Family naming traditions

When I was a young girl, I often fantasized having a name like “Pearl” or “Zoe,” often feeling my own wasn’t “cool” enough. That was until I learned I was named after a wonderful woman, my maternal grandmother, Ella Jean.

Maternal Grandmother Ella Jean

Grandma Jean passed away when my mother was a teenager. The two of them were very close. When I came along some years later, my mother named me after her, adding the letters “n and a” at the end of Jean to form Jeanna (pronounced like Gina).

I’m honored to carry her name. Everyone I’ve ever met who knew Grandma Jean just goes on and on about what a beautiful, wonderful woman she was. From stories I’ve heard over the years (and the one photo that I have of her) she was gorgeous on the inside and out.

She served for many as the neighborhood mother, offering advice, food and hugs for the young (and old) who would come to her door.

She was an excellent cook, known to be out of bed before the Sun, making, in addition to the sausage, eggs and grits, buttermilk biscuits from scratch. Lunch and dinner were no different - they were big meals and they were good.

Grandma Jean maintained a beautiful garden filled with an array of vegetables, herbs and annuals. She also kept a clean home and ensured her kids knew how to do so as well. Mom remembers being awakened bright and early on Saturday mornings with her older siblings receiving orders from grandma to begin the day’s chores, which included going outside and washing down the house walls and windows.

She had a charming personality; she could start a conversation with anyone, making them feel at ease and comfortable sharing their personal stories with a person, whom after sharing their thoughts, became a friend.

Even in her last days, she kept others first, sharing words of encouragement with patients she met while in and out of the hospital. So many people came to her homecoming service to show their respects. Many were those she helped to keep upbeat and positive throughout their individual ordeals battling illness.

She was a great woman, and I try my best to follow in her footsteps, which also means following in my mother’s. Jeanna is a pretty cool name to me.

So many who knew grandma says, the older I get, the more I look like her. One relative who I’ve recently just learned of and got a chance to speak to believes I even sound like her over the phone. Some believe she’s even come back among us in spirit through me, and I actually agree - we have so many things in common; an affinity for silver, nature and helping others to name a few.

In collecting more genealogy records, and talking with relatives, I have learned Grandma Ella Jean Warren shared the same name as her grandmother, Ella Thomas, just as I share hers. Perhaps a family tradition; girls named after women relatives? My mother was also named after another loved one (both still living), and my aunt shares Jean as a middle appellation.

Do you share the name of someone from your family tree? Does your family have a naming tradition?