Big-family naming

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty, Real-life naming

What themes/trends/styles have you seen big families use in the naming of their kiddos? Which have you used yourselves?

23 thoughts on “Big-family naming”

  1. I know a family of 8 with very traditional/formal names – Catherine, Andrew, Margret, Elizabeth, Caroline, William, Mark, Fred. They also lost a child at birth, her name is the only one that doesn’t seem to fit, Gemma, but very beautiful.

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  3. My mother also comes from a large family of 11. All go by the full, formal name, except my mom. Rebecca, Sandra, Victoria (Vicky), Michael, Scott, Lynette, Douglas, Mark, Roger, Lori, Andrea

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  4. My grandfather was one of 9: Edward (Ignatius), Sophie, Helen and Rosalie (twins), Jane, Joseph… Blanking on the other 3. But I love their names! Very Catholic. We also recently discovered that Ignatius was my grandfather’s first name, but he went by his middle. They were Polish Catholic.

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  5. And trends… Hmmm. In my extended family, we have heavy-hitting Saint names as well as some nature themes. Our own family seems to be Oregon Trail meets Catholicism, haha.

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  6. I am oldest of 15. We all go by our given names, no nick names. Although, a few of the girls have pet names for each other, but it’s only with each other. And, I have mentioned before, that I go by Jo or Joney among some of my friends. We are: Joanna, Andrew, John, Mary, James, Lauren, Rachel, Catherine, Veronica, Julia, Grace, Peter, Paul, and Gloria. All the boys have Joseph as middle names. Except John, who is John Paul for JPII, and James is Patrick after my dad. All the girls are Marie, except Mary’s is Theresa, Rachel’s is Anne Marie and Veronica’s is Rose Marie. Rachel and Veronica have the added names because my mom felt that Rachel Marie and Veronica Marie didn’t flow smoothly enough. I am pretty sure Anne was chosen for BVM mom, and Rose because of lent and/or Easter.

    Lauren was supposed to be Laura, but my mom liked Lauren so much more that she put that on the certificate. Catherine was born on St Catherine’s feast day. Veronica was born during lent and my dad had spent that lent doing the stations daily, so he was particularly drawn to the name. Peter was not a fav of my mom’s, but my dad loved it and claimed Peter as the name for each of the long line of girls. So, when a son was finally born after six daughters, Peter it was. After that was a matter of keeping with the unrealized, til that point, tradition of keeping Apostles names for the boys. Gloria was a personal fav of my moms, but my dad really liked Genevieve. Shortly before my mom got pregnant, our aunt passed away. Her name was Gloria, but she went by Gord by most of the family. My mom was set on Gloria for a daughter’s name, so Gloria it was! The youngest, Matthew, was almost Mathew with one T. My dad got that changed after someone pointed out that they’d tease him forever and call him “Math” haha! Luckily the hospital hadn’t sent the paperwork in yet. My mom and some of the kids call him Mitty now, but I don’t see that being a nickname he carries with him in to adulthood.

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    • Thanks for writing all that out! I am so proud to say I remember all your sibs’ names and I think I can do it in the right order too. 🙂

      I’m so interested in hearing what parents *almost* named their children, or what other names were in consideration — I love Genevieve! But the Gloria story is beautiful. And Mathew with one T — so interesting! And Laura changed to Lauren — that’s another thing that’s fascinating, last-minute name changes. Thanks for this fabulous comment!!

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  7. My sister-in-law has named her 5 children beautiful Italian saints’ names. They are:
    Nell0 (a family name, the only non-saint), R0man, Brun0, Ser@fina, and Fil0mena. They have lovely middle names as well (not in the same order, for security reasons) Michelangelo, Patrizia, Giandomenico, Agustino and Pasqualina. They never tell the name they have decided on until the baby is born so I’m always on the edge of my seat waiting to hear!

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  8. We know a family where each child has a German name. Ours are kind of biblical/English/traditional. (Fiona is the only non-biblical first name we’ve used, and the only non-saint’s name!)

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  9. Thought of this thread when I saw this subset today:

    Stanley, Matilda, Eloise, Walter, twins Ramona and Bernadette, and Arthur

    So hip!

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