Scottish Naming Traditions.....

scooter · Post by **scooter** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:40 am

Hello,

Probably in common with a lot of users on the forum, my ancestors have stuck pretty rigidly to the Scottish naming convention. My question is, when the father's name is the same as either of the grandfathers, would it be the case that the third son might have been called after the father's oldest brother? For example I have three boys, John, Alexander and William born to an Alexander. John is the father's father, Alexander the mother's father and so who might William be? I understand there may not be any specific rules regarding this, however I'd be interested to know what anybody else thinks.

Cheers,

Scott

CatrionaL · Post by **CatrionaL** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:09 am

Hullo Scott,

In one of my families which follows the Scottish naming patern closely, the Great grandfathers names have been used. But then again these are often the names given to the father's brothers!

Have a good day
Catriona

Gran · Post by **Gran** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:48 am

I am now tearing my hair out

my Morrisons have father James, mother Mary. Grandfathers Malcolm and Neal, yet the first two sons are James and John and daughters Ann and Jane.

Either they didn't follow tradition or there is something wrong here and they leave me no clues to follow. Maybe the fathers names are wrong on the marriage certificate

Post by **HeatherH** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:55 pm

Hello Gran,the nameing pattern is a handy thing to know and check but it's not a hard and fast rule etched on stone.There are a number of things that could influence a family not following the pattern.eg. A friend who helps out at a difficult time, or the Doctor at a difficult birth.You will even see mention of the child having the ministers name when he is newly come to the parish and just finished his studies.
Happy Hunting,
Heather

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 4:49 am

Hello Scooter and all

Further to the post by HK

.
There are a few variations in naming patterns, in my own case there is the usual following of the male line, but then it gets tricky and for a number of my cousins, my sister and myself, we had the maternal maiden names from a few generations given as names.

As Heather said there is no hard and fast rule it seems, and followed how the family wanted to interpret the naming pattern.

karenmcc · Post by **karenmcc** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:54 am

Hi All,

Just out of interest, did the Irish Catholics also follow this pattern? One of my GGGGgrandfathers name was Philip, and none of his children I have followed up have used this name.

Karen McCubbin

mesklin · Post by **mesklin** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:04 am

Scooter

It's well worth doing a search in TalkingScot on 'tradition' as there have been a couple of interesting threads on Naming Patterns

Mesklin

Cathy · Post by **Cathy** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:56 pm

Hi Scott,
there may have been children named in the tradition who died young,
Cathy

scooter · Post by **scooter** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:34 am

Hello All,

Many thanks for your responses. Unfortunately I didn't receive notification that anyone had replied to my e-mail - hence the delay!

I'm hoping the reason for naming the third son William will reveal itself in time.....

Thanks again,

Scott

Post by **marilyn morning** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 2:30 pm

Hi Scooter

Standard Scottish Naming Patten (as listed in a book of reference)
This naming pattern is a potential guide but not a hard-and-fast rule.

1st son father's father
2nd son mother's father
3rd son father
4th son father's brother

1st daughter mother's mother
2nd daughter father's mother
3rd daughter mother
4th daughter mother's sister

Regards
Marilyn