Thursday, July 12, 2012

Naming Patterns

    A few posts ago Far Side of Fifty made some comments on how her grandchildren and some relatives were named. It was interesting post and got me thinking about patterns used by different cultural, ethnic and religious groups for naming children.


     Far Side got me thinking about naming children in my family. My ancestors came to Canada in the late 1800' to early 1900's. They came from Volhynia which is in the Ukraine. They had gone to the Ukraine in the late 1700's. So they were cut off from the main German culture. They remained as Germans from the late 1700's.


    So the German naming pattern usually went this way. The first grand son or son was given the paternal grandfather's name as his second name. The second grandson or son was given the maternal grandfather's name. They also had a pattern of giving a child a first name after a saint. The second name would be the name used every day. As with most groups these were general guidelines and variations occurred.  The same pattern applied to female names.


    Now it only took a few generations for these patterns to be forgotten or changed. Many did not learn the German language. Many Anglicized their names. My name was originally spelled Klein. My Dad changed it to Kline.  Some of his family were not very pleased with him.


    The Jewish religion has many fairly strict guidelines for naming children. My friend told me that the Rabbi had to approve the names he wanted to give his children.


    The English had a custom where a child was quite often given a surname for a second name. As a result you see many English names which include  surnames. My brother in law was named John after his father and Elliott after his mother's family. To my way of thinking many of these names had a rather elegant ring to them.


    Icelanders use a patronymic system of naming children. Jon Larson's son becomes Peter Jonsson. His daughter Anna becomes Anna Jonsson. Again they liked to use Saint's names.


    Naming by our aboriginals was interesting to say the least. Children were given names that had significance in a spiritual, animal or place origin. Names were changed when circumstances called for it.  Someone could be renamed if there had been a misfortune and they wanted to change their status to become more fortunate.


    I did not use any pattern in naming my children. I picked up my adopted son a couple of days before Christmas. It was a very unexpected placement and we hadn't thought of any name. Since we were going to my parent's place for Christmas, my wife said, "We need a name before we go for Christmas. I don't want your Dad to name him."


     So I've had a brief look at naming patterns and you don't have to look very far to learn a great deal. 

29 comments:

  1. i'm guessing my mother had a lot to do with our naming (she was of German decent) as we are all named after saints. :)

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    1. Many groups used the saints pattern.

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  2. Well in for my one bucks ($1) worth.
    I think the naming of our vintage was far better than the strange "handles" that kids get now.
    "Sunday, Pepper, Salt, Fox, Shanghai" and the list goes on! How these strangely named kids put up with the jeers at school, well I can't fathom that one out. Look at the names the "off the planet so-called movie stars" give their kids, no wonder that they end up as druggies.
    The "so-called" kids of the looney Michael Jackson, really - the lunatic fringe.
    I agree with TexWisGirl, a normal name would be far better, be it a saints name or a follow in the tradition of the name of one's family names.
    Interesting blog, Red. Should result in some rather "interesting" comments, eh?
    Cheers
    Colin Francis Christopher Huggins ( there you got the whole handle!!! ha ha)
    No salt and peppers, Shanghais or Sunday Roasts with me - ha ha!

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    1. Colin Francis Christopher Huggins has a real ring to it.
      Some of the new names are far out but some have a good sound to them. I wouldn't throw all of them out.

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  3. My mother didn't want to give me two names but only one. However, my paternal grandmother won out for her first grandchild. My mother hated my first name and refused to recognize it. Names are indeed interesting, aren't they? :-)

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    1. Kind of sad story behind your name. I think my wife had worries about my Dad insisting on a name.

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  4. Oh that's funny that your wife wanted your son named before your father could get to him.

    There was a very funny episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in which Rob and Laura revealed how their son got his unusual middle name "Rosebud." It was a compilation of the first letter from all the names that family members thought the baby should be named.

    "R" for Robert (his Dad, Rob Petrie),
    "O" for Oscar suggested by Laura's mother),
    "S" for Sam (Rob's Dad's name), "and a name you can do business with!"
    "E" for Edward (for Laura's Father's brother),
    "B" for Benjamin (Suggested by Rob's mother),
    "U" "D" for Ulysses David or Ulyssia Davida if it's a girl!(suggested by Rob's grandfather)

    It was a great episode from a show that I loved. I'm sure it was a nod to Orson Welles' Rosebud in Citizen Kane.

