#Namesake

 This week's theme is "Namesake." In researching the family tree I've discovered it was quite common to name children after relatives. In one way this is good. If I see the same names used over and over again I can pretty much assume I have the right person. On the other hand this can also be confusing. When you have a son named after his father, and then 2 brothers both decided to name their eldest sons after their father, it doesn't take long before you have potentially 4 people in the same family with the exact same name. And if they all live in the same town it can get very confusing. Fortunately I haven't run into that too much. :)

In many countries it was tradition to name children after family members. There was often a naming pattern. Sometimes it was followed. Sometimes not. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany both had traditional naming patterns.

In Sweden, the naming pattern was:

• First son, after the father's father
• Second son, after the mother's father
• First daughter, after the mother's mother
• Second daughter, after the father's mother
• Third son, after the father
• Third daughter, after the mother
• Fourth son, after the father's eldest brother
• Fourth daughter, after the mother's eldest sister

Germany, Norway, and Denmark had very similar naming patterns. 

I thought I'd use the Strand family to illustrate this. 

William Strandt married Mary Elizabeth Pulsipher. William's parents were Carl and Wilhelmina Strandt. William is the second son born to them, but his name of William is the masculine version of his mother's first name, Wilhelmina. Mary's parents were Albert and Eva Pulsipher. Mary was the second daughter born and named after her father's mother, Maryetta Stone Pulsipher.

William and Mary's first born child was Eva Wilhelmina Strandt. She is the first daughter and named after both her grandmothers. Her maternal grandmother's name coming first. Their next child born was Carl Albert Strand. He is the first son and is named after both his grandfathers, with his paternal grandfather's name coming first. Their next born child was Ruth Bessie Strandt. Bessie is a nickname for Elizabeth and comes from her mother's middle name. "Ruth" is a new name in the family, and shows that the naming pattern isn't always followed. Their last born child was Howard Charles Strandt. "Howard" is also a new name in the family. "Charles" is the American version of Carl and goes back to William's father again.  

When Carl Strand and Mildred Bellingar married and had children, they used family names for some of their children. First born son was Howard Charles, named after his father's youngest brother. Viola Mildred had her mother's name as her middle name.  Carl's sister Ruth passed away in 1928. Her name was given to his daughter Yvonne as her middle name. Unfortunately she also passed away young. It wasn't until their youngest son, and last born child, that they got back to traditional family names. Frederick Carl Strand was the youngest son, and named after his great grandfather Carl Frederick Theodore Strandt. "Frederick" was a common name in the Strandt family, on both Carl's side and his wife's Wilhelmina's side. 

I find children being named after family members more common in the 1800's. In the 1900's parents started to get away from it. Family names are still used, but more often as middle names. Then, I've run into some families where none of the children are named after anyone in the family. All are given "new" names. Looking for naming patterns definitely makes researching more interesting!