My middle name
It's not uncommon for Latin families to pass down names for generations. As a matter of fact, it was the norm when I was a kid and just recently it seems we are moving away from such tradition. That being said, I remember meeting on occasion someone who didn't particularly like their given name, maybe because it was too common, or possibly because of the family dynamics, but in that sense I've always felt I got lucky.
My middle name was given to me as a gift of appreciation to the Doctor who delivered me to this world. Of course, it's not like I can remember a thing, but I know from different sources that when my mother was pregnant with yours truly the struggle was real. As a matter of fact, there's only one picture of her with me inside the belly and that was so at her request.
When I was born, I was a 12 lbs baby and my mother, a tiny lady of 90 lbs, could barely walk and had to remain in bed for most of the latter part of the pregnancy. This is also the reason why there's little photographic evidence of that pregnancy, and why my older brother used to tease me and somewhat convince me I was adopted.
The Doctor of this story was also my uncle, the younger brother of my late grandfather who was quite a lovable character and someone who I owe my life to, hence why I appreciate my name. It's somewhat crazy to think that I was one of those difficult pregnancies, the kind that Doctors recommend not to take to full term. Yet, my mother aided by this late uncle were stubborn enough to try and here I am today.
Hey, @meno.
Re: middle name
I'm not latino, but most of the male members of my family stretching back generations have middle names. I think they're great in the event you don't like your first name. In my case, though, it's good that I do like my first name (Glen) because of my middle name (Anthony) is actually my father's first name.
See, rather than naming the firstborn male with the name of the father, thus creating a junior or a II, we've passed down the first name as a second name for six generations now.
I said something to my Dad once about the middle name being an Albrethsen family tradition and how it started and he basically replied, "What tradition?" :)
I doubt I'm the one who figured out what was going on, or did it intentionally, so I'm not sure what my Dad was talking about (I've yet to try to ask again), but from my great-grandfather on through to my great grandson, there's now six of us with our father's first name as our middle name.
re: pregnancy
My wife is from Mexico. I think she weighed around 120 pounds when our first son was born, but she's all of 4'9", so very compact and while not 12 lbs. (big baby, dude!) he was well over 8 lbs. Twenty-four hours, a lot of that induced, and a laser C-section later, he was born.
Our second son was a C-section, too, but after the first one, he was a planned C-section more or less from the start.
It's cool where we get our names from, especially when they come from people who are related to us and have some kind of special meaning in our lives.
Family traditions are precious in my eyes.... not that they have intrinsic value, but they really bound a group of people together... at least they do for us.
I was glad that they gave me a different middle name to differentiate me from my grandfather, father and brother! Didn’t like it but at least there was thought given to it!
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Great story @meno and you are right, name must be loved and respected, especially if it was given on a special occasion!
Holy Cow! @meno. Your weight at birth was more than a 13% of your tiny weightlifter mom. ¡Poor little sweetie! ;)
Yeah! both of your relatives deserves not only a statue like your uncle the benevolent doctor, but a huge monument for your tiny lady for have had to carry on with the huge load of such a blood sucking leech within her belly for nine months. LOL
Oh! but I'm really glad that you are now here with us to tell the story. :)
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