Yes, I have seen this pattern (or most of it) quite often, especially among the Scots-Irish, up until about the mid- to late-1800s. The one thing that seemed to interrupt this pattern was the death of a close family member, for whom the next child was sometimes named. And then there were all those George Washingtons, Benjamin Franklins, Francis Marions, etc., etc. <smile>. I have also seen younger children sometimes named after in-laws. Did you know that men often left extra amounts of money to all of the grandsons named for them? I'm not sure this was because they were the eldest or simply because they had his name - probably both. --- James & Karen Weiss <JKweiss617@wi.rr.com> wrote: > Has anyone seen their families using this > variation of naming their children? > > The naming pattern in England, 1700 - 1875 > > 1st son -- Father's father > > 2nd son -- Mother's father > > 3rd son -- Father > > 4th son -- father's eldest brother > > 1st daughter -- Mother's mother > > 2nd daughter -- Father's mother > > 3rd daughter -- Mother > > 4th daughter -- Mother's eldest sister > > Younger children would be named after earlier > ancestors, but the pattern in their case was > more varied. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com