Yes, I understand that, what I am trying to determine is what happens to the third son when the father and grandfather both have the same name. According to the naming practice he would be named after the father. Does anyone have experience with this? Would families skip to naming the 3rd son after the father's oldest brother (according to pattern given to the 4th son) or would that name "slot" be filled with another family member/friend/benefactor. Thank you all for your responses, and I understand that the naming practice is not foolproof. The problem is that if I knew the answer to the above, then it might give me a little help because I don't have any information on siblings for my Great or great-great grandfather Josephs. I believe my great-grandfather had a brother William Thomas and perhaps David and a sister Isabella. But nothing concrete. _____ From: BushesandBugs@aol.com [mailto:BushesandBugs@aol.com] Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 9:44 AM To: barbisantl@qwest.net Subject: Re: [CoTyIre] naming practices In a message dated 9/15/2008 2:34:47 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, barbisantl@qwest.net writes: What happens when the father and the father's father (and those before them) all have the same name? in my case the first boy was named after the grandfather Thomas Vincent Campbell, as were all first born sons back as far as my records go, 1840 . mike _____ Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new <http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014> fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com.