# Who Were You Named After? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 2, 2002, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076 "2002-08-02T20:21:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VDarlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e56c9b/32.png) [@VDarlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VDarlin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/42 "2002-08-03T10:04:11Z")
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my brother, Stephen, had been named after my dad’s grandpa, so it was already a family name. My other brother, Brian’s middle name is my mom’s dad’s name. My youngest brother, and I seemed to have escaped the “name kids after family members” trend. ~V ---
**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:** [August 3, 2002, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/43 "2002-08-03T11:54:36Z")
I was named after my mother’s first and most beloved dolly Cynthia. I named my daughter Laura after my mom, but my daughter dropped the “u”. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/44 "2002-08-03T12:03:50Z")
My Dad. Technically a Jr. though nobody calls me that. Interestingly, we both went by our middle names (nobody called us by our first names). ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/45 "2002-08-03T13:21:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tsarina \* > \*\* > > If she wanted me to have my own name, why didn’t she make one up? :rolleyes: \*\* My family made one up for me. I was named after my dad, mom, and auntie, all at the same time. I don’t have a second first name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/46 "2002-08-03T13:50:24Z")
I was named Juliana, after my great-grandmother’s best friend in Norway. (She came here when she was a child, and stayed in touch with her friend until she died.) I’m told that when I was an infant, she would sit and rock me for hours, repeating over and over, “Ah, Juliana,” and occasionally going off into long Norwegian commentary. In English, for the official documents, this got morphed into Julia Ann. But I spell my name Juli (I just tell people it’s Norwegian, and around here that explains the spelling) and usually refer to myself as Juliana in formal settings. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/47 "2002-08-03T16:30:56Z")
My first name is my Mom’s first name. My middle name is my paternal grandmother’s middle name. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/48 "2002-08-03T17:14:11Z")
My middle name at least is for a long gone branch of our family that died out apparantly. Clinton if you’re wondering. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/49 "2002-08-03T19:42:10Z")
named after one of my dad’s sisters. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/50 "2002-08-04T07:40:13Z")
I was named after **The Who** ’s album _Tommy._ We were both released into the world in 1969. My parents took me to see the movie when it came out… NEVER TAKE A FIVE-YEAR-OLD TO SEE A KEN RUSSELL FILM!!! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/51 "2002-08-04T11:48:52Z")
I was named after a girl on a soap advertisement. My grandma liked it, cut out the picture, and sent it to my mom. Grannie was bound and determined I was to be a girl, since she already had nine grandsons, and insisted on the name. .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/52 "2002-08-04T11:52:52Z")
My middle name is my mom’s maiden name (Rowland), and my first name is the first Patrick in my family as far as my research goes through our genealogy. Though I must point out I have an indirect ancestor named Ms. Indiana Jenkins. I don’t know how she got her name, but its rather humorous imho. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/53 "2002-08-04T13:21:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Punkyova \* > \*\*I was named Juliana, after my great-grandmother’s best friend in Norway. (She came here when she was a child, and stayed in touch with her friend until she died.) I’m told that when I was an infant, she would sit and rock me for hours, repeating over and over, “Ah, Juliana,” and occasionally going off into long Norwegian commentary. In English, for the official documents, this got morphed into Julia Ann. But I spell my name Juli (I just tell people it’s Norwegian, and around here that explains the spelling) and usually refer to myself as Juliana in formal settings. \*\* Now THAT’S weird. My mother saw a Bette Davis/Henry Fonda movie called _Jezebel_ in which Bette played a vixen named Julie. My mother didn’t necessarily like the name Julie, but she very much swooned over the way Henry said the name \. However, as my mother is very Italian, she ethnicized the name, and I was christened Giuliana Ruth. I was always called Juli, though several classmates of mine thought it would be humourous to call me “Goolie” - thus when I turned 18, I legally changed my name to Juli Ann. It never occured to me to put an E on the end of Juli. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/54 "2002-08-04T16:33:49Z")
I’m named after the title character in the John Denver song “Darcy Farrow”. But it’s spelled in what my parents considered a “more feminine” way. My two sisters are also named after songs: “I Still See Elisa” from _Paint Your Wagon_ and that obnoxious “Hey, Carrie Ann, what’s your game now, can anybody play” song. ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076/55 "2002-08-04T18:47:27Z")
Douglas Fairbanks. At least that’s been the family story, since my name is Douglas and I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-were-you-named-after/122076.md?page=2)