That was a tradition on my dad’s side - unfortunately my paternal grandfather gave that name to my dad, who did not have a son. Oddly, Dad wasn’t the first son born, either; I wonder why Grandpa skipped it at first.
I once had a case at work that involved a family whose names all rhymed: Mary, Larry, Gary, Barry, etc. Even worse the last name rhymed with their names, which may have been how the parents got the idea.
There are some cruel parents out there!
My mother’s family follows the Scottish tradition for daughter’s middle names: eldest daughter takes the maternal grandmother’s maiden name, second daughter takes the paternal grandmother’s maiden name. (I’m not sure what happens after that). This had to end with me because said maiden name together with my surname would have been really crap - literally. It has meant that my Aunt ended up with a really silly surname for her middle name and hated it all her life.
My mom grew up next door to a family with nine kids. Their names all rhymed. Except for the last one.
Johnny, Donnie, Lonnie, Ronnie, Bonnie and Connie (the twins), Vonnie (I think this was short for Vonette or Yvonne or something), Annie (okay, close enough), and C.J.
I don’t get it either. But my mom wasn’t allowed to go over to supper at their house because they had enough mouths to feed as it was. And their mom also had only one arm and an unfortunate habit of playing the ponies, and when my mom got a little older she would go over to babysit them only to find that One-Armed Mom hadn’t left any food in the house, so the youngest members of the Rhyming Brigade would troop over to my grandma’s house, where she would fix a raft of peanut-butter sandwiches to feed the horde.
I’m not saying that “giving your children rhyming names” is indicative of “being a shitty parent,” but in this case I think the two were connected.
My mother basically spent the sixties and much of the seventies pregnant. Except for the eldest child (named after my father) and the youngest (whose name the rest of us got to choose), she named each of us for a character in a book she was reading the previous child while pregnant.
This is why I hate A. A. Milne.
Sounds a lot like our place.
Dad & Mom: Harry and Gerrie.
Spawn: Sherry, Terry, Larry, and Peggy-Sue, victim of contemporary Top 40
It got worse when my mother remarried and we got some steps: Another Sherry, another Terry (a girl, this time), a Carrie, and a Laurie.
Whenever anyone’s name was called everyone (except pretty pretty pretty pretty Peggy-Sue) had to stop what they were doing and check to see if they were wanted, just in case. It sucked.
:smack:
Fail.
I was in elementary school with a family of five girls. They all had K names to go with their K last name. The eldest daughter also had “Kaye” as her middle name, thereby giving her the initials KKK.
But you could go by Pooh if you wanted, Winnie! 
I have one brother and one sister, and we’re ABC kids, but unintentionally (and out of order). My bro’s the oldest, he’s B, my sister C is next, then I’m last as the A. Later on, we “adopted” one of my brother’s best friends; coincidentally, he’s D so it works out. (Not sure we would’ve taken him elsewise.)
A family I grew up with had both parents as Ls, so all five of their boys had to be Ls too. I think they were kind of searching for L names at the end; one of their youngest is named “Lauren.” I’m pretty sure that’s the spelling, too - I don’t think they went with Loren. (They should’ve. Or Lorne. Either would work.)
The ABC names reminded me of another funny one. Their names were Amy, Beth, and Cole so they had A. Miner, B. Miner, and Cole Miner.
The father’s first name as his children’s middle name is almost mandated in Russian and Ukrainian cultures, probably others as well. In fact, if a child’s middle name is NOT his father’s first name, there would be some serious paternity questions.
My kids both ended up with C names but it wasn’t deliberate, my son uses his middle name.
I know a family that gave their kids names so that the first letter of each kids name when combined with the others spells out their last name. Kind of like Darryl, Ulysses, Morgan, Bruce, Alice, Stephanie, and Suzie would spell out…well you get the idea. I guess they knew early on how many kids they were going to go for.
Neighbors growing up had five kids all with first names that began with the letter D
The boys in my extended family all have a J in their names: my grandfather is James Daniel, my father is John David, my uncle is Douglas James and I’m James Michael. Actually, I’m the only one out of those 3 generations that isn’t a JD or DJ. Not sure how far back that naming tradition goes, but since I won’t be having kids, it ends with me.
My boys are named William and Harry (well, Henry, but we call him Harry). People often ask me if we “did that on purpose”, which I think is funny. Yes, we did it on purpose, but no, they weren’t named to honor the Princes or anything. Both names happen to be family names in my family and my husband’s family and we just liked the names. I actually even asked here on the SDMB, before my second son was born, if it would be weird if we named him Harry. Most people thought it would be fine SO I BLAME YOU ALL! 
My brother, whose name starts with J and whose wife starts with J, has four boys whose names start with J.
My sister is following the Duggar tradition with a twist. Her name begins with Je and her husband’s with Ja. Their children’s names begin with Jo, Ji, and Ju. I’m waiting to see if she tries to come up with a Jy for the next one.
My ex-husband’s family follows the “first name as my son’s middle name” tradition, so my son is Tyler Robert, his dad is Robert Lawrence, grampa is Lawrence Charles, great grandpa is Charles Alden, etc… Not sure how far back the tradition is rooted with them, I lost track after great-great grandpa.
I have a similar situation since my kids are Kate and Will. For those of you who don’t follow the Royals, Prince William’s long-term girlfriend and likely future bride is named Kate. I seriously debated before naming my son (Kate was a must-have, for family tradition reasons), but I decided I wasn’t going to let some foreign family determine what I named my kids. I’ve loved the name Will for a long time, so I was going to keep it.
I just hope for my kids’ sake it’s not going to be like having kids named Charles and Diana would have been in the eighties.
My three siblings and I all have names for which no common nickname exists. Family lore is that my parents don’t like nicknames.
My father also broke a 150-year-old (at least) tradition by not naming either of his sons after himself. He also doesn’t use his first name, but goes by his middle name. His first name can be shortened to a nickname (one that hangs on the wall); his middle name can’t.
My parents, who had the same initials once married, picked names to give all their children the same initials.
My spouses side, who are Korean, follow the Korean traditional pattern. Personal names are two syllables. All brothers share a syllable and all sisters share a syllable.
On my stepfather’s side of the family, the tradition is to give a child the same first initial as a relative who passed away.