F/U to Honoring Post: Reversing an Anglicization?

plunderb

The post about honoring loved ones below got me thinking about one of my own possible honoring choices.

My grandparents are immigrants and wanted to give their children "American" names. They wanted to name my dad for his grandfather, Americo, but they Anglicized it to "Mark." And yes, it is hilarious that Americo was not American enough for them.

If I have a son, I would like to honor my dad and that whole side of the family with Americo as a middle name. I think my dad would feel honored, but I will probably have to ask him how he feels about it. I don't want him to feel that his name isn't good enough for me, and if he doesn't feel honored by Americo, I probably wouldn't use it.

But I'm curious about what others think. If you have a relative with an Anglicized version of a family name from another language, would you revert to the old family name? Or keep the name of the person closest to you?

Zimger

I'm not sure. I think it would depend on the name. Sometimes I'm not as fond of the anglicized versions. That's a good question though!

evaazalea

My grandparents immigrated from Hungary during WW2 (separately when they were both kids) and were both given anglicized versions of their names. I figured they lived the majority of their lives under their new names, their tombstones have the names they lived under on them. I do like their Hungarian names but to truly honor them I used the names they did.

sacey21

I wanted to use my grandmother's name Natalizia for my DD, but she would not let me. She had her name legally changed to Natalie because she hated her Italian name. My point is, you should ask his thoughts first.

austenreader85

If I were honoring just one person then I'd keep the same name.  If I want to give a nod to my whole heritage then use the original language.  I think it's great that you've got such rich heritage!  I don't know much about my family and DH's has been in the states since the 1780s, so I think going back to his German ancestry is a bit of a stretch.

Meggiemuggins

i agree with PP - you should definitely ask your dad if he'd feel honoured or not.  In some cases, though, it depends on the name and which one you like better.  DH's grandmother came from Ukraine and she was Katrina, but I've seen documents that list her as Katherine.  If we were to name a LO after her, I'd choose Katrina because I prefer it as a name to Katherine, if that makes sense...

gimmietimmies

I did. Partly to honor the person, but reverting to Gaelic also was a wish of my great grandmother.

PrincessFiona9

I think that he may feel that the original name isn't really him, so you'd be honoring the heritage and not the actual person if you chose Americo. However you should ask your dad what he thinks about it.

RedInLove

I think using Americo is a way to honor both your father and his parents! My grandmother's first name was altered when she entered the US from Canada, and my cousin used my grandmother's original name as the middle name for her first daughter. I prefer her original name, and my grandmother was so touched that it was used.

I had friends years ago (the husband was a co-worker of mine) that named their son after the dad, but took his hispanic name (Alejandro) and used a German version of it (probably Alexander, I don't remember), and took the mom's father's name (I think Anthony) and used I think Antonio or something like that. I also forget which was fn and mn, but I loved the way they intertwined their heritages while still honoring family members.