A few days ago, Samantha, who is married to our grandson Jordan, had a Facebook request about wanting the names of friends and relatives who would like to be remembered in a quilt she is making for James, due sometime in August. Of course we do want to be included, and Karen responded accordingly. Sam’s request, however, prompted me to think about other grandchildren and their own offspring, our great grandchildren.
James will be a special grandson. Samantha and Jordan have been trying to add a third sibling for Claire and Charlotte, born in 2016 and 2018, respectively, but they have experienced several miscarriages over the years. They are joyfully awaiting James’ arrival. He will be the third boy in his generation to bear the Camerino name.
Dillon, Jordan’s younger brother, and Carolyn have two sons who have rather unusual first names: Brantley and Shiloh. To add to the nominal confusion, “Brantley” is also the last name of our daughter Deborah’s husband, Franklyn. There is no direct connection. Brantley Andrew Camerino was named for a favorite country western singer and for his father, Dillon Andrew. Shiloh has the middle name, Kenneth, the name of his grandfather, our own son, Kenneth Andrew.
Naming children can have interesting backgrounds. Christopher Paul, our own middle child, is named Christopher because I like the repetitive hard consonants found in Christopher and in Camerino, having married Karen and named our older son, Kenneth. Chris’ middle name, Paul, comes from Karen’s favorite uncle, Paul Swank. However, until Chris graduated from college and became a schoolteacher, he was known by the nickname, Kip, a combination of Christopher and Paul, since I have a cousin who named her daughter Christina and beat me to using Chris as a nickname. Back then, overlaps were to be avoided in family names.
When the change occurred, Christopher evidently thought that “Kip” would not go well for a teacher-coach. However, he has not been able to escape completely. His older daughter, Kirby, named her own son Kipton Royce, to combine her father’s nickname, Kip, with that of David Royce Whitworth, the grandfather of her husband, Stephen. Kirby Michele and Stephen are expecting their own second child in May; her name will be Rory Michele, which includes Kirby’s middle name as well as that of her mother, Kelly Michele.
Our other great grandchildren also have special names. Ken’s daughter Christina, who is married to Cristian (!) Araujo, has three children: Elijah David, Lila Rose, and Liam James. Samantha and Jordan have not released James’ middle name, but “William” would add well to the mixture, as a reversal of Liam James and the inclusion of my own middle name, William, taken from my own grandfather, William Moransky, whose actual name was Viktor, but changed to William by an agent at Elias Island!
It appears that name changing within our family has a well-established history. It began with Viktor Murawka becoming William Moransky and continued through my own change from Patty, the nickname given to my own father, Piligrine, by a well-meaning teacher, to that of Pat William and on to our daughter, Deborah Lynne, renaming herself “Cammie” to the world-at-large while remaining Debbie or Deb to her relatives.
And so it is. Pat William Camerino married Karen Jane Swank and had three children: Deborah Lynne (Cammie) married to Frank Brantley; Kenneth Andrew married to Tracey Lynn Sturek; and Christopher Paul (Kip) married to Kelly Michele Siegel. Ken and Tracy have given us Jordan Michael, Dillon Andrew, Christina Noel, Thomas Joseph, Victoria Elizabeth, Olivia Dominique, Damien Paul, Jospeh Xavier, and Gabriel John. Christopher Paul (Kip) and Kelly have two daughters: Kirby Michele and Kennedy Lane.
Our great grandchildren include Brantley Andrew, Claire Marjorie, Elijah David, Charlotte Helen, Lila Rose, Shiloh Kenneth, Liam James, and Kipton Royce along with additions-to-come: Rory Michele and James (the unknown).
Among my fondest memories are those of a family reunion of the Moransky clan, which occurred while I was a sophomore in college. There was a picnic attended by aunts, uncles and cousins-by-the dozens. It was the last time they gathered together. Although the tradition has not been maintained, due to the death of many of them and to the scattering of the next generations, there are still weddings that serve as the reason for the gathering of the descendant clans.
Fortunately, Ken and Tracy have served as the focus for the major gatherings of the past few years. Given that Tracey has a sister and four brothers with large families, their total gathering can be well over fifty direct relatives. At Olivia’s wedding in November of last year, they completely filled the altar of Christ the Good Shepherd for the post-celebration photograph, even though not every one of them could attend the event. At this rate, they will need to shift to the co-cathedral for the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for the nuptials of their own grandchildren.