# Who (or what) were you named after? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149 "2010-12-14T19:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tracyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@Tracyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracyfish)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/61 "2010-12-15T04:57:02Z")
My grandmother always thought I was named after her father. My mom is a bit wishy-washy on whether that’s true and usually ends the discussion by saying she just liked the name. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/62 "2010-12-15T07:48:30Z")
Named after a great american president/ maternal grandpa/a cartoonist etc… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/63 "2010-12-15T09:14:30Z")
I don’t think I was named after anyone, just as my siblings were also given original names. However, each of our middle names are most certainly named after family members. Having said that, I do have the same name as a third cousin twice removed, or that kind of thing, who was much older and was known reasonably well by my Dad, so though I can’t say I was named after him specifically, my name may possibly have been inspired by him. I think, more likely, it was a coincidence. “Paul” is a reasonably common name, after all. This distant cousin did do a couple of significant things in his life, and as our names are otherwise unique in the world, that means when I Google my name, his exploits come up in about a quarter of the results. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/64 "2010-12-15T12:43:34Z")
I think I was mostly named after the extracanonical character, but I share the exact name (first name and surname; not sure about middle!) with a fairly well-known 19th-century Anglo-Jewish philanthropist and I suspect my parents were thinking of her as well. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/65 "2010-12-15T13:46:30Z")
My first name is a mystery. My mother was going to name me Bruce, but she said the people in her office were teasing her about it, so she changed it. Totally random, as far as I can tell. My middle name was her mother’s maiden name. My brother was named after our father and my sister was named after my mother’s sister, with a middle name after our father’s sister. I’m the only afterthought. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/66 "2010-12-15T15:16:06Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > Melissa, Jessica, or Desdemona? 😃 They had a song named Jessica? Then I guess that both of my brother’s daughters were named after Allman Brothers songs. If they also had a song about Jonathan, then I think I’m seeing a pattern starting to emerge. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/67 "2010-12-15T17:04:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > They had a song named Jessica? > > Then I guess that both of my brother’s daughters were named after Allman Brothers songs. If they also had a song about Jonathan, then I think I’m seeing a pattern starting to emerge. [Jessica](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oidm5Zfw_SA). ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/68 "2010-12-15T17:07:18Z")
Keith Partridge of TV’s “Partridge Family”. I was originally set to be named Anthony----my mother’s preferred name----but my older sister insisted on Keith, so there it is. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/69 "2010-12-15T17:09:48Z")
> [@Keith\_Berry](#): > > Keith Partridge of TV’s “Partridge Family”. I was originally set to be named Anthony----my mother’s preferred name----but my older sister insisted on Keith, so there it is. How… modern. My last girlfriend’s father was Nelson Eddy. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/70 "2010-12-15T17:13:47Z")
I have three names. The one I go by is the middle one and it was a child minder at the maternity ward that started calling me that and it stuck (it’s also the number one name for boys the year I was born, so much for imagination). The other two are after my parents’ paternal grandfathers. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/71 "2010-12-15T17:36:52Z")
BTW my wife’s first name is one that has come down her family for well over 100 years, switching between first and middle names during the time. It probably got distorted from some other name in the mid-19th century. Best she could tell, she is the only person in the country with it. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/72 "2010-12-15T18:51:11Z")
My great-Grandma was Rhea, my grandmother’s Roselind Elizabeth, my uncle is Raymond, and I’m Rachel Elizabeth. Pretty clear, there, though I think there was a lot of internal justification, seeing as my mom just plain _liked_ my first name. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/73 "2010-12-15T21:02:25Z")
My parents wanted to avoid overt refrences to family names because my dad’s family is quick to take offence at, well, everything. And the women’s names in his family tend to be hideosities. So my first name is just one my parents liked. My middle name is a diminuative of my mom’s first name, but it’s not one of the obvious ones, and since it’s one syllable, it just sounds like a “middle name” kind of name. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/74 "2010-12-15T21:08:24Z")
I was named after my mama’s favorite childhood doll. I named my daughter after my mama. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/75 "2010-12-15T22:00:20Z")
My great niece just turned one last week, December 8th. She was due on the 7th. Her parents apparently considered naming her Pearl. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/76 "2010-12-15T22:30:27Z")
Like most Ashkenazy Jews I was named for a deceased ancestor, probably a great grandfather. But my parents never mentioned who. One pair of great grandparents were still alive, but the GGF died when I was a year old and my younger brother was named for him and GGM died after he was born and my sister named for her (and for my mother’s deceased brother). Typical in that our English names weren’t very like the ancestor’s names. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/77 "2010-12-15T23:21:14Z")
My middle name is my maternal grandfathers first name. He died about a year before I was born. My first name? No one really. Lots of distant relatives with my first name, but I wasn’t named after any of them specifically. My Last name? It was my Dads. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/78 "2010-12-15T23:45:18Z")
I was named after a boy at my parent’s church. I’m told that he cried when he was told because he thought he was going to have to give up his name. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/79 "2010-12-16T14:36:48Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I usually see it spelled Aniruddha. That one’s a fave amongst Maharashtrians, along with Aniket. Ah, you see, that’s the source of the confusion. Aniruddha is Krishna’s grandson: [Aniruddha - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniruddha). No connection to Anuruddha at all. And also no connection to Anuradha. I used to live next door to an Aniruddha, whose mother called him Ani. As I have always been called Anu, this caused much confusion when our respective mothers yelled at us to get inside because it was late / stop running around like a madman / come and feed the cat. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149/80 "2010-12-16T15:07:06Z")
My middle name is a feminine version of an obscure, male saint’s name. My first name was chosen because my parents liked it and thought it went well with the middle name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-were-you-named-after/564149.md?page=5)