What's in a Name? A Rose. . .

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A Rose By Any Other Name... 

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A Rose by Any Other Name

This is a line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Juliet seems to argue that it does not matter that Romeo is from her family's rival house of Montague. The reference is used to state that the names of things do not affect what they really are. 


What genealogists encounter

As genealogists who depend on names to identify individuals in our family research, we know the importance of names.  


Patronymic patterns

When we think of research in Scandinavian families, we immediately prepare ourselves for the John's son, Lars' son, Anders' dotter people in the family tree. An enormous number of cultures around the world use naming systems like these; look at Wikipedia for a large list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic. Even many of the English names we're used to began as patronymics; think of all the forenames which are common last names: Peters, those with -son suffixes (Johnson, Wilson), -ez endings (Rodriguez), and prefix forms (McDonald, Fitzgerald). According to Google, "these became permanent family names over time, especially in Germanic, Celtic, and Iberian cultures, replacing the earlier practice where a child's last name changed every generation." Patronymics can help us or trip us up, depending on the situation.


Traditional Naming Conventions

Parental Naming Pattern: In this common practice, the first son is typically named after the paternal grandfather, while the second son is named after the maternal grandfather. Daughters often follow a similar pattern, with the first daughter named after the maternal grandmother and the second after the paternal grandmother. This method helps maintain family connections and honors previous generations. In large families with lots of sons who follow these conventions, you may encounter many same-named cousins, who may live close to one another. Pay attention to the details to keep from confusing them. On the other hand, it is great evidence of possible relationships between the families.

Ancestral Naming Pattern: This pattern involves naming children after more distant ancestors. For example, the third son might be named after the father's father's father, while the fourth son could be named after the mother's mother's father. This approach was more prevalent in earlier generations and served as a genealogical tool to keep track of family lineage.

Some families just used one name over and over. When researching my 4th great grandfather Jonah Stowe I nearly drowned in a Sea of Solomons. Jonah's father was Solomon and he had one brother, one son, two grandsons and a great grandson; all named Solomon. Their wives' names and their locations were the only way I could keep some of them straight.


Naming For Famous Person

Sharon, working with her Indiana family, found three Francis Marion Dawson listings in the 1860-1880 censuses. One pair were uncle and nephew from Ohio but the third was from an unrelated Kentucky Dawson family. When working on her DAR lineage, she was tracing the Kentucky family but ran into some problems. When she studied her known Francis's Wisconsin marriage listing, she found his father's name, thus verifying connection to the Ohio Dawson family.

Peter Stowe was 7 or 8 years old when he saw Baron von Steuben one day. Peter was so impressed by the Baron that he said he would name a son for him someday. He remembered that when his son was born and thus Baron became a first name for a couple of Stowe boys born in the early 1800s and has been a middle name for some boys since.


Naming After Deceased Relatives

It is common in many traditions to name a child after a deceased sibling or parent. This practice not only honors the memory of the deceased but also helps keep their name alive within the family. It's not unusual to find family listings in indexes with more than one child with the same name. One family named three boys Thomas before they got one to survive infancy.

This can cause the genealogist problems when trying to verify birth information.  My 2nd great grandmother Anna Wood was born in Vermont in 1810. When I try to get proof of that date I am given her older sister who was born and died in 1807. There is no record of the 1810 birth.


Modern Naming Practice

It is now common to name children after movie or TV stars, popular characters in books, films or even games! The Social Security Administration keeps track; see  Popular Baby Names by Decade: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/


What's in a Name? 

How was your ancestor named? Did it have an effect on them?

Doing a recent research for a friend, I ran into a very strange situation. He knew his grandfather was born in Iowa and we were able to find him as a 3 year old child in the 1930 Iowa census. This gave us the parents names which confirmed other family information.

We found marriage information for him in California with a September 1927 birthdate in Iowa. Other information all showed the same birthdate. Problem? We had also found a 1931 Iowa Death Certificate for the little boy—same parents and same September 1927 birthdate.

Fortunately my friend talked to an older aunt who knew the family secret. The boy born in September 1927 did die in 1931. A few months later another baby boy was born to the family and he was given the same name as his deceased brother. He was born at home and the parents never bothered to get him a birth certificate.

When he reached adulthood and started needing a birth certificate, they used the older, deceased brother's certificate. As a result, he had to add about four years to his age and be sure to use that information all of his life. This apparently had an effect on him; he suffered from depression and alcoholism in his late years. One of his laments was, "Why couldn't I just be me?"


Share your experience with names with other readers, either by commenting or sending us your story.


MaryLynn Strickland



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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org






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