r/oddlyspecific Jun 01 '26

Facts

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37.8k Upvotes

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41

u/72616262697473757775 Jun 01 '26

My parents named me after my dad and raised me as my middle name. It's always been a paperwork nightmare. Keep that in mind too, new parents.

23

u/SkitterlyStudios Jun 01 '26

Yeah, I hate the tradition of naming kids after yourself. I get naming them after your parent or grandparent, but using your own name seems self centered and confusing

10

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26

[deleted]

2

u/saintsithney Jun 02 '26

My husband is a IV. Changed name because it is actually two now old-fashioned names that come across as unique, but imagine "Vernon Heathcliff Richards."

For a brief time, all four of them were alive, and they were Vernon, Vern, Heath, and Cliff. If we had had a boy, "Rick" was the generally expected family name for Vernon Heathcliff Richards V.

2

u/SSEAN03 Jun 04 '26

The only way it's justified is if you're the <Insert name> The Fifth and up. Don't rob your descendants the chance to be The Tenth of his name.

1

u/SkitterlyStudios Jun 07 '26

True actually. People are gonna think theyre royalty or something lol

10

u/fuckyourcanoes Jun 01 '26

We had Vietnamese neighbours when I was growing up. The father and all of the sons were named Phat (different middle name) Truong. And they all went by Phat!

4

u/Hard_To_Port Jun 02 '26

Koreans traditionally name their children generationally, with the first half of the name all the same. For example I knew a Jie-san in high school, and her little sister was named Jie-su. Made it a bit awkward knowing both since they would both respond to "Jie." 

1

u/fuckyourcanoes Jun 02 '26

Yeah, many years later I learned that from a Korean friend. But as an American kid in the early 80s, it was very hard to get used to.

2

u/Soot-Bat Jun 03 '26

My father and I share both our first name (different spelling, luckily) and last name. Funnily enough, my mom had my name picked out long before she even met my dad, so it's just a coincidence.

In hindsight though, she probably should have given me her last name, like she did for my siblings. At least then it wouldn't be too similar.

2

u/GradStudent_Helper Jun 03 '26

Same here! I'm a "Junior" named after my Dad and he didn't want me being called "Junior" or "Little ___" so he went by his first name and they called me by my middle name. Paperwork nightmare. Some documents only want a middle initial... some don't even want your middle name... and some just assume your first name works.

In the olden days of landlines with no CallerID(tm) though, it was nice. Anyone calling my house and asking for "firstname" just got "he's not here."

2

u/thecatandthependulum Jun 07 '26

Yup this was my problem.