Irish naming patterns and our mob

Apparently in the nineteenth century and perhaps earlier, there was a set tradition for the naming of children born to Irish families.  The usual patterns were:

• the first son was named after the father’s father
• the second son was named after the mother’s father
• the third son was named after the father
• the first daughter was named after the mother’s mother
• the second daughter was named after the father’s mother
• the third daughter was named after the mother.

Having exhausted these possibilities, for the 7th child and beyond (and in these times there usually were 7+ children)  parents may have applied the following patterns:

• the fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother
• the fifth son was named after the mother’s eldest brother
• the fourth daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister
• the fifth daughter was named after the father’s eldest sister.

Presumably after the 10th child, you could be creative. Often the name of a child who died in infancy or early childhood would be applied to the next child born of the same gender.

Families with a number of siblings all following these naming patterns would consequently end up having cousins within a single generation with a number of common first names, making the job of a family history researcher trying to distinguish between them, rather difficult!

How do the Irish families of our ancestors stack up against these ‘rules’?

Looking at the Molloys first …

Patrick Molloy and Ellen Fearon families

Patrick and Ellen Molloy’s  male children were named as:

1. John Augustus Molloy
2. Patrick Molloy
3. James Thomas Molloy
4. Daniel Peter Edward Molloy.

Girls were named as:

1. Mary Margaret Molloy
2. Ellen Teresa Molloy
3. Sarah Elizabeth Molloy.

So the Molloys have re-jigged these patterns slightly to push the parent’s names up the list, and in the case of James Thomas, the parents may have been remembering an as yet unknown Molloy, or either of Ellen Fearon’s grandfathers, who were both named James.

What about the Egans?

Patrick Egan and Mary Coyne families

I’m a bit stymied here as the names of Patrick’s  and Mary’s parents are not fully known.  Mary’s father may have been John Coyne (yet to be confirmed).  The naming of the children went as follows:

1. John Patrick Egan
2. Thomas Egan
3. James Vincent Egan
4. Joseph Francis Egan.

The girls were:

1. Mary Lucy Egan
2. Margaret Egan
3. Ellen Josephine Egan
4. Agnes Veronica Egan.

The origins for the first two male names may be for the grandfathers, although not in the order expected, and the patterns for the girl’s names are not clear, apart from Mary being named for her mother.  If only they had stuck rigidly to the rules, I would have been able to hypothesize backwards to predict the names of the unknown grandparents!

The Buchanans do appear to have played by the rules  … almost.

Charles Todd Buchanan and Arabella Hardinge Going families

Their children’s names were:

1. George Charles Buchanan
2. William Alexander Going Buchanan
3. Thomas Hardinge  Buchanan

and for the girls:

1. Matilda Emily Hannah Buchanan
2. Anna Buchanan
3. Arabella Caroline Going Buchanan.

Dr George Charles Buchanan’s name combines both the paternal grandfather’s and father’s name in one.  The name Thomas doesn’t occur in the Buchanan family, so Thomas Hardinge may be named for Arabella’s brother closest in age to her, Thomas Hardinge Going.

These naming patterns illustrate the continuation of the surnames from the mother’s family as part of the child’s name, which also happens in the Scottish branches of the family.

Arabella Caroline Going Buchanan: her name carries on her mother’s surname