Received from another list. ENGLISH NAME PATTERNS 1700-1875 1st son-----father's father 2nd son--------mother's father 3rd son--------father 4th son--------father's eldest brother 1st dau--------mother's mother 2nd dau-------father's mother 3rd dau-------mother 4th dau-------mother's eldest sister >From "In Search of Scottish Ancestry by Gerald Hamilton-Edwards The eldest son after the paternal grandfather The second son after the maternal grandfather The third son after the father The eldest daughter after the maternal grandmother The second daughter after the mother Younger children would be named after earlier forbears, but the patterns in their case was less settled. One variation from the above was for the eldest son to be named after the mother's father and the eldest daughter after the father's mother. In this case the second son would be named after the father's father and the second daughter after the mothers' mother. Occasionally the second son and daughter would be named after the father and mother instead of the third son and daughter. Another variation was to call the third daughter after one of the great-grandmothers instead of after the mother. In such a case the fourth daughter would usually be called after the mother As with most "rules" in genealogy these are made to be broken. While 17th century parents did indeed use family names, often in the order suggested, my own experience tells me that the rules are not so iron-clad and one should not assume that parents necessarily named their child in that fashion. If, for example, a grandparent or a beloved brother or sister had just died (esp. as a result of some tragedy) the naming pattern might be broken. My suggestion would be to look for *patterns* of names to help identify links from one generation to another. If you see lots of names repeated over & over in your line and the collateral lines, you have a clue. If you see patterns in your line & collateral lines, but with other names that do not fit, then you have clues to the in-laws. _________________ Also it says, There are two good recent examples of the genealogical use of first names and naming patterns to suggest the parents of a person. One is an article on the parents of Abigail Snow in the Jan 1996 issue of The American Genealogist (TAG). The other is on the ancestry of the wife of Jonathan Bliss which appeared in the Jan 1997 issue of the NEHGS register. The Bliss piece is a wonderful example of source use (and demonstration of source misuse). Even if you do not have these names in your lines, it is worth a look to see how genealogists use the naming patterns to construct some hypotheses about the parents of both of these women. P.S. I do NOT know how to get these two issues. or have them. Hope this helps.