| Traditional Scottish and Irish people often named their children using the following patterns , yet this was not always true 1st Son named after Fathers Father 2nd Son named after Mothers Father 3rd Son named after the Father 4th Son named after Father's eldest brother 5th Son named after 2nd oldest brother or mother's eldest brother 1st Daughter named after Mothers Mother 2nd Daughter named after Fathers Mother 3rd Daughter named after Mother 4th Daughter named after Mothers eldest sister 5th Daughter named after 2nd oldest sister or Fathers eldest sister Differences I have found The only difference between the Scottish & Irish naming patterns was that when the Irish father remarries after his first wife died, the first daughter born to this new marriage was often named after the deceased wife, and included her whole name. Also, If a child died young then their name was then used for the next child of the same sex, thereby keeping alive the name of the relative who they were 'named for'. There were cases within the Irish community where a child was named after a person of esteem, eg: an Aunt, or an Uncle. They have even given their child, as a middle name, the last name of the pastor/ priest of their local Parish or an influential person in the community. Also,parents may have used the mothers or grandmother's maiden name as a child's middle name. eg. One of my Irish families named their son Andrew Dunn LOVE and his parents were Joseph LOVE & Margaret DUNN. |