Honoring People Through Names

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

Have you ever thought of honoring someone with your child's name?

I have several family members, but besides that, I would love to have a daughter named Renee, after Renee Lemaire, a Belgian nurse during WWII who was killed at the battle of Bastogne. (see icon and http://gallery.wildbillguarnere.com/showphoto.php/photo/489)

Comments

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

I want to use Eleanor as a first name after Eleanor Roosevelt and Eleanor Smeal. I want my daughter to have a name with a strong history like that, and to have a connection to strong women like them.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

I love that. Eleanor Roosevelt was a woman that many Americans looked for support, compassion, and inspiration during some of the hardest times our country has known. She also showed that you do not have to be classically beautiful to be considered courageous and intelligent; basically that you do not have to be beautiful to be a success.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And she's just...amazing! Eleanor Smeal is, too. I met her last year and I was like, "Um. Hi. I love you. You're my hero." I'm probably not going to have kids for a while, so maybe my radical feminist views will change by the time I do (although it's doubtful), but right now I can't imagine two women I'd rather my daughter have a connection to.

It's pretty sad that I get more excited about meeting feminist activists that no one has ever heard of than I do about meeting famous people, hahaha.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

I feel sad I don't know about her. Must go to wiki her now.

Sometimes I feel bad that I want to give my child the name of a person who basically died in a horrible gory war and who, apart from nursing, didn't do much. But then maybe that is the point: she gave her life, and her ability to have a full one, in service of others. And that is definitely something I want to pass on to my children; that selflessness.

It's just a shame that Renee sounds so much better in french than in english!

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

She's a former president of NOW and the current president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and when I heard her speak, I think I basically died a little from happiness, haha. She's crazy intelligent and she's so passionate and just...sigh. I want her to be my grandmother.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

PS: I'm actually related to FDR (and Eleanor, because she was his cousin) and I've definitely toyed with the idea of giving my kid the mn of Delano.

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

You do realize that I'm going to be jealous of you forever, now, and we've never even met, right?

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

Haha, its a TOTALLY distant relation. We both descend from the same Mayflower passenger (Francis Cooke) and then my great-great-great grandmother was a fourth cousin of Teddy Roosevelt, who was Eleanor's uncle.

So it's not like I'm invited to the family reunions. :)

[tryyingtoevolve.livejournal.com]

Well, that's good, because I'd totally be jealous if you did! lol

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

There was an Italian painter, Artemisia Gentileschi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi) and ever since I first learnt about her, I've quite loved the name Artemisi. Artemisia Gentileschi was, as far as I know, an amazing woman who really did things that weren't permitted or expected of women of her era. And I love her artwork.

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

ArtemisiA, not Artemisi.

Damn sleep-deprivation.

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

Well, this is a family member but one of the reasons I love Hannah is because My husband's mother had a sister named Chana who died of starvation as a little girl a during WWII.

[waitingonsunday.livejournal.com]

There are lots of names I love probably mostly due to other people who have had that name--Jane for Jane Austen, Charlotte for the Bronte sister, Charles as in Dickens--but if I decided to use those names, I guess I never really considered it as naming the child to honor them. I suppose if you knew me really well, you'd probably assume that's why I was naming them that, so same difference, but in my mind, the name just has positive connotations because of my associations with them.

[schuklins.livejournal.com]

This past summer both of my grandmothers passed away, as did my husband's last grandfather. If we have a baby sometime next year, we're planning on naming it after them - more in remembrance than in honor, though. But we've thought of some names that are similar to our grandparents' names or combine their names in some way, so that our child still has his/her own identity.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

Both of my grandmothers were the best people in the world, but their names were Lois and Doris. UGH. Each made me promise not to name my child after them.

[schuklins.livejournal.com]

My grandmothers' names were Mildred and Jean (also a bit UGH), which is why we're planning on combining their names (so, if we have a girl, we're thinking of naming her Milena (Mildred + Jean)).

Lois and Doris are already so similar, though. I'm not sure if you could make a new name by combining them!

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'd use Kathleen as a middle name after my mom (her name is Katherine).

I would also name a daughter after Audrey Hepburn, because I think she's a strong female role model.

As for boys, I'm not sure.

[ouronlylight.livejournal.com]

Somewhat. My mother's name is a variant of Katherine, and my aunt's first name (she goes by her middle name) is Anita, so I've entertained the idea of naming my future daughter Anna Kate for both of them. Both of my grandmothers' middle names are Jane, so I'd use Jane as a middle name to honor them, too. I like all of those names independently, though.

I also completely adore Madonna, and I think that the name is very pretty as well, but the name is so associated with her and so many people disagree with my opinions about her that I'd probably never give a child that name. I'd consider using Maria instead, though.