What to Know
When I was pregnant, deciding what to name my son was probably one of the hardest things I had to deal with. Finding the perfect name for your child is something that trips up most parents; we want to give them something original but timeless, and something that they won’t want to change when they’re 18. It’s shocking how long naming your baby can take. But one mom may have found the hack. She named all of her daughters Mary. A group of sisters with the same name may seem like a wild concept, but based on others sharing their stories, it’s not as uncommon as you’d think!
The girls’ names are steeped in tradition.
The mom, who is also named Mary, owns family-run meat company Five Marys, shared a reel on Facebook revealing the sisters with the same name as the company’s brand inspiration. She explained that they have a “long history of strong Catholic women named Mary on both sides of our family,” so she and her husband planned to carry on the tradition when they had their first daughter. Of course, they had no idea that they would have nothing but daughters!
They decided to not find out the sex of any of their children before birth. Convinced that their first child would be a boy, they were happily excited when they got a girl instead.
Their first daughter, MaryFrances, is named after relatives on both sides, the mom explained. “We loved the name and decided to call her Francie honoring strong family members on both sides of our families and Francie is just that,” she wrote.
They never ran out of women to name their daughters after.
Mom Mary explained they always held out the hope that one of their children would be a boy, but that wasn’t in the cards for them.
Daughter number two is named MaryMarjorie Sheehy, but goes by Maisie. She was named after her mom’s grandmother and great aunt. Her younger sister Janie is named MaryJane Regan, sharing her middle name with her mom. When you have that many daughters, it’s inevitable that you’ll name one of them after yourself. And MaryJane is after her mother’s paternal grandmother who died young.
“The fourth baby had to be the boy right? Tessa surprised us again rounding out our gaggle of girls!” the mom wrote.
Youngest daughter Tessa, who also goes by “Tiny” or “Tiny Tess” is named MaryTeresa Katherine after her mom’s aunts, one of whom died before Tess was born. According to her mom, her “tiny” nickname “suits her and her huge personality well.”
Sisters with the same name is a surprisingly common thing.
“I had a doctor who was named Mary alongside all of her sisters as well,” one person wrote. “I think there were 6 of them, and they all went by their middle names.”
“We did that with our son. My husband is Timothy, his father is Timothy, his step father is Timothy, our son is Timothy. And all the 2nd and 3rd generation men go by their middle names. If we have another boy we will probably keep it going and name him Timothy also,” another commenter shared.
“All 8 of us are named Mary as well… we have to go by our middle names.”
“My mom is from a big family, there were six girls, all named Maria,” someone added.
However, some people were skeptical of the tradition.
“I get the idea, but if they never use the name, how does it count as carrying it on?” someone asked.
“But reading the caption, they aren’t named Mary. All of their names start with Mary but have another name tacked on without a space….” another person chimed in.
“WTH – this is a female version of George Foreman with all of his sons named George.”
