Meredith Hammer Pregnant and Had Her Fifth

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

I am forever grateful my parents did not dig back into their families to name any of us.  Some of the names they chose not to use:  Agatha, Albert, Ethel, Edith, Ida, Gertrude, Doris, Jeremiah, Herbert, Edna, Eula, Arthur, Leslie (boy).

My mother did have a cousin Esme though, looooong before the Twilight books. 

 

[L1o2u3]

I have never met anyone with my first or my second first name in my whole life :/ I know some people exist though with one of these names  

If I had turned out a boy, my mom would have named me Per-Lennard and called me Pelle. However, "Pelle" is also the German word for the skin of a sausage... thank God I'm a girl  

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

If I had been a boy, my mom planned to name me Heath after Heath Barkley. Super thankful for MY name. 

[Hane]

When my middle sister started kindergarten, she was one of three Margarets. (Major Catholic influence hereabouts!) Their teacher asked, “Who wants to be Maggie, who wants to be Margie, and who wants to be Peggy?” My sister chose Maggie, after our grandmother. She’s Maggie to this day, and Peggy is still Peggy—don’t know about Margie.

[dramallama]

On 3/13/2018 at 4:52 PM, dramallama said:

And people will never not think they're cute and clever when they hear my name and start singing Sweet Caroline.  I hate that song. 

To illustrate - today, at work, for work purposes, I had to call another business, and when I introduced myself to the man who answered the phone, I was greeted with, "Are you sweet, Caroline?"  

Ugh.  

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

22 minutes ago, dramallama said:

To illustrate - today, at work, for work purposes, I had to call another business, and when I introduced myself to the man who answered the phone, I was greeted with, "Are you sweet, Caroline?"  

Ugh.  

 

That would get old really quickly. Have you ever come by a nickname? Like Carol or Carrie? 

[dramallama]

26 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

That would get old really quickly. Have you ever come by a nickname? Like Carol or Carrie? 

No, only because I don't really like any of the common nicknames for Caroline.  My mom and sister are allowed to call me Carrie, a few friends call me Caro, but generally (despite the nonstop song references - another popular one is shouting "CAROLIIIINE!" from the Outkast song "Roses") I prefer to go by the full name rather than Carol or Carrie.

[ladyamylynn]

I thought Amy was horribly boring when I was younger but I've grown to appreciate the simplicity and I'm fairly certain it fits my personality.  

[feministxtian]

5 hours ago, dramallama said:

To illustrate - today, at work, for work purposes, I had to call another business, and when I introduced myself to the man who answered the phone, I was greeted with, "Are you sweet, Caroline?"  

I would have said "FUCK NO" and hung up. Someday I'm going to get to slap the shit out of Neil Diamond. 

My kids have pretty un-trendy names. My daughter is named for Spock's mother, my sons have straightforward Old Testament names, although #2 is a junior. 

My mother called me "Cookie"...you have NO idea what it's like when your friends find out what your nickname at home is...yeah, I pretty much wanted to leave the planet. Thing is, the bitch did it on purpose because she knew I'd get teased and then she could tell me I didn't have a sense of humor. 

It sucks going through life with a shitty name and being a fairly unattractive human being...it's like you're fucked before you even get out of the gate. 

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

45 minutes ago, feministxtian said:

I would have said "FUCK NO" and hung up. Someday I'm going to get to slap the shit out of Neil Diamond. 

My kids have pretty un-trendy names. My daughter is named for Spock's mother, my sons have straightforward Old Testament names, although #2 is a junior. 

My mother called me "Cookie"...you have NO idea what it's like when your friends find out what your nickname at home is...yeah, I pretty much wanted to leave the planet. Thing is, the bitch did it on purpose because she knew I'd get teased and then she could tell me I didn't have a sense of humor. 

It sucks going through life with a shitty name and being a fairly unattractive human being...it's like you're fucked before you even get out of the gate. 

