Member Questions

My husband is a 'junior' and we had this discussion before we even got married. He very much wanted to continue on with a 'third' if we ever had a son. I absolutely refused. It's difficult enough with two 'Rons' in the family, and I feel that the poor kid would never have an identity of his own. Although with 3 girls it hasn't (yet?) been an immediate issue, my husband has given in and none of the girls would have been a 'third' if they'd been a boy. I know that deep down he's disappointed - both that we haven't had a boy (although he would never admit that - he adores his girls) and that even if we did, he wouldn't be honoring his father by passing his father's name on. My feeling is - his father would be honored for about 5 minutes. The baby would be stuck with 'someone else's' name for his whole lifetime...

Thank you all for your responses. I had been feeling so alone is this. I've been trying for a while to figure out why something so seemingly simple had been such an issue of tension. KC, I respect your desire to honor your husbands positive qualities. The compromise I had proposed to my husband was that our son have his first name, but the middle name of my grandfather. I just want to be a part of the naming process and think it would be wonderful for both families to be honored. Plus, my grandfather and husband are two very important people in my life (although my grandfather passed away just last year). Still, my husband is completely resistant to even this idea. His just keeps saying..."I want a Junior. You can name the next one". I really wish he would compromise...by the way, the name choices are...Solomon David Jr. (translates into Peaceful Friend) or the compromise...Solomon Nathaniel (Peaceful Gift of God). The second just has so much more meaning for me, it makes me feel as though I'm also contributing a part of who i am and where I come from. I'll keep you posted on how this gets resolved...Wish us luck. And thanks again.

Funny. My husband feels the same as you Mrs.Dr.Mom, and especially KC's husband. In fact, he feels so strongly about it that he's reiterated his feelings about it to me when the occasional scenario prompts such a conversation...even though we only had to go through the name game once (for our one child), and that was 8+ years ago! And nope, he's not a Junior himself who wishes he weren't, nor has a sibling who's a Junior. KC: Did you opt for having your son take his father's first name as his middle name, or would that not have gone well with his actual first name? - Paula.