The "M" name tradition goes back to the mid-1800s.
It wasn't necessarily planned. The mothers just happened to like girls' names that began with the letter M. Or at least that was true until 1993. At that point, the tradition had a life of its own.
Genealogy research shows the first "M" name started with my great-great-grandmother, Mary "Mollie" Cole, who was born in 1848. She gave birth to Mary Faye Crane in 1879. And Mary Faye gave birth to my grandmother, Maida Lee Dowdy, in 1907.
Maida Lee had three daughters: Billie Maxine in 1929, Maida Joan in 1946, and Marian in 1952.
Maxine gave birth to Molly in 1959, and Marian gave birth to Meredith in 1982. (Maida Joan named her daughter Kari to coordinate with her son, Kevin).
I named my firstborn Megan (1986) because I fell in love with the name in high school. When I was expecting my third child in 1993, however, I thought Emily would be a good name. It sounded like "M", right? But Megan would not hear of it. By this time, the excitement surrounding the occasional "M" generation photo was too great.
Megan liked the name, Michelle, after the popular Full House television series. My husband liked Melissa (although I wasn't too fond of the inevitable nickname, Missy). My four-year-old son thought his teacher's name would work: Miss Jeanne.
Ultimately we decided Mandy Lynn fit her sweet but independent personality.
We are now into the 7th generation of "M" names.
Megan gave birth to Maebrynn in 2011. Meredith gave birth to Madison six months later.
Will the "M" names continue to the 8th generation?
Who knows. And there is no pressure. But it's been a fun tradition all these years.
What a fun post and a wonderful tradition !
ReplyDeleteIt is fun... but we are running out of names :)
ReplyDeleteMY goodness...you have done well. We don't have traditions as such but our son & his then wife decided all 4 kids would have simple 4 letter names. They are Hugo, Ruby, Evie and Macy (there you go,an M) Thank you for linking up for Life This Week. Next week, the optional prompt is Interesting. My post will be a continuation of Telling My Story as I am wanting to wrap the series up. It's great to have your blogging support on my link up. Thank you. Denyse
ReplyDeleteThank you stopping by, Denyse. I forgot to link to #lifethisweek ... but I will rectify in the future. I love how you give us the opportunity to share our midlife ramblings in a safe, friendly space :)
DeleteHow sweet and wonderful! I love family traditions. My oldest son is named William Benton, and he is called Benton, after my grandfather whose name was Benton. There are many "Bentons" scattered throughout my mother's family, most often as a middle name, but the name carries on. Unfortunately I don't think I will be having anymore grandchildren to carry on the tradition. My only grandchild is Noah Matthew, named after his father Matthew and Noah the biblical name. My son named Benton married too late to have children. And I don't know if any of my cousins who carry that name have passed it on to succeeding generations or not. It would be interesting to find out, but they are scattered and we don't communicate that much. I love your family's tradition. You had a lot of girls in your family. We tend to have more boys.
ReplyDeleteIsn't family dynamics interesting, Pam? In my family (at least on my mom's side) ... we tend to have two children: one boy and one girl. I broke the mold of the last two generations by having three children :) And while the girls' names follow a pattern, the boys' names are all over the place! My son, however, named his first son after my mom ... using her maiden name. A touching tribute to his Gram.
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