My oldest nephew and his wife are expecting their first baby this summer. They found out they are having a girl Thursday and announced her name at our Easter Sunday dinner today. They are naming her after my dear Mother. I am so very touched and grateful for this tribute to her.

How much do family names mean to you?

Seeing as how my mother's name was Ila Viola and her mother's name was Essie Lou, this would not be high on my list of family tributes. For those of you with less jaw-dropping family names, it could be lovely.

We've used family names for both of our kids. There is the careful dance of making sure all sides of the family are happy, but it seemed the important and right way to go.

It's important to me. Our tradition usually doesn't use the same name, but rather something with the same Hebrew rendering, and/or with the same first initials. So, for instance, my sister Sandra was named after my mother's Aunt Sarah, and both share the same Hebrew name. I was named for my mother's Uncle Jack, and my Hebrew name is the female rendering of Jacob (Yacova).

My first daughter is named for my maternal grandmother and grandfather (first name after grandma, middle name after grandpa). My second is named for my paternal grandmother and grandfather in the same way.

My siblings don't have / aren't having kids, and I knew I'd stop at 2, so I made sure to cover the bases. :-)

My DH got to give them their last name, so the first names were used to memorialize my family.

I have no objection to new names coming into the family but I understand how you feel about the couple using a beloved family name. I'm very happy for you EJ.

When our son was born we gave him two middle names, one was my husbands name and the other,my maiden name. We were thrilled when his wife gave birth to our grandaughter last year and Oliva was given two middle names also. One of those names was my maiden name and the other (Brie), which is her mothers maiden name. We were thrilled at their choise of names.

not much.

Heh heh heh....I can relate. I refuse to name a child Hildeborg or Eurosia. (No, I'm not making them up.)

Many people in my family, living and dead, had/have my name. Frankly, I'm not crazy about it. I would rather have a name that is unique and all my own.

So...I didn't name either of my children after anyone, first or middle names.

In Ashkenazic Jewry, they name after dead relatives. In Sephardic Jewry, they name after living relatives. The Ashkenazim don't name after living relatives because they don't want the angel of death to make a mistake and take the younger person instead of the older person first. Obviously the Sephardic angel of death is less easily confused. ;-)

That said, I am not named after any family member, my mom wanted something "original."

We've named our 6 children with original first names and middle names after others. 1st boy's middle name is my husband's middle name. 1st girl's middle name is my first name. The other children's middle names are after our parents and grandparents.

My nephew, who has two middle names, shares at least one name with his dad, his uncle, both his grandparents, and all his great-grandparents.

It's a little harder for the girls. When I told my grandmother one day how much I liked the name Mathilde (her mother's name), she said, "I loved my mother very much, but if you ever name a child that, I will come back and haunt you." I think she was joking, but I'm not pressing my luck. :)

I like family names. My son was named for my husband's beloved grandfather. For his middle name we selected the last name of my husband's stepfather. His stepfather raised him and was very touched by the gesture.

-Noelle

For me, it's nice to add new unique names to the family but I also would like tradition to still be there. I value names which have meaning and depth into it. So, for me old and new combined is nice and unique.

How creative you all are and what a nice variety of responses; all well expressed and tailored to fit each of you. As for me, I can not explain the unexpected joy I have been given, knowing that my Mother's name will live on in another generation. God willing, she will live up to it and feel the same pride and sense of belonging, of rightness, we all feel today in my family. "Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside."

My little son is the IVth after his dad, grandad, great grandad (obviously). While I think it is cool to be the IVth I would not have used it if the name had been antiquated, like Albert or something. It's still in common usage and I really like it.

In my family we tend to memorialize our relatives through middle names. My brother and nephew both bear my father's first name as their middle names (and my brother's first name is a variation on my maternal grandfather's); my sister's middle name is my maternal grandmother's name, mine is my maternal great-aunt's, and my niece's is that of my eldest paternal aunt, who died very young.

Our paternal grandmother got left out entirely because her name was Leopoldina.:)

None of my siblings were given family names, but most of gave family names to at least some of our kids, for either first or middle names.

My oldest was named after his paternal grandfather and great grandafter. The youngest's first name I simply picked and his middle name is after his dad. I would have named him for my dad, but my sister had already taken that name.

On the maternal side, no one's named anyone after my mom or my aunt, but my cousin was given my maternal grandmother's name for her middle name.

All girls in my grandmother/mother's side of the family have always had 'Anne' or 'Marie' as a middle name. I was happy when my sister and niece continued the tradition.