Naming Traditions
from "The Gene Pool"

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Our ancestors often used the following naming procedure when picking out a name for a new child. This explains why certain names are VERY common in a given family line. Watching for these patterns can help in your genealogy research.
     1st son = father's father
     2nd son = mother's father
     3rd son = father
     4th son = father's oldest brother
     5h son = father's 2nd oldest brother or mother's oldest brother

     1st dau = mother's mother
     2nd dau = father's mother
     3rd dau = mother
     4th dau = mother's oldest sister
     5th dau = mother's 2nd oldest sister or father's oldest sister


Keep in mind that some families named their children by this method and if the child died young, they named the next child the same name. So, it may be possible to have duplicate named children in a family.

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©2003 by Laura Blair solely for the use and
benefit of The IAGenWeb Project, a part of The USGenWeb Project