With my fore name of Paul;  mum was Mary , and uncles Matthew, Joseph, Paul, & John, I think on my Mum's side, they were busy looking through a book choosing names.

It was extremely common in the 1800s that the first son was named after his dad.  

Mine is a bit of a sad story, actually.

The woman who gave birth to me, left me at the hospital right after I was born, so the nurses named me. They must have been bored, as they named me Susan, which in 1958, was the most popular name at the time.

 Still, it's served me well, and I don't dislike it, as long as I'm called Sue.

Oh Sue, how sad!

I was named after my maternal great grandmother, who everyone told me was french, because of her surname, but I have not been able to verify any french connection yet with genealogy, maybe I have to go back to the norman conquest!

I remembered that Sue and it always makes me feel sad that she left you like that. I think the nurses did a good job though with your name. The midwives named my eldest Joseph - we couldn't decide whether he looked like an Aaron or a Joseph and they picked Joseph.

I was named after Princess Stephanie of Monaco! My sister was 6 at the time and Mom and Dad let her pick my name. Of course alot of 6 year olds love princesses and Princess Stephanie was born just before me. I love my name - my sister did a good job!

I picked my boys names from the bible because I think a good bible name will stand you in good stead for the whole of your life. Their second names are after family members though -the two eldest after our fathers who sadly never got to meet their grandsons.

I too picked Biblical names for my boys, Joshua and Isaac. They have Biblical middle names too, but if I had to do it all over again, I would not bother with a middle name.

Being that my mom was Catholic I was named after two Saints.                   St. Catherine and St. Anne.

I named my daughter after my dad's Mum. Elsie. I wanted her to have one feminine, musical name and one tom boyish strong name. So her middle name is Alexandra after Alexandra the Great. She has turned out to be just like her names.  She is a very warm hearted, caring, sensitive person who is also very stubborn and determined! She will fight anyone who tries to hurt her.

The 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy, St. Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon, in 1377, and when she died she was endeavoring to heal the Great Western Schism. In 1375 Our Lord give her the Stigmata, which was visible only after her death. Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430.

St. Catherine of Siena
Doctor of the Church

By tradition Joachim and Anne are considered to be the names of the parents of Mary, the Mother of God. We have no historical evidence, however, of any elements of their lives, including their names. Any stories about Mary's father and mother come to us through legend and tradition.

We get the oldest story from a document called the Gospel of James, though in no way should this document be trusted to be factual, historical, or the Word of God. The legend told in this document says that after years of childlessness, an angel appeared to tell Anne and Joachim that they would have a child. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God (much the way that Samuel was dedicated by his mother Hannah -- Anne -- in 1 Kings).

Sts. Joachim and Anne
Parents of Our Lady

I was named after my dad's old boss in Nebraska, when dad worked for the State Highway division having come out of engineering school on the G. I. Bill after WWII...his wife's name was Shirley...and they later on conivnced my dad and mom to move to Oregon...I wasn't even born yet, mother returned back to Nebraska (her family) long enough to have me and re-joined dad out here..as he'd started working for Reynold's Metals Alumium. They eventually parted ways, as my parents moved north from them.. but I've always wondered if the Ray Akinson the famous photographer out here and this man are the same family. As for my middle name, it's third down in the generation on mother's side...it might go even further back then that also. Remeber the Great Aunt I keep talking about that was taking care of President Nixon's San Clemente house through the Eastern Star, while he was in Washington D. C...her. She was an fascinating women to know, and an world traveler...her husband was named Peter. I've heard that they never had any children, and I've heard that they had one that was raised in an specialty hosptial from some kind of birth defect. I never heard her nor anyone else say this child"s name and she's never claimed an child if it was true. In her youth she was an nurse, (also three generations of that in the family) and her chapter sponsored an Children's hospital, but being Eastern Star, they would of anyway, because her brother was an "Shriner" Mason. This is something the Masonic Lodge has always done for children. As I said, she got me into the geneaology work..it was because of her I started it, at her request, though for some reason we have other family back east that don't want to recognize that aspect. At her death, and my mother's first cousin, I was sent all the their geneaology paperwork and family pictures..esp the one of her being made Grand Worthy Marton of her eastern star chapter. We use to talk for hours on the phone...ok, not quite that long, but quite often. Same with Pat, I miss them an lot...being they were in California, well, we being on the west coast..big cities..are an bit different from the others at times. Pat kind of took up watching over me when I was Pregnant with my son, because she "knew what it was like not to have an mom there"as she use to tell me. Her mother died early of TB. My great aunt and her brother watched over raising Pat as an teenager onward. they have all passed on now. As I said, I miss them. They were always doing something, though I looked my great aunt in the eye, when she said to me, " why would anyone want to "watch the news", when you can BE an part of making it"....  Oh yeah...she don't know what that involves sometimes these days.

I named my son Gerald William because firstly his doctor's name turned out Gerald, so was his nurse "Geri", but then also, William G. is my uncle's name,(mother's side) and William was both my hubby's oldest brother's name and his dads name and my hubby is an "Jerry" also...and my grandfather is an William (mother's side)....we have William in the family as far back as 1794...and possibly further. Plus we have an William White on my dad's side that was an school teacher to several U. S. Presidents in history. So my hubby I call "Jerry, Sr." at 5'6 and my son I call "lil" Ger at not quite 6 feet. We laugh about that at times. My Irish war-bride co-worker went back to her homeland of Ireland one summer to see her family and called me up with an booklet about an Castle Mattrix, near Dublin, where the Wesley brothers stopped enroute to bringing Methodist to "America", Walter Raleigh introduced the "potato" to Ireland, and the Queens favorite poet resided there...of course...he was named "Gerald"... She could not of been happier with the name.