Genealogical research requires innovative thinking on the part of the researcher in his quest for ancestral information. One of those innovative ideas is naming patterns.

            First names can be amazingly effective clues in our search for ancestors. Many times you can reject or keep a family tree as a possible connection on the basis of first names only. The naming patterns listed below are common first name patterns used by our ancestors prior to the 20^th century.

            1^st son- father's father

            2^nd son- mother's father

            3^rd son- father

            4^th son- father's oldest brother

            5^th son- father's second oldest brother or mother's oldest brother

            1^st daughter- mother's mother

            2^nd daughter- father's mother

            3^rd daughter- mother

            4^th daughter- mother's oldest sister

            5^th daughter- mother's second oldest sister of father's oldest sister

            There were many variations to this pattern, but the clues for us are in the repetition of a name through generations.

            First names can also be a source of confusion. We may find that our ancestors had a habit of giving the exact name of a child who died to a later child. Many times, when a spouse died and the survivor remarried, the first child of that remarriage would be named after the deceased spouse. A child could be named after a recently deceased relative. All of these can be clues for your search for an ancestor.

            One variation from the above was for the eldest son to be named after the mother's father and the eldest daughter after the father's mother. In this case the second son would be named after the father's father and the second daughter after the mother's mother. Occasionally the second son and daughter would be named after the father and mother instead of the third son and daughter. Another variation was to name the third daughter after one of the great-grandmothers instead of after the mother. In such a case, the fourth daughter would usually be named after the mother.

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03/21/2005