{"id":14733,"date":"2020-05-12T16:17:11","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T20:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=14733"},"modified":"2021-01-22T17:16:19","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T21:16:19","slug":"baby-naming-issue-is-it-weird-if-the-two-middle-names-are-coincidentally-the-same-as-someone-elses-first-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2020\/05\/12\/baby-naming-issue-is-it-weird-if-the-two-middle-names-are-coincidentally-the-same-as-someone-elses-first-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Naming Issue: Is it Weird if the Two Middle Names Are Coincidentally the Same as Someone Else’s First\/Last?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi! I’m pregnant and due with our first – a girl- in July. My husband and I both kept our given last names and we plan to use my last name as a middle name, for our daughter and any other future children.<\/p>\n

We also have a first name- Daphne- that has risen to the top of the list. It’s a name we both really like and like the low level of popularity. So.. I think what we’ve settled on so far is … (last names listed are not the same, but very similar to ours)
\nDaphne ?? Basker Johnston<\/p>\n

here’s our conundrum! I would love to have a first middle name that is my moms name (Joan), I have always loved her name and it reminds me of strong women – (my mom, Joan of arc, Joan from madmen…) and I think it goes well with Daphne. Early on we vetoed any first names that start with J, since my name starts with a G and my husbands starts with a J and the last name is (similar to) Johnston, it was too much, but perfectly fine as a middle :). My husband thinks it would be weird to have our kids middle two names be my moms actual name (Joan Basker), but I think of it as my mom’s name, then my last name. So it doesn’t seem strange to me. Thoughts?<\/p>\n

-Ginni<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can answer this one from personal experience, because we had a similar situation with my firstborn’s name. I wanted to use my grandfather’s first name as a middle name and my maiden name as a second middle name—but those two names are from the same branch of the family, so my son’s name ended up with my grandfather’s first\/last as his two middle names. Several notes:<\/p>\n

1. My grandfather seemed even more pleased with the honor name, because of this.<\/p>\n

2. Everyone else didn’t notice and\/or didn’t care. Most of the people I know don’t know my grandfather’s name, so it wouldn’t catch their attention; since it’s one generation nearer, more of your acquaintances may know your mom’s name.<\/p>\n

3. Over the years, it has not seemed weird, though sometimes it strikes me as being a little interesting\/cool\/fun. Sometimes when I was filling out a form and putting both of Rob’s middle names on the same line, I would notice it, but just be freshly pleased by that fun coincidence. And thinking about it today as I write, I think the two names mostly just look like Rob’s Two Middle Names to me now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I asked Rob if it seemed weird to him, and he said he’d never realized the two names together formed my grandpa’s name. But that’s a generation farther out than in your case, so we considered what it would be like if he had HIS grandpa’s first\/last as his middles, instead, and he said he didn’t think that would have been weird, either.<\/p>\n

And most people’s middle names only come into view on the birth announcements, at graduations, and on forms, so it isn’t as if they’ll be widely known—and even when they ARE known, it won’t generally be by people who know your mom’s name. And if they DO know your mom’s name, it’s hard to imagine them caring much about the situation.<\/p>\n

Plus, and I think most importantly of all: in your situation, unlike in mine, the child’s second middle name will be your current, active surname! So it should click into everyone’s mind immediately as being YOUR surname rather than your mom’s.<\/p>\n

In short, it’s not weird, it’s fine! And I love the effect of your mom’s name on the rhythm of the whole name: Daphne Joan Basker Johnston is even better than Daphne Basker Johnston. And I love that you could call her Daphne Joan or Daphne Jo!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name update:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks for the help! We have an update. <\/p>\n

Our daughter Daphne Joan Basker Johnston was born in August. After so many of you pointed out that this happens with boys all the time, I realized it’s actually the case of my husband’s name – haha. His middle is his father’s first name, so his middle\/last combo is his dad’s first\/last. My mom is so touched that we gave her the middle name Joan and we’ve been calling her Daphne, Daphne Joan and DJ quite regularly. Thanks for everyone’s help!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi! I’m pregnant and due with our first – a girl- in July. My husband and I both kept our given last names and we plan to use my last name as a middle name, for our daughter and any other future children. We also have a first name- Daphne- that has risen to the […]<\/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":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-3PD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14733","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=14733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15185,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14733\/revisions\/15185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}