I wrote about the pattern of naming for my brother and I. A German , as well as others had a tradition for naming children. So me being the first born son was given my paternal grandfather's name for my middle name. My brother was the second son and he was given the maternal grandfather's name for his middle name.
What popped into my head yesterday was that this naming pattern was the same for girls. I had not realized that my sister's middle name was taken from our maternal grandmother! I make no excuse for not knowing this but if I ever heard my maternal grandmother called by any name, it was Lizzie. It just hit me yesterday. I remember lots of chat in the family about my name and my brother's name. I don't remember any chat about my sister's name.
So it took me a long time to clue in that the naming pattern also applied to my sister. Now my third and fourth brothers were named without consideration of ancestors. I wonder if I had a second sister , would she have been named after her paternal grandmother?
Doreen Elizabeth between her two older brothers. I'm the cute one on the right! The dog was old Rex.
My father's older brother had an Italian middle name 'Terenzio', but no-one seemed to know why. One can only imagine that his mother knew the reason!
ReplyDeleteWell, that name sounds good. Thanks for visiting Hiawatha House.
DeleteWell that explains why my Dad's middle name was his mother's maiden name. I had never heard of that tradition before. His middle and last name were German as could be. That tradition was not followed with his younger sister's name.
ReplyDeleteAlso , my generation did not follow this pattern.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how my mother came up with my name. Nice photo of you and your siblings. Have a great day, happy weekend!
Come to think of it, I have no idea why they picked my first name.
DeleteA handsome lot, whatever the naming pattern.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish did something similar.
We had very little but were happy.
DeleteInteresting. Has the practice died out now I wonder.
ReplyDeleteMy generation did not continue the practice.
DeleteMy first name = maternal grandfather. My middle name = paternal grandfather. I like the custom of naming kids after family names, but it seems that tradition has gone by the wayside with younger people, along with a lot of other traditions.
ReplyDeleteMy generation did not continue the naming pattern.
DeleteIt seems like up to and including my generation we received family names and in my husband's case family last names as first names. But so many of the babies that I've seen born these days do not have family names. I wonder if this generation lost interest in carrying down family names?
ReplyDeleteWe are not as traditional as people once were.
DeleteMy grandmother's name was Grace as was my mother's and youngest sister. Nice old photo!
ReplyDeleteHey, the tradition was nicely carried on.
DeleteYou were definitely adorable and so were your siblings. How wonderful to have so many brothers and sisters to play with when growing up. What an interesting tradition for naming kids. I know the Japanese sometimes named their kids by order. Ichi means one so the first born might be Ichiro.
ReplyDeleteNow that's a tradition I had never heard of. Just so you know, I'm still cute!
DeleteA fun post! You are quite droll.
ReplyDeleteIt just surprised me that I hadn't thought of that situation before.
DeleteAnd that photo was taken in 2016? You've aged rather rapidly, Red. :)
ReplyDelete(I'm joking about the date stamp on the photo, obviously!)
My middle name is my mother's maiden name. My brother's is my maternal grandfather's first name. So we both got our middle names from that side of the family.
Using family names was very popular at one time.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny what we don't realize sometimes and then it finally dawns on us!
ReplyDeleteMy brother got our father's middle name as his middle name, and passed it to his son, who just a few weeks ago passed it to HIS newborn son. Four generations, now :)
That used to happen here too, and sometimes for first names as well. A school friend had the middle name Burkitt but was keen to keep it quiet. I've also written on my blog about about men whose first names were Potto and Gotobed. Believe it or not Gotobed (and it 's pronounced as in Go To Bed) is an old surname in these parts. The tradition has just about disappeared which is a pity because if my grandmothers' surnames had been in use I'd be called Skipp or Wilson instead of just plain John (which incidentally was my Grandfather's first name).
ReplyDeleteLovely photo, interesting naming convention.
ReplyDelete