Joy & Austin 31: Adding Evelyn Mae

[SassyPants]

I do find the current naming patterns interesting. As an example, Josh’s first 2 kids + Mason have family names as middle names, and the others do not. JD, Jill, Joe, Jinger, Josiah’s kids and Gideon all have family names for middle names. Jessa’s kids have middle names associated with Christian heroes. Then we have the balance of the kids. I do find it interesting when in the same family you have some kids with family names and others that do not. Of course, Mae could be a family name. I’m not sure about Elise? Do I remember Joy saying that she just liked that name, or was that Erin? 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

In families the size of the Duggars if they all use family names they are all doing to have the same set of names before too long. At least in the US a lot of families will name the 1st born son after the father or grandfather in some fashion or another, the 1st born daughter might be named for a beloved grandmother of mom or dad  or passed on Aunt or even the late mother (babies grandmother). My family never did this beyond the oldest son having dads 1st name as the baby's middle name. Naming a son after the father, as in a Jr, or a III and so on is something done across all socioeconomic classes in the US. from Traitortot Jr (Donny Jr) to my redneck cousin's son Douglas Junior, or DJ.  I isn't as obvious with mothers naming daughters after themselves, because it is usually a middle name or something. 

[Alisamer]

22 minutes ago, Bassett Lady said:

There are many poor white southerners who use one syllable middle names.  Bobbie Jo, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Sue, and so forth.  It is an economic marker more than a race marker in many parts of the US.

Those names do point out a big advantage to "filler" middle names - it's very easy to use them if you want WITH the first name. My dad actually sometimes calls me by both my first and middle (filler!) name, still. And not when he's mad.

I like the name they chose for this baby. I think it's got elegant elements, cute elements, and lots of versatility, which is what I personally prefer in names. She can be Evy as a kid. If she grows up and escapes the cult and becomes a lawyer, she can be Evelyn professionally. If she decides to become a southern gospel singer, she can be Evy Mae. If she wants to be both, she can be. (The issue is whether she'll know she has those options!)

 

[Satan'sFortress]

13 hours ago, PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea said:

I know 2 little Evelyns, 1 little Alice and more Olivias than necessary here in Ontario, Canada.

I'm giggling because between me and one of my sisters, we've had three cats with the names Evelyn, Olivia, and Alice.  

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

1 hour ago, Satan'sFortress said:

I'm giggling because between me and one of my sisters, we've had three cats with the names Evelyn, Olivia, and Alice.  

Haha, you have great taste, obviously!

[EmiSue]

2 hours ago, SassyPants said:

I’m not sure about Elise? Do I remember Joy saying that she just liked that name, or was that Erin? 

Elise is Erin Bates's middle name, IIRC. I think Joy just liked it but said Annabell was a pet name of hers when she was little. 

[SassyPants]

21 minutes ago, EmiSue said:

Elise is Erin Bates's middle name, IIRC. I think Joy just liked it but said Annabell was a pet name of hers when she was little. 

Yes, I knew Elise was Erin’s MN, but didn’t she also say she decided to use it because she had always liked it?

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

Yes, I knew Elise was Erin’s MN, but didn’t she also say she decided to use it because she had always liked it?

Yes she did. 

I'm not sure what is so hard for some to understand people picking a name just because they like the sound of it.  That is why I picked BOTH my kids names. I liked them they had no meaning behind them, other than my son's middle name being his fathers 1st name, that's it. 

 

I'm not referring to YOU as people who can't understand, I was just answering you then moving on to another thought. 

[JesSky03]

My 7 month old is Elena Mae. My husband chose the name Elena because of his grandpa's Russian heritage and I chose Mae because it's my mother's middle name and I think it sounds beautiful with Elena. I myself have a "filler" middle name- Jo. Its not a family name, its not unique as my sister has the same middle name, and there's no special story to how my mom came up with it she just liked the way it sounded with both our names. I've always liked it myself and have considered using it for my own kids. I ended up skipping over most of this discussion because I don't need that kind of negativity in my life. You don't have to like a name but you don't have to insult people with said name. Goodness sakes.

