If you guys think that's strange.... I've got the same problem in generation after generation of Germans. One family had Johann Joseph, Johann Jacob, Johann Michael, Johann Adam, Johann Nicholas, Johann Peter, etc.... and only the first born son used the name Johann... the others wen by the middle name. For Girls, I had Anna Maria, Anna Catherine, Anna Regina, Anna Elisabeth, Anna Christina, and so on... again the first born daughter went by Anna, the rest by the middle name. One case, the Family ran out of ideas (my thought) and named one daughter Anna Marie and one Anna Maria and a third Anna Margaretha. One was Anna, one Maria and one Margaretha. In really, really big families, I did notice that this trend seems to "break". After a whole series of Johann's, there would be the last two sons who did not carry the symbolic first name. One such family with ten boys named the last two simply Christian and Arnold (according to the church records). . It seems (in my family anyway) that this practiced stopped when they came to America. The first genrations born here in the middle 1800's had similar names, but now were mixing things up and using variations: Nicholas Michael, Michael Nicholas, John Michael, Andrew Nicholas, Jacob Andrew, Peter Michael, Julius Andrew, Adolph Michael, and so on. All ther first names being different, but the middle names being one of the others first names. Tim