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    1. That show is from a long time ago. Sounds like a good episode.

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  5. I like to namesake since I was namesaked after a favorite uncle,my brother for MacArthur and so on for each child in my family.Almost all in my generation were given their fathers name for middle name.

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    1. Many ethnic groups used that pattern.

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  6. We named our son Colin. I can't remember why. We're not of English ancestry.

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    1. I think we just chose some good sounding names. Some that were not too popular or too new...real in between stuff.

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  7. I think that Americans also use the surname as a second Christian name, and women certainly do this with their maiden name.

    I agree that there is an elegance about using surnames as Christian names. I hadn't thought of it before, but many of my favourite names are in fact surnames.

    Interesting post.

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    1. Thanks for visiting my blog.
      Yes the English have some very interesting surnames.

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  8. This was indeed a great post. Thank you sooo much. In our French Family, many years ago, tradition called for every boy to have the middle name of Joseph and every girl was Mary or Marie. There was usually another name attached to the front or middle, so in many situations there were a lot of Joseph's, and Marie's. ha,ha I think that is why the second name was added. In our family, the boys usually carried Dad's name in there and I of course was the different one. I had a cousin who had already been named Lillian Marie, so I got to be Lilly :)
    Great Post Red n loved it
    BTW, my Dad wanted me to be called Georgina, for I was that really dark baby with jet black hair, looking just like my Dad. My Mother won out, however, every now and then, when it was just Dad n me, he always called me Georgy, or Georja :)

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    1. Neat story about your Dad and your name.
      Now watch the complements because they could go to my head and that would be disaster.
      Thanks I appreciate that you enjoy the posts.

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  9. My family of birth all have family surnames as middle names, 2 from my father's family, 2 from my mother's, as do both my parents. My brother and I have family names as our given names, as do my husband and his older brother. Other siblings have first names because our parents liked them, I guess. My husband preferred first names as middle names for our daughters (his family tradition).
    BTW when our grandson was born 3 years ago, I suggested several names similar to some that celebrities were choosing, Lightning McQueen was rejected as a middle name for Erik :o)
    All of the women in my family have kept maiden names as middle names when they married going back at least 4 generations, as have our 2 daughters who are married.
    Interesting post, Red.

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    1. I think you would find quite a few family traditions for name patterns. I like this one and I'm sure that it adds a certain amount of significance to family history.

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  10. Good choice Stephen!
    May your "Colin" be just like me. Upright, outspoken, polite, courteous - oh I could go on but I am also modest.
    Oh get off the floor Red, I know you are having fits of some manner or the other. Just take a
    relaxer tablet and you will be fine - ha ha!
    Cheers
    Colin,"The Modest one", Brisbane.Australia

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    1. Now Colin I had to read this carefully before I caught on. I would not be on the floor . I would be off the ground in full rant.

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  11. interesting! my last 3 boys names are John, Luke and Mark...can you guess when our conversion was?

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    1. Probably could! However , all good solid names. Interesting the variation of these names in other languages.

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  12. This is a very interesting post.
    I have no idea of any pattern use by my grandparents or parents in naming their children. I just had a hard time finding a name to which their father would agree. I went through pages of name combinations.

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    1. Many people have no name pattern that is used and that's fine.
      Naming a child is much harder than we think.

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  13. This is fun, Red!
    Hubby was name Brian, but the priest insisted he had to have a saints name. He's been Brian for years, but his legal first name is Joe. Pretty crazy!
    Great post.

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  14. Some people are okay with others naming their children and sometimes it causes a family feud

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  15. The comments are as interesting your very informative post! :)


    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

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  16. I was named for an Indian Prime minister who died the same day I was born and I don't like the name at all and always shorten my official name. Apart from this, I have two other names - one because my Mom chose it and the other my paternal grandfather chose it. And my family calls me by whichever name each one likes.

    When I was little it was a bit confusing to me at school as I would automatically answer to two names, took years for me to respond to only my official name :)

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