View Message

I would decide if I liked Eli or Isaac better, and go with that.

I’d continue the alternation

I would just use Grandpa's first name as either the first or middle name for my boy, depending on how much I liked the name itself.
I wouldn't try to continue the tradition of 1b/ba/ab/ba; at that point it's become a schtick.

I'd choose the grandfather's bname

I'd use whichever one I liked better. Since a generation was skipped, you can justify either way!

---

But tbth I wouldn't do that at all unless I happened to really love the combo. I guess I feel like fathers naming their sons after themselves is a male line thing, and my son isn't in that male line. I mean, if that's your way to honor your grandpa - I think it's great! I just personally would not be concerned about getting the tradition right.

That seemed to happen in one of my grandparents' families: Robert's son William had a son Robert who had a son William ... who named his first son Robert, second son John, known as Jack, third son Edward, known as Ted. Then young Robert died. Their next child was a daughter, my grandmother, and then finally there was another boy who was named Robert. He named his only child William, but that William and his wife didn't have children so the chain was broken.

---

In your scenario, if I was very close to my grandfather I think I'd use his exact names: Eli Isaac. And I'd explain to little Eli Isaac exactly what would be expected of him one day!

If I had to choose between literally Eli Isaac and Isaac Eli, I'd just choose Eli Isaac because I prefer Eli as a first name over Isaac. I would worry about what I liked more than about continuing the pattern or about which name belonged to the specific person I wanted to honor.

---

In reality if I was actually in this situation, I would use names I liked better that call back to the family names in some way, probably by starting with the same letters (Elias or Eliana for Eli, and Isaiah or Isabel for Isaac) and not necessarily pair them together in a combo either.

---

There is a bit of a pattern in my own family where my grandmother and I share initials and have the same middle name, so if I wanted to make a pattern out of it I could give my kid my mom's first initial and my mom's middle name, but I wouldn't actually do that unless all the names I liked better got vetoed for some reason.

This message was edited 10/22/2024, 9:59 PM

Since you were close to your grandfather, I would use his name.

What an interesting scenario! I'd pick my favourite combination. I know that's a bit of a cop out but honestly that's what I'd do.

I would use Isaac Eli for a bit of variation. It's still a tribute in my book.

I would use the name I preferred more as the first, or I would ask my partner which order he preferred since I was picking the names.

The way I see it, the break hit the "restart" button and Eli Isaac is totally fine to use. If that's who you want to honor, do it.

I think I would do the alternation from my grandfather's name (Isaac Eli).

I would use Isaac Eli because it flows better. But since that's not the actual name, I don't know. It would be better to know the names in question.