My mom calls me Cookie!!! I’ve never heard anyone else!

[MamaJunebug]

22 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

You werenʻt rude & no offense was taken! 

Except in my grandmotherʻs day up through maybe the 1920s, Helen has NEVER been a popular or common name. 

My grandmother graduated from a midwestern college in 1918 so, like her, most people in her class would have been born in the 1890s. Judging from her senior class yearbook, there were also duplicate (and triplicate or more) names in her day, such as the womenʻs names of Gladys, Ina, Mabel (and Mabelle), Jessie & Hazel. Claire & Meredith were menʻs names.

Aw, thank you!! You & I have been on this board for a long time and I’m glad all is well. 

My ex’s surname begins with a vowel sound. This cramped my Junior JB naming excessively. I shouldn’t complain, but why not?  It was important to me they have two distinct names, unlike one of their cousins, who was “Laurallen” (Laura Allen) until she married Mr. Jones. 

As none of my daughters gave up their family name on marriage, I was glad they didn’t wind up sounding like one-named people their entire lives. It’s just a thing of mine, they and cousin Laurallen think I’m daft.  We won’t get into what Laurallen’s mom and I think of each other, hahaHA! 

But she’s not a fundy so I’d better stop now before I make a complete liar out of myself. 

[Baca]

As an Af-Am, I hated my name with a passion, "Rebecca". At home my nickname was "Becca", but never Becky & never in public. The kids would make fun of me in elementary school. When I asked my parents who named me, they each blamed each other. I just found out it was #41in my birth year. I was the only one in my school with that name,until the 8th grade. Then came a transfer student (black), with the same name as mine. I felt validated. I introduced myself & it seemed like she could car less. In my eyes she was gorgeous & apparently the boys did too. I was still wearing pigtails, she had a big afro & not a strand out of place. While I was still in training bras, it looked like she had to be at least a "D" cup. The only thing that maybe in my favor was that she was not very smart. I on the other hand was on the honor roll My sister name was Tracey Lee & I dreamed of my name being Stacey Lee. I hated having the same middle name, Lee as my sister. But I was the baby girl out of 8 kids. Now I have since given my mother a pass she was probably exhausted. Now I love my name, Rebecca. And when asked I say I prefer to be called Becky.  

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

My year at school (born 1983) had 4-6 Sarah, Rebecca, Kate & Emily’s

boys : Daniel, Michael, James and Joshua

i think Michael was the most common boys name until about 1985 now it’s rare. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

@Baca you sound like my cousin Rebecca. Becca was ok but you were asking for trouble if you called her Becky. She still to this Day would probably flip if you called her Becky.

[zeebaneighba]

I not only got stuck with the dullest name in the world (Jane), I ended up with a BOYS middle name.  My older brother got my Dad's name as a middle name and after 5 girls, they didn't expect any more boys (my younger brother was born 8 years after me), so I got stuck with a family name, formerly a surname, that is distinctly male.   It didn't matter that both my aunt and grandmother had that name for a middle name; I hated it.

As if being called "Plain Jane" all my life wasn't enough, SNL started with their Point/Counterpoint when I was in HS and all the boys thought it was hysterical to shout "Jane, you ignorant slut!" at me.

I had my name legally changed to hyphenate my (female) confirmation name as soon as I turned 18.

[Black Aliss]

21 hours ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

My mom calls me Cookie!!! I’ve never heard anyone else!

I knew a Cookie about 50 years ago. She was zaftig, uninhibited,  and sexy AF. I always associate that name with those characteristics.

[singsingsing]

I guess I’m lucky, I’ve always liked my name. It’s somewhat dated to the 80s, I think, but it was around long before that and it’s still fairly popular today. It does get misspelled a lot because my mum gave me the traditional spelling and a different spelling has been more common for the past few decades, but I don’t mind. I like my spelling better, haha. And my middle name is my grandma’s name - I’m not overly fond of the name itself but I’ve always been super close to my grandma and I love having her name, couldn’t imagine anything else.

