Hellobee Boards

Login/Register

Naming son after husband

  1. LAZB

    pomegranate / 3904 posts

    We named our son after my husband. My husband is the fourth and our son was the fifth.

  2. Mrs. Lemon-Lime

    wonderful pea / 17279 posts

    @LAZB: How did you feel about doing so though?

  3. LAZB

    pomegranate / 3904 posts

    @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I was happy to do it. DH had always been ex cited about having a son and naming him the fifth. We called him by a nickname, so I never actually called him by his given name.
    Now our daughter is named my husband and son's middle name. Partially to honor our son and partially to carry on the family name. And she has a pretty cute nickname

  4. nicollette1189

    cherry / 105 posts

    We used my husband's first name as our first son's middle name. it's a tradition in the family that the first son's middle name is the father's first

  5. twodoghouse

    honeydew / 7230 posts

    My poor brother has been saddled with a long, awkward, cumbersome name in the spirit of naming after the father. He's actually a third! It's not my thing, although my son's middle is my husband's first name. My husband wasn't a huge fan of this but consented because his first name (and my son's middle) is actually his mom's maiden name. Our daughter has my mom's maiden name for her middle so it worked out perfectly.

  6. cheesetomywhine

    pear / 1586 posts

    DS is a III. We call him by his first and middle name. My FIL lives with us but I refer to him as grandpa and DH as daddy so it doesn't bother me. Since we call him both names it is easy to differentiate when talking with others.

  7. AggieDaze

    apricot / 448 posts

    My husband's family had a tradition of using the middle name Thomas for every boy. Needless to say, we used it for our first born son but won't use it for any others. The next middle name will be a family name from my family's side.

  8. reverie

    kiwi / 661 posts

    Working in healthcare I find this can get rather confusing so we skipped it with number one and if there is a number two we'll skip again, but I have no major issue with it.

  9. sapphire

    nectarine / 2173 posts

    I think it just gets confusing.
    I don't want to name our little girl after me, so wouldn't want to name a little boy after DH.
    Plus I changed my last and the kids will have DH's last so I think that's enough!

  10. Mrs.LaFountain

    pea / 17 posts

    @sapphire: Love this! I agree why name a boy after your husband but not a girl after you. If and when we have a little boy he will have the same middle name as DH and that's more then enough for him.

  11. mrs scrapbook

    apricot / 375 posts

    If we have a boy, he will have DH's name as his middle name. It's common to do it that way on both sides for us.

    Aside from following the middle name tradition, using his name wasnt really an option for us. I like names that can be shortened and DH's name is super short already and he hates the only associated name name. He goes by his full name professionally and his first initial-middle initial to friends/family so it doesn't leave any options for a junior for us!

  12. Mrs. Cookie

    blogger / persimmon / 1225 posts

    Hubby and I aren't into it. Although some form of our son's name actually means my husband's name too.

  13. lamariniere

    pineapple / 12566 posts

    In theory, I'm not into it. In practice, DS's first and middle are my DH's two middle names. But I picked my son's name years before I met my DH, and it was a crazy coincidence that his two middle names (which were his two grandfathers) were my top two boy choices!

  14. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    In my family, the naming tradition is kids named after grandparents. I am named for my father's mother, my two brothers are named for my father's father and mother's father, respectively.

    As for naming after the parents, I would do it if it was important to my husband, but it wasnt'. My FIL was named after his father, and coincidentally his FIL!

  15. Orchid

    clementine / 927 posts

    Thank you for all the responses! My husband suggested it when we were deciding on names and I vetoed it quickly. I didn't realize he was very attached to the idea until recently!

  16. hellocupcake

    persimmon / 1171 posts

    I had to convince DH to give LO his name. He doesn't really like his name, but he's a third and LO is the 4th. I love it. Each man has made the name their own. I think being a fourth is unique in its own way.

  17. StrawberryBee

    nectarine / 2530 posts

    I really dislike it. DH's son from his first marriage has the same name (no middle name, either) and it's just all sorts of confusing because I say their name and they both answer. There's no way to shorten it either, since it's only four letters.

    I'm grateful that it was decided on long before we got together, because that would have been a fight ;).

  18. loki

    pear / 1787 posts

    @meredithNYC: i am named after my mom and it's been awful! banks are always confused and it just causes a lot of issues. i've always been resentful that i didn't get my own name! my name is (mom's name) (aunt's name) (mom's maiden name) (last name)... thanks guys!

  19. Alivoo01

    wonderful olive / 19353 posts

    I'm indifferent about it, but for us. I wouldn't name DS after DH. His name is Cambodian and got made fun of like crazy as a kid.

  20. Astro Bee

    pear / 1503 posts

    I really dislike it, for a number of reasons which I posted about a few weeks ago. My husband is the sixth in his line with the same first name and last name. They all have their own middle names however, and except for my husband, who goes by a very unique nickname (which is confusing to explain by itself), they all answer/ed by the same name. Plus there are a couple of others in the family with the same first name but different last names.

    @Loki: My husband has complained numerous times of getting his mail confused with his dad's, especially when they lived in the same town. My FIL has bad credit, so this was an additional worry of my husband's.

    I also feel that conventionally the husband passes enough onto his son (i.e., last name) and dislike the expectation that I would give up my choice to name my kid because so many generations of his family lacked the creativity to name their own kid something other than the father's name.

    Lastly, I'm not fond of the name, either. Thankfully, he is okay with us using it as a middle name instead. Problem averted... At least until we tell his family we are breaking with tradition.

