Scottish Naming Patterns

Scots-Irish research is affected by the traditional Scottish Naming Patterns. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, the patterns began to break down, so you have to be careful. The traditional formula and their variations are as follows:

1^st son named after the father’s father (variation is after the mother’s father)

2^nd son is named after the mother’s father (variation is the father’s father)

3^rd son is named after the father

4^th son is named after the father’s oldest brother (variation is after the father’s paternal grandfather)

5^th son is named after the mother’s oldest brother (variation is after the mother’s paternal grandfather)

1^st daughter named after the mother’s mother (variation is after the father’s mother)

2^nd daughter named after the father’s mother

3^rd daughter named after the mother

4^th daughter named after the mother’s oldest sister (variation is after the mother’s maternal grandmother)

5^th daughter named after the father’s oldest sister (variation is after the father’s maternal grandmother)

The formula looks good on paper, but there are factors to take into consideration. Foremost is the typical Presbyterian register in Ireland only begins in the 1820s or 1830s, so you miss so older children to even know what the first child may have been named. Another factor is the gaps within the existing registers, so you don’t always know if you have full list of the children. It’s complicated further if you add in renaming children the same thing at the death of an older child. Then again, there are those families who didn’t care one way or another about a naming pattern, as a child could have been named after the popular local minister!

My rule of thumb is the Scottish naming pattern is real, but you still have to remain careful and not set anything in stone.