Which explains why every one of my male S-I ancestors is named either John, James, Thomas and the women are all Margarets and Marys. One of the joys of our genealogy. Interestingly, both my German and S-I lines used the maternal grandfather's surname as a middle name for the oldest son's middle name (e.g., my grandfather was Kenneth Cunningham Hilliard). As Linda and Brian pointed out, this can be a HUGE help when searching for clues. For some reason, this stopped with my dad, who was given his grandfather's first name (Alfred) as his middle name. He despised this middle name, which is why he picked mine randomly. As it turns out, I hate my middle name too (Todd). I wanted to go back to this convention when our son was born, but for some reason my wife wouldn't agree to Jacob Gibbens Hilliard, so he ended up a Thomas too. Rob -----Original Message----- From: Brian Orr [mailto:brian@orrnamestudy.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 12:32 PM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] Surnames and namng patterns. Greetings all Here`s a page from my web site about naming patterns which might be of some help. As Linda says, the use of the mother`s maiden surname ( which is also the maternal grandfather) was quite common. Brian Orr Scottish Naming conventions in the 18th - 19th century In the 18th and 19th centuries families tended to name their children in a specific pattern, which can give some guidance to family names. It was also common for the wife`s maiden surname to be used as a second christian name of some if not all children. This can be a valuable guide when the wife`s name is otherwise unknown. Males First-born Son Father's father Second-born Son Mother's father Third-born Son Father Fourth-born Son Father's eldest brother Fifth-born Son Father's 2nd oldest brother or Mother's oldest brother Females First-born Daughter Mother's mother Second-born Daughter Father's mother Third-born Daughter Mother Fourth-born Daughter Mother's eldest sister Fifth-born Daughter Mother's 2nd oldest sister or Father's oldest sister In some cases you will find that the order is reversed with the first and second children, i.e. the First-born son being named after the Mothers father and the Second-born son after the Father's father. If this is the case then the daughters are also usually reversed. It sometimes happens for some special reason such as repaying kindness, that a close friends` surname might be given to a child as a second christian name; in such cases they might also have been the witnesses at marriage or christenings. Remember, too, that witnesses are likely to be relatives, often sisters and aunts, signing under their married name. Top ten Christian names This analysis is derived from my Scottish database holding 15212 names at the date of sampling. The count of names includes variant spellings eg Isbel, Isabel, Isabella, Isobel etc. are all under Isabel. These are mainly names occurring between ca 1600 - 1900. Male Female John 10.73% Margaret 7.82% James 10.05 Janet 6.35 William 8.40 Agnes 4.83 Robert 5.46 Mary 4.78 Thomas 3.57 Elizabeth 3.56 Alexander 2.11 Jean 3.34 David 1.63 Ann 2.49 Andrew 1.10 Isabel 2.22 Hugh 0.91 Jane 1.95 George 0.91 Marian 1.30