Research Aids: Early Naming Conventions - Tarver-Gen: Tarver Family Genealogy & Allied Families

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Research Aids: Early Naming Conventions,
Prior to 1800

Sometimes all we have to go on is a name ...

Anyone who has spent much time at all looking at colonial names has noticed how they appear and re-appear in family and related lines. Sometimes, that is all we have to go on, so understanding the conventions can be important!

In some colonies, babies went through a ritual called "nomination." An infant's name was carefully selected by the parents and witnessed by friends and neighbors. First-born children were named after grandparents, honoring maternal and paternal lines evenly. In Quaker families, an eldest son often was named after his mother's father and an eldest daughter after her father's mother.

Following naming conventions was not a universal practice among all families. It was, however, common enough that we are benefited by understanding it.

The table below details some of the more popular naming conventions you may run across.

Colonial Naming Conventions
Birth Order	English Variant	Scots-Irish Variant	German Variants
1^st son	Father's father	Mother’s father	Father's father	Father's father	Father's father
2^nd son	Mother’s father	Father’s father	Mother's father	Mother's father	Mother's father
3^rd son	Father		Father	Father	Father’s oldest brother
4^thson	Father’s eldest brother		Father's paternal grandfather		Father
1^st daughter	Mother’s mother	Father’s mother	Mother's mother	Father’s mother	Paternal grandmother
2^nd daughter	Father’s mother	Mother’s mother	Father's mother	Mother’s mother	Maternal grandmother
3^rd daughter	Mother		Mother	Mother	Mother’s oldest sister
4^th daughter	Mother’s eldest sister		Father’s paternal grandmother	Mother’s father’s mother	Mother

And for even larger families:

5^th son - - father's 2nd oldest brother or mother's oldest brother

5^th daughter - - mother's 2nd oldest sister or father's oldest sister

NOTES

Other pages on this site about names:

Common Nicknames
Naming Conventions of Spanish-Speaking Cultures ~ includes Common Spanish Nicknames

Coming soon ~ English Equivalents for Common French and Spanish given names

You may want to try this Web site for an interesting document on Surname Origins and History.

How to cite this page:

Cirilo, Lotus. "Early Naming Conventions, Prior to 1800", Tarver-Gen, 01 June 2001. [Online]:

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Please send all questions and comments regarding this Web site to Lotus Cirilo at lotus@cirilo.net
http://www.tarver-genealogy.net

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Research Aids: Early Naming Conventions, Prior to 1800

Research Aids: Early Naming Conventions,
Prior to 1800