Many people turn to their family’s past when they are looking for a name for their baby. Including family names in the names of your children is a wonderful way to honor members of your family both past and present. That said, using family names can be a bit of a tricky situation to navigate.
For example, some people are easily offended. If you choose a name from one side of the family and not the other, someone’s feathers may be ruffled. As hard as it may be to deal with the ruffled feathers, the decision about your baby’s name belongs to you. If you like names from both sides of the family, consider giving a first name from one family and a middle name from the other. Of course, if you think anything like I do, you may be thinking that the baby’s last name already comes from one family so that counts for something – and you’re right. Just keep in mind that no matter how diplomatic you are, if someone wants to find fault with your choice then they will do that no matter what. It can help to remember that any resentment over baby naming usually disappears once the little one makes his or her debut.
Naming a little one can be even trickier in families where there is a long standing tradition of naming a son after his father. Perhaps your husband or father loved being a Junior and you like the idea of carrying on the tradition with your son. That makes things easy. He may not have enjoyed being a Junior, or a Third. You may not want your son to be a Junior either. If you are united in your decision to break from tradition, you may want to have him present that information to his family. Just as with any other baby naming decision that draws criticism initially, once that angelic face makes its appearance such disagreements are often forgotten.