Understanding Cultural Naming Patterns and How they can Benefit your Research
What's in a Name?
Surnames began to be used in Europe during the 12th century as a means of distinguishing people from one another. When European villages were small, everyone knew one another, and the need for more than the first name was not necessary. But living conditions began to change and improve. Populations began to increase and migrate. In the 13th century almost one third of the male population was named Richard, John or William. In order to reduce the confusion as to which Richard, John or William was being discussed, surnames came into being.
Most surnames fall into four categories:
1. Patronymic names - those derived from the father's name such as Williamson, which literally means "the son of William." Other examples are Anderson, Davison, Johnson, etc. Only, on occasion, the surnames were metronymic, meaning derived from the mother's given name.
2. Occupational names - deriving from the person's means of making a living. Examples are: Carpenter, Miller, Farmer or Ferrier.
3. Location names - identifying the person because he lived near a geographical feature. Examples are: Hill, Woods, Brooks or Meadows.
4. Nicknames or names from personal and physical traits - such as: Small, Short, Young, Stern, Lamb (for gentle person), Fox (after a sly person), etc.
So how did the misspelling and name changes come about? While peasant Europeans were still illiterate they were unable to correct the mistakes made by the priests, officials, or clerks when making records. When immigrants came to the United States, officials here often were somewhat uneducated or often misunderstood the pronunciations of names. Often priests would change their names. Immigrants also chose to "Americanize" their names. Mylnar became Miller and Schwarz became Black.
Needless to say, a researcher's job is made a great deal easier when he/she accepts the fact that the family name may have changed at least once, if not more, over the years.
Naming Patterns
Knowing what formulas were used in naming children in times past can be very helpful when tracing ancestors. Following are patterns used by several countries, as well as general naming patterns.
English and Welsh naming patterns
First daughter was named after the mother's mother
Second daughter was named after the mother's father's mother
Third daughter was named after the mother
Fourth daughter was named after the mother's oldest sister
First son was named after the father's father
Second son was named after the mother's father
Third son was named after the father
Fourth son was named after the father's oldest brother
Irish naming patterns
First son after father's father
Second son after mother's father
Third son after father
Fourth son after father's oldest brother
Fifth son after mother's oldest brother
First daughter after mother's mother (or father's mother)
Second daughter after father's mother (or mother's mother)
Third daughter after mother
Fourth daughter after mother's oldest sister
Fifth daughter after father's oldest sister
Scottish naming patterns
First son after his father's father
Second son after his mother's father
Third son after his father
First daughter after her mother's mother
Second daughter after her father's mother
Third daughter after her mother
Old German Naming Patterns
The first name of each daughter was usually the first name of the mother. The first name of the son was usually the first name of the father. Often the middle name of each child was the name of the baby's bapismal sponsor and they were usually called by his/her middle name.
19th Century Pennsylvania German naming patterns
First son after the father's father
Second son after the mother's father
Third son after the father
Fourth son after the paternal grandfather
Fifth son after the maternal grandfather
Sixth son after the paternal grandfather's father
Seventh son after the maternal grandfather's father
First daughter after the mother's mother
Second daughter after the father's mother
Third daughter after the mother
Fourth daughter after the father's father's mother
Fifth daughter after the mother's father's mother
Sixth daughter after the father's mother's mother
Seventh daughter after the mother's mother's mother
Italian naming patterns
First son after the father's father
Second son after the mother's father
Third son after the father's brother
Fourth son after the mother's brother
First daughter after the father's mother
Second daughter after the mother's mother
Third daughter after the father's sister
Fourth daughter after the mother's sister
General Naming Patterns
First son after the father's father
Second son after the mother's father
Third son after the father
Fourth son after the father's oldest brother
Fifth son after the father's second oldest brother or mother's oldest brother
First daughter after the mother's mother
Second daughter after the father's mother
Third daughter after the mother
Fourth daughter after the mother's oldest sister
Fifth daughter after the mother's second oldest sister or father's oldest sister
Note: Information for the above was obtained from Honey's Home of Genealgy @ honeyshome.com)
French Naming Patterns
The French did have naming pattern traditions, which started with family and involved the Catholic Church.
First son after the father's grandfather
Second son after the mother's father
First two daughters after their grandmothers, but the order would flip-flop depending on whether one or both were deceased or not.
Most newborns were given hyphenated names. Victor-Marie and Marie-Genevieve are two examples. The first male named Victor, with his female patron saint being honored in his name. But if it were used for a female, it would be her name, Marie, (and that would be the name in the civil records), St. Victor was her patron saint and it was under which all of her church records would be found. The second is more common pre-1780...no flip-flopping of name usage. In this one her patron saint was St. Marie and her given name was Genevieve. You would always find her being called Marie-Genevieve in official records except for censuses. Then her more common name "Genevieve" was used.
In France, surnames were not required until the 1600's. So you may find some region still using patrynoms, or their patron saint for their surname. You might have someone named Martin-Jacques Gilles-St-Martin. His name is Martin, son of Gilles, who patron saint was St. Martin. This occurred usually in the French-Comte and other eastern provinces where education was lacking, the parish priest kept the records, and they didn't have much contact with the outside world. They didn't worry so much about the surname 'craziness." Literally, France could not figure out how they wanted to handle the new invention of surnames until Napoleon put an end to it in the early 1800's.
