The Crib: A Blog for New Parents

Posted by pecuellar on 07/11/08 - 03:53 AM

Many families have a tradition when it comes to naming their children. Much of the time these are norms that are passed down from generation to generation along ethnic or religious lines and other times they are just quirky traits, like naming all the children so that they will have the same initials, which are limited to individual families. Regardless of the origin of the tradition you can be face with a lot of pressure to conform whether you want to or not.

For many families it is common and sometimes expected that the first son will be named after his father and become a junior. Sometimes in an effort to both appease and resist this tradition the parents get a little creative. In one family instead of naming their son Jack Junior they named him Jackie. Another family switched the order of the names. In lieu of naming their son James William Junior they named him William James. In a few cases children are given names which the parents never intend to use. I know a James Allan that has been called Dusty since birth.

If you hate the idea of being told what to name your child or worse the expected name is not to your taste, it is possible to still honor the tradition without disregarding it completely. A little creativity can go a long way.