My mother used to joke about my grandmother not being terribly creative in naming her 7 children, as they were all named after family members and she even used the middle names of the eldest for the youngest. For example, one having the name of Patrick Andrew and the youngest being Andrew Johnson (made up names, naturally) The two daughters basically switched first and middle names, ie Sandra Jean and Jane Saundra.
I don't know where she got off criticizing Grandma for using family names because I was named for a great-grandmother and an aunt. My brother was named for our granddaddy, since he didn't have any sons, though his middle name wasn't a family name but the name of a male Irish saint.
My oldest son's middle name is William and my youngest's first is Liam which is often a nickname off William but also a name on its own so I guess I'm just like Grandma! LOL!
I saw back a few pages about saint names being required for Catholics for baptisms and it reminded me of a book I read last year where a woman in N. Ireland had picked a name she liked but her husband, MIL and SIL (who was her best friend before the marriage) went behind her back and had the child baptized Margaret Mary but the woman only ever referred to the girl by the name she'd wanted her to be called.
