# Are daughters ever named after their mothers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119 "2006-10-19T17:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/41 "2006-10-20T13:14:39Z")
[QUOTE=DeVena] My aunt, her mother, and her daughter all share the name Hazel. Her mother was called Grammy Hazel, she’s called Big Hazel, and her daughter is called Little Hazel. When Little Hazel was pregnant, we refered to it as the Impending Hazel. Thank Og it turned out to be a boy! [/QUOTE] Any wiccans in the family you could call Witch Hazel? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/42 "2006-10-20T14:27:11Z")
Paul McCartney’s maternal great-grandmother was named Mary. She gave birth to Owen, who married a woman named Mary (Paul’s grandmother) and they had a daughter named Mary (Paul’s mother). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/43 "2006-10-20T14:36:14Z")
Does anyone else remember the following event? In the 1980’s or 1990’s there was a man who was nominated by whoever was President at the time for the Supreme Court. He eventually decided for some reason that he didn’t want the job (something about some people within the President’s party opposing him), but in the meantime the President gave a press conference where he introduced the prospective justice and his wife and daughter. The man and his wife had named their daughter after the wife. Not just the first name, but both the first and last names. The daughter didn’t use Jr. in her name though. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/44 "2006-10-20T15:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Paul McCartney’s maternal great-grandmother was named Mary. She gave birth to Owen, who married a woman named Mary (Paul’s grandmother) and they had a daughter named Mary (Paul’s mother). [/QUOTE] And that’s the Mary in “Let It Be”, right, not The Virgin Mary? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/45 "2006-10-20T22:54:35Z")
Madonna Ciccone was named after her mother, Madonna Ciccone. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/46 "2006-10-21T15:13:08Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] And that’s the Mary in “Let It Be”, right, not The Virgin Mary? [/QUOTE] Yes. And Paul named his first daughter Mary. McCartney’s family seems to have a weird coincidence of bring people with identical names into it. Both his father and his brother married women named Angela, his first wife’s daughter was Heather and his second wife was Heather, Linda’s grandmothers were both named Stella, and Paul’s biological daughter Mary married Alistair, while second biological daughter Stella married Alasdahair. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/47 "2006-10-21T20:46:22Z")
I know a family that the mother & daughter are each named Joanna. The daughter is called JJ - for “Joanna Junior” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/48 "2006-10-22T01:23:18Z")
J. J. Caucus, the first wife of Mike Doonesbury in the comic strip _Doonesbury_, is actually named Joan Jr. (Or, at least, it was explained this way when her character was introduced.) Her mother is the character Joanie Caucus. ---
**Author:** ![LucyInDisguise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucyindisguise/32/18064_2.png) [@LucyInDisguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyInDisguise)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/49 "2006-10-22T15:36:06Z")
My paternal Great-grandmother was Grace Lucy. My paternal Grandmother: Grace Lucy [Grandfather’s Surname] Her Second daughter: Grace Lucy [Grandfather’s Surname] (No junior. Went by the nickname Joney.) Me? G. Lucy [Grandfather’s Surname]. No nick name. Got “stuck” with the middle name. PIA? Naaaa. Not a chance. Lucy. PSSSTTTTTT - check the sig line ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/50 "2006-10-22T19:50:15Z")
Well, there’s always Alma Jr., daughter of Ennis and Alma, in **Brokeback Mountain**. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/51 "2006-10-22T21:40:11Z")
My middle name is also my mother’s first name. (How common is this?) My MIL and one of my SILs have the same middle name. In my father’s family, the oldest son has always gotten the same first name. So, my grandfather, father, and one brother, who was born and died the year after I was born, all have the same first name. The youngest of my sisters has the female version of that name, and my youngest brother has Dad’s first name as his middle name. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/52 "2006-10-29T06:45:25Z")
There’s a tradition in the maternal side of my mother-in-law that the first daughter is called Letitia, which apparently goes back quite a few generations. My mother-in-law’s mother bucked the tradition, deeming the name to be quite horrible, so named her first daughter something else, but still retained Letitia as a middle name. In my own family tree, there’s quite a few recurrences of Nancy’s, Mary’s, Elizabeths, but not a great deal of mother-daughter name continuity. Thankfully, on both sides, there seems to be a pattern of giving a daughter their own individual name. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/53 "2006-10-29T11:38:37Z")
I was given the Irish variation of D’Mother’s name… Didn’t [tennis player] Carling Basset have a daughter known to all and sundry as CJ ie Carling Junior? What about women using their maiden name as a first name for an offspring? I knew a fella called Nelson and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out WTF his parents called him that, till I heard his mother call herself by her full [first, maiden and married] names … (I’ve forgotten what her name was, I just remember the son being lumbered with the name Nelson) ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/54 "2006-10-29T16:37:04Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] My wife is named after her **father**. His name is Leslie Dale Suchnsuch (he goes by Dale). Her name is Leslie Dawn Suchnsuch (she goes be Leslie). [/QUOTE] Of the Elgin Suchnsuch’s ??? 😉 I knew a girl in HS who was named after her mother- and they used the same names, not a variation. ( Karen ) Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/55 "2006-10-29T23:18:46Z")
Martha Stewart was named after her mother and was called “Little Martha” as a child, with her mother being “Big Martha”. Long before she was famous the “Big” and “Little” became a bit of a family joke, since the younger Martha grew much taller than her mother. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119/56 "2006-10-30T05:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] Jews don’t name anybody, male or female, after a person who’s still alive. [/QUOTE] I’m told that this isn’t true for Sephardim. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-daughters-ever-named-after-their-mothers/377119.md?page=2)