Fillers.

[bree019.livejournal.com]

Is anyone else annoyed when a personal name is used as middle name filler again and again? For example...

My grandmother (whom I adore) is named Marie. She named herself, actually. She was 7 or 8 and was called "Baby" until that point because, well, she was the baby. Her mother finally decided to give her a proper name, but my grandmother hated her mother's choice. Her mother said, "Fine, choose your own name."

..and she chose Marie. She's in her 90s, so this was quite a while ago.

I've seen *so* many people pair Marie with a cutesy first name because it fits well, and it never fails to irk me. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect to be the only one on the planet to use it (especially since it was popular when my grandmother chose it) but, I don't know...it means something to me. And I hate that because I'll choose to give my future daughter the middle name Marie, it'll seem like it's just a filler. Like Elizabeth. Or Michelle. Or Renee.

Anyone else feel this way? No flames, please...I'm absolutely aware that I'm being irrational.

Comments

[ginky.livejournal.com]

It doesn't irk me, but I get your point.

My mother and her mother both have the middle name Lee. When my grandmother chose to stop her family's naming tradition when my mother was born, she passed on her middle name to mom. When I was born, my mother gave me my other grandmother's first name and her and her mother's middle name. Lee is very special to me and I passed it down to my daughter. It has meaning but I think sometimes people think I was being cutsie, because it rhymes with her nickname, Evie.

So when we talk about Evie being a baby, I remind her that I chose her name especially for her. She's named after me, my mother, my mother in law, and both of my grandmothers and I want her to be proud that they shared with her.