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in reply to Do you have a middle name?

According to my parents, my middle name was supposed to be my first. They wanted to name me after John Wesley. They were disappointed to discover that there had already been a John Wieland in recent history, so they decided to reverse the two. I appreciate their flexibility, as I see a certain symmetry in the initials 'wjw' which I like (as narcissistic as that may be)

Names are a funny thing. I am to be a grandfather (..man! that sounds wierd!) in April, and my daughter asked me if I would mind if she used my first name as her sons name. I was rather proud. Then my wife, (not the mother of my pregnant daughter) and adopted daughter who are Russian told me that it is not a good thing to do. Apparently, there is a long standing belief in some parts of Russia that two living people in the same family should not have the same name, as one or the other of them won't live long. Conflicting traditions make for interesting quandaries. I figure we are all in the US now, so that set of traditions must apply, and my wife and daughter don't seem too terribly upset about it.

'Grandpa Wes'... too weird!

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Re^2: Do you have a middle name?
by apl (Monsignor) on Dec 07, 2009 at 15:19 UTC
    there is a long standing belief in some parts of Russia that two living people in the same family should not have the same name, as one or the other of them won't live long.
    My people are Russian (though we've been in the U.S. since 1895), and I was told the same story as a child. The reason was that you didn't want the Angel of Death to get confused...

    Even as a kid I thought that was strange. All that power, and the AoD couldn't get the details of his job straight? 8-)

Re^2: Do you have a middle name?
by swampyankee (Parson) on Dec 14, 2009 at 02:51 UTC

    My sister's Jewish husband's family has the same tradition: no child can have the same name as a living relative. Considering that my nephew John (on my wife's side) has exactly two male cousins, both of whom named John, I can see the reasons for the tradition.

    Of course, I share the same middle name as my father and his father, whose middle name was from his grandfather. I got my first name from my great-grandfather.

    My father claimed he and my mother spent a lot of effort on names, so I don't have the first name as any of my 20-odd cousins I have between my father's and mother's sides.


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