Dear Listers Long email - apologies. I have a riddle with a Dawson family and was trying to use naming conventions to help sort out the mystery. I wanted to discuss naming conventions on the list, and whether they were consistently used throughout Britain. My primary family genealogy has been in Cornwall and Wales, and I've found it largely correlating with what is below: Sons 1st son named after father's father 2nd son named after mother's father 3rd son named after father 4th son named after father's eldest brother 5th son named after mother's eldest brother Daughters 1st daughter named after mother's mother 2nd daughter named after father's mother 3rd daughter named after mother 4th daughter named after mother's eldest sister 5th daughter named after father's eldest sister If both grandfathers had the same name, then the second son could be named after the father. (I'm not sure what the source document was for this) I have used naming conventions with my Cornish forebears to help sort out some family mystery's, but, from the early 1800's new names such as Albert and Caroline have appeared in my tree, and they seem to correlate with the Royalty, ie Princess Caroline of Brunswick. My GG grandfather John Knell Pascoe, appears to have been named after a famous Cornishman of the day John Knell, after his father who had been married twice and fathered many children, ran out of names in the 2nd family and he and his wife became a little more creative. I also had an interesting instance where the children born to a Pascoe family changed noticeably in a particular generation. The father Francis was named after his father Francis, his only sibling had died, and the wife's parents had identical names to her husband's, and so after the children were named Francis, Frances, and Fanny (and a few other children named Frances and Fanny had died) , the wife's siblings named were used in the order that they were born. The wife's family had a different group of names, so it was interesting to see the change that took place. It also looks as though in the mid to late 1800's the naming convention broke down, and beyond naming after their parents and themselves, children were named after favourite siblings, and increasingly the fashion of the day, whether that was royalty or a revered public figure. I noticed at the time of the Boer war that some some girls whose fathers served has middle names of places like Pretoria, or a revered general. I would be interested to hear you thoughts on this. And separately, the mystery. The Dawson issue that I am looking at, is the lack of a birth record for a James Dawson born c.1843. He died in 1848 in Adelaide, father named William. Now, at that time there were 2 William Dawson's in Adelaide producing children. Which one? So, I thought I would look at dates and timeframes of birth in the 2 families and possible naming conventions. The 2 families are: William Dawson (likely b.c.1811 Hampshire to James Dawson & Charlotte Burt) and Mary Ann Whitcher (likely b.c.1809 Bucks to John Whitcher and Louisa Chissel) married. 1838 Buckinghamshire. William Dawson's siblings were Ann, Harriett, Caroline, and George. Wm Dawson, wife and child emigrated 1839 to Adelaide on the ship Moffat. Children of Wm Dawson and Mary Ann Whitcher: 1. Louisa b.1839 Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire (maternal grandmother's name) 2. Possible James birth if late 1842 / early 1843. 3. Mary Ann Dawson b. 8 Nov 1844 Adelaide. (mother's name) Mary Ann died in 1849, and William married Jane Shugg (parents William Shugg and Hannah Freeman) and Jane's siblings included a brother Edward and his wife Matilda. Children of Wm Dawson and Jane Shugg: 1. William James b.1851 (Wm both father's, and James paternal grandfather's name) 2. Charlotte Freeman b.1854 (paternal grandmother 1st name, maternal grandmother surname) 3. Caroline b.1856 (paternal aunt) 4. Alfred Burt b.1857 (Alfred? Burt is paternal mother's surname) 5. Matilda b.1863 (? Possibly favourite brother's wife) 6. George Edward b.1866 (George father's only brother, Edw mother's brother closest in age to her in large family) William Dawson and Susannah Parrish. Not a family I've researched so, I don't know their antecedents. If someone has, that would be fabulous to have a look at the naming patterns in this family. Married in Adelaide, don't' know if their parents were noted on marriage record. Children of Wm Dawson and Susannah Parrish: 1. Susannah b. 1821 2. William b.1824 3. Henry b.1826 4. Jane Green b.1829 5. Charles b.1831 6. George b.1833 7. John b. 1835 8. Frances b. 1838 9. Charlotte b. 1841 10. Possible James birth c.1843 11. Samuel Hugh b. 1845 You can see my dilemma with James born c.1843, and that theoretically he would have fitted within both families. So, am I turning myself inside out here, to try and solve a puzzle? Any ideas? I would be interested to hear you thoughts on this. Kind regards, Rowena