[LilaMae]

On 8/28/2020 at 11:54 PM, JDuggs said:

Joy referred to her as “Evy Mae” so it seems like she plans to call her that, instead of just Evy. So it makes sense to have a short one syllable name for the middle name. Evy Mae is right in line with Alyssa and Carlin Bates’s girls and with Ivy Jane. I think that names like Mae and Rae are the trendier versions of Ann and Lynn from my generation.

I do find it interesting that her name is the same as Joy’s aunt. In most families, people would speculate that she is named after her aunt. But the Duggars seem so disconnected from outside their immediate family, it maybe never even occurred to Joy that she was using a “family name.”

They've got so many people in their extended family now that some name crossovers are bound to happen. It wouldn't surprise me if we get some cousins with the same name in a few years.

[Not that josh's mom]

40 minutes ago, LilaMae said:

They've got so many people in their extended family now that some name crossovers are bound to happen. It wouldn't surprise me if we get some cousins with the same name in a few years.

Especially if they continue to use family names.

[Glasgowghirl]

Usain Bolt used Lightening as his daughter's middle name definitely not a filler name. 

[moreorlessnu]

This name thread reminded me when someone announced that a new baby was named "Esmerelda" (my name is "Esmerelda"), and the person was quick to point out, "Oh, but Esmerelda is NOT named after you". Really? Couldn't that have been left unsaid? Would it have killed you to let me live in my bubble of ignorance and think, for a brief moment, that the parents liked my name, if not me??

[Expectopatronus]

My daughter has Méi as a part of her middle name. I picked it because she’s Chinese and I wanted to honour her ancestry, I liked its meaning in conjunction with the other half of her middle name and the pronunciation won’t be butchered at confirmation, convocation and other occasions when her full name is used. I’ve taught kids named everything under the sun and generally assume that time, care and love went into selecting their names. When we do our unit on Residential Schools and discuss the changing of students’ names to « Christian » names, they interview their families about how their name was selected. Usually, the stories are beautiful even if the name is unusual or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, super common. My name is one that I usually shared with two or three other girls in every class growing up. My parents picked it based on sound and had no idea that it was popular. 
I don’t care for Spurgeon’s name because he is named for a rapidly anti-Catholic preacher who spewed hate. Wilberforce was at least for an anti slavery activist. The name may be unusual but it was picked for honourable reasons. Honouring a hate mongerer is distasteful to me. 

[Chickenbutt]

My opinion on kids names? Not my circus, not my monkeys. Whatever anyone names their kids (including my own kids) has no bearing on my life. Naming a child is a personal endeavor and nobodies business. I certainly have opinions and throw ideas out there, but I had my chance and it is up to my kids to name their own kids. 

I was honored when my first grand daughter was given my middle name as hers. And my second grand daughter was given her other grandmothers middle name as her middle name (both of which are "filler" names) lol. Neither of us (Grandparents) ask that that be done and we were both surprised. 

 

 

[Not that josh's mom]

My sister and I each have one of our grandmother's middle names as our middle names. Our first names are just what our parents liked, I guess,  so it's nice to have a family name too.  Neither of them are strange or anything. So that's also a plus. 

[SassyPants]

I don’t think a family named can be considered a “filler” name. Until this discussion, I had never heard the term “filler” when referencing a name.

[Sullie06]

On 8/28/2020 at 3:32 PM, Alisamer said:

I tend to assume people put plenty of thought into their children's names, whether it sounds like they did or not. Even if the end result is something I personally cringe at. My college roommate's mother's middle name was just a single letter - but there was a reason behind it! (TBH I thought it was kind of a dumb reason, as did my roommate and her mother. But there was at least some thought there!)

I don't know what relevance Mae might have to Joy and Austin, or if it just seemed to fit the baby once she'd arrived, but I assume they didn't just throw it in there because they had to.

