Genealogy Chat

this pattern evidently faded out gradually in the mid 1800,s. seemingly there are grounds to suggest it was often used. the FIRST SON was named after the FATHER,S FATHER the SECOND SON was named after the MOTHER,S FATHER the THIRD SON was named after the FATHER the FOURTH SON was named after the FATHER,S ELDEST BROTHER the FIRST DAUGHTER was named 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 no mention is made of pattern,s that are outside the above parameter,s. useful tool.

a useful tool

Thanks for that - any tips help! It is a lot easier than today's names will be for future generations !!

Yes, if your elusive ancestor, whom you cannot find details of parentage, had children, study their names and it is likely that the parents parents were called that as well. Say your elusive ancestor John Harris and wife Elizabeth had two children Thomas and James, then it is likely that is the names of John and Elizabeth's fathers Ben

nudged up to answer some Q,s

This is a good one..

I have found this to be the case much later in Scotland Chris

depends on the family... one of mine was using names that don't seem to appear anywhere else, by about 1780-1790. And no I don't think I've gone off on the wrong branch as none of his sons or grandsons seemed to have followed the traditional pattern either. But in another family they were doing it until the 1920's. It can help sort them out if you have several families in the same area with the same surnames, but I'd still be unhappy about taking it as fact without other corroborative evidence.

Thanks - could be useful when trawling through my mountain of James'!!!!!

It is a really useful thing to bear in mind. Lots of mine seem to have followed the patterns and I find that it helps if you maybe have a couple of possible baptisms of children of the same name, and need to work out which one is 'yours'. Looking at the names they called their children can help you find out which were the right set of parents.

nudge

I've just checked one of my family groups 1834-1852 and sure enough the 3rd son has the same name as his father and the 3rd daughter the same name as her mother.

This is an excellent one, I could see they were all using the same names in my tree, but couldn't see a pattern until now.....