WHAT'S IN A NAME

AND HOW DID WE GET THE ONE WE GOT

It was a common practice in some German families to name the first born son after the child's paternal grandfather and the  second born son after the maternal grandfather. Here are several more detailed naming patterns practiced by some.

Pattern A

          1st son after the father's father
          2nd son after the mother's father
          3rd son after the father
          4th son after the husband's father's father
          5th son after the wife's father's father
          6th son after the husband's mother's father
          7th son after the wife's mother's father

          1st daughter after the wife's mother
          2nd daughter after the husband's mother
          3rd daughter after the mother
          4th daughter after the father's father's mother
          5th daughter after the mother's father's mother
          6th daughter after the father's mother's mother
          7th daughter after the mother's mother's mother

    Pattern B

          The pattern B for the sons is the same as the above
          but this pattern for daughters was different

          1st daughter after the father's mother
          2nd daughter after the mother's mother
          3rd daughter after the mother
          4th daughter after the mother's father's mother
          5th daughter after the father's father's mother


  Pattern C

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

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

        Whenever a duplicate name occurred in these patterns, the next name in the series was used. If a child died in infancy the name was often reused for the next child of the same gender.
     A rare twist occurred sometimes. A child's name would be reused when a spouse died and the surviving spouse remarried and had  more children with the next spouse. I found this happened when
     a spouse had children in Germany and then his spouse died. He left his children behind in Germany, possibly with the grandparents, and then emigrated to Pennsylvania. Sometime after        arrival he remarried and named his eldest son born in Pennsylvania by his new spouse with the same name as the son still living in Germany. This results in two adult children with the same name.

        If you are lucky enough to find a family with a lot of children, who strictly followed one of these naming patterns, then it may give you useful clues to determining the possible  names of family members in earlier generations.

HAPPY HUNTING