Children of the same name

[dhmm]

Were they Scottish by any chance? Some of my Scots seem to have applied family naming patterns very rigidly, so that if the naming pattern called for the same name again (e.g. both grandfathers were called John) then they used John again. In real life they probably used nicknames for one or both.

Otherwise they sound exceptionally unimaginative as to naming!

Yes, they were Scottish! That's an interesting idea that hadn't occurred to me. Unfortunately I don't (yet) know enough about their parents/grandparents to prove it one way or the other but in the following generations the family certainly followed the Scots naming tradition.

[chempat]

Were they Scottish by any chance? Some of my Scots seem to have applied family naming patterns very rigidly, so that if the naming pattern called for the same name again (e.g. both grandfathers were called John) then they used John again. In real life they probably used nicknames for one or both.

Otherwise they sound exceptionally unimaginative as to naming!

Anyone following the Scottish naming pattern is being exceptionally unimaginative and incredibly rigid, surely?

Did no-one think, oh, what a good idea, lets call everyone in the family John, because both grandfathers are John and the father is John, so just to really confuse matters so that no-one knows who is being referred to, lets call all the sons John?

Why??

Read an obituary of someone who died in September. She was great-grandmother to Bracken, Iona, Aria, Malachai, Flynn, Berry, Ash, Rudy, Max, Milo, Taigdh, and Norma.  One may dislike some of those names, but they do not show a lack of imagination.

[Annie65115]

I have a family where the first child was John William. He died in infancy and a subsequent child was also called John William. So far, so normal. But when John William (the second) was 13, and still definitely alive, they had another son called John Henry (which was also the father's name). So 2 boys and the father all called John at the same time in the same household. I thought that maybe one or both sons used the middle name, but the 1891 census shows them both at home with their widowed mother, and both called John.

[BenRalph]

I have it where two consecutive boys were called Arthur (well, it was in Germany and one was spelt Artur, the second Arthur). Both survived. The youngest was known as Charlie or Karl.

I've also got it with two Johns. One was the oldest and one the youngest. This was in 1870 and 1890 and they died in the 1910s and 1950s respectively.

[bearkat]

I have 2 Johns in my family tree, mid 1500s.  They were born about 13 years apart and lived to a good age. They were recorded as John the elder and John the younger in the parish registers and in wills.

Seems very strange (by today's standards) and confusing.  Why would you do it?

[chempat]

Was going to query what happened if 2 children of exactly the same name were mentioned in wills. 

Thanks for answering before I even asked.