Genealogy Chat

Thank you all for the comments. I shall see if there is a pattern of naming in the families based on what has been said. At least I know I am not alone! Sue

I not only have same names in family but the sons seem to chose wife with same name as their mother so the next generation seem to have the same set of parents names too. It's very confusing when you have to keep using dates to identify them. My fathers father and grandfather had the same first name and middle name. The only advantage is you know they are yours when you find them. Kim

I have the same thing, as recent as the last generation - my father told me only last week that his parents had a daughter tha died, who they named Winnifred, and then a year or so later had another daughter, also named Winifred. Very mobid if yuo ask me. From personal experience of losing a child, I'd not want to "re-use" her name. I also have a tree FULL of John SMITH, Thomas SMITH and Alfred SMITH's. Which is very helpful. Not.

My family from Skye certainly followed the afore mentioned naming patterns, but they had even less imagination as I've come across quite a few where the eldest son may be called Donald then 7 or 8 children later up pops another Donald! Very confusing!!!

Sue, I know of scottish naming patterns: 1st son - after fathers father 2nd son - mothers father 3rd son - father 1st daughter - mothers mother 2nd daughter - fathers mother 3rd daughter - mother not sure what they did if they had any mor than three of each. mine gt x5 grandfather who had 16 children and only three boys seemed to call all the girls catherine or emma or margaret.

Hi Sue, I read an article in a FH magazine and it blamed our lack of imagination with names on the Norman conquest. Apparently we had an awful lot of different names before then but not really any surnames, then the Normans came and we wanted to be like them so took their names. Unfortunately a village could end up with 6 "Richards" which is where surnames came into play. These were generally taken from nick names pertaining to jobs or the name of your landowner and so on. It does make it very frustrating though as I am looking for a succession of Williams. Thank God for middle names as these can be a great help. Naomi

Sue, Don't know if this is any help - taken from genealogy(.)com - or does it just complicate things further!! LOL You will often see the same names used over and over again in families. While certain names are popular in different areas in different times in history, the repetition could represent a pattern. Many cultures believe in honoring their elders and do so by naming children after them. Angus Baxter in "In Search of Your British and Irish Roots" describes a pattern that was popular in England in the 1700-1875 period: 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 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 If this pattern would result in a duplication of names — i.e., both grandfathers had the same name — then they would skip to the next one on the list. Similar patterns have been suggested for other nationalities. This could be a very helpful formula, but many genealogists warn against giving it too much credence. Given human nature, it would be very difficult to follow exactly. It would be pretty hard to convince a new mother of her first-born son to name him after a drunken, abusive father-in-law rather than her own beloved father who had just died. Emma.

Why couldn't my ancestors be more imaginative about names. I have so many Richards, Williams and Henrys etc that it is very difficult to keep track. Is there some naming scheme - first child named after the grandfather or something. If there is some logic to it, that at least would be a help. Does anyone have any ideas? Sue in South Manchester