Naming baby after historic event of the day?

abbyful

One of my co-workers just had a baby, named him Lincoln, which I personally think is a great name!

The baby was born on Abraham Lincoln's birthday though, which I find kind of strange. Like naming a baby "April" that was born in the month of April. No idea if they decided on the name because of Abe Lincoln, or if it was just a coincidence.

WDYT? Would you name a kid after something that happened the day they were born? 

TheLuckiestOne

DH's great-grandpa had the middle name Valentine because he was born on February 14th.  I think it's kind of cute.

Helenahhandbasket

It's not something I would intentionally do, but I don't think it's that big of a deal.  I wouldn't assume someone did this on purpose though.

Maybe your friend didn't pick up on the coincidence? 

And actually, now that I think about it I have an uncle Patrick that was born on 3/17.  He was my grandmother's 6th child and she freely admits she couldn't think of any other names.  It's not a big deal.

mmdd20

I guess I would tend to think of this as a coincidence, rather than something they would intentionally do. Unless they had a scheduled c-section, the odds of them actually having a baby on Lincoln's bday are pretty slim. Although I do have a friend born on Christmas Eve and her parents decided to name her Noel because of this. 

Regardless, this isn't one that would really make me side-eye. Now, if they names their baby Uncle Sam with a 4th of July bday... maybe I would.

kmichln

I don't think it's a terrible idea. Kind of an interesting way to get inspiration if you go to the hospital without any names set in stone. 

erb82

DD2 was due on DH's grandmother's birthday, and we ended up naming DD after her. It wasn't our only consideration but it ended up being the tiebreaker.

bobcee

I think it depends on how well known the connection is, but like pp said it's just another way of getting inspiration. My parents decided to name my brother Paul Matthew because he was born on St. John Paul II birthday. Since it's not really that well known probably, I doubt most people make the connection.  My mom's middle name is May because she was born in May.  If she was born one day later, it would've been June.  I think that one is a bit stranger, but whatever works I suppose.

+ASH+

I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't purposely avoid doing it.

As for naming a baby April who was born in April, that gave me a laugh because as a child there was a girl in my class named April and her birthday was a different month. It always confused me so much that her parents would name her after a month and it wasn't even "her" month. The logic we have as children .

blu-eyedwife

I think a lot of people give a name nod to holidays if their children are born on them - Natalie, Noel, Holly for Christmas babies springs to mind immediately.

My mom was born on St. Patrick's Day, and her middle name is Patricia.

capulet

Well, this is sort of similar...

We were down to two names for DS, John (my favorite) and Lincoln (DH's).  I had an RCS scheduled for the following week, but my water broke the night of Thanksgiving.  I mentioned to DH on the way to the hospital that maybe it was a sign we should name him Lincoln, because Abraham Lincoln declared the first modern Thanksgiving during the Civil War (it had been observed periodically but not annually before that).  He said he'd been thinking the same thing.   We did name him Lincoln, and that wasn't the only reason, but it was one of a lot of little things that nudged us in that direction.

lifeonthehill

My baby nephew was born during the blizzard here in Maine. I am glad she didn't name him "Nemo" or "Blizzard"!

I wouldn't do this personally either. 

ChristyML

Joey was born on Columbus Day last year. I didn't even realize it until the next day or two. 

I knew someone that was named April, and she actually wasn't born in April. My grandmother's middle name was May, and she was born in May, but I don't know if that was a coincidence or not.

I think Lincoln would be a GP name for me, but use Linc (or Link) as a nn.

I would not use a name for a holiday like that. 

banannapeach85

I don't mind it, actually. I don't like the name Lincoln, but the idea of historic event-naming is fine by me.

Fletch82

I don't think I would pick a name that matched up with birth date but there are far worse names so I wouldn't side eye this.

mrscountry527

I would not do this unless it was pure coincidence. I like to have names ahead of time.

Also, I LOVE the name Lincoln and that is our favorite boy name for now : ) with a middle name of Elliot

Elinetrouwt

+ASH+:

I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't purposely avoid doing it.

As for naming a baby April who was born in April, that gave me a laugh because as a child there was a girl in my class named April and her birthday was a different month. It always confused me so much that her parents would name her after a month and it wasn't even "her" month. The logic we have as children .

Actually, I still have that logic in my head. I like both Julius and August for boys. Baby is due July 27th, and if either of these names would make it to the shortlist (I'm guessing they won't), I'd only give them if the baby was born in the "right" month. Is that so weird?

g8trkim

I wouldn't do it, but it's not like most people would realize it was Lincoln's birthday so it's not an obvious connection like the April-April thing, or naming a July baby Summer, or a Christmas baby Noel.

magpie1127

DH's birthday is Christmas Eve, and his name is Nicholas (Nick). I don't think it was intentional, but I think it's cool!

As long as the name wouldn't be out of place on a different day, I wouldn't side-eye it. Now, if the name was super overtly obvious (like, if you named your kid Pilgrim and he was born on Thanksgiving), that would be a different story.

lifeonthehill

I was discussing this post with FI while I was planning a Dr. Seuss Day for my preschool and we decided that if we ever had a son born on the 2nd of March we would use the middle name of Seuss to honor our favorite childhood author. Chances of that are obviously crazy slim but it would be a great story.

ali26

I kind of did it. DD was due 12/25 and born on 12/29.  Her middle name is Natalie.  The actual meaning is 'born on Christmas' so to me it makes more sense for a December baby to have this name than a June one.  

 

As far as the Lincoln example, no, I wouldn't intentionally do that.  But if I was stuck on a name and my kid was born on a certain saints day or something maybe I'd use that name since it wouldn't necessarily be common knowledge.