The Name Game
When working on a Remembrance Book or a Life Book, one page or two that you might want to consider would be the history of the person’s name. Historically children were commonly named after a family member or a person in the community that was special to the family. The family hoped that the child would follow in the footsteps of the person (s)he was named after. Sharing the same name would help the child to remember to follow good examples.
The old European method of naming children was to name the first born son after the paternal father’s father and the first born daughter after the paternal father’s mother. The second son would usually be named after the maternal mother’s father and the second daughter after the maternal mother’s mother. Then the names would usually be taken from the father’s brothers and sisters, and then the mother’s sisters and brothers. If there were still more children, in Italian families the child would be named after the saint who shared their birth date. If there was no saint named on their birthday, then the male child would usually be named after the Patron Saint of Italy, who is Saint Joseph. The female child would be named after the Virgin Mary.
Here are some ideas for you to consider. Who in the family was the person named after? What was the relationship between those two people? Did they share the same traits and activities? Did the family have the tradition of naming the oldest child after their grandparent?
Having said all of this, I decided to find out who I was named after. My mother broke the family tradition by naming me after a character from a movie, “Old Acquaintance” starring Bette Davis. I did further research on my name, and made the following two pages for my own Life Book. I am sharing these pages with you in case you may want to make a name page of your own.
