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babynamesIs 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.
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.
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Date: 2006-09-20 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 06:16 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 06:35 pm (UTC)I am not really worrying over this yet, since i haven't had a first daughter, but if we have a second daughter, she will be Paige (after my middle name). I like Paige Elisabeth, but what if I have a third daughter??? I'd want to use Elisabeth! so, hopefully this one is a boy, and we never make it far enough to three girls. In fact, I shudder at the thought of three girls, eeee!!
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Date: 2006-09-20 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 06:52 pm (UTC)It kind of almost goes with everything.
Its not going to go away as being the filler, but I can see where you're coming from.
I feel that way about the name 'Michael'.
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Date: 2006-09-20 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 08:08 pm (UTC)Mary Elizabeth is my grandmother. My mother's middle name is Marie. My aunt, whom I am very close to, has the middle name Elizabeth. My other grandmother's middle name was Anne, as are two of my aunts and my sister in law. All of these seem fillerish at first glance, but all have very significant meaning to me and I could completely care less if they seem like filler.
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Date: 2006-09-20 08:51 pm (UTC)My mn is Marie, and I want to share it with my daughter, but it will just sound like a filler. :(
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Date: 2006-09-20 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 11:59 pm (UTC)My middle name is a family filler- Mary-Kate. I hate it, wont be passing it down, but if it was Grace or Rose i would be annoyed because i like them enough to use if they were family...
(wont though, as they are fillers & i'd just be another filler upper parents using them cos they were pretty!)
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Date: 2006-09-21 12:20 am (UTC)I think it's just that there are many names that just happen to be universal middle names because they sound good with almost anything, whereas most other names don't go too well as middle names with many things. When people are picking a name based on its sound and flow, the middle name is likely to be Rose, Jane, Anne, Marie, Lynn(the one I really dislike), Michelle, Leigh, etc.
It doesn't bother me really (except for Lynn because I hate that as a middle name) but I can see why it would be annoying for you, who actually has a good reason to use the name but everyone else would think you're just following the crowd and using the generic filler. I feel that way a bit towards the name Lily, it's my grandmothers name and I wanted to use it years ago but suddenly it's popular. But everyone has as much right to use it as I do all the other names I like for no personal reason.
Fascinating story about how she picked her own name btw.
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Date: 2006-09-21 12:27 am (UTC)Surely in some of these cases, it was given to their mum AS a filler?!
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Date: 2006-09-21 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 04:40 am (UTC)Marie-Charlotte
Marie-Claire
Marie-Claude
Marie-Jeanne
Marie-Paul
Are all some well-known French names. You could hyphen Marie with anything.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 07:22 pm (UTC)