First Name Basis
Naming Patterns
Unusual first names, nicknames and using middle names
Middle Names
Very often a son will be given the mother's maiden name as their middle name. Keep an eye out for middle names that seem like surnames. If you see one like James Hendry Dobbins you may have identified a wife's name, but don't know her maiden name. Look to the middle names of her sons, checking to see if this person's mother had a surname of "Hendry" prior to marrying.
Use the full name of everyone you find in a particular line. Someone not in your direct bloodline could actually hold the key that opens the door to another generation.
Finding the birth of a married woman – same first name as mother or grandmother?
Emigration and altered names to start a new life – Ellis Island, Change of name by Deed Poll, bigamy and felons.
Understanding how names were decided on. Investigate the names of all the children of your main line's ancestor as well as their siblings' children.
Children could be named for a variety of reasons: country of origin, family tradition, for inheritance purposes, named after a monarch or in early 19th c after a favourite hero or heroine.
Spelling variants. Look out for different spellings. Another branch of the same family may have their surname spelt differently.
England, Ireland and Scotland naming patterns. In addition to the patterns detailed below, note that some daughters were named using the feminine form of the father's name. For instance, a father named Robert may have a
daughter named Roberta.
|BIRTH ORDER |
|ENGLISH/ IRISH VARIANT |
|SCOTTISH/ VARIANT |
| |
|Eldest Son |
|Named after the father's father |
|Mother's father |
| |
|2nd Son |
|Named after the mother's father |
|Father's father |
| |
|3rd Son |
|Named after the father |
|_ |
| |
|4th Son |
|Named after the father's eldest brother |
|_ |
| |
|5th Son |
|Named after the mother's eldest brother |
|_ |
| |
|Eldest Daughter |
|Named for the mother's mother |
|Father's mother |
| |
|2nd Daughter |
|Named for the father's mother |
|Mother's mother |
| |
|3rd Daughter |
|Named for the mother |
|_ |
| |
|4th Daughter |
|Named for the mother's sister |
|_ |
| |
|5th Daughter |
|Named for the father's eldest sister |
|_ |
| |
| |
Common names on the 1851 Census
• There were 224 girls named Elizabeth* born in 1842 including Betsy, Eliza and Elizh. Elizh is not a mistake as there were sisters named Eliza and Elizh and in 1871 there are 170 girls named Elizh.
• There were two girls named Elizabeth Claydon, both in Saffron Waldon.
• There were 293 boys named James born in 1842 including the abbreviation of Jas.
• Two unusual middle names were Mathias and Miller
• Also there were spelling difference, e.g. Coppin & Copping, Davy & Davey, Laysell & Layzell, Reeve & Reve
• There were 3 Balls, 3 Browns, and 3 Mills
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