Understanding given names and surnames can be a help to you when you are trying to trace your ancestors. This is particularly true once the origin of the name has been established. The Scots have for many centuries followed a relatively simple pattern when assigning the given name to their children. While these traditional naming patterns were not followed by all families, it was common enough that having a basic knowledge of the rules can come in handy when you are on the hunt for your Scottish relations. Remember these patterns should only be used as a rough reference .
THE BASIC PATTERN:
The first son was named after the Paternal Grandfather
The second son after the Maternal Grandfather.
The third son after the father.
The first daughter after the maternal grandmother
The second daughter after the paternal grandmother.
The third daughter after the mother.
ADVANCED NAMING PATTERN
According to “The Scottish Onomastic Child-naming Pattern,” by John Barrett Robb, another naming system called the “ancestral pattern,” generally went as follows:
The first son was named for his Paternal Grandfather.
The second son was named for his Maternal Grandfather.
The third son was named for his father’s father’s father.
The fourth son was named for his mother’s mother’s father.
The fifth son was named for his father’s mother’s father.
The sixth son was named for his mother’s father’s father.
The seventh through tenth sons were named for their father’s four great-grandfathers.
The eleventh through fourteenth sons were named for their mother’s four great-grandfathers.
The first daughter was named for her Maternal Grandmother.
The second daughter was named for her Paternal Grandmother.
The third daughter was named for her mother’s father’s mother.
The fourth daughter was named for her father’s father’s mother.
The fifth daughter was named for her mother’s mother’s mother.
The sixth daughter was named for her father’s mother’s mother.
The seventh through tenth daughters were named for their mother’s four great-grandmothers.
The eleventh through fourteenth daughters were named for their father’s four great-grandmothers.
**Sometimes when a child died, the next child of that gender born into the family was given the same name as the deceased child. You may come across a family with 3 or 4 of the children with the same given name, due to common names among grandparents, or sibling death. In cases like this middle names were also used to identify. It is also worth considering the middle names of later ancestors as they were often the mother or grandmother’s maiden name.
In the latter part of the 19th Century these patterns began to phase out, so use caution when trying to identify more modern ancestors.
