« Reply #6 on: Friday 08 August 25 00:24 BST (UK) »
My roots are spread all over the UK and mainland Europe.
I have found that the naming pattern of children is the same in each country, which presumably will mean that your ancestors did the same thing, so check the names you know against this pattern :-
1st son was named after the father’s father
2nd son was named after the mother’s father
3rd son was named after the father
4th son was named after the father’s eldest brother
1st daughter was named after the mother’s mother
2nd daughter was named after the father’s mother
3rd daughter was named after the mother
4th daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister
Other babies were named after people who did great favours to the parents, such as a doctor or benefactor who gave the father a job. One of my OHs ancestors had twelve children and I recognised names of her friends (on census when she was a child) and as a child the next door neighbour was a captain of a ship - one of her sons carried that man's full name too.
Before motorways, autowegs, etc., people didn't travel far excepting to visit an annual market/fair which could be up to ten miles from home. So the couple could live ten miles distant from a "local" fair. So if two people each travelled ten miles , then there is a circle 20 miles across in which the couple lived.
It used to be really difficult asking familysearch, etc., for a name that was a middle name because the results would show the first given name , but these days the system has been upgraded and it doesn't matter which given name a person used, then family search will probably show the result. On odd occasions I found that census have given "pet" names such as "Peggy" for Margaret, "Belle" instead of Isabel", etc.
Added later: I have found that on the odd occasion the bride or groom's name has been transferred to being a witness name so look at all the names on any documents. e.g. one chap was asked the name of his first baby boy and nervously gave his own name the result on the official document was the father's name was given as the baby's name - and as the parents couldn't read the error went unnoticed until the child went to school and the document had to be produced and the parents were asked why the son's name was "X" and not "Y" as stated to the education board.
Good Hunting.
Aberdeen: Findlay-Shirras,McCarthy: MidLothian: Mason,Telford,Darling,Cruikshanks,Bennett,Sime, Bell: Lanarks:Crum, Brown, MacKenzie,Cameron, Glen, Millar; Ross: Urray:Mackenzie: Moray: Findlay; Marshall/Marischell: Perthshire: Brown Ferguson: Wales: McCarthy, Thomas: England: Almond, Askin, Dodson, Well(es). Harrison, Maw, McCarthy, Munford, Pye, Shearing, Smith, Smythe, Speight, Strike, Wallis/Wallace, Ward, Wells;Germany: Flamme,Ehlers, Bielstein, Germer, Mohlm, Reupke