  21. bushelandapeck

    pomelo / 5720 posts

    I'm not a fan but we ended up doing this with DS because DH is a junior and the name was SO important to he and my FIL. We compromised by calling DS a different nickname than both DH and FIL to avoid confusion. And, of course, his name fits him perfectly now

  22. Umbreon

    clementine / 854 posts

    I'm not a fan. It would be different if there was a tradition of some sort. I do like DH's name, but I think it would just be confusing.

  23. LuLu Mom

    GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts

    DH has one of the most popular names for his year of birth, he had no desire to pass it on as it's pretty generational (late 70s/early 80s.) We would however use his middle name, which is also his father's middle name and his grandfather's first name, this would be more significant to us. IF (this is a big IF) we decide for a 3rd and it's a boy we will use that.

  24. BananaPancakes

    grapefruit / 4817 posts

    My son shares a first name with my husband, but he goes by his middle name. I'm not a huge fan of naming your kid after yourself, but my husband'd middle name is his father's first, so he wanted to have his first name somewhere in our son's name. It doesn't work for a middle name, so it was placed as his first. I think it get confusing when it comes to medical and school related things, but it's not a huge deal. I just have to correct everyone that he goes by his middle name.

  25. ballerinabee

    apricot / 452 posts

    My son is a "III", but we gave him his own nickname (like my DH has his own nickname, even though he's a Jr.). That way it carries on the name, but he has some individuality as well. He can always use his full name professionally later in life if he wants. It was important to my DH, and we couldn't agree on any other boy names, so I went with it!

  26. alphagam84

    persimmon / 1095 posts

    I'm not a fan of it. It's also always irked me that people name a boy after the father and not a girl after the mother. Seems sexist to me.

  27. Mrs. Lemon-Lime

    wonderful pea / 17279 posts

    @Leah: even before we got married I knew my husband wanted a junior and he knew I was just as firmly against it. He gradually eased up and out of the blue one day said our son could have his first name as his middle. I could live with that in fact our first born- girl or boy could have his first as their middle since his name is easily feminine too IMO. I was relieved when he let go of using his name at all.

    The tough part will be his bestie and their wives and maybe my MIL too. He isn't a junior, but all these people seem to think he deserves a junior and don't mind saying so. Heaven forbid he buys into the junior idea again.

  28. nana87

    cantaloupe / 6171 posts

    It's bad luck in Judaism to name a baby after someone living, so that's a big no for us!

  29. MaryM

    pomelo / 5129 posts

    DH is a junior so he told me very early on if we had a boy it would be a III.

    In my family, first born sons are usually named after their grandfathers. Both of our dad's have died, so I may ask for a compromise if we have a son so that he could have my dad's name as a middle name (but still have DH's and FIL's first name)

    But since he gets to name a kid after him, I do play to use some version of Mary in a daughter's name (my mother's name is also a version of Mary).

  30. ElbieKay

    pomegranate / 3231 posts

    My husband's father passed away before we got married. His first name is also my husband's middle name. We decided to use the same name as our son's middle name, but we chose his first name.

    The name is from a foreign language, and I had never heard of it before I met my husband. In the U.S., his dad went by the English version of the name, so it doesn't feel like our son even uses his grandfather's name at all. It was just meant to be a gesture since my husband was very close to his dad, and his dad never got to meet our son.

    ETA: I am a non-religious Jew, so culturally I think it's weird to name a child after someone who is NOT deceased.

  31. erinpye

    pomegranate / 3706 posts

    @nana87: @ElbieKay: I'm not Jewish, but my sister is married to a Jewish guy, and his family was really upset I gave my second daughter my mother's first name, as a middle. My mother and our whole family is very honored, and I had no idea it was taboo in Jewish culture until then.

  32. nana87

    cantaloupe / 6171 posts

    @erinpye: that's so weird that your sister's in-laws would care about your kid's name! So not their business, lol

  33. Mamasig

    pomegranate / 3565 posts

    I am not a fan, but DS1 and DH share the same middle name.

  34. erinpye

    pomegranate / 3706 posts

    @nana87: haha I know, right‽ But I love them, and they have been so sweet to my family, they're almost like my own, so I get it a little

  35. fancyfunction

    grapefruit / 4085 posts

    Neither one of us is a fan.

  36. nana87

    cantaloupe / 6171 posts

    @erinpye: that's sweet that you think of them like almost family! but still weird, lol. a lot of my family members have married non-Jews, but I would never expect their family families to adopt a Jewish custom if they weren't Jewish! My cousin, who is Jewish, is married to a non-Jew and they named one of their twin daughters after his mom/my aunt, and she thought it was weird (since she's Jewish) and was a little freaked out, but I don't think she said anything!

  37. mrs. wagon

    blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts

    We did! Loved the idea and the nickname Junior. But I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't 100% in love with my husband's name. I thought he didn't care for his own name, but when I brought it up, he revealed that he did like his own name. He was afraid people would think it self-centered of him to name his son after himself. But he's pretty self-conscious in that way. After he got over it we waited til the baby was born and decided he was definitely a Junior! (His name is Robert, we call him RJ.)

  38. Orchid

    clementine / 927 posts

    @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I think using his name for a middle name would have been a great compromise. It's great your husband came around !

  39. LemonLong

    pear / 1698 posts

    My husband shares a name with his Dad. The Mail gets mixed up and it's annoying when they are together because no one knows which one you are talking about. Plus, DH's mother calls him "Tommy" to differentiate between the two, and DH outgrew that nickname way, way, long ago.

  40. littlejoy

    pomegranate / 3375 posts

    Meh. I'm a fan of unique names, and my husband is "Jim". So, we would use James a middle name for sure, but otherwise, I'm not the biggest fan of that tradition. With that said, if it was really important to my husband, I would absolutely do it.

Reply »

You must login / Register to post

© copyright 2011-2014 Hellobee