Based on the book “In Search Of Your British & Irish Roots” by Angus Baxter, between 1700-1875 there was a “Naming Pattern” of children. It went as follows: -The first son was named after the father’s father (paternal grandfather) -The second son was named after the mother’s father (maternal grandfather) -The third son was named after the father *The fourth son was named after the father’s eldest -The first daughter was named after the mother’s mother (maternal grandmother) -The second daughter was named after the father’s mother (paternal grandmother) -The third daughter was named after the mother *The fourth daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister In my own research I have seen this pattern duplicated over and over again. This is one of the main reasons finding the exact ancestor is so difficult. But this pattern can also be quite useful. For example, if you know the name of your great-grandfather and know all his children’s names then, by using this pattern you can usually figure out what his father and grandfather's names were. The same goes for your great-grandmother and so on. My grandmother, Celina, was named after her mother’s mother, Celinis (Celina). John Albert Berryman Wills named his first son William. I recently found out that John’s father’s name was William Wills. The same pattern was set for my Irish ancestors. The only problem is if a man has four sons and each one of them name their first son after their father, as done with my Cranney family in Ireland, you could have four James Cranneys all born close together. Trying to sort out which one is your direct ancestor will set your head spinning.! If you are searching for ancestors in the United Kingdom try out this naming pattern. If you’re up against the proverbial “brick wall” it might help. Ginger ----- Original Message ----- From: GaelEire@aol.com Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 2:47 PM To: IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [IRISH-NYC] Names Hi John, The tradition was to name the first male child after the father's father. But I've seen several variations of this naming pattern in my family. Take care, Tracy ==== IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe, send an email with "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) to either: IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY-L-request@rootsweb.com (List Version) IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY-D-request@rootsweb.com (Digest Version) You can also unsubscribe from the website: http://www.irishinnyc.freeservers.com ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237