[dw1]

My older brother was named after our grandfather, my younger sister after our grandmother. Being a middle child & second boy (when, as I was told later, they really wanted a girl) my first name was, I guess, picked out of a hat. My first name has no connection to any prior family member that I can find.

My wife and I decided on names before our children were born.

For the first one if it was a boy he would be named for my dad (with a middle name my grandpa's first name), if it was a girl then for my wife's mom (middle name for my wife's grandma).

Since our first was a girl, for the second we decided if it was a boy, he would be named for my father & grandfather, if another girl we would use a feminine derivative of my dad's name with my mom's name for the middle name. Well, we had a second girl and stopped there because I did not want to inflict "middle kid syndrome" on someone.

I have an old friend from a large Irish-American family in which the oldest boy always has the same name as his dad (and his grandfather, and great-grandfather and so on). A great tradition, but it could get confusing at times.