Thursday, July 21, 2011

What’s Your Name?

What’s in your name? What I am asking is do you know where your name came from and do you like it? I hear a lot of people speak of how they hate their name while other folks absolutely love theirs, but where did those names come into play?

Back in the day people named their children after their ancestors, a male child is born so he is given his paternal Grandfathers name, next male is named after the maternal Grandfather, the first daughter is given the paternal Grandmothers name, and so on and so on until they ran out of Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles to name the kids after, now this is not an exact science but it is a pattern I have noticed while researching my family.

Jimmy is a nickname for James, I was given the same name as my Father, his Grandfather was also named James so it appears we are somewhat on track in my family research so far, I have twenty men with the name of James who carry my last name in the family so far, and I still haven’t gotten all the kids filled in for some as of yet, so needless to say there are a lot of James out there with my last name, good thing I go by Jimmy…Right?

What about the people striving for different names, like the ones who exchange letters substituting an I for a Y or even an IE, an E for an A, swapping gender names like Johnny Cash’s “Boy Named Sue” or even something silly like K8 instead of Kate, naming kids after colors, animals, trees, planets, comic strips, sports figures or songs, what I am saying is there are a lot of options for names and whatever name you were given hopefully your parents put a lot of thought into it so you will be proud of it, and even if they didn’t, it is still your name to be proud of.

Your name defines who you are, what you make of your name and how you handle yourself in life is what people remember when they hear your name, so for all you K8’s and Jimmies, Fuchsia’s and Hyacinth’s, Kal-El’s and Kareem’s be proud of your name and do your best to show everyone that it is a good name.

Ask questions and find out where your name came from if you don’t already know, it’s a good feeling sometimes to see the family history in your name, and other times you can get a smile when you see how your name just may have been the first word that popped into your Moms head.

I told you how my Dad was named James, the same name as his paternal Grandfather, well it didn’t actually work that way because they thought his name was George so rather than being called George my Dad was named after his Moms Brother who was a James, and my Brother being given my Mom’s Fathers name for a middle name, his first name came from the #3 Billboard song of 1961 “Norman”, wonder what song was playing in the delivery room, and sad to say we just found out that his middle name was not actually Papa’s name, I guess Momma should have looked at a Crayola box.

20 comments:

  1. I am named after my dad, or a variation of it. I was supposed to be Christopher Robert (since he's Robert), but they made a few minor adjustments. I was a last ditch effort at a boy. Surprise! :)

    Talkative Taurus

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  2. We have some odd names in my family and some that managed to repeat many times. I happen to have a first and middle name that belonged to family before me. (none since on this branch)

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  3. This is kind of funny....I was just thinking of my name and how much I DETESTED it all my life...up until the last year or so.
    I finally realized that my name suits me just fine. Every morning I revel in the sunrise and it's my absolute most favorite time of day. It's when God speaks to me the clearest....

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  4. Wonderful post, Jimmy!

    "whatever name you were given hopefully your parents put a lot of thought into it so you will be proud of it, and even if they didn’t, it is still your name to be proud of."

    This post instantly reminded me of something...

    I never really liked my name (Ronald), however when I got to be in my late 20's, I asked my father why he and my mother (who had passed away when I was 6 years old) gave me that name. He said that my mother had always had a crush on the actor Ronald Coleman, so she said that if her next child was a boy, she wanted to name them Ronald.

    Now here's the ironic part. Later in my life I actually became an actor. So, somehow she knew!

    And ever since I found that out, I've been very proud and happy with my name.

    Love your new template background, buddy. It's AWESOME!!!

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  5. I'm the only Barbara in my family on both parents side. The only thing I know is that my name means 'foreign' or 'strange' in Greek. I'm Irish so who the heck knows.

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  6. Barb, my mom has the same name and I never knew that. She's Irish too, though our family has passed down her middle name Ann a lot.

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  7. Hey Krissy, Cindy’s middle name is a female version spelling of her Dad’s name, not sure if they were looking for a boy when she was born but the middle name would have worked either way, not sure if there is a male version of the name Cindy :^)

    Ms. A, Kind of the same thing with me, this is the third generation using my first and middle name together, but none after me..we will have more Grandbabies though so all is not lost huh.

    Dawn, What a great view for a beautiful name, it is the time when God speaks to most of us the clearest.

    Hey Ron, Isn’t it amazing how we change our outlook on things like our names once we get the history behind them, cool story my friend and you never know she just may have known from the start :^)

    Thank You Buddy

    Hey Barb, 'foreign' or 'strange' could apply to a whole lot of us, Irish is in my bloodline also along with Scottish and many more, when asked I usually just refer myself as a mutt Ha Ha

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  8. perhaps our names and destinies are somehow connected...and if we think on our names we cannot come up with any better names for ourselves ...

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  9. I've always loved my name. It was a popular name for girls in the '60's, but not used so much today. My parents just liked it. Their second choice was Jacqueline (as in Kennedy). I'm glad they went with their first choice!

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  10. I hated my name at school but love it now. If I meet another Valerie I know roughly the year she was born. Wonder when it will come back into fashion? What I don't like are the silly names babies are blessed with, like one who lives near me who was named after the road she lives in: Bennett Street.

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  11. Muhammad, So true in that our names and destinies are intertwined and coming up with a replacement brings us right back to the name we are already carrying.

    Bijoux, Yes your name is a popular one and also one I myself like, I don’t really see you as a Jacqueline, your parents made a good choice.

    Hey Valerie, Isn’t it funny how names take us right to the timeframe someone was born in, I never cared much for my name either when I was younger, I did like my nickname and rather than drop the “my” off the end and become Jim as I always preferred Jimmy, like you I think naming a kid after a street is a bit far fetched.

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  12. I've always hated my name! But middle name is a name that has been in our (female) side of the family for generations.
    Yes, I too believe that you can tell the rough age of someone from when they were born too.
    At the moment we are looking for a girl's name for my baby that is due middle of October. Something simple as I'm sure to offend someone by naming her after some other person in our families!
    Very good post, as usual, Jimmy, and certainly got us thinking! (Probably Lily or Ruby....something simple)
    IDEAS WELCOME! LOL!
    Hugs to you both!

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  13. Thank You Emily, names passed down through the generations I think are a blessing to be given to our children, I always wanted to name a Daughter Aubrey but never got to do so, my neice came up with a good one by adding Grace to it when she named her baby Aubrey Grace.

    so there is one idea, Lily or Ruby is good and Hannah is another---better stop before I get you a whole list :^)

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  14. yes i know where my name came from and the story isn't pretty but with age i've come to like it even if it was given to me as a way to hurt someone with a reminder.

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  15. Hey Becca, I remember you telling me this in the past, but as you have said it has become your name and something positive, rather than just a reminder of something negative.

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  16. Great Post Jimmy and food for thought. My middle name is after my aunt. I have no clue where they got my first name. I guess I should ask.

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  17. Hey Peg, You never know you just may be surprised at where it came from.

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  18. We are due any day with our first son. We are naming him james bruce. My husbands legal name is james brandon, but goes by brandon, and always has! His dads name was jimmy bruce (he died 2 yrs ago). His dad was a james but not sure if it goes back further than that. :)

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  19. Oh and my husbands dad went by brucr. Seems everyone even the women angry by middle names but we plan on calling our son james....
    Tiffany

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  20. Hey Tiffany, James is an honorable name and carrying it on within the family shows honor to your ancestors, your son will be a proud young man.

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