[adidas]

I love the name Caroline. It’s not very popular in Australia - I see it as a classic name like Elizabeth and Anne. 

I bet you couldn’t guess, but the name adidas isn’t on my birth certificate. My real name is often mispronounced, rarely spelled correctly ... and strangely enough, I really like it. It’s never been super popular but everyone I’ve met in The US, Europe and Australia has heard of it.

 

[pamplemousse]

21 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

@Baca you sound like my cousin Rebecca. Becca was ok but you were asking for trouble if you called her Becky. She still to this Day would probably flip if you called her Becky.

Oh my gosh, are you my cousin? You just described me. Call me Rebecca (hated to be called that as a kid cuz usually it meant I was in trouble! haha) or Becca (wasn't really called it until I was 30ish, but I'm totes cool with it). Never Becky! It took me many years to break my family of that habit. There is one person I allow to call me that, but she lives in Wales and occasionally periscopes her cat's antics...so I let her slide.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I really like Caroline and all of their other name choices. But I admit I tend to like names that white upper middle class people tend to like. And their children's names are very popular amongst the white upper middle class in the US. For some reason I imagine her husband to worry a lot about appearances and would only be ok with names popular amongst the white upper middle class. I would die from shock if he allowed a ridiculous fundie name like Heistheway.

[singsingsing]

I love the name Caroline too. I know a woman named Caroline and she does constantly get 'Carolyn'. Which sucks. Not that there's anything wrong with the name Carolyn, I just think that Caroline is such a lovely name, it's a shame to have people always mispronouncing it!

My name is also the title of a song, but I've only ever had one person sing it at me: this girl in high school who would sing it (just the part with the name, actually) every single time she saw me. Luckily I liked her and literally no one else ever did it, so I didn't mind. 

[hoipolloi]

6 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

For some reason I imagine her husband to worry a lot about appearances and would only be ok with names popular amongst the white upper middle class. I would die from shock if he allowed a ridiculous fundie name like Heistheway.

Bingo. There's a long game being played here, most likely involving judgeships & elected offices, and not in places where having a kid named Nevaeh or Heistheway would be an asset. 

Meredith's abilities, energy & creativity as a single woman were admirable and they are still on display in her own growing family. That said, how well can someone with a HS education -- and a SOTDRT HS education at that -- homeschool her kids? Does or will Mr. Princeton-Rhodes Scholar-Harvard Law School do any of the homeschooling? Also, will his daughters have educational opportunities equal to his or their brother's and be encouraged to pursue them? 

 

 

[Black Aliss]

18 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Meredith's abilities, energy & creativity as a single woman were admirable and they are still on display in her own growing family. That said, how well can someone with a HS education -- and a SOTDRT HS education at that -- homeschool her kids? 

Probably no worse than the college graduates we know of who teach their kids at the SOTDRT. Maybe she and St. Stephen will use a legitimate curriculum instead of Abeka. Maybe Meredith will even teach instead of passing out worksheets. Maybe, if their DC connections are tight, they could even get Betsy DeVos to teach spelling and grammar. Oh, wait. Nevermind.

[Koala]

On 3/16/2018 at 3:18 PM, Hane said:

When my middle sister started kindergarten, she was one of three Margarets. (Major Catholic influence hereabouts!) Their teacher asked, “Who wants to be Maggie, who wants to be Margie, and who wants to be Peggy?” My sister chose Maggie, after our grandmother. She’s Maggie to this day, and Peggy is still Peggy—don’t know about Margie.

We know someone who recently used the name Maggie Anne.  So pretty!

[Baca]

On 3/17/2018 at 4:24 AM, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

My year at school (born 1983) had 4-6 Sarah, Rebecca, Kate & Emily’s

boys : Daniel, Michael, James and Joshua

i think Michael was the most common boys name until about 1985 now it’s rare. 

Wow & I married a Michael....