Christian Names given to children in a family

In the 18th and 19th centuries families tended to name their children in a  specific pattern, which can give some guidance to family names:

Taken from the Dumfries & Galloway FHS: Naming Conventions

Scottish

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 Mother's father and the Second-born son after the Father's father. If this is the case then the daughters are also reversed.

This comes from the Dumfries Rootsweb list, from Karen Emery

This is from an article I read in a magazine. I haven't read of English, Welsh and Irish naming patterns before. I thought someone might find this interesting.

Naming Order of Children

English and Welsh, 1700 - 1879.

First daughter - named after the mother's mother (maternal grandmother)

Second daughter - named after the mother's father's mother

Third daughter - named after the mother

Fourth daughter - named after the mother's oldest sister

First son - named after the father's father

Second son was named after the mother's father

Third son named after the father

Fourth son - named after the father's eldest brother.

Exceptions apply if there was a duplication of a given name. In that case the practice was to skip to the next name on the list.

Irish, 1800's.

First daughter - named after the paternal grandmother

Second daughter - named after the maternal grandmother

First son - named after the paternal grandfather,

Second son - named after the maternal grandfather

After that alternate names using the grandmothers', grandfather's; mother's, aunt's and uncle's names. If a child died, that name was to be recycled with a future child.

Scottish, 1700 to 1800's.

First daughter - named for maternal grandmother

Second daughter - named for paternal grandmother

Third daughter - named after her mother

Other daughters were named after other family members

First son - named after paternal grandfather

Second son - named after maternal grandfather

Third son - named after his father

This policy holds true unless one family member had more assets or a higher social standing than the other. One unique aspect of Scottish naming was that if two grandmothers or two grandfathers had the same given name, two children in the same family would end up with the same name. Another practice was to name daughters after the clergyman or other important male figure.

Hope you find it useful.    Sheena Carmichael

If infant deaths left 'vacancies' for these names they were often, where opportunity afforded, used again