Keeping the Family Name alive

Senna · 29-01-2014 10:27PM #1

Unusual situation in my family at the moment that I hadn't even realised until my wife mentioned it. My family name might end with the current generation, all my male family only have baby girls (myself included) and my only male cousin with my family name has girls also. So there is a strong possibility that our family name wont be continued.
Its nothing major and when the wife said it I dismissed it as unimportant, but the more I think about it, maybe I should be sad about my Fathers, Grandfathers, Great Grandfathers etc name (and maybe the connection to them) will no longer be.

How would you feel? Is your family name important to you?

hatrickpatrick · 29-01-2014 10:28PM

My family name is one of the most common in Ireland, so in the event that I have no male offspring I'm pretty sure I can count on others to carry the torch

Darkglasses · 29-01-2014 10:29PM

I wouldn't worry, my family name is common enough.

Menas · 29-01-2014 10:29PM

I have an unusual surname but have a son. So the name lives on.
My dad was the eldest son of an eldest son of an eldest son of an eldest son. But that chain broke.
All good things come to an end.

returnNull · 29-01-2014 10:30PM

Senna wrote: »

Unusual situation in my family at the moment that I hadn't even realised until my wife mentioned it. My family name might end with the current generation, all my male family only have baby girls (myself included) and my only male cousin with my family name has girls also. So there is a strong possibility that our family name wont be continued.
Its nothing major and when the wife said it I dismissed it as unimportant, but the more I think about it, maybe I should be sad about my Fathers, Grandfathers, Great Grandfathers etc name (and maybe the connection to them) will no longer be.

How would you feel? Is your family name important to you?

I hope you dont have a sissy mickey :pac:

29-01-2014 10:30PM

If I had a common name I don't think I'd care but it's a very rare one I have and would like to continue it. There are others abroad though.

gizmo555 · 29-01-2014 10:32PM

What's to stop your daughter(s) keeping your name, or both yours & your wife's?

Senna · 29-01-2014 10:32PM

There are other families with my name (wouldn't be a common name but wouldn't be too popular), none that I would know and I think there are some that would be distance relatives, but I suppose that's just not the same as they have no connection to my family.

Menas · 29-01-2014 10:33PM

Your name is popular in Brazil OP.

sawdoubters · 29-01-2014 10:33PM

about 1000 years ago no one had family names

lot of people would be then called by what trade they did,

as we are all part of Europe now we should all have one family name,it should be german of course

My name is URL · 29-01-2014 10:34PM

I couldn't care less. Names aren't what makes a person

herisson · 29-01-2014 10:34PM

My Grad dad had 3 boys, one had no children, my dad had 2 girls and my uncle had 3 girls and a boy. The boy had 3 girls. There is no one to continue our last name in our family but I have a fairly common last name so its all good.

Sulla Felix · 29-01-2014 10:34PM

Names not important, pity the y-chromosome dies out though.

darkpagandeath · 29-01-2014 10:35PM

Could always back it up to the Cloud ?

Son Of A Vidic · 29-01-2014 10:38PM

Senna wrote: »

How would you feel? Is your family name important to you?

I couldn't careless, which might originate in my total lack of interest in kids or in ever being a parent. Anyway, my brother has three lads so that's everything sorted.

gizmo555 · 29-01-2014 10:43PM

sawdoubters wrote: »

about 1000 years ago no one had family names

lot of people would be then called by what trade they did,

as we are all part of Europe now we should all have one family name,it should be german of course

Sometime in the Middle Ages in what is now Germany, it was decreed that anyone who didn't have a surname would have to be allotted one. Those who had to get a new name were given it by a local official. Depending on how big a bribe you could afford, you might get a nice name or a nasty one. That's, I suppose, where names like Nussbaum (nut tree) or Mandelbrot (almond bread) came from.

My brother met a guy in Austria whose surname is Schweisseimer - literally, "sweat bucket". The brother commented that it was a somewhat awkward handle to be carrying. "Could've been worse" was the reply, "they could've left out the 'w' . . ."

gizmo555 · 29-01-2014 10:44PM

My name is URL wrote: »

I couldn't care less. Names aren't what makes a person

Yes they are

http://www.kabalarians.com/

Legs.Eleven · 29-01-2014 10:50PM

My name is so common that it would actually do us good if we did our bit to kill it off.

stefan idiot jones · 29-01-2014 10:55PM

Wales, Australia and Patagonia are overflowing with mine.

mikom · 29-01-2014 10:57PM

gizmo555 wrote: »

What's to stop your daughter(s) keeping your name, or both yours & your wife's?

Yeah, she could double barrel it like Fidelma Healy Eames.........

Drakares · 29-01-2014 10:57PM

Is that you, Tywin Lannister?

returnNull · 29-01-2014 10:58PM

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Wales, Australia and Patagonia are overflowing with mine.

idiots or jones? :pac:

Mariasofia · 29-01-2014 10:59PM

Sofia.....hmmm that one may die out. Better get working on that ;-).

Banjo String · 29-01-2014 11:02PM

My surname is not that common in the South, but common enough in and around the mid ulster area (south West Antrim, South Derry, and Tyrone areas) and though currently I've two daughters, my father is one of thirteen in his family, (8 lads, 5 girls) and with all the lads having son's, I think the names safe for another few generations

animum · 29-01-2014 11:05PM

My name is extremely rare, and I have only one brother, who has had two daughters..we are the only family in Ireland.

I gave my son a doublebarreled name, so we have started our own clan.

efb · 29-01-2014 11:07PM

My brothers have sons, and I'm an iron (I learned that one this eve) so I'm grand.

cena · 29-01-2014 11:10PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

My family name is one of the most common in Ireland, so in the event that I have no male offspring I'm pretty sure I can count on others to carry the torch

May I ask what is the common name

Artful_Badger · 29-01-2014 11:24PM

Wouldnt bother me. I'd imagine too OP when all those girls are grown up some of them probably wont change their names.

Senna · 29-01-2014 11:27PM

gizmo555 wrote: »

What's to stop your daughter(s) keeping your name, or both yours & your wife's?

Nothing and nothing to stop another baby boy coming along in someone's family, but its just a possibility at the moment.

Capt'n Midnight · 29-01-2014 11:41PM

In some cultures the children take the name of the mother, because you can be sure of things

josip · 29-01-2014 11:50PM

My Grandfather's son was named after him, as was his grandson, as was his great-grandson.
From family tree research, I've found that my grandfather's father had the same name, as did his grandfather, as did his great-grandfather.
Not a lot of imagination in our family and tremendous subtle pressure from the elders not to break the chain on the birth of the first son

Keeping the Family Name alive

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