Parents refuse to name their baby 'Henry' after his paternal grandfather, grandmother berates them for not following family tradition of naming male heirs 'James' or 'Henry': 'She said I was breaking a tradition that went back hundreds of years'

I've never understood naming the men in your family the same thing, generation after generation. It's confusing, and IMHO, it dilutes the significance of the name. If everyone is John, then the original John is just one of many. I like passing down family names through middle names. My mom's middle name is "Wainwright," after her grandmother, and I think that's the coolest thing ever. It would be a curse to give a baby born in the 1960s a first name that was popular in the 1890s, but using it as a middle name ensures she isn't forgotten by her nefarious great-grandchildren, IE, me. If you have a family name as a first name, you're constantly trying (and probably failing) to live up to the grandness and legacy of that name. There are only so may boy names out there, but insisting on a family name for a "male heir" is just plain strange. 

Author image for Emmy Ward Emmy Ward
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