Your question on the nameing practice is a good one....I do know that the early Dutch and German families very often had a first and middle name....My understanding is that they often used the middle name as what they called their "Calling" name and that the first name was a Baptismal name....In the eighteen Hundreds I also have had problems with the use of the same first name over and over in every generation and not a sign of a middle name....aaaahgh... Maybe some one with more expertise can clarify a bit....Alice

Alice, This is somewhat late,but in regards to what you have found to be familiar to German naming patterns , I have found almost the same in my husbands German early families. In the 1800's the first two names were often the same such as John George , then a baptismal name , followed by a call name, followed by the last name. Sometime the bap. and the call name were the same. Our German lines were Catholic. I was told by a priest in Germany , the first two names indicated this person was of the family of John George ,last name what ever , which in our case was Meiwes. My husbands grandfather bo 1839 Delbruck Germany was named John George Ferinand Benjamin Meiwes. He went by Benjamin. It seems this John George identified all male members of this family and in many families continued on to grandchildren etc..They did not always continue. Our family grandfather came to the US in 1850, married here and his several sons had only first, middle and last name. Most were called by their first name. This is a large family , most are Catholic and names are often repeated. My husband s father is Al, he is an Al jr, our son is the 3rd aqnd his son the 4th. This all came about before I began researching . One never knows . This really has not caused a problem in our family . Yet- I don't understand why you have not come up with at least one middle name. Maybe it has something to do with religion, which is why I stated ours. This John George is still used in some of our families in my husbands gen. and in all of our families back into the !600's as far as i've gotten. I'd like to know if you find any other patterns. Good Luck, Barbara. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alice" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 1:27 PM Subject: [VALOUDOU-L] middle names > Your question on the nameing practice is a good one....I do know that the early Dutch and German families very often had a first and middle name....My understanding is that they often used the middle name as what they called their "Calling" name and that the first name was a Baptismal name....In the eighteen Hundreds I also have had problems with the use of the same first name over and over in every generation and not a sign of a middle name....aaaahgh... > Maybe some one with more expertise can clarify a bit....Alice > > > ==== VALOUDOU Mailing List ==== > Have you posted your Loudoun Co. surnames lately? > New members are joining our mailing list every day. > Be sure to periodically remind us of your Loudoun research interests. > >