The Traditions Behind Southern Baby Names

The Traditions Behind Southern Baby Names
By. Jan Bay

Any true southerner has problems getting why Yankees get a chuckle out of Southern baby names. People not in the loop suppose that double or even triple names are paired together for no other reason than melodious meter. It could be unreasonable of me, but the thought of an individual poking fun at a practice they don't have a clue about just makes me angry. Southerners choose their baby names for excellent reasons. Never mind that the names that they select are probably different from the most popular names on the listings for any given year.

Southern parents don't just scan the latest books and select names because they are trendy or cool. These women take more pains in choosing names for their babies than they did in having them. That statement may be taking it a bit too far, but mothers in the southern part of the country really agonize over what to name their baby. This is because picking southern baby names involves so much more than reading the different words printed in some generic baby magazine that lists the copied meanings of various baby names.

Word meanings are all fine and good; they have been successful for the people who publish Webster's Dictionaries for decades! But when you start discussing naming southern kids you're looking at definitions of names within families, not what they might mean to a person who wants a name that means something to somebody who speaks a foreign language!

As far as meter goes, I don't give a flip about how easily a particular name glides off the tongue, a certain amount of care and consideration has to be practiced in the naming of these children.Care must be taken so as not to chance naming a baby after a second cousin somewhere in the lineage that made some type of crime some time ago.

The unfortunate ancestor's unfortunate misdeed could have been anything
from having fought for the enemies to having had a short stay in Atlanta for not having been shut mouthed about the location of the family still. The error would be in having been discovered, as there is certainly no shame in brewing your own refreshments even in the New South.

Don't be mistaken to think that only the names of a southern baby's parents are treasured or even that their grandpappys are the only ones passed forward.
There may have been a famous great great uncle who battled fiercely in the war and deemed worthy of remembrance. In this situation there could be a competition every generation or so among children to have the first born son. The reward for winning this rather unusual contest could be that the first born son can have first choice for the famous ancestor's name. Talk about mass confusion at family reunions!
How in the world can you differentiate between all those namesakes?

How does a person manage a shout out to one of them without dragging in the entire group? That's where middle names are so helpful and that brings me to a reason behind the southern tradition of double names!

As we all know southerners are known for double names. Some are forced to resort to triple names so that their little Johnny and Sally stands apart from the rest. Why this is a tradition attributed to the south I'm not really certain. I would like to think it's because southerners have so many beloved kinfolks that they want to honor. This fact makes it necessary to give each baby many names so that eachillustrious deceased family member is sufficiently memorialized.

I can't count the many theories where credit can be given for the reasoning of traditional southern baby naming patterns and the traditions behind them. There seems to be no definitive answer as to why family names and history appear to be more important to moms and dads below the Mason Dixon Line than in other parts of the nation. There is however, no argument that the results are some of the most beautiful and romantic names you will see written on a birth certificate anywhere. The next time you feel driven to chuckle at a baby named something unusual consider that the first person that bore the same name may not have perished defending a southern lady's good name but that he may have died defending our liberty and our country.

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About The Author, Jan Bay

Jan Bay is a Freelance Author of Nursery Decorating Articles Baby Gear Reviews and Webmaster for http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.comUse of this article requires an active link to Popular Baby Names

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