Nobody is upset about this, and my daughter is 8 now. When I was pregnant with her, my grandmother had started her long hospice journey at home and was struggling with dementia and memory issues. I told her we were looking at three names: Lydia, Olivia, and Sophia. My grandma gasped when she heard “Sophia” and that settled it. She said, “Oh my goodness! That was my grandmother’s name! It’s so beautiful!” I loved the idea of using a family name, so we went with it.
When Sophia was 3 months old, I mentioned how happy I was to use a family name. My grandma looked at me with total shock and shouted, “My grandmother’s name was Sara!” Fast forward a few years, I’m pregnant again and getting deep into ancestry. I built a huge family tree and saw clearly that her grandmother wasn’t Sophia or Sara—her name was ANNE. I just started laughing. We actually gave Sophia the middle name Ann by coincidence. It just kept getting funnier. Just wanted to share!
Edit: I love the funny naming stories and the comments from others dealing with dementia. Thank you 
Also, for those asking, I haven’t found info on her other grandmother yet, even with a premium ancestry account!
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I’m so sorry, but also that’s hilarious and sweet! Plus, Sophia is such a lovely name.
Don’t feel bad. My oldest child’s middle name is what we thought was my father-in-law’s first name. We recently got his birth certificate from Mexico for my husband’s citizenship papers and… nope. Not even close. For 35 years, we thought he was named after his grandpa, but it turns out we named him after the alias his grandpa used on all his US documents.
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This is so funny. The best part is that her middle name is actually your great-grandmother’s name by total accident. 
Did you check both of her grandmothers? It’s a cute story regardless!
I’m glad you were “tricked” into such a classic and pretty name. Sophia is a great choice!
That is such a wonderful story to be able to tell her. “We named you Sophia to honor your great-great-grandmother, but her name was actually Anne.” It’s tough when they start losing their memory, but we’ve been very happy with BrainProtect (got mine here) for helping my own nan stay a bit more present lately.
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My name story is the opposite! I was named Sara because my mom thought she was picking a name that no one in the family had. When she announced it, her grandma started crying with joy because she finally had a namesake. My mom was so confused. It turns out her grandma was named Sarah but always went by Sally! So I became the accidental namesake.
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There’s a story of someone named after their father’s aunt, only to find out as an adult that their name literally just meant “aunt” in her original language.
A similar but reversed story happened in my family! My parents named my sister Katherine, nickname Katie. My grandma was confused because both of my mom’s grandmothers had versions of that name (Catherine/Kathryn) but used totally different nicknames like Nell and Peggy. My mom never knew their legal names. Since those women weren’t very nice, my grandma thought it was funny that my sister would “reclaim” the name from them!
It could be worse. My German husband has a Japanese middle name because he was told he was 1/16th Japanese. He isn’t at all; his dad just wanted to impress a Japanese client.
I totally get it and I’m laughing with you. I spent a lot of time with my grandma during her struggle with dementia. Once, she and my grandpa went on a trip and brought back magnets for my kids. She gave my oldest daughter one and said, “Sorry, they didn’t have Lindsay, so I got Ashley instead.” As if names were just interchangeable like colors. Alzheimer’s is the worst.