Friday, July 10, 2020

A LONG TIME TO MAKE A DEDUCTION

     Something popped into my head yesterday and it should have been in my head about 75 years ago. Swift I am not. 

     I wrote about the pattern of naming for my brother and I. A German , as well as others had a tradition  for naming children. So me being the first born son was given my paternal grandfather's name for my middle name. My brother was the second son and he was given the maternal grandfather's name for  his middle name.

    What popped into my head yesterday was that this naming pattern was the same for girls. I had not realized that my sister's middle name was taken from our maternal grandmother! I make no excuse for not knowing this but if I ever heard my maternal grandmother called by any name, it was Lizzie.  It just hit me yesterday. I remember lots of chat in the family about my name and my brother's name. I don't remember any chat about my sister's name.

    So it took me a long time to clue in that the naming pattern also applied to my sister. Now my third and fourth brothers were named without consideration of ancestors. I wonder if I had a second sister , would she have been named after her paternal grandmother?

  
     Doreen Elizabeth between her two older brothers. I'm the cute one on the right! The dog was old Rex.