Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
834views
28submissions
Finished
Hey Pandas, What’s The Story Behind The Name Your Parents Gave You?
Do you have an unusual name, or a name with an unusual story? Why were you given the name you were given and what does it mean?
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My first name is Seth, and my middle name is Osiris. My parents named me and all my siblings after god's of different cultures
Final score:
8points
Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano 2 years ago
That's really cool!! Although Seth was kind of a villain . . .
RELATED:
#2
No first for you! But my middle name is Jolene. You know Dolly Parton's song Jolene. Yeah, that is where my beautiful Middle name come from. I love my middle name 🙃
Final score:
7points
#3
My name is Anna, i was named after my grandmother who died a lil over a year before i was born... i think i fit her name perfectly hehe😁
Final score:
6points
#4
Not me, but my best friend was named Danielle after her father's favorite band Twisted Sisters lead singer Dee (Daniel) Snyder. Even better, few years later, her father, Twisted Sisters number one fan had another child, a boy. That they name Daniel after Dee Snyder.
Final score:
5points
#5
My name is Caroline and my middle name is Elissa. My mom and aunt made a deal that they would name the middle name of their first child their name. So my cousin's middle name is my mom's name and my middle name is my aunt's name. I got my first name because my mother's college roommate's name was Caroline, but I like to think it's because my great-great-great-great grandma's name was caroline too.
Final score:
4points
#6
My family and I live in the most north county of the Netherlands, Friesland. This is the only county in the Netherlands with its own language.
I was born in august and my parents named me the Frisian word for summer: Simmer :)
Final score:
4points
#7
My mom tells everyone in named after the Bible. But no. One night while we were drinking she told me that my first and middle names are from people on a soap opera she used to watch in 1988. Joshua Brent.
Final score:
4points
#8
My parents had an index card they used as a bookmark when looking at baby names and each of them wrote names they liked on their respective side of the notecard. Bethany was the only name on both sides.
Twist ending: they just thought it was pretty, and didn't think much about it. My brothers both got meaningful names, not much concern for aesthetic. Meaning of my name: house of affliction. I feel afflicted alright
Final score:
4points
#9
My mother always wanted a girl. She was determined to have her little Abigail May. She had me via C-Section and while she was knocked out Dad filled out birth certificate. Not giving y'all my real name but its not Abigail May. Mom was a bit pissed when she woke up and got a little girl who's first name started on the other end of the alphabet! I can't complain though - I'm not an Abby May - nope I fit the name he gave me pretty well.
Final score:
3points
#10
My Dad said he'd always wanted to know someone with my name, so he wrote it on my birth certificate while my mother was recovering at another hospital. She'd told him she hated the name. They're divorced now.
Final score:
3points
#11
My mom wanted me to have my dad's name, but my dad didn't want to place a burden on me - that I would have to live up to his legacy. There was also a desire for me to have a biblical name.
One day, while my mom was doing dishes, my dad walked into the kitchen and said "Ezekiel Edward". Mom said that she loved it. Ezekiel is my dad's favorite prophet in the Bible, and Ezekiel 37 is one of my mom's favorite chapters in the Bible. Also, my middle name is my dad's first name! So it all worked out :)
Fun fact: my nickname "Eze" came from Denzel Washington's character's nickname in "Devil in a Blue Dress."
Final score:
3points
SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Eze actually means 'King' in the Igbo language hence why I think Ezekiel is an uplifting name.
#12
A mix of an actress my parents like to watch and my great aunt that I never meant.
Final score:
2points
Margrete Sonnenberg (Submission author) 2 years ago
To add on the great aunt. My great aunt died in the WW2.They carted her off when she got traumatized due to the war. My grandpa saw her one time after war but never again.
#13
My brother was to be named in deference to the granddads. Olyn and Andres. My brother was born (1956) and my parents thought Lynn Andres or Andres Lynn basically put him on a Boy Named Sue life path. He got Jon David. A nod to our dad. I pop up in 1964 and I get Andrea Lynn. We both lucked out. Younger brother is named after moms ob/gyn. Stephan Andrew is a fine dudes name. Still references my dad's dad.
Final score:
2points
#14
I was named after my Dad's highschool girlfriend.
Final score:
2points
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
No worries friend, my dad said I was named after his ex too 🤣 still don't know if he was joking or not
#15
I was supposed to be a boy.. Daniel. Dad heard the song "Aubrey" by the band Bread earlier in the day and went with that.
Little did he know that Aubrey was mostly considerd a "boys name" in the 70's so I got a lot of free Gillette "mens" razors in the mail when I hit my teens along with free subscriptions to sports mags and the like.
The origin of the name is "Keeper of the Elves"... I definitely live up to that. I have a tendency to be overly protective of my kids and fam.
Final score:
2points
#16
My middle name is Darling. 5 generations ago my grandfather served under Stephen F. Austin and Captain R. Goheen. And later serving under Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.
