Question of the Week: Who are you named after?

Question

Who were you named after? A family member? Someone famous?

Please tell us with an answer below. You could also answer on Facebook or upload the question image to any social media site. If you share it you may get family members talking.

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Answer 1

I have 2 first names (no middle name according to the Dutch rules) My name Evert is named after my fathers father Evert Jansen, etc. the historical list: Evert Klaas (me), Hendrik Jansen(1912), Evert Jansen(1884), Hendrik Jansen(1853),  Evert Jansen(1828), Hendrik Jansen(1789), Jan Everts, Evert Jans, Jan Everts(1744), Evert Jansen (Nijmans)(1716), Jan Everts(1683), Evert Hendriks Haarman(abt 1650), Hendrik op de Haar.

My 2nd first name Klaas goes back to my maternal grandfather etc.

Answer 2

I was named after the undrafted Chicago Bears Halfback Brian Piccolo. A close friend of Hall of Fame treammate Gale Sayers, he was a dedicated and tireless workhorse for the team despite having an advanced form of testicular cancer, which he ultimately succumbed to at the age of 26.

His remarkable courage, as well as his friendship with Sayers and progressive advocation of racial equality, were the subject of the 1971 movie Brian's Song, with Piccolo being portrayed by legendary Actor James Caan.

It took quite a while for me to fully appreciate the honor of such a namesake.

Answer 3

Surprisingly, I'm named after me.

My dad's birth was always a mystery to my sister and me.  We were told that Reino R. Sarlin was born in NYC on 16 Feb 1909 but no documents were available.  The earliest record was of him arriving at Ellis Island aboard the Kristianiafjord on 23 Jan 1916 as 7-year-old Raymond Sarlin (Raymond being Anglicized from the Finnish Reino), a returning US Citizen, being met by his birth mother Anna Sarlin but Immigration officials were suspicious and he was held in detention for a week before finally being released.  He went on to a successful career in the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Alas, I had spaces on WikiTree to fill in, and research began in earnest.  Finally, research in Abo (Turku) Finland in July 2020 found his birth recorded in the Abo Cathedral Parish under the name Reino Reipas Johansson, born in Turku on 27 Jan 1908, the son of Aina Elvira Johansson with unknown father.  So that called for Y-DNA testing, which ultimately revealed that his natural father was Kalle Ivar (Ylén) Lumio, a Finnish politician (MP).  So that explained the mystery.

For some unknown reason, dad named me after the fake him (i.e., me) who was busted by Immigration when being smuggled into the USA.  Therefore, I must be one of the very few to ever be born with a Federal criminal record available on the internet to genealogists.

Comments

Good story!

Answer 4

I love this question even though it doesn't apply to me. So what if it did apply to me instead of Dad just liking Patricia and Mom liking Bruce and their handshake over gender deciding my name.

In my research most of my ancestors were not named after famous people.  They were named after parents and grandparents with a mother's maiden name often tossed in.  So what if my parents had followed this pattern?  I could have been Evelyn-John, Mary-Charles, Florence-Charles, Stielow Miller.

Answer 5

My grandmother, dad's branch, was Maria Guerrini. Although my dad was baptized by his Italian parents with 5 names, translated to Spanish (?) equivalents, (Giuseppe,Antonio, Guglielmo, Plinio,Fulvio (haven't found the reference to these last two), I was the only one who had a name linked to my grandparents, Mario. My grandfather was Antonio. Me and my siblings only were assigned a single name.

Answer 6

My father picked my name - it was his favorite male name.  He always told me that I owed him they talked about naming me for my two grandfathers and I could have been Sigismund Evert.

However, the name Roger has a mixed history in mother's family and caused consternation. My 2nd great uncle Roger von Budberg, a missionary physician in Harbin, China and an amateur Chinese anthropologist, led an unconventional life that his family did not care for.  Likewise, a distant cousin, Roger Raczynski's matrimonial and political issues caused his father to cut him of his will, which resulted in my great, grandfather inheriting much of the family property.

Answer 7

My mother told me she found my name in the Los Angeles Times obituary section. No joke. My mother had been told by her doctor she was having a boy (no ultrasound was done). Four days overdue, they checked to see how effaced she was and felt two heads. Four days later, two identical twin girls were born. My mother was petite and only gained 19 pounds with both of us. We were small too, 4lbs 7oz and 5lbs 9oz. She quickly had to come up with two girl names. And all the baby shower gifts had to be exchanged for girl items. Our grandmother worked as a telephone operator and her co-workers had a contest and picked my twin sister's name.

Comments

Another good story!

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My sister has twin girls.  Your story & hers are very similar.  She was planning for one child in a month.  Her co-workers had a shower & gave her one each high chair, bassinet, crib & play pen.  A friend had offered a bassinet so she called the friend & said she wouldn't need it.  A few hrs later, she was in the hospital and ... SURPRISE ... there were 2 babies.  About that bassinet ...  The co-workers bought her another crib & high chair.  They're 47 now.

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My twin and I are 52. Ultrasounds weren’t a common thing back then.

Answer 8

My full first name is Johanna Karina.

Johanna after my paternal grandmother.

