Hi, I conduct a one name study, that's all families, all times, worldwide, of one surname. Re first name patterns It varies enough in England to be an utterly unreliable method of working out whom belongs to whom, I've not even tried to, but it is very common to find a surname used as a first name, often it was the mother's maiden name or a grandmothers maiden surname. Usually one son is named after the father, but not necesarily the first or the third son. It can be difficult to see a pattern when the first four generations all called their first sons the same name. The pattern doesn't say if the fifth son was named after anyone, down here often a name was used twice if the first child died they named another the same. Some distinctive names do run in families. Alice will appear from apparently nowhere and become favoured for two or three generations, or skip a generation. One of my own 19th c families nearly ran out of girls names after 8 on the trot, the first son and 9th child was named Jeremiah after his father..... he should by pattern have been a John. I often see a child named after an uncle too. Sorry, Lynn T and I'm not collecting for my one name study here I want to find my own ancestors!!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: Vivienne S Dunstan <viv.dunstan@one-name.org> To: <> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 12:38 PM Subject: Re: Naming Pattern > Dee Lerch <dlerch@uniserve.com> wrote: > >Naming Pattern popular between > >1700 and 1875 in UK as follows. > > > >- 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 > > Could you tell me the source for this please? In all my studies I've > never seen any indication of a popular UK-wide pattern in this period. > There is evidence from the past of a Scottish pattern, but there seems > less evidence of a single English pattern, let alone any overall UK one. > > There is a very common pattern that researchers see in lowland > Scottish families during the pre-1900 period, and that runs to > > 1st son after father's father > 2nd son after mother's father > 3rd son after father > 1st dau after mother's mother > 2nd dau after father's mother > 3rd dau after mother > > But there were enough variations in this pattern even in lowland > Scotland to caution people against relying upon it completely, and > to extend any "standard" pattern beyond the first 3 sons/daughters > is pushing any idea of "standardization" way too far IMHO. For a > detailed discussion of this see for example Gerald Hamilton-Edwards' > "In seach of Scottish ancestry" Chapter 5 (other Scottish genealogy > textbooks should also cover naming patterns to varying degrees). > > In my albeit more limited experience of English research I've found > it hard to detect evidence of any kind of pattern, though something > that I have seen (albeit more in southern England) is a fairly high > chance of a couple naming son 1 after the father (i.e. the child's > father) and daughter 1 after the mother. Beyond that any naming > seems to be very varied. This extends across England east-west. > Moving further north I've seen some cases of what looks at the > start like a Scottish pattern, but then it varies again: more > often than not drawing on biblical (non family) names for the > younger children. And back in Scotland (in the Borders) where > one parent is from England (I wish the census returns were more > precise on cross-Border birthplaces!) there seems less chance of > the Scottish pattern being upheld when it comes to naming children. > > Can other listers comment on any pattterns or otherwise on the > English side of the border, e.g. in the Northumberland/Cumberland > area? Was there something approaching a Scottish pattern, or was > the situation very different? Was there even a pattern at all? > Experiences from single families are interesting, but it can be > easier to look for overall patterns if you've examined many many > families in an area, e.g. perhaps as part of a local or community > history project. If anyone falls into this category and can comment > on the naming patterns I'd be delighted to hear from you. Ditto for > any written commentary on the subject (that can be substantiated). > > Many thanks! > > Viv Dunstan > Fife, Scotland (but originally from Roxburghshire) > http://www.vivdunstan.clara.net/ > > P.S. Apologies if the naming pattern given at the top comes from > a published book or likewise, but I suspect that it may be false > whatever. Even something in a published book can be incorrect :) > > > > ==== BORDER Mailing List ==== > The Border Names Newsletter contact boglelodge@yahoo.com for details. > >