Using the same name twice

[Jenjen]

I have many examples of the same given name being used again after a child dies but I have a query about whether this happened when the first named might still be alive. I have baptisms for 2 children, but no deaths and then a second marriage where two of those names were used again. Of course it is possible that the children died and were never recorded although I think that if a child was born and died immediately it was baptized and recorded only as burial. I wonder if someone could clarify this for me.

[Lesley Robertson]

It depends, often, on when and where. In Scotland, if both grandfathers or grandmothers had the same forename, say James for example, then often you can see James and Jimmy (one for the paternal and the other for the maternal) or even Big Jim and Little Jim, or one might be known by his middle name... On my Afrikaans side, the child got all the forenames - I have one spectacular case where a chain of 4 forenames was given to at least one child in several succeeding generations.

[christanel]

Hi
Yes I have seen an example of a child of a second marriage being given the same name as the child of the first marriage. They both lived to adulthood, married and had children. Like you I did try looking for a death of the first child and couldn't find it then I discovered her marriage and the marriage of the child from the second marriage.
Christina

[suemalings]

My grandmother had twins (sometime between 1917-1924). They both died at birth and were never registered or baptised.