Anne, Thanks for stepping back a few generations in naming patterns. Of the names you have listed, I have more than a few named in my family named Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth, Agnes, Catherine, Helen (Ellen), Sarah. There were a couple that caught my eye as being quite different (for women, i.e.), Nicholas and Gordon. Nowadays it is very difficult to tell by first names whether it is a female or male child with many being given surnames as a first name. Among the male names I have more than a few named John, James, William in the top tier and not bucking the naming trend; however, it was very inconsiderate of my forebears to be less creative! It's interesting that there were few if any Gaelic names among your list 'back then.' Maisie From: Anne Burgess via Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 1:27 AM To: lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Lanark] Ranking of first names in Scotland The GROS published a booklet in 1991 listing the most popular given names. Of the top ten girls' names in 1858, only Elizabeth, Catherine and Helen were still in the top 100 in 1990. Sarah was 15th in 1858 and 3rd in 1990. The 'missing' ones are probably Margaret, Mary, Isabella, Jane/Jean, Janet, Agnes and Ann. Out of curiosity, I searched the SP index for various given names from 1800 to 1854, and found the top ten were Margaret and variants 150,502 Mary 129,381 Jean/Jane and variants 114,529 Jan(n)et 103,122 Ann and variants 100,538 Elizabeth and variants 100,883 Isabella and variants 71,930 Agnes 57,232 Catherine/Katherine and variants 52,910 Helen and variants 52,609 Christina and variants 33,345 Others that may be of interest Sara(h) 11,324 Jessie 9,358 Susan and variants 7,441 If I've missed one, please point her out to me! Boys' names are much less affected by the vagaries of fashion. The top ten in 1858 were all still in the top 100 in 1990 1 John (8th in 1990) [228,060 in 1800-1854] 2 James (7th) [188,557] 3 William (22nd) [169,596] 4 Alexander (34th) [104,172] 5 Robert (18th) [91,471] 6 George (68th) [65,334] 7 David (1st) [58,224] 8 Thomas (24th) [58,763] 9 Andrew (5th) [34,794] 10 Charles (88th) [19,943] Anne

When my brother was born in 1943, the only son of a long line of Peter-William-Peter-Williams, he was called Peter after our father and Russell after an uncle who was at war in the Pacific, breaking with the naming tradition. The "hold a grudge" gene in the family, didn't get over that for a whole year. Sometimes the naming tradition can be a great help, and other times, very confusing. Merry Christmas to you all, and happy hunting for the New Year. Jeannette On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 12:36 PM, Maisie Egger via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Anne, > > Thanks for stepping back a few generations in naming patterns. > > Of the names you have listed, I have more than a few named in my family > named Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth, Agnes, Catherine, Helen (Ellen), Sarah. > There were a couple that caught my eye as being quite different (for women, > i.e.), Nicholas and Gordon. Nowadays it is very difficult to tell by first > names whether it is a female or male child with many being given surnames > as > a first name. > > Among the male names I have more than a few named John, James, William in > the top tier and not bucking the naming trend; however, it was very > inconsiderate of my forebears to be less creative! > > It's interesting that there were few if any Gaelic names among your list > 'back then.' > > Maisie > > > > > > From: Anne Burgess via > Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 1:27 AM > To: lanark@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [Lanark] Ranking of first names in Scotland > > The GROS published a booklet in 1991 listing the most popular > given names. > > Of the top ten girls' names in 1858, only Elizabeth, Catherine > and Helen were still in the top 100 in 1990. Sarah was 15th in > 1858 and 3rd in 1990. The 'missing' ones are probably Margaret, > Mary, Isabella, Jane/Jean, Janet, Agnes and Ann. > > Out of curiosity, I searched the SP index for various given > names from 1800 to 1854, and found the top ten were > Margaret and variants 150,502 > Mary 129,381 > Jean/Jane and variants 114,529 > Jan(n)et 103,122 > Ann and variants 100,538 > Elizabeth and variants 100,883 > Isabella and variants 71,930 > Agnes 57,232 > Catherine/Katherine and variants 52,910 > Helen and variants 52,609 > Christina and variants 33,345 > Others that may be of interest > Sara(h) 11,324 > Jessie 9,358 > Susan and variants 7,441 > If I've missed one, please point her out to me! > > Boys' names are much less affected by the vagaries of fashion. > The top ten in 1858 were all still in the top 100 in 1990 > 1 John (8th in 1990) [228,060 in 1800-1854] > 2 James (7th) [188,557] > 3 William (22nd) [169,596] > 4 Alexander (34th) [104,172] > 5 Robert (18th) [91,471] > 6 George (68th) [65,334] > 7 David (1st) [58,224] > 8 Thomas (24th) [58,763] > 9 Andrew (5th) [34,794] > 10 Charles (88th) [19,943] > > Anne > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier > message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on > the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

> It's interesting that there were few if any Gaelic names among > your list > 'back then.' I noticed that, and I searched the pre-1855 index for all the Gaelic names I could think of. Before 1854 there were one Iain, one Mairi, one Marsali and two Dughalls. Not one single Catriona, Eachan, Seumas, Ulilleam, Eildih, Mairead, Alasdair, Uisdean, Morag, Seoras, Ealasaidh, Sine, Ruaraidh/Ruairidh, Murchadh, Domhnall, Raonull, Raibeart or Donn(a)chadh. So were no registers kept in the Gaelic-speaking areas, or have none of the registers survived, or were the clerks were obliged to record baptisms using the anglicised versions of the names? Anne