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Old 01-24-2017, 10:11 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StayingAfterSunday View Post
The first born son is usually named after the father's father, whereas the first-born daughter is named after the mother's mother. The second-born son takes the name of the mother's father, and the second-born daughter is named after the father's mother. And so on.

Also, in Ireland, Catholics have quite predictable first names all the way back as far as your research will take you. Children are usually named after saints, and there are hundreds of thousands of the same names: John, James, Mary, Margaret, and so on. Enough of the same names to produce overwhelmingly similar results when conducting a search.
That's interesting. My Irish side of the family wasn't Catholic, so very few saint names appear.
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Old 01-24-2017, 10:14 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StayingAfterSunday View Post
My ex-husband's maternal side descended from the infamous Hatfield family of W. Virginia.
Although they were of English descent, for some reason my ex-husband's Hatfield grandfather insisted on naming his youngest daughter, Juana. No family connection as far as anyone could see at first. Upon further research, however, it was discovered the family had a "Gonzalez" way back in their family tree. So, in a way, the name, "Juana" made sense.
I think a few Spanish names like Juanita were popular names to give babies in the 40s and 50s, even if they weren't Spanish or Latin.


Also, Greek names like Daphne, Dorothy or Penelope are popular in many cultures. Many Greek men are named Nick (Nicholas) but again, it's name that crosses other cultures. But if I noticed a lot of men named Nicholas in my family tree, it might be a clue.
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Old 01-25-2017, 02:35 AM
 
Location: colorado springs, CO
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SunGrins View Post
I have German and Irish ancestors who followed some naming patterns that helped identify the earlier generations....but not always. My dad's baptismal name was Otto Emil Phillip John which corresponds to his dad, paternal aunt (Emilie), maternal grandfather and maternal great-uncle (and uncle). The Irish ancestors seemed very rigid with using ancestor names but when a child died they reused the name for the next one born...helpful but also confusing. They also were a little casual in spelling the names -- Miles vs. Myles, Edward vs. Edmund.
Wow; I've been in the same boat with the German/Irish combos.

In fact, drove myself crazy trying to find an Otto Emile from early 1800's in Germany. Miles is a family name too (surname in my case, recently found out it's more Scottish than Irish).

I noticed variations for Emile as Emil & the feminine of Amal, Amalia & Emily. I have 3 male ancestors that would alternate abbreviations who had the name Emile. "E.F." & "E.J." to be exact.

E.F. was the son of E.J. & E.F. had a son Otto & daughter Amalia who both died before the age of 2. Very difficult!

The Miles name proved to be confusing too; my grandfather was a Dr. Miles, who had an uncle named Dr. Miles ... who married a female doctor; who also became Dr.Miles ... all alumni from the same University & lived within 100 miles of each other. Ack!

In my family there was some kind of method, it seems to baby names & that would help clue me in if I was missing a person/link: Most firstborns, if male were named after the father. If firstborn was a girl, she may have been too with a slight twist (Louise for Louis). Second born sons typically named after the mothers father & second girl after the mothers mother.
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Old 01-30-2017, 10:05 PM
 
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'Usually' a generation is named after a previous one, passing on a family name. I doubt much can be said about a given name, there's too many variables. I've seen surnames become middle names, surnames become given names, given names that have nothing to do with anyone.


Now I have seen in my own family research that a family may name the next child's name after the one that died. My aunt even did this, she lost premie twins in the 1940's and loved the name Kathy so much she kept it for another child.


What I have found is sometimes there are five David Smiths in the same county at the same time and there's no way to tell which one belongs to your family line. That's when tax records come into play and tracing each person down until they pass - Then the taxes go to the spouse or heir . . . And everyone pays taxes. So when you're stuck in the 1700's, it's a tip to remember.
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Old 02-01-2017, 07:46 AM
 
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Only thing I've noticed about first names in my own research is the fact that in my family - a black American family - that children are frequently named after a sibling of the parent in a couple lines of my family tree. For instance - I have 2 aunts named Doris - one my dad's sister and one his mother's sister. I also have great grandmothers who were named after their grandmothers and so it is easy to link them to each other with more intense research. We don't have a lot of ethnic names in the family - just common first names like Francis, John, Hannah, or James mostly. So they are not really all that helpful for any sorts of ethnic connections. I do have some Irish, Scottish, and English ancestors. They do not have unusual names, mostly the latter and "Mary" for females.

For my lines where I see the same first names and there is a common surname in that area, following the trail of the first names has been helpful but it is not always a slam dunk.
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Old 02-01-2017, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
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I have also found a few George Washington surname and Thomas Jefferson surname in my family tree.. no clues other than there were fond of those leaders..
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Old 02-01-2017, 01:18 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mco65 View Post
I have also found a few George Washington surname and Thomas Jefferson surname in my family tree.. no clues other than there were fond of those leaders..
In the 19th century, it was very common to be named after a president. I've got six George Washingtons in my tree, one Thomas Jefferson, three Abraham Lincolns, two James Madisons, one Andrew Jackson, and one Ulysses S Grant.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
87,990 posts, read 83,805,998 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SunGrins View Post
I have German and Irish ancestors who followed some naming patterns that helped identify the earlier generations....but not always. My dad's baptismal name was Otto Emil Phillip John which corresponds to his dad, paternal aunt (Emilie), maternal grandfather and maternal great-uncle (and uncle). The Irish ancestors seemed very rigid with using ancestor names but when a child died they reused the name for the next one born...helpful but also confusing. They also were a little casual in spelling the names -- Miles vs. Myles, Edward vs. Edmund.
Dutch people did the same thing after a child died. My grandmother's sister Maria died at 6, and so I had a great-uncle Marinus. Vincent Van Gogh's parents lost their first Vincent, and every Sunday the family visited the child's grave, so the artist grew up seeing his name on a headstone. Maybe that contributed to his mental illness.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:29 AM
 
Location: North Carolina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801 View Post
Dutch people did the same thing after a child died. My grandmother's sister Maria died at 6, and so I had a great-uncle Marinus. Vincent Van Gogh's parents lost their first Vincent, and every Sunday the family visited the child's grave, so the artist grew up seeing his name on a headstone. Maybe that contributed to his mental illness.
I think most cultures did this, not just Irish or Dutch. I see children being named after deceased siblings in my Norwegian branches in the 19th century, my Italian branches in the 18th and 19th centuries, my English branches in the 16th-19th centuries, etc. It was so common among all cultures, I don't even bat an eye when I see it. So I don't think this is a good indication of culture/origins.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
87,990 posts, read 83,805,998 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SunGrins View Post
I have German and Irish ancestors who followed some naming patterns that helped identify the earlier generations....but not always. My dad's baptismal name was Otto Emil Phillip John which corresponds to his dad, paternal aunt (Emilie), maternal grandfather and maternal great-uncle (and uncle). The Irish ancestors seemed very rigid with using ancestor names but when a child died they reused the name for the next one born...helpful but also confusing. They also were a little casual in spelling the names -- Miles vs. Myles, Edward vs. Edmund.
Edward is a different name from Edmund, not a spelling variation. The man who became Edward IV of England had a younger brother Edmund, who was killed at 17 during the Wars of the Roses.
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