Karina was supposed to be Karenina, after the book Anna Karenina, a favorite of my mother's, but my father accidentally/on purpose misunderstood it.

And since Johanna Karina is quite the mouthful I'm just called Joke for short (a fairly common name among Dutch women my age).

Answer 9

My first name--Armorita--was my mother's first name which, according to family legend my grandmother made up but I have run across it some. My middle name, the name I use,--Nelda--is partly after my mother whose middle name was Nell and partly after a lady she worked with at the telephone company whose name was Nelda. Daddy really wanted to name me Lucille after my maternal grandmother, but mother won. Didn't stop Daddy from calling me Lucy all the time.

Answer 10

My first name came from “the aunts” on my father’s side, possibly the same source as my grand-uncle Harold Garred Milks’ (Milks-107) middle name. Dad thought it came from my 3rd great grandfather Freeborn Garrettson Milk (Milk-116) who was himself named after a NY preacher, Rev. Freeborn Garrettson.

My middle name is passed down from my grandfather and father.

Answer 11

The name Alexander has been part of my paternal family for generations. This photo of my second great grandfather Alexander McCullough was part of a packet given out at the McCullough reunion 22 years ago. My great grandmother named my grandfather after him, and then my father was named after his father. 

My mother wanted to name me after my father, who was MIA in WWII when I was born. She really liked Alexandria, but she shortened it to Alexis.

Answer 12

Eric after my maternal grandfather (who was named after his father, who was named after his maternal grandfather, who was named after his maternal grandfather). Eric (Erik, Erich) is one of the most popular names of a father or uncle found so far on my Swedish side.

Joseph after my father (who was named after his father, who was named after his father, then the name passed through 2 generations of uncles, then back to my 4th and 5th Great-Grandfathers). Joseph (Josef) appears to have been a mandatory name of a father or uncle in almost every branch and generation of my Bohemian (Czech) roots I have discovered.

Per my mother, the ultimate authority on my name, the intent was only to name me after her father Eric and my father Joseph. The longer legacy of each back to at least the early 1700's was unknown.

Answer 13

My first name is after a saloon in Montana - Kirby Saloon,  you can still ride a horse and tie it to the hitching post out front, and rumor has it there are bullet holes in the ceiling too.  

My middle name is after my grandmother Oka Mary, so I'm Kirby Mary.  My parents couldn't agree on a name and the hospital wouldn't let them take me home until I had a name.

Answer 14

My name (adopted name).  Mum liked the name Jason.  Middle name is after her father.

My natural name Michael John.  A cousin around the same age of my natural mother escaped death after being run over by a 5-ton dual wheel truck on a goldfield.  He was 5 at the time.  Suffering only a broken pelvis and other injuries.

Answer 15

My husband,  passed away last Sept, was named after Franklin Roosevelt.

Comments

I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my husband seven years ago. Still feels like yesterday though.

Answer 16

My mom absolutely loved the dance moves of the dancer in the TV show, Fame. Her name was spelled Coco, but my mom didn't know that and spelled my middle name Cocoa. Thankfully I'm not like my cousin or my grandpa who hated chocolate. Quite the opposite. I've always loved chocolate and hot cocoa, so I've always liked my middle name. People who find out are often surprised and delighted, especially this one sweet black lady in an office recently. She was ecstatic. Since I was a kid, some people have complimented how interesting or nice it is for a white girl to have a black name.

My first name, on the other hand, wasn't named after anyone at all. It only came to mind out of the blue, after my mom's previous ideas got a lot of no's from my biological father.

Now for the kicker: When I was a teen, I developed an allergy disorder (due to stress, genetics, and chocoholism) and became allergic to chocolate for 8 years until I was given the go-ahead by an allergist. It was painful being allergic to my middle name! But at least carob came close to the smell and taste. I only wished I had discovered it sooner!

Answer 17

My name was just popular at the time. One of the names of my mother however is Leguna which is also one of the names of one of her cousins. They are both named after their grandmother Leguna (ID: Groothuis-35) or Lucie (English: Lucy) in everyday life. These three persons are till this day the only persons in the Netherlands to have (had) that name and I still haven't found out where that name stems from. Wish I could ask my great-great-grandparents how they came up with the name 

Answer 18

I have 4 first names (no middle names in the Netherlands) The first "Eva" is just for me, the second "Dymphe" is named after my godmother, the third "Henriette" after my paternel gramdmother (her name was Hendrika/Drika), the fourth "Dorothé" after my maternal grandmother (named Theodora/Door)... The name I use everyday is "Eef"

Comments

I think it is sweet that you have four names, yet actually go by a fifth   Did you come up with Eef?  Or has your family called you that since you were young?

Answer 19

my auntie, Bonnie Jean, and my mom, Debra Marie, resulted in Jean-Marie. I have a middle initial, K. It is for my dad, Keith.  My dad’s family lore is said to have migrated through the French Canadian provinces to the USA.

Answer 20

My first name isn't 'after' anyone, but my parents did pick names for both me and my sister that would be spelled and sound the same in French and English because my dad is French Canadian.

My middle name is for my paternal grandmother though.  Although my grandmother is Maria and my middle name is Marie which I don't really understand...