How would you honour someone who's name you didn't like?

[ljandrl]

Hi Berries,

I've been struggling for a while with wanting to honour my late grandmother Shirley with a future daughters middle name, however I don't like the name Shirley (and it doesn't work with our first name choice Claudie anyway) and she didn't have a middle name.

In general, people in my family don't use family names, but we were incredibly close, more like mother and daughter, so I feel compelled to honour her with a baby name. And I really want to be reminded of her everytime I use my childs full name.

I feel like I've explored all creative options to honour her without using Shirley but nothing quite fits.

So I'm curious, if you have been/could potentially one day be, in the same situation, what did you/would you use? Birth stone? Flower? A smoosh of two names? etc etc.

Thanks in advance for the ideas guys!

[characternamer]

Did she have a favorite name? You could use that. Or her favorite flower, color, animal, whatever she loved most.
I have a family member who I am quite close to named Robin, but I would use Wren to honor her (keep up the bird theme). When I hear Shirley, I think of Shirley Temple. You could use any of the names of character she played, for example.
Good luck!

[gigi_mk]

All those things, birth month, birthstone, birth flower, favorite flower, favorite anything... Or a name that has the same meaning. Is there a last name to incorporate? Or to name my daughter after my sister, we considered Brooklyn, since that's where she lives. Malia is a different form of Mary/Marie which is my daughters name based on my best friends mn Marie and my nn, Mary. Maybe an S name?

[kerrie]

I think the birthstone/flower etc is a good idea. If she was born in August, you could mn August for example. Or if you know her favorite flower (Rose), character in a movie, season (Winter would be cool).. I think as long as there is a connection that you know and can pass to your daughter, that's the important part.

Otherwise go for a name that means the same thing as Shirley - "Bright Meadow"

Shirlyn - Bright Meadow
Leighton - Town by the Meadow
Abilene - Land of Meadows
Clover - Meadow Flower
Kenley - Royal Meadow

[rollo]

Love Kenley and also birth month stones/flowers etc.

[stripedsocks]

It's traditional in my family/culture to match just initials of the legal name.

Which I know a lot of people think doesn't count as "naming for" and that's okay, if it doesn't work for somebody else, but my whole extended family would get it, and are themselves all named after somebody and named their kids after somebody else that way, so it makes sense and works for me. In fact, if I say "I want to name after my grandmother, Ruth" relatives would just reply "oh, River is nice, or Rose...?"

But I understand that in some families that wouldn't count? So I guess in that case I would use a name that meant the same thing theirs did, or translated it? Like I have a great-great-aunt of whom I'm very fond who was a Toiba... (said a lot like Tuba, a name I will not be sending a child to middle school with - she used Tillie in English which was a random stylish T name of the time) I'm debating either using a random T name vs. direct translation of Toiba - Dove.

Or, like, for my other grandmother who's name means "life" I wouldn't name her "Life" in English maybe I could use another name with that meaning, like Vivienne... but initial matching is the custom, so I'm torn.

Shirley means meadow, I think? So Meadow, or another name with that in its meaning, like Lee? Claudie Meadow probably sounds better than Claudie Lee though.

[tinabina]

What month was she born? What day? Maybe you can play on that. IE if she was born in May... you could use May, Lily or Emerald (but for the actual month). Did she have any idols? The name means "bright meadow", what about Meadow?

[penguin]

I've always wanted to honor my father, Alfred "Al", but I don't like that name. If I ever had a daughter, I always wanted to use Allison, so I could call her Ally after her grandfather. Then of course, my cousin used the name Allison, so now I would probably use Alena, which also happens to honor his mother, Magdalena.

If I had to honor a Shirley, I would either:
start the name with the same letters, say Sheena, or
I would use Shirley as a middle name, or
I would create a new name with the letters in Shirley, such as Elyse. (I had to use the "E' twice to get to that one though) or
I would use the name Leigh, which sounds like the second half of Shirley.

[ashthedreamer]

I am the queen at this, lol! I don't hate my family's names, but I don't like them anywhere near enough to want to use the majority of them. I've worked with their hobbies, their favorite colors, their birth flowers, their birth stones, their initials, the meaning of their names, some names they really love... just about anything I can think of, lol. Some examples:

1. Josephine, Ivy, Noelle, Nicholas, Gabriel, Joseph, etc.--my sister and I both have names that relate to Christmas (she's Natalie; I'm Ashley Marie)
2. Violet - purple is my grandmother's favorite color. Did the same thing with Ruby, for my sister, whose favorite color is red (bonus--her MN, and my grandmother's FN, is Ruth!).
3. Charles/Charlotte - my mom always wanted a little boy named Charles nn Charlie, but never got one. So I love that if I used Everett Joshua Charles or something, she could still get her little Charlie. Usually, I would be one of those people that insists that others call my child what I call him/her, but with my mom, I would be completely fine with her calling him Charlie 100% of the time, since I know it would mean so much to her.
4. Liliana - lily of the valley is my brother's birth flower. The last gift my grandmother gave me before she passed away happens to be a lily, too.
5. Annie names - my grandmother's MN is Grace, and most Annie names mean "grace; favor". I do love Grace, obviously, but I don't love it with every combo.
6. Wren, Lark, Sparrow, Starling, Paloma, Jonas - all names with bird references. My grandma's a huge bird watcher, so I think it'd mean a lot to her. My mom's name is Karen, too, so I think Wren kills two birds with one stone (forgive the lame pun! lol).
7. Rachel Clara Evangeline - my sister has the initials RE. I'm also toying with the initials L. B. for my grandpa (who was only ever L. B., not short for anything).
8. Beckett - it's rumored that my grandpa was given the initials L. B. because of his father, Lester Beebe. And both Beebe and Beckett have something to do with bees, so it's close enough for me, especially since L. B. doesn't have much to work with, haha.
9. Opal, Pearl, Esmeralda (for the emerald), etc. - some family birthstones I would use to honor them...
10. Esmee - my grandmother's MN was Mae, and Esmee has the Mae sound, so it's close enough for me.
11. Johanna, Giovanna, Ian, Jack, Zane, etc. - all rumored (or proven) forms of John, which is my dad and brother's FN...

I know that was a lot of personal info, haha, but maybe it'd provide some options. I know you want to get the Welsh names in there, so I'm not sure how easy it'd be to get the Welsh names and the family names in there. Is there something about your grandmother that sticks out? Like you see or hear or think about it, and you think about your grandmother straightaway? Maybe if you could find a name that relates to that then you'd be set...

[pansy]

What was your grandmother's maiden name? Would it be usable in the middle? If not, then I would go with Meadow (or another name that has the same meaning).