Names As Historical Record

As I've shared, my name was changed when my father's changed. That's a pretty dramatic record of my life history. But it goes further than that. It transcends generations. My stepfather's family broke up when he was young and he spent some time with foster parents. One of those foster parents was a Russian Jewish man who I came to know as my grandfather. I adored him and when my wife, Elizabeth, and I had our first child I really wanted to honor him. We agreed to give our son the middle name Isadore. So our son, Jesse, carries the name of my stepfather's foster father who I knew as grandpa. That's a story to tell.

Our daughter's name is a version of my wife's mom's name, Elaine, and my mom's married last name. My mom, Judy, remarried a man named John Meredith who was her high school sweetheart. So Laina Meredith has a name that carries some of the history of our family.

So you can imagine that I struggle to understand people who make up names for their children that have no connection to their family history. Names that don't carry a thread of the story of where they came from are okay, I guess, but given the opportunity to name a new member of your family I encourage you, as a father, to consider continuing the family story.

In 2010 I became a grandfather when my son Jesse and his wife Noel had their daughter. When considering names they became very fond of my original last name as a possible first name. Talk about telling a story! When our granddaughter was born she was named Hanley Weinetia Kurth. Hanley was my last name until age three. Weinetia is a family name that's been carried through generations of Noel's family and, of course, Kurth is my last name and that of my wife and children. In the years to come the names of my children and grandchild open the doors to tell many stories of great grandparents, grandparents, parents and the families they came from.

I want to think that the story behind my name is unusual, the truth is that everyone's story is unique as is every family. Tell your family's story and make your children part of it.