Little Known Facts
Until the 11th century, surnames were not used. People were known as "John the baker" or "Mary the seamstress." In England, during the reign of King Richard 1, "the Lionhearted," in 1189-1199, surnames became necessary when the government introduced personal taxation. These were called the "Pipe Rolls." The surname took hold of the nobility first, and then gradually, by the 14th century most people started to adopt the surname.
In France, the surname came into fashion in the 13th century. It was not until the 15th century that surnames began to be inherited rather than taken from one's appearance, job, town, occupation, or geographical area where they lived.
In Germany, the surname did not take hold until the 16th century.
Surname usage was not compulsory in some Scandinavian countries until the 20th century. Today in Iceland and Norway, last names are still not used by its Native population and even though non-Natives do have last names they do not use them in day-to-day dealings.
The Cornish had a common practice in Cornwall to give all the children the mother's maiden name as a second Christian name.
The Norman, Fitz, stands for, "Filius," a son at the beginning of a surname. This was sometimes used to denote an illegitimate son in England.
The Saxons used "ing" at the end of a name to denote the "son of."
The Welsh used B or P as a patronymic prefix for a given name: Probart, son of Robert; Probyn, son of Robin; Blake, son of Lake, Bowen, son of Owen; Price, son of Rice or Rheese; Pribble, son of Riddle, Pritchard, son of Richard, etc.
The Hebrew, "kin," refers to a child or young one. Used in such names as Pipkins, Hopkins, Perkins, etc.
"De" is from Latin which means "of." This is common in French, Italian and some German names. Delac means of Lake, Dwight means of Wight, and De Foe, means of the Faith. When surnames became universal, France and Germany used the prefix of De or Von as a sign of nobility.
Italian patronymic names are sometimes formed by placing the name of the son before the name of the father, as Galileo Galilei, which means Galileo, son of Galilei; Sperone Speroni, which means Sperone, the son of Speroni.
Forenames or first and second names have been around from the earliest times. They were used to distinguish one person from another. The Jewish child is given a name at the time of his circumcision, and the Christian faith followed with naming a child at their baptism.
Old English forenames, connected with the Church of England were not often favored by the Puritans. They favored names associated with moral qualities, (Virtues) that they wished their children to have. Obedience, Faithful, Joy, Grace, Content, Mercy, Delight and Thankful for girls; and Justice, Liberty, Peace, Love, Increase, Restore and Wrestling for boys. Some Puritan parents apparently closed their eyes and opened the Bible, pointing to a word at random. How else would you account for a child being named, Notwithstanding or Maybe? There were also those children named for events in their life. Oceanus Hopkins was born on the "Mayflower" in 1620, before landing in Plymouth.
Among Quakers in Colonial Pennsylvania and Delaware, babies went through a ritual called nomination. An infant's name was carefully selected by the parents, certified by friends, witnessed by neighbors, and then entered in the register of the meeting. But this practice was not universal among all of the Quakers. In the Delaware Valley, many names came from the Bible, and they also favored the "Virtue" names of New England.
In Virginia, Biblical forenames were less common. They preferred names of Teutonic warriors, Frankish knights, and English kings for the sons. For the girls they preferred Christian saints and traditional English folk names. Similar patterns were also found in the early Chesapeake tidewater families.
Naming patterns differed in the "back woods" of early America, which was heavily populated by the Scotch-Irish, German, Scandinavian, Irish, Scottish, French and Dutch. In these rural areas, many given names along with surnames were "Americanized," making it difficult for genealogists to identify a family's ethnic origins.
Some children's forenames were named after ceremonial days of the year near or on the day of their birth. Paschal for Easter, Noel or Noelle for Christmas are two classical ones. Or after Saints if they were born on the Holy Day of the Saint.
It is not unusual for a son of a second marriage to be named after his mother's deceased first husband. Also, it was not unusual for a daughter of a second marriage to be named after her father's deceased first wife. If two previous spouses had died, their forenames would be used in chronological order of the previous marriages.
If a son was born or baptized after the father's death, he was to be given the father's name. Daughters could also be named after the father.
If a son or daughter died young, it was not unusual for the next born son or daughter to be named after the deceased one.
If a son or daughter was named after the grandfather or grandmother, sometimes you will see a second child named after them but reversing the given and middle names: such as Jacob Frederick would be reversed to Frederick Jacob and Anna Maria would be reversed to Maria Anna.
Nicknames can be confusing. Several nicknames could be used for the same person. Hannah, Anna, Nancy could all be used for the same person. Sarah, Sally, Sukie, Susie and Sookie could be the same person. Margaret could be Maggie, Rita, Madge, Meg, Greta, Peggy and even Daisy. Marguarite is French for Daisy. Mary could be Polly, Molly or both. Martha could be Patsy. Male nicknames were a little more straightforward. Hal and Harry for Henry. Neil for Cornelius, Don for Donald, Jack for John, are just a few examples.
The term of Sr. and Jr., following a name does not necessarily mean a father and son relationship. It would refer to an uncle and a nephew, or just an older and a younger member of the community with the same name. Cousin was a term used to address an extended family member, not necessarily a cousin relationship as it is today.
For Your Information
Pennsylvania was the only colony to require a ship's Captain to submit passenger lists. For the most part, this only listed the male aged 16 or older, as only they were required to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown. From 1727 to 1780, over 500 families came over through the Port of Philadelphia. Just how many other immigrants came over to America, before or after this time period and through what other ports are completely unknown, as no records were required.
Prepared by Judy Lawrence
July 2018
