Dear J. Davis and other Listers, Thank you for the information. I am not a music historian, but I do recall something about JSB. J. S. Bach and I share the same middle name, we are not actually related (musically or otherwise). The Godfather of JSB was a good friend of the father of JSB. He was Sebastian Nagle (Nail, in English), so JSB got his middle name from the first name of the Godfather. Maybe that type of naming is also a custom. Tom the bewildered ----- Original Message ----- From: "J. Davis" <jdavis@mail.coos.or.us> To: "Thomas Fiske" <evitom@earthlink.net> Cc: <PFALZ-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 10:25 PM Subject: Same first names/different middle > The following URL has a very nice explanation of 18th Century PA-German > naming customs. One of the things explained is exactly what you're talking > about. Although the site specifies this as "PA-German" naming customs, I > found the same thing in several villages from the 17th through 19th > centuries in the Rhinehesse region. > > > > AND all the sons were named Johann. Only the middle names changed. > > > > Yes I have thought about it. I don't know what to do about it. > > > > What do you other listers do about the practice of a father who names all > > his kids his own name? > > The Catholic Church records in the Rhinehesse region I have looked at name > the child's whole name at baptism, sometimes at marriage, and sometimes at > the baptism of children. Almost never is the whole name included at death > and often not during the children's baptisms. Joannes Jacob Schmidt at > baptism; at marriage and death he was listed as Jacob Schmidt....NEVER as > Joannes. > >