Parents and the names they choose

Being inspired by the names we came up for our cats I was wondering if any of you have a story about the name your parents decided to name you. Like did any of your parents ever tell you names they had picked out for you, besides the ones they named you? If I was a boy I would have been named Robert. The girl names they had picked were Colleen and Shannon, they had a thing for Irish girl names. At the last minute my dad pops up with, "Hey lets name her after our friend Sabra." He had no idea if it even had a meaning and if so in what language. He just thought it sounded neat.

They even had girl twin names picked out if I had been twins: Stacey and Tracey.

Even though I have an unusual name there are a lot of people with ordinary names that have stories behind it. I know a lady who's middle name is her fathers middle name - Dale. They just wanted to pass the name on.

Anyone care to share?

I don't have a good story that goes with what I was actually named, Heidi. They just liked it, and coming from a good German background (Volk & Rodekohr) it seemed to fit. If I was a boy I would have had the family name of John.

However, before my sister and I were born my parents had names for us. They wanted to call their new baby something that could go either for a boy or a girl (I guess they didn't want to give either of us a complex that early in life). They called my sister Happy, which really didn't fit when she came out. She went through horrible teething and would only stop crying when Dad held her. I got dubbed Charlie. No premonitions of disposition on that one!

I was named after my mother. In Mexico and other latin american countries, the first born daughter or son is named after the parent. Other children may be named after grandparents.

I named my daughter after a friend of mine and my ex-husband picked Armando for my son's name. I don't know where he got the name from.

I don't have a good story either, it's pretty dull.

My parents named me Lori Ann. My mother's aunt Ann died shortly before I was born, my parents picked my middle name in honor of this person. When I was in elementary school, I realized many people were naming their daughters Lori Ann. I wanted to feel like a unique individual instead of feeling like I was part of a group, so one of the things I did while I was still in elementary school, was to change the spelling of my first name to Lorie.
See....I told you it's dull!!

My dad picked my name. Allison was a really unusual name in New england in the 70s and 80s, but here in the Dallas area it's quite common. He grew up in Garland, which is east of Dallas, so I guess he just liked the name. Happens I was born the year Peyton Place hit the airwaves and one of the main characters was named Allison too.

What's unusual is, he insisted on not giving me a middle name. He figured, a girl gets married and drops her middle name to make room for her husband's family name, so there was no point to it.

I was almost Cynthia, but he didn't like Cindy. I was almost Victoria, but they had a dog named that and they didn't want people to think I was named after the dog. If I'd been a boy, I would have been Christopher.

They were debating between Susie and Debra, guess who won?? My grandma wanted Susie,(susan) so she always called me suzieQ when I was little.

I was named after my fathers sister who died when she was 3. My given name is Chellie Jane, but my family calls me Missy. Sure there's a story there somewhere, but no one remembers it. My Mother loved the name Talbert for a boy. Thank goodness I was a girl.

My first name (Leah) came from a friend of my mom's, and my middle name is becuase I was born on a Tuesday (say that little poem and you'll figure it out).

Had I been a boy I would have been named Gabriel!!! But I never heard the story of how they picked that name.

My parents wanted a boy and only had boys names picked out (Michael). I, obviously was a girl and I remained nameless for about 2 days. My mother loved strong women. I am named after a Canadian female journalist Adrienne Clarkson(and current governor general ie Queen's rep, of Canada). She wanted me to have a strong female rolemodel. My middle name, Marie, is my grandmother's 1st name.

My mother just liked my name, so no interesting story there.

We named our kids for specific reasons though. Our son is David Daniel, named after my husband, we wanted a JR. for our first born son.
Our daughter is named Davina Victoria. That is the feminine of David, meaning 'strong and womanly'. And her middle name Victoria was for my mothers sister who died at age 12 from reumatic heart. My mother was devastated by her death ( my mom was 9 when she died), and I really wanted to honor her memory.

I was named after a mean old aunt that nobdy even liked. I have never figured that out.
I named my daughter for 2 of my favorite songs, one of which I was hearing on my walkman the minute she was born. I heard the intro to the song and then I heard her cry. The song is The Wind Cries Mary, by Jimi Hendrix. Her middle name came from a favorite Allman Brothers tune, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. So she is Mary Elizabeth.

I guess I could have talked a little more about the whole reasoning behind my parents name choices

I am very glad I wasn't a boy; being that my name would have been Robert. Not that it's a bad name it's just been done to death in my family. My paternal grandfather was named Robert, he died when my dad was 11. Well my dad has 4 brothers, one of which was named Robert after their father. Out of those 4 brothers 3 of them named one of their sons Robert. So by the time I came along (I'm the youngest cousin - my dad is the youngest brother) I would have been the 6th Robert!

My middle name is Elaine which is also my mothers middle name.

My parents wanted us all to have bible names since they are religious. I am a twin, so my sister and I would have been named Daniel Joseph and Jonathan David if we were boys, but thank goodness we weren't! lol My name is Sarah Ruth, my mom picked out Sarah ( I guess that she liked that bible name-which means princess , and my dad picked out Ruth)...having Ruth as my middle name makes me feel like an old lady :laughing2 I'm not sure who picked out my twin sisters name, Elizabeth Dawn, but her middle name is the same as my mom's middle name. And my brothers name is Jonathan David (I guess that they got to name their boy)-my dad's name is David, so thats where they got his middle name, and David and Jonathan were best friends in the bible, so I think thats why they picked that name. And my next youngest sisters name is Hannah Joy-again, another bible name, and my aunt's name is Joy, so I think that thats where they might have gotten that from. And last, my youngest sister, Rebekah Rachelle. (Another bible name,-they wanted to have her middle name be Rachel, but my cousin's name was Rachel and my mom didn't want them to both have the same names. So, thats my LONG story of how my siblings and I got our names.

I am named after my fathers mother. In the Jewish Religion children can only be named after a member of the family once they have passed and most of my fathers family died in Concentration camps in Poland. Helen mean light or live.

My mom got my name out of a book. Not very original I'm afraid.

Well my dad wanted me to be named Michelle and my mom wanted me to be named Jessica and if you've ever met my 5'5" spite fire of a mother who has a raging temper and ALWAYS gets her way you'll figure out the rest.

My mom and dad named me Katie because they thought it was pretty. I was supposed to be Kaitlyn, but my dad didn't like it much. So Katie it is... I like it anyways.

Well my Mum and Dad got my name from a tv show!! I think it was "Butterflys" - anyone seen it?? Her name was Rhea in it, they were choosing between Rhea and Laura, but chose Rhea cos it was more unusual (at the time.... its not really common now, but I know few ) If I was a boy they like William..... hence my nickname all through childhood was Bill.... thanks Dad... hahaha :LOL:


PS, my two sisters are called Shelly and Hayley, so Mum and Dad named our house "Shaylarhe" (pronounced "shay-la-ree)which I think is pretty cool.....

I think I've seen Butterflies (I used to live in Canada, where there is - or at least was - a lot of British programming, and I love the "Brit-coms" on my local public tv station and on BBCA) but I'm not sure. Did it have Felicity Kendall in it? Before she did that series about the people who go back to nature (Good Neighbors in the US, something else in the UK I think).

Semi-related. In Dear Abby yesterday, a lady wrote in because she loves the name Emily, and named her dog this. Now, she is pregnant with a little girl, and is not sure if she will have other children, and wanted to know if it was okay to give her daughtr the name Emily as well! (Abby said no!). Can you imagine having a child and a pet with the same name at the same time?