“ Among his other land transactions was an act of philanthrophy and benevolence which was supportive of higher education and religion when he donated 320 acres of his Bastrop County land to the President and Trustees of Baylor University in 1852, while it was located at Washington before moving to Waco. By this act, he demonstrated his vision into the future needs of a developing Texas, and provided his personal endowment to aid in their fulfillment.”
Here’s the website link if you want to check it out.
http://www.fourhorsemenofthetexasapocalypse.com/john-socrates-darling.html
Final score:
1point
#17
I'm semi-named after a tennis player (my parents were watching tennis and liked that name so they named me that). My middle name is the same as my mom's (named after her great-grandmother, I think).
Final score:
1point
#18
My grandmother basically picked out my name and my parents liked it and went along with it.
Final score:
1point
#19
My name was meant to be a combo of my mom and dad's name, but if you combine the Greek (Lord/Lady) and Irish (little thing of darkness), i am the Dark Lord. My parents unintendedly named me Voldemort.
Final score:
1point
#20
MY legal name is the same as my dads. I’m a girl. But my nickname is made up of the same letters of my moms name!
Final score:
0points
#21
My parents went to school with an Andrea, and my middle name Marie was my grandmother, Dula Marie’s middle name. I never met their high school friend but I love the fact I was named after my Mamaw. She died in 2013 and I miss her to this very day.
Final score:
0points
#22
My mom was in a toxic relationship when she was pregnant with me. The abuser’s grandmother’s name was Evangeline so my mom fell in love with the name Angeline. Evangeline supported my mother and stopped abusive behaviors that he showed in front of her to relax my mother. Sadly I got the abuser’s last name do to fights and narcissistic abuse. It a horrible last name, Nealy. We are planning to change my last name to my mother’s current relationship’s last name, James. Even though he’s still learning to cope with dealing with 2 teenage children so he has a short temper but he’s way better than the cheating abusive sperm donar that is my “father”. I wont tell my middle name but I’ll give hints. It starts with a M and is a very common French name and is feminine.
Final score:
0points
#23
My mom had actually picked out my older sister’s name when she was still just 11 years old. She named her after Blair on the show "The Facts of Life" and the two of them share a middle name (mom's grandmother's middle name). However, turned out that our dad's middle name is Blair, so my sister's full name is literally just my parents' middle names. (Should also mention that my dad hates his middle name, and begged my mom to name her anything else, but he wasn’t there for the birth, so she just did what she wanted.)
My brother and dad share a first name, but he couldn’t be a junior due to our sister…so his full name is just the two most popular boy names for his birth year. (Again, dad wasn’t there to protest the name)
By the time I was born, my parents had run out of names (and ways to incorporate their own names). My mom was going to name me after her grandfather, but I’m a girl, so that ruined that plan. She then tried to name me Sarah Elizabeth after one of her relatives (she also toyed with Katie Elizabeth), but my dad (who was actually there for once lol) wanted Elizabeth for my first name and disliked the other name ideas. Seeing as one of my mom’s best friends was named Elisabeth, she agreed. Problem was, the hospital wouldn’t let me leave without a middle name. He (and my sister claims it was originally her idea) called her up and pitched a name after he took my siblings home. My mom didn’t like it (it was the same name as one of her childhood bullies) but she figured it was the last chance my dad would have to name one of his kids, so she allowed it.
So basically, my sister’s name is just our parents' middle names, my brother shares a first name with our dad, and I’m named after my mom's best friend and a childhood bully.
Final score:
0points
#24
I am female, but was named after all men. My Dad's middle name is Martin, hence Martina, and my great grandfather's name was Maximilian. My uncle was named after him (Max) so I got the middle name Max too. I love my name. My initials are MMM
Final score:
0points
#27
My name is Ituah (ee-too-ah), it is a Shian Indian name that means "strong and sturdy oak".... but I'm not Shian Indian. My parents just liked it 😊
Final score:
0points
#28
Depends which parent you ask. My mother will say I was named after a royal; my dad will say his ex girlfriend. They have both passed and I still am not sure if my dad was joking or not. My middle name is just a random name that went well with my first name.
Final score:
0points
Az B 1 year ago
My name is Azekiel William champ Buttrum. Every single word in my name has something interesting about it. To start my first name. Azekiel, my mother and father Are Christin and the rest of my family of four (including me) had names starting with the letter a. William champ. The name of my about great great grandfather on my fathers side he fought in the civil war for the confederacy. He was one of the last people to die and was buried where he fell. (Both literally and metaphorically, he fell of his horse as well) (although it’s my family history I do not support the actions of the confederacy however it is still history and I aim to learn from it) now my last name Buttrum there are more than 500 ways to spell my last name to explain what I mean by this is kind of complicated it is mainly due to how the census was taken way back when. I’m related to most likely more than half of the people in the USA.
Related on Bored Panda