I'm not a published writer, but I do usually take lots of time and do research to come up with my character's names. But sometimes a name just sticks out of nowhere and that's it. It happens.

There was a set of twins I knew through work who's middle names were A. and B. respectively. They chose them because they were called Baby A and Baby B through most of the pregnancy. Not my personal style but hey, you do you boo!

[lilith]

13 hours ago, moreorlessnu said:

This name thread reminded me when someone announced that a new baby was named "Esmerelda" (my name is "Esmerelda"), and the person was quick to point out, "Oh, but Esmerelda is NOT named after you". Really? Couldn't that have been left unsaid? Would it have killed you to let me live in my bubble of ignorance and think, for a brief moment, that the parents liked my name, if not me??

A very old friend of mine named his daughter my (quite unusual) name with a different spelling and never addressed if or how I had influenced that choice. It drives me mad! I never would have named one of my sons his name because it’s so strongly associated with him (one of my best friends from my late teens/early 20s who I slept with once and came very close to sleeping with a few other times but was also very close friends with for years when we were both in relationships). I feel like It’s egotistical to ask, and it’s too late a decade on, but it weirds me out.

[Sullie06]

I love name talk. I'm a huge name nerd!

So my husband and I are both one of 3 children born. In my family my name is just a name my parents heard and liked. They were going to name me Noelle Marie, Marie being my Mom's middle name, up until the day I was born and completely changed it. My sister is named for my great aunt who passed away right before she was born, it's a classic older name, her middle name Meredith, my parents just liked. My brother has my father's first name and my mothers maiden name. 

My husband and his siblings all just have pretty classic 80's style first names and "filler" type middle names (Marie, Leigh, Patrick).

My children have first names we just liked. No special "connection" to anything. My sons middle name is my FIL middle name (Russell) and my daughter's middle name is my great aunts name (Alyse) 

[Jana814]

My late uncle’s name was Richard. My cousins gave their kids middle names that start with the letter R to honor him. 

[Meggo]

14 hours ago, moreorlessnu said:

This name thread reminded me when someone announced that a new baby was named "Esmerelda" (my name is "Esmerelda"), and the person was quick to point out, "Oh, but Esmerelda is NOT named after you". Really? Couldn't that have been left unsaid? Would it have killed you to let me live in my bubble of ignorance and think, for a brief moment, that the parents liked my name, if not me??

We named our son... let's say... Thomas. And we didn't realize HOW many people named Thomas we knew until we did that and everyone assumed we must have been thinking of them. 
So then one of these Thomases (Thomas's? Guys named Thomas) named HIS son after my husband - lets say Theodore because we named our kid Thomas.
It's my mom's second cousins husband and their kid. Like - you weren't top on our list dude... we see you at Christmas sometimes...

BUT - we just smile and nod - YES, Thomases everywhere - we named our son after you specifically!

[Not that josh's mom]

My mother said she had wanted to name me Patience, but my dad didn't like it. As I grew up she said she knew it would have been a mistake. Was she trying to tell me something?

 

[Alisamer]

14 minutes ago, Not that josh's mom said:

My mother said she had wanted to name me Patience, but my dad didn't like it. As I grew up she said she knew it would have been a mistake. Was she trying to tell me something?

 

She saved you a life of being serenaded by a Guns n Roses song!

There's one well known song with my name in it. I LOATHE that song. 

Of course, when we went to a restaurant with live music for my birthday, that's the song they sang for me. 

[OHFL2009]

2 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

She saved you a life of being serenaded by a Guns n Roses song!

There's one well known song with my name in it. I LOATHE that song. 

Of course, when we went to a restaurant with live music for my birthday, that's the song they sang for me. 

My name is commonly used in it's full form, but also has a short form (Think Allison and Allie). I HATE the short form of my name, and have always corrected people who call me by it, even when I was little. But there is a song that uses the short form, and of course people love to serenade me with it. It's not even a good song!