'I [was] cracking up': Mom names her newborn baby after her 5x great grandparent after her grandma with dementia shares some less-than accurate family secrets, wholesome hilarity ensues

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Feb 15, 2025 5:00 PM EST

This new mom was thrilled to name her baby after her great-great-great-great-great grandma but was completely hoodwinked by her dear ol' granny with dementia—in the most wholesome way.

What's in a name? Many of us have strong family ties to our ancestors that keep names like Wilhelm, Marvin, Collette, and Barbie cyclically repeating in our society's name rolodex. Funnily enough, without a thorough background check, most of us would take our grandparents at their word when sharing old family stories, like the new mom in our next story. 

Read on for the cute family story that makes growing old fun again, where this grandma set the course for her grandbaby's new future with a name that was completely made up. Because when it comes to a family name, it's all about what you make of it, not the family tree or the proper lineage. It's all about the story.

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    via JasonDoiy

    (The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.)

    All of my cousins are named after distant grandparents. From my grandfather's side, they're descendants from Norwegian ancestry—off the boat from Norway in the 1920s—and my cousins are super proud of their Norse names. They carry on a legacy with those names, albeit in their own hearts. Frankly, nobody ever checks if our great 4x grandparents were actually named those names, but the sentiment remains.

  • I chose my eldest daughter's name thinking it was a family name thanks to grandma with dementia.
    via -Scorpia
  • So no one is bitter about this and my daughter is now 8 years old. When I was pregnant with her (first baby) my grandma had began her very long at-home hospice journey and experienced dementia and memory loss during that time. I was happy to share with her that we were
    via -Scorpia
  • considering 3 different names. Lydia, Olivia and Sophia. My grandma GASPED about the name "Sophia" and it sealed the deal. She told me "Oh my gosh! That was my grandmother's name! Such a beautiful name!" I absolutely LOVED that it was also a family name and there was no question after that.
    via -Scorpia
  • Well when Sophia was 3 months old, I brought it back up and said I loved how we were able to use a family name we loved. My grandma looked at me in HORROR and yelled, "My grandmother's name was Sara!" Q So fast forward a couple years and
    via -Scorpia
  • I'm pregnant again. Getting really into ancestry at this time and had made an extensive family tree. This showed me clear as day that my grandmother's grandma was not Sophia OR SARA and her name was ANNE. I just lost my sh cracking up.
    via -Scorpia
  • We ironically chose Ann as a middle name for Sophia though. It just kept getting funnier and funnier lol Thought I'd share! Edit to add: I love hearing your goofy name stories and especially love and relate to the comments about your loved ones with dementia. Thank you
    via -Scorpia
  • Also, no info on my grandma's other grandma like many have mentioned or asked! I've done the ancestry premium account and got verryyyy far back but not including all family on all sides!
    via -Scorpia
  • leann-crimes I'm so sorry and also Imao and also aww and also hey Sophia is a pretty name!
    via leann-crimes
  • Wasting AnotherHour That's such a fun story to be able to share with her. "We named you Sophia after your great great grandmother. Her name was Anne."
    via Wasting AnotherHour
  • shammy_dammy Don't feel bad. My older child's middle name is the name WE THOUGHT was my father in law's first name. We recently got a hold of a copy of his legal birth certificate in Mexico to work on my husband's citizenship paperwork and....no. It's not his first name. Not even close. So, for
    via shammy_dammy
  • the 35 years of my son's life, we thought we'd named him after his granddad, only to find out we named him after the fake first name that granddad did all of his US paperwork with. :/
    via shammy_dammy
  • AdLong6512 My name is the opposite! I was named Sara because my mom thought she was picking a name that no one in the family had. When she announced it, her grandma burst into years of joy that she had a namesake. My mom was totally confused. Turns out, her grandma was named Sarah but always went by Sally lol. So I became the accidental namesake.
    via AdLong6512
  • kiwigirlie Could be worse. My German husband's middle name is Japanese and he was told it's because he's 1/16 Japanese. He's not his dad was just trying to impress a Japanese business man
    via kiwigirlie
  • unicorntrees Someone was named for their father's aunt, but then as an adult realized that their first name was just "aunt" in the aunt's native language.
    via unicorntrees
  • annathebanana_42 A related but reverse story lives in my family! My parents named my younger sister Katherine nn Katie (fake name but it works). My grandma was confused at first. Turns out both my mom's grandmothers (so my great grandmas) had variations of that name (ie Catherine Kathryn) but had totally unrelated
    via annathebanana_42
  • nicknames (ie Nell and Peggy). My mom never knew their real names. Both these women were total Bs to my mom's side of the family! My grandma found it funny once they sorted out the confusion! She said "she'll reclaim the name from those b****es"
    via annathebanana_42
  • ohjasminee I'm glad you were "duped" into a beautiful and normal name. Sophia is great!!
    via -ohjasminee
  • Cheezburger Image 10466924544
    via Balaz Toth

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