March 6 – Namesake Day

nPostednon March 6, 2016

nTodaynis the start of an entire week of special days focusing on names.

nFirstn Sunday in March – Namesake Day

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nFirstn Monday – Funn Facts About Names Day

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nFirstn Tuesday – Unique Names Day

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nFirstn Wednesday – Discovern What Your Name Means Day

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nFirstn Thursday – Nametag Day

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nFirstn Friday – Middle Name Pride Day

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nFirstn Saturday – Genealogyn Day

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Today’snspecial name-oriented theme is namesakes. Sometimes we use the wordnnamesake simply to mean something or someone that has the same namenas another. For example, someone could say to a child named Benjamin that henshould play the part of his namesake, Benjamin Franklin, in thenschool play.

nButnusually we use the word namesake to mean someone who shares a namenwhen one was named for another, intentionally chosen to honor the other person. This often happens when parents give their children their own name.

nAt least twelve presidents share their name with their father, including our current president, who was named Barack Hussein Obama II, after his father Barack Hussein Obama, Sr.

nThenUnited States has had two sets of father-and-son presidents who sharednnames: John Adams (2^ndnpresident) and his son John Quincy Adams (6^thnpresident), and George Herbert Walker Bush (# 41) and his son GeorgenWalker Bush (# 43).

Sometimesnpeople are named, not after their parents, but after someone famous.nRight now there are about 2,000 girls and women named Beyoncénin the United States, and most of them are between the ages 10 andn15.

Indid a little digging, and it looks as though Beyoncé Knowles was thenonly Beyoncé in the nation until 1998, the year she first becamenfamous with Destiny’s Child. Her name became more and more popular asnshe became more and more famous – but even though she is now a superstar, apparently her name isnfalling out of fashion. I think there are twonreasons for this decrease:

n(1) People are less likely to name theirnbaby after a celebrity if they know a bunch of other little kidsnrunning around with that name, and

n(2) People are less likely to namentheir kids after a superstar like Elvis or Madonna – or, now,nBeyoncé – than they are to choose a namesake that is onlynmoderately known and popular.

nDonyou have a namesake? Better check with your parents – you mightnhave one and not even realize!

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