Dad-to-be Usher wants to carry on the name with a son

R&B musician Usher, 28, told Ellen Degeneres on her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, that he is looking forward to having a son. Usher continued to say that if he and his new bride, Tameka Foster, 37, have a son he would like to name him Usher. He explains,

If it’s a boy, I’m going to name him Usher. I’m hoping to name him that. I’ve been playing with a few names. I’m the fourth. Usher Raymond IV. I just want to pass the name on. Maybe I’ll change the middle name.

Usher and Tameka married in a private civil ceremony in Atlanta on August 3, 2007.The couple have plans to marry in a larger, more extravagant wedding ceremony in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend. Their baby is due in the fall. It will be Usher’s first child and Tameka’s fourth.

Source: People

Are any of your children’s names family names? Through how many generations have you passed a name on?

Comments

My daughter’s name is a combination of 4 family names. Kathlynn, is pronounced Kathleen, kathleen was my MIL’s middle name, Lynn being my aunt’s middle name. Gene, is my grandmother’s middle name, and Anne is my mother’s middle name. I hope that makes sense. She’s Kathlynn Gene-Anne.

- S on September 1st, 2007

All of my children have one family name. My oldest son’s middle name is actually my grandmothers maiden name- the history to the name is so rich, so thats why we went that way. None of the kids however are a second, or junior.
My brother, father, grandfather etc on the other hand all have the first name of James, with different middle names- I believe at this point my brother is the 5th generation of James’

- Mandy on September 1st, 2007

He already knows it’s a boy, that’s why he is saying he would prefer a boy lol.

- gabriella on September 1st, 2007

It’s nice to name a child after someone but when I have children I think I will give them their own unique name instead of passing on a family members name.

- Lola on September 1st, 2007

I have my deceased grandmother’s name which is Sarah Marie. I never liked it growing up, but I love it now!

- SCHERRIEA on September 1st, 2007

They are one of the most unappealing couples I’ve ever seen. Not in looks, in the aura they give off.

- http://blacktennispros.blogspot.com on September 1st, 2007

I think it’s wonderful that he wants to pass on that tradition. My son Jack has two middle names, Robert and Douglas, in honour of my father’s only two brothers who sadly passed away. Robert also happens to be a family name on my husband’s father’s side of the family as well for three generations so it all worked out. Cudos to Usher.

- Jessica L. on September 1st, 2007

My husband is a third. We had decided if we had a boy, we were not going to continue the name. His parents were upset about that, but we didn’t have to worry about it because we had twin girls!

- Stephanie on September 1st, 2007

I think that pass on names are ok to a point. Maybe not the full name, but like he said change the middle name. My boys have the same middle name that has been in the family for over 200 years, not a name I care for but it was important to family.

- Kim on September 1st, 2007

I’m one of those people who has an issue with the Sr/Jr/III and such name progression. It’s a lovely tribute if you choose to do it, but for me I want my child to have the individuality of a name that’s his and his alone from birth. For me it feels like indirectly imposing someone else’s ideals, goal, and personality onto the child before they have a chance to learn or be who they are. I recognize that others don’t see it that way and I totally respect that, but that’s the way I feel about it.

- Grayson's Girl on September 1st, 2007

One thing that really gets to me is when men talk about having kids as if they are the ones physically doing it. He says ” I’m going to name him Usher” and ” I have been playing with a few names”. Where is the mother in all this?

- Victoria on September 1st, 2007

Well, one of our son’s middle name’s is Franklin (he has 2 middle names-one is my hubby’s side of family’s name and the other is my side of the family’s name). This is my hubby’s middle name and his Dad’s middle name and his Dad’s middle name and so on..so we had to use as his middle name. My son is the 5th generation to have Franklin as a middle name, at least. It took me awhile to get used to it, I guess because you never hear that name anymore, but now I love it. I couldn’t imagine it being anything else but.

- nicksmomma on September 1st, 2007

I don’t like how he is stating everything as if he is the one who makes the decision on the name…just who is carrying this baby??? I think he is coming off as somewhat sexist and egotistical in his comments.

- Rye on September 1st, 2007

I have problems with it, too. It’s totally egotistical. My husband’s family has this thing with naming all the firstborn males “Samuel”, and while I like the name individually, I would never actually use it. When we got married, he assumed that we would, and this was how I explained it to him…
I said, Sure, we’ll name the boys after you, and the girls after me, and when we introduce ourselves to people, it will be “Hi, I’m Aaron, this is our daughter Aaron, this is my husband Sam and our son Sam.” How does that sound? He was like…yeah, I see your point. It’s freakish.
I think kids should have their own identity. It’s quite enough to share a last name. I did use my grandmother’s maiden name as a middle name for my middle child, but it’s not really the same thing, and doesn’t have the same connotations for me as far as the ego thing goes.

- Aaron Boatwright on September 2nd, 2007

I posted a comment about this article and for some reason you didn’t post it – I can’t work out why since there was nothing wrong with it. Sometimes the censorship on this site makes me wonder why I even bother posting.

Shannon’s note: Sarah is away for the weekend and I have been trying to get everything done. The comments are only being published now and I have hundreds to go through. Your other comment should appear soon! The comments are checked and the posted because we have a comment policy — you can click at the bottom of each post to read it!

Sarah’s note: Hi Taryn — I just looked over all the comments on this post and we don’t have one from you other than this one? It may not have gone through completely because there’s nothing on my end.

And yes, comments were taking hours to go through today because generally only one person — me — does them, and I took a break and went away for 4 days. Shannon is Australian and so her time schedule is quite different and comments are often sitting for awhile waiting to be moderated. We should be back up to speed by Tuesday evening!

- taryn on September 2nd, 2007

I think naming your kid after someone is the tackiest most unoriginal thing you can do. if you have to, pick an original first name, and pass on a middle name, but getting into the whole Jr’s, 3rd’s and 4th’s, is just tacky.

- MuffThumb on September 3rd, 2007

I gave my daughter the middle name Leila after my mother, and I also really love the name. My oldest son’s middle name is Matthew which is a name from his father’s side of the family, all of the grandchildren gave their sons that middle name after their grandfather, Patrick Matthew, who went by Matthew. His brother has two middle names, the first after his father’s friend who died on 9/11, and the second is his father’s first name. And my younger son is a Jr., named after his father.
It was completely 50/50 in naming our children, if I absolutely hated a name that he absolutely loved, it went out the window and vice versa. Naming a child should be completely mutual.

- Rachel on September 3rd, 2007

All the women on my mother’s side of the family have the same name. I am the first to have it as a middle name. In Brasil, my mother’s country, women are often called by their first and middle name, or just middle name. I plan on giving my daughter the same middle name, but a first name that no one else in my family has.

- M on September 3rd, 2007

With all the talk about unique celebrity names, this choice actually stands out.

- baby boy names on September 4th, 2007