At 06:13 PM 10/7/99 -0500, J Nolan Grady wrote: > >Can anyone tell me the "system" used to name children, i.e. the first >daughter after the wife's mother, the second daughter after the father's >mother, etc. I do know the English and Irish had different systems, but >do not know the proper sequence for either. Thanks. Don't fall into the trap of assuming this was faithfully followed all the time. Don't assume that this was followed even most of the time. I can't think of any lines of mine, almost all of which are from North Carolina, in which this was faithfully followed. People named their kids what they wanted to name them, unless one of the older generation leaned on them. (I've had *that* happen in my immediate family.) "Don't assume" is a prudent guide in genealogy. Elizabeth Whitaker Descendant of, among others, John Whitaker of Whitaker's Mill (c.1745-1823), Polly Perry (presumably of Wake county), and John Whitaker's first wife, Elizabeth Hardy, of parents unknown