Scottish Naming Patterns, Very helpful.

[benny1982]

Hi

There are many, many English people with Scottish ancestry and I fall under that category.

My 5xgreat grandfather was John Stewart, born c1738. All I knew was he died aged 80 in Durham, England and had wed in 1789. I couldnt find a relevant baptism in the village he lived in which was Bishop Auckland.

Luckily an extra notation in the baptism of his 1798, 1800 and 1803 born children says that he was a native of Selkirk, Scotland. I had always suspected Scottish in the line as many Scots fled their homseland in the 1750s and 1760s.

I found that his eldest children were called James & Isabella Stewart born in 1777 by a previous marriage and Isabella born in 1792 by his next marriage to my 5xgreat grandmother.

Luckily Selkirk doesnt have that many Stewarts as the surname is more Highlands. I found a baptism in 1738 in Selkirk of a John Stewart to James & Isabella Stewart which was what my John Stewart called his eldest son and daughter. I am certain the 1738 is the right one as there are no other baptisms in that time period in Selkirk.

If you are having trouble locating the birthplace of a Scottish ancestor either in or outside of Scotland then always take a note of his children as this can help cross reference any likely baptisms in Scotland on the IGI.

Ben

[Davran]

Yes, it can be very helpful, can't it? However, there seem to be fewer first names in use in Scotland, so you can come unstuck if both sets of grandparents are named the same, but, on the whole it seems to work quite well.

[benny1982]

Hi

Many male firstnames was Archibald, John, James, Angus and Alexander.
The first names for females were Agnes, Isabella, Elizabeth, Margaret and Helen.

But as you said, it still helps in naming patterns.

Ben

[Davran]

My Knoxes had lots of Johns (as you might expect!). There are also Roberts, which is where I have come unstuck as I have one marrying in 1783, but can't decide which one he is in the birth records.

On the female side there are a lot of Jean (interchangeable with Jane) and some Janets.

Not such common names were William, Hugh, Allan and Enos for the men and for the women Catherine, Christina and one who is either Martine or Martina.

Thanks for bringing this up, Benny, you've inspired me to go north of the border again and try and find Robert's death, which should give me his parents' names.

[birdlip]

The practice also filtered down into the North of England. My Northumberland and Durham ancestors used it right up until the 1890's

[benny1982]

HI

Yes I have noticed a few of that with Durham as well. This can also be handy as Durham is similar to Wales, full of common names such as Wilson, Johnson, Forster, Hodgson and Gibson. Many northern names end in "son".

Ben

[Marie C..]

Ben,
Naming patterns were in use everywhere which is why it is a useful tool in genealogy.

In Ireland it was particularly marked and I have found it very helpful but also confusing when you have several sons who marry and all name their children the same. M

[Lesley Robertson]

Ben,
Naming patterns were in use everywhere which is why it is a useful tool in genealogy.

In Ireland it was particularly marked and I have found it very helpful but also confusing when you have several sons who marry and all name their children the same. M


However, use them as clues - don't rely on them. Not everyone stuck to the patterns, and even those that generally did might break the pattern for a specialy reason - if a relative died, their name might be used out of turn, for example. If a child died, their name might be repeated (or might not). I've also found people who use the medic's name after a bad confinement. My grandfather's parents stuck fairly closely to tradition, then suddenly in the middle they used an unknown name for a son and a daughter, then went back to tradition. It was only when we cleared my Uncle's house and found his grandfather's references that we realised that the mystery names belonged to the man who'd employed him for a long time, and his wife.
For me, the main use of naming patterns has been in picking one line from a couple of possibles - for example "Barbara" is fairly rare in Scotland, and given a choice between 2 similar families when the wife whose grandchildren I was looking for had a mother called Barbara, and only one family has little Barbaras, it was easy.

Lesley

[benny1982]

Hi

People say that there are a lot of name coincidences but when you look at it more they are not so much coincidences for a few reasons, the surname may be common, and firstnames can be common. They are more minor coincidences. If there were two William Smith's in a village then you can expect that and if two namesake men had children at the same period in the same village, then yes it may be a coincidence but they could be related, especially if they have a less common name.

Lets face it most children were called William, George, Thomas, Henry, John and Richard back then. To me a genealogical coincidence is something out of the ordinary. I dont believe in a string of coincidences. A lot of the time you actually expect a minor coincidence.
Ben

[Davran]

Surnames as middle names are even more useful. My ggrandparents were John Knox (son of John Knox/Jean Macfarlane) and Catherine Forsyth (daughter of Robert Forsyth/Ann Bennie). The first two daughters were Ann Bennie Knox and Jean Macfarlane Knox. Most of the rest of the children had Forsyth as the middle name, which was carried on to my uncle as oldest child of that generation.

[Jan65]

This is the tip I was given a while ago regarding Scottish naming patterns, in case anyone finds this helpful:


TIPS FOR SCOTTISH ANCESTORS –

Scots often named children by following a simple set of rules. Don't use these as a firm guide (there were often variations, for all sorts of reasons) but you may find that some of your ancestors used these too:

1st son named after father's father
2nd son named after mother's father
3rd son named after father


1st daughter named after mother's mother
2nd daughter named after father's mother
3rd daughter named after mother