Southern parents tend to focus on the family tree when naming their offspring. Having a family name is a tradition, a badge of honor, and ties us to our family roots.

One of the greatest southern traditions is to pass down a family name, like a treasured heirloom. You might be the second, third or fourth, have someone’s middle or surname or you might have two middle names, like my sister. I was named after my Great-Grandmother on my Dad’s side of the family. Edith Grace Houghton. She married and became Edith Houghton Nixon, which was my name at birth. It is a great way to honor my Dad’s grandmother, and we have chosen to keep the family name going with my daughter as her middle name.

This genealogical chart (see above) hangs in our living room. It is very special to be able to trace the history of the Houghton name all the way back to the 1600s to Sir Ralph Houghton. The bottom of the chart would have been my fourth-great grandparents.

The Houghton name originally came from England, where it was common, in the 18th and 19th centuries, for the English to follow the following naming pattern:

• the first son was named after the father’s father
• the second son, after the mother’s father
• the third son, after the father
• the fourth son, after the father’s eldest brother
• the first daughter, after the mother’s mother
• the second daughter, after the father’s mother
• the third daughter, after the mother
• the fourth daughter, after the mother’s eldest sister

My parents sort of followed this rule; my sister was named after my mother’s mother, and I was named after my father’s grandmother.

I often get, 'that’s an unusual name', 'how do you pronounce that?' 'How do you spell it?' I get these questions all the time and I don’t mind. I think having a unique name builds character and confidence. Sure, I was given plenty of nicknames whether I wanted them or not, but I don’t think that I was ever so upset that I was ashamed of or wanted to change my name. My Grandfather and my sister are the only ones that ever called me “Hootie” and I think I was “Howie” one summer at camp, but that didn’t stick. My Mother calls me Peewee and that stuck.

I’m not easily offended when someone says it wrong. Whenever people try pronouncing my name without knowing it, I get plenty of variations - Hoo-ten, Huff-ton, Hoe-ton, and sometimes I even get called Hyatt (my married name). This especially makes me laugh when they are responding to an email or text that I clearly signed off as “Houghton, or Houghton Hyatt.” If you remember from your school days, Houghton Mifflin (publisher) was on a lot of the textbooks, which is pronounced: “Hoe-ton.” The correct pronunciation of my name is “How-ton.”

Being given a family name is an honor and I am grateful that my parents chose to name me Houghton. I love that it is a truly unique name and I can honestly say that I’ve never met another Houghton before, at least anyone that goes by Houghton. I know of one or two people with the last name Houghton. And, my Aunt and my daughter both have the middle name Houghton, but go by their first names. And once people hear the name, it is not likely that they forget it!

If you're from the South, and even if you're not, and you were given a unique family name, I hope that you wear it proudly because it is special and it gives you a deep connection between you and your family history.