Our first born was named after his grandfathers: Joseph was my husband's dads name and Patrick is my dad's middle name. To emphasis the mix of Italian and Irish that is our boy we went with Padraic as the spelling for the middle name. No one can pronounce it right and no one ever uses it. The names are meaningful to us and fit the boy wonderfully. So that my sister can feel even more assured her kid won't have the most unusual name of the grand kids, here are some names that we didn't use:
Girls names included: Aednat (pronounced eynit meaning little fire), Orlaith (pronounced Orla meaning golden princess), Branna (meaning beauty with hair as dark as a ravens)
Boys names included: Faolan (pronounced Fawlin meaning wolf/loyal), Bradan (meaning salmon) and Odhran (pronounced Oran meaning otter)
For the second born I thought of girls names first. They included Nancy after my favorite teacher, Jean after a cousin who I remember as super awesome but is deceased now, Ceili since a ceili is the first real date we went on, and Grania which means Grace since that is what I would want my daughter to have.
Boys names were harder to think of this time around. I wanted to include Joe in the naming process which is how we ended up with Jude. We listen to the Beatles every Sunday morning while eating pancakes. "Hey Jude" was the first song Joe could sing along with.... Aloysius is what I wanted to name my younger brother when he was born. Why would a 4 year old choose such an odd name you ask? Well because I had a subscription to Highlights For Kids and I loved the Aloysius the wolf stories. I have since learned that Aloysius is also the first name of Big Bird's Pal Snuffleupagus. He is my all time favorite Muppet, and the fact that he is huge and shaggy seems like a good fit for my child; at least it is if the first borns size and amount of hair is any indication of a family trend.
So there ya go. Odd yes but who uses their middle names anyway?
2 comments:
Want to know something funny? Some of the names on your list for girls are also on my list (but the anglicized versions, not the gaelic).
And who uses their middle names? People who don't like their first names!
I like Jude! :-) What's more, I like the stories behind his name. And I love those Gaelic girls' names you listed--they're pretty, and it's very cool to find a way to honor one's family & cultural history in the process of naming the next generation.
On the other hand, Joseph and Jude are nice & phonetic. (ha ha)
(Admittedly, I have a hang-up about that sort of thing stemming from a lifetime of having to spell/pronounce my last name for everyone...)
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