Hello, I found this information in my saved records. Joan "From Rosemary Reisenhauer, 2003. The Irish Naming Pattern: Such data was memorized, a part of the Oral Tradition in Ireland (as on the Continent) because most of the people most of the time were illiterate, from aristocrats to common laborers. Only a few, e.g., monks, could read and write. Illiteracy was still common at the end of the 19th c. as 8 million European immigrants a year poured into the U.S. 1.) The Celts arose in central Europe and so it is not surprising that numerous countries/cultural groups would also practise some version of a Naming Pattern for infants. Because the U.S. had such large immigrations from many European countries, I witnessed these Patterns first-hand as well as finding them in European Histories. One important purpose was for individual identification. Another was for purposes of inheritance, either of land or privileges or the like. Yet another was to honor ancestors. Hence, grandparents' names often became the first to be used. After that, the naming patterns continue the tradition but with variations from the Irish. 2.) I do not know specifically about the Naming Patterns among the Scots. Perhaps another Lister does. 3.) A family with English ancestry probably would not use the Irish Naming Pattern unless the husband was Irish. Apparently the responsibility, insistence on the tradition, and the prerogative of naming an infant fell to him. His choice, however, was often a source of contention with wives, English or Irish. Perhaps this is what led to the extensive use of nicknames for infants among the Irish. For example, how could one family deal with 4 generations of Bridgets, especially if they lived under the same roof? Hence, Bridget became Bridgey, Bridey, Beesy, Begee, Bird, Birdie, etc. (One of my aunts was a "Bird." She never knew herself as Bridget and never used it.) 4.) For a case study you can search right in County Tipperary. As you run through list after list, you will find more English Given names (and Surnames) in North Riding than you will in South Riding. Also, in the19th c. the English introduced "junior" and "senior" for father and son. Such things were undoubtedly a result of the transplantation of the local Irish from sections of County Tipperary to lands elsewhere that were much less productive. So we now come to the question of "influences" and there were a lot of them in the course of Irish history which changed Irish Naming practices in certain parts of Ireland. 5.) Just to name a few, there is: the first wave of Christianity by Continental monks in the 1st c. A.D. who supplanted the Druids. Suddenly there were saints' names to deal with. While the Romans did not appreciably affect Ireland directly in this period, their descendants among the "Romano-Britains" certainly did. Such peoples in the West of England, e.g., Wales, were the mercenaries in the Anglo-Norman armies of the medieval period.and many remained in Ireland after the battles. (You can also check THE LONDON TIMES, 1966-67. If I remember correctly they ran some articles on the Romano-Britains.) 6.) When the Roman Empire fell in the 400s A.D., the Anglo-Saxons began their incursions, limited in Ireland but a major influence in England until the 6th c. From the 6th-to-the-9th c. A.D., it was the turn of the Vikings (from present-day Norway and Denmark) and, as in England, they eventually colonized sections of Ireland. In seaports like Dublin the Vikings introduced merchantilism, coinage, more advanced technology, etc., and Naming Patterns that varied from the older Irish versions. They seem to have gone back just one generation, e.g., Leif Ericson was Leif, son of Eric. Similarly for daughters--at least until the medival period when there was the call by authorities for consistent and permanent surnames to deal with the burgeoning European population. 7.) Under the circumstances it is remarkable that the Irish Naming Pattern survived at all. But it has. Vestiges of it will run in my family until the late 21st c. This says something about the enduring nature of tradition. But we need to be cautious about applying the Naming Patterns too rigidly to our genealogical searches because of the vagaries of Irish and European History. Remember, the west of Ireland is rocky, the land is not generally of good agricultural use, it is also subjected to bitter winds from the North Atlantic, and is a considerable distance from the East Coast which is closer to markets in England, Scotland, Wales, and the Continent. Historically, then, western Ireland was not regarded as worth the effort for Conquest. Even Roscommon was essentially ignored by the Anglo-Normans because it was too boggy and the people too difficult. Only critical places in the West, e.g., around Galway Bay were developed by the Anglo-Normans. 8.) As a result, however, such remote, even backward areas of Ireland would be the best places to rely on the Naming Pattern because they were isolated. Elsewhere in our searches, we need to be more conscious of "historical influences." That is, unless we factor in the accidents of personal misfortune. In many countries, large families were the rule. But individual diseases and epidemics took their toll and infant mortality was appalling. So, when I found an infant baptism of a "Barney", a nickname for Bernard, in 1839 I was at first confused because his father's name was Bernard. But it would be valid IF this were the 3rd son, named after his father. Or it could be valid if an earlier infant named "Barney" had died and the name was used again. These are the kinds of things that could upset the sequence in the Irish Naming Pattern, and confuse our expectations. So, yes, we can use it as a clue, just not as an absolute rule."