Naming Conventions

In looking back through the generations of our ancestors you notice pretty quickly that the same names appear over and over.  There are sure a lot of men named John, Joseph, George and William in our family tree.  For the women it's Elizabeth, Mary, Jane  or Sarah.

I recently ran across something that may explain some of this.  It was a tradition in many  families to follow a certain convention for naming their children.  There were variations in the conventions followed and some families followed more religiously than others it seems.  One of the most common conventions was as follows:

NAMING   TRADITION 1st son = father's father 2nd son = mother's father 3rd son = father 4th son = father's oldest brother 5th son = father's 2nd oldest brother or mother's oldest brother 1st dau = mother's mother 2nd dau = father's mother 3rd dau = mother 4th dau = mother's oldest sister 5th dau = mother's 2nd oldest sister or father's oldest sister

It's interesting to look at 'what could have been' if Mom and Dad had followed tradition:

• Being the 1st born and only son, I would have been named John.
• Luci, being the 1st daughter, would have been Rachel.
• Sherry would have been the only Angeline in school.
• Jeffery would not have had a boy's name, she would be little Gertrude.
• And since Mom didn't have any sisters, Michelle would have been named for Dad's oldest sister, Magaline.

Actually, I may like those names a little better.