{"id":13682,"date":"2018-08-21T07:56:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T11:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=13682"},"modified":"2018-08-21T07:56:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T11:56:43","slug":"baby-naming-issue-is-it-weird-to-name-a-child-after-his-father-but-use-a-different-middle-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2018\/08\/21\/baby-naming-issue-is-it-weird-to-name-a-child-after-his-father-but-use-a-different-middle-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Naming Issue: Is it Weird To Name a Child After His Father But Use a Different Middle Name?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

We are expecting our first son in November, and wanted to give him a “classic” name. Last name starts with S and rhymes with “skippy.”<\/p>\n

My husband’s name is James Robert S___ and goes by Jim. We both really like the name James for this baby (I’d love to call the little one Jamie but am open to all possible James\/Jim-based nicknames as he grows).<\/p>\n

The issue is, I just never wanted to name my son Husbands Whole Name II – honestly it seems like a mess paperwork-wise, and for what? Is it weird if I give him a different middle name? I would love to honor a beloved family member who doesn’t have a first-name-worthy name with the middle, calling the baby James Lloyd S____. I feel like this would be a good compromise, my son has a little bit of his own identity while honoring family traditions, and wouldn’t have to deal with suffixes on everything that asks for his name. I’m fine if he ends up called Jimmy Junior (which my in laws are currently doing), as long as I don’t have to make sure the “the II” or “Jr.” box is checked on all his paperwork, and that he and his dad don’t get each other’s mail for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

But there’s a nagging voice in my mind saying maybe it’s weird to not go all the way with naming for his dad, should I suck it up and just go with James Robert S__ II? (FWIW, my husband doesn’t seem to care either way).<\/p>\n

The other name that my husband and I both love is Benjamin (middle name probably still Lloyd), but (a) that’s his sister’s husband’s name so we’d feel obligated to clear it with them and (b) if we name any kid James, I’d want it to be this first one.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your insight!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not at all weird to give him a different middle name, and in fact that’s the common solution to the suffix\/mail issues you mention. I think it’s a great idea, considering your own preferences and your husband’s lack of preference.<\/p>\n

If you do decide to duplicate your husband’s entire name, the traditional suffix would be Jr. rather than II: II is traditionally used when the original name is not the name of the child’s parent. That is, if you were naming this baby after his grandfather or uncle (using the grandfather’s\/uncle’s exact full name), the child would be II and not Jr. But since in this case the full name would be the child’s parent’s name, the child would traditionally be a Jr. It is not that you cannot use II if you want to: there are no suffix police, and the government doesn’t care<\/a>; I mention this only for general interest.<\/p>\n

But if I were you, I’d skip that whole thing and give him a different middle name as you’d prefer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle, We are expecting our first son in November, and wanted to give him a “classic” name. Last name starts with S and rhymes with “skippy.” My husband’s name is James Robert S___ and goes by Jim. We both really like the name James for this baby (I’d love to call the little one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3yG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13684,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13682\/revisions\/13684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}