Yes, in my Suffolk Packard family, several children were called William - one died then the next boy was called William and so it went on - eventually a William survived to adulthood. Joy Dean > From: Anne & Des Gentleman <[email protected]> > Subject: [SFK-UK] REUSING CHRISTIAN NAMES > Dear Listers, > I am of the impression that the families of the times say 1730 to 1910 > were in the practise of using the same Christian over and over again > until they got a babe of the name to survive!!! > Anyone else discovered this practise please? I am guessing it was > quite common? > We have many such examples in our family tree, I,e, greats x 5 had 11 > children 1 survived! and they had 5 goes at a Thomas and three of a > Martha. Another family had three goes at a James, two of a Thomas and > two Lydias. 5 out of the 11 of that lot survived! I think we must have > had a good dose of syphilis somehow! > Sincerely Anne Gentleman, NELSON NZ > researching BUTLER, CHILVERS, JEFFERSON, DENNY/DENNEY, LEATHERS>

There doesn't have to be a death to re-use a given name. My husband has two aunts, sisters, who were named after their mother. It was a family of eight and the eldest (now aged 98) and the youngest (74) were both baptised with the same name. The elder aunt did tell me that as a child, she assumed the name of a favourite school teacher and she has always been known by that name, so perhaps granny forgot by the time number 8 came along! Margery -----Original Message----- From: Joy Dean Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2012 5:31 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [SFK-UK] REUSING CHRISTIAN NAMES Yes, in my Suffolk Packard family, several children were called William - one died then the next boy was called William and so it went on - eventually a William survived to adulthood. Joy Dean >