Naming children - after somebody or completely unique? How do you feel?

My husband's grown son is named after him and he regrets it more and more each day because of the confusion it causes. My stepson has a few creditors trying to contact him so they call here because we're listed in the phone book and he only has a cell phone, plus he lived with us for several months when he first moved here. Medical bills come to our house and it's sometimes hard to tell which one of them it's for. We accidentally threw away a credit card that came for his son because it wasn't addressed to "jr" so we thought it was one of those pre-approved cards and we didn't want it. My son is named after his father and there has been some confusion for them as well so, personally, I'm not a big fan of naming a son after his father.

I am named after one of my mom's friends. It never really bothered. Although I never met the woman either but she is listed on my baptism records as my godmother.

I must point out something that you may find interesting. A man once married can change his last name to his wife's if he so chooses. When I worked at a financial firm one of the 401k participants sent in name change paperwork, a copy of his new ss card showing his name change and a copy of his marriage license showing the reason for the name change. It was out of the ordinary but can be done. Actually I am pretty sure anyone can legally change their name and they don't have to be married.

I'm more in favor of unique names, myself. I'd hate to be called 'little XXXX' like my SO is or 'junior' which is even worse to me.

I can understand and respect the tradition of naming your children after family members, but it's not something I'd do. My parents come from families where several names are very common. As a result, they chose names for us that no one in the family has. I'm very, very, very glad for that! There's nothing like going to a family reunion, calling a name, and having twenty people turn around.

I was named after my grandfatehr and my aunt. My granddad's name was Charles, and I was given the feminine of Charles and my middle name was after my aunt. My brother was named after an army buddy of my dad's.. his first and middle name was the army buddy's first and last name. The army buddy saved my dad's life in WWII.

I named my only child after Eric Clapton, guitarist extraordinaire. Eric means 'princely' from the Old Norse.
My son thinks it's cool and is proud of his name.
After all, he is named after a guitar-god! LOL

My first name was a name that was popular at the time (my Grandmother hated it) and my middle name was after my great aunt on my mother's side.

My daughter's name is not after anyone - her father chose it - her first name is the month that we were married. My oldest son's first name is from the Bible and his middle name was his paternal great-grandfather's name. My younger son's first name is from the Bible and his middle name was my father's middle name.

I don't have any complaints about my name and if my children have complaints, I haven't heard them. My daughter went by her first name until third grade and then wanted to be called by a nickname of her middle name (which is Nichole and she went by Nicky), which she went by until she entered college, when it was easier to use her first name again than to tell everyone to use her middle name. Her first name is also more "grown-up" sounding than the nickname.

Since our youngest started college, he uses his first and middle initials instead of his first name.

My aunt gave me my name. I didn't name my boyz after anyone, but gave my son's father's granfather's name to him as his middle name. He didn't have any son's and no one to pass his name on to. My second son, I didn't even know his name till I saw him.

My first name is also my granmother's name and my middle name is my aunt's name.
My mom always said she didn't name me after her mother I just happen to share her name. It's a long and strange explanation and Grandma always assumed I was named after her. In a way I believe I was because if Grandma's name wasn't Ruth I doubt it would have been a name my mom would have just thought of.
Now my middle name was definitely meant to be after my aunt but Mom didn't want it as a first name so she had to come up with a first name to go with it.
I am not real thrilled with my first name. Ruth is such an old lady name.
I am not entirely sure but that may be why I am always getting mail from the AARP.
My daughter's middle name is after my husband's grandmother's middle name. My husband's middle name is Joe which is both his father's name and mother's middle name.

If my boyfriend and I ever decide to have children, our son will have his father's first name and his uncle's first name for a middle name. Our daughter, on the other hand, will be named as we see fit. I want to name her Katherine Ann, but I know how some people feel about that name and the X-Men character that they quickly associate it with (Katherine Ann is actually Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde's real name in X-Men).

I also think that the naming should be unique. And I have been named by my parents uniquely at least when considering our family. And we should also consider other factors like the name should be easy in speaking and remembering and other such factors.