In a message dated 10/27/04 5:37:55 PM Pacific Daylight Time, fatig@mebtel.net writes: > Males > > First-born Son - named after the father's father > Second-born Son - named after the mother's father There's some evidence that the Helm family in the 1700's tended to name the first son after the maternal grandfather, and the 2nd after the paternal grandfather. The son named after the father is often very late (later than 3rd). The female naming is as shown. The system often breaks down because there are so few first names used that you can't tell for whom "William" or "Margaret" &c is named. Is this good information? Don't know; birth order in 18th century is often poorly documented or disputed. But it does seem to be the case. Anyone else see this variant of the pattern in their family? The system broke down around 1800 in any event. Another pattern that might exist in the first generation, ca 1700-1720, is that the 1st son is given the surname not first name of the maternal grandfather eg Meredith, Lynaugh, Mayberry. Those look like last names to me. But except for Lynaugh no one has been able to connect the dots, and it can't yet be proved. These names persisted for many generations in Helm family branches (probably still). Finding common patterns might help identify origins or early histories of these families.