Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Linder
Why just three and not four?
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. And I may even be forgetting one.
I think the tradition is giving them ancestral surnames as first names, which is defensible, but can make for some weirdly named females. I think most Northern families tend to use something from one side or the other as the middle name, whereas the first name is likelier to be chosen by taste alone.
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Once you give your first child three given names, then you have to keep it up with the rest so they don't feel shortchanged.
I had a great-great aunt who had seven names - something like: Luthera Ann Saphronia Caroline Mary Jane America Akins.
If my youngest child had been born a daughter instead of a son, then two of her given names would likely have been
Lucy and
Joslin, after Daniel Lucy, an ancestor who settled in James City Co. Virginia in the early 1600's, and after John Joslin, an ancestor who settled in Lincoln Co., Kentucky in the 1700's. Her other given name would likely have been Ferebee, which was an ancestral family surname that ended up being given to the sister of one of my Mercer ancestors.
Coming up with family last-names that make good given names for girls is a lot harder than it is for boys.