to be a name we could agree on, so Brianna it was!

For the second girl, my husband picked out the name Isabella.  I wasn't so sure about it, but I had a dream where the baby was called Bella, and that seemed right.  The middle name was tricky because we couldn't agree on one.  We finally decided to pick one that started with an "A", so her initials would be I.A.M. (like "I Am" aka God).  It is my husband's job (as part of the deal) to teach her to spell Isabella Angelina when the time comes!  LOL... seriously.

My oldest was named for both of our sisters.  His sister's first name is a derivative of his mother's name, so in a way she is also named for her grandmother.  But she is called by her middle name so that we don't confuse her with her aunt.

My middle one was given the boys name that we didn't use with the first one - it is also my dad's name and being as he is his only grandson, no one was going to change that one on me!  My fil according to the story, had not been happy when my dh was named after him, but when I had my son, he wanted me to name him III.  Told him no, I wouldn't have a child named III, but it turned out well anyway because my dad's middle name was the same as my dh & my fil's first name - so he still can think he is named after him.

On our youngest - I had 2 other names that I preferred, but my dh didn't care for.  So we went with a name that no one in the family had - the first name meant Golden and she had blonde hair!  But I told her a few years later what the 2 names were that I had wanted to name her - she liked the 2nd better and so made a point of telling her dad that she would have preferred the other name.  She is the one who when she married, she took her maiden name as her middle name.

Cindy/KS

It is very difficult to choose a name for a baby!  We had to make that decision 5 times!!! In the name of privacy, I am not going to share the names just the stories of how they all came to be...

Our first we didn't find out ahead so we had a name for each gender ready.  We used the leftover boy name for one of our twin sons and had to find another boy name for the other guy!  BUT- before we knew they were they and that they were both boys, we had chosen a girl name! SO... along comes baby #4- we gave her the first name from that leftover and decided on a different middle name.  And then baby #5... We at first we almost waited to be surprised as to the gender, then we decided that it was much more pratical to know in advance, so we had to make up a almost a whole new girls name.  Remember that middle name we didn't use for #4- well #5 has that middle name, so we needed a first name to go with the middle name. One late night I created a name as a combo from some other names and bingo we both agreed!  

Two of the girls have family names as middle names, #1 has a derivative of my mom's first name and #5 my mom's middle name.  The three in the middle have Biblical middle names. Unknowingly most of the names are fairly poplular although not common. We have a really long last name so for the boys we chose names with 4 letters, we figured in that the girls will marry and change their last name to that of their spouse, weird to think that about your new little baby!

As a side note I went to Matthew McConaughey's blog to check out the name of his new little guy- He chose Levi, because it is another name for Matthew and his little guy was born at 6:22- and Matthew's favorite Bible verse happens to be Matthew 6:22!  I thought that was very sweet!  and you may think his acting isn't all that great, I think it is fine and a little female perspective here, he is pretty nice to look at!!!! 

We actually went to Huntington, WV on our big trip, my husband loves the movie "We are Marshall"; that was one of the disappointments, we didn't get to spend much time there and didn't make it over to the University. WV was really really rainy, we were in a huge traffic jam in Charleston, the only one we were in the whole trip! Therefore delaying our arrival in Huntington. We were bummed, we aren't just in that neck of the woods often.

Naming that new baby is one of the first big tough decisions parents make together, I think God created it as a little test for married couples! 

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2:5