Naming rights

The men in Handsome's family named their sons after their brothers. Handsome's cousin is named after my father in-law.

While honeymooning, Handsome and I were talking about names for our future children. Thankfully, he wasn't terribly excited to continue the tradition of naming our kids after his father's family members. The proverbial well was pretty dried up at that point, with Handsome and the cousins being the last of the lineage for a while.

Being of Greek heritage, Handsome wanted a son to have a heroic name, one with ferocity and fortitude. Something like Zeus or Hades. I'm kidding, not Zeus or Hades.

Actually, Handsome wants to name his son after his grandfather: Achilles.

I'm okay with familial names. But Achilles?

Maybe as a middle name.

At the time I was pregnant with the boy, I took great pains into picking out the perfect name for him. It was a family name, incorporating my great-grandfather who came to this country from Portugal. I never met that man, but he had a cool name and I changed it enough to suit that baby.

I knew his parents would change his name when they adopted him, but I do have a birth certificate showing the name I gave him and it does still hold significance to me.

The Duchess has a post about naming of babies and how some people don't seem to realize the significance it can have for the parents.

Handsome and I have agreed on names of our future progeny, and we've been keeping those names mum for just the reasons mentioned in The Duchess' post. I'm curious if any other folks have naming insecurities or other examples of blatant plagiarism when it comes to your kids' name?