Scottish naming traditions

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Expand view Topic review: Scottish naming traditions

Re: Scottish naming traditions

by Anne » Thu Feb 20, 2020 7:21 am

I was given the 2nd Daughters naming and got my Fathers Mother's whole name and believe me I enjoy my initials now ! On coming to SA and having to deal with Afrikans People in different Gov Dept it was a bit of a nightmare when they wanted your full name. Now with or New Government it is a nightmare and never correct . Hence my 2 children born here have 1 Christian name and Surname !

Re: Scottish naming traditions

by Hughie » Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:52 pm

Bump - if you haven't seen this before it's worth a read from the start

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by hahaya2004 » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:04 pm

morag wrote:Does the Irish naming pattern follow the Scottish one?
It seems to, Morag. My Irish ancestors definitely used the same naming tradition.
Irene :wink:

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by morag » Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:40 pm

The middle name is interesting. Both my mum and older sister were Elizabeth Armstrong (last name) which came from my gran. There's probably a lot more to the naming tradition than we know. I don't have a middle name, Morag was probably enough, lol! but I've put in forms nmi, no middle initial only to get mail to Morag Ami Black!
Does the Irish naming pattern follow the Scottish one?

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by chrys » Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:05 pm

this would explain then why all my Kilpatricks are either William or Robert - my father being William his RObert and his WIlliam and so on with an occasional Hugh and ALexander thrown in and i thought i was an original being Chrystyne however i am not my great grandmother being the first so i am just a different spelling but i am interested to know how the middle names come down the generations. Thanks Chrys

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by Lynne » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:42 pm

It certainly does help, Susan. I found that my ancestors kept the names, rather than follow a steady pattern, for the most part. But it's still a great help. :) Lynne. :)

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by down south » Thu Dec 02, 2010 4:59 pm

I'm stiil looking hopefully for any Scottish ancestors... :think:

But I was interested to discover that my Cumbrian-born great-grandfather ( South London grocer and Victorian patriarch ) followed the formula above exactly when it came to naming his six sons. In fact it was the first appearance of this topic that inspired me to track down the last brother, after whom the youngest was named ; previously I thought I'd found them all. The four girls of the family didn't follow the plan so well, with some having merely fashionable names; though I did discover that my grandmother's hated and never-used first name Harriet in fact came from HER grandmother.

My other down south ancestors don't seem to have used this tradition, but they certainly still passed down their names, in the nineteenth century at least ( generally longer for boys ). My father's name William goes back at least to his Gt Gt grandfather Nock, and there were also Samuels in every generation , descending from that early William's father.

In fact I've found the recurrence of family names one of the great helpful pointers of family history. It's very satisfying when you get back into a previous generation and find all the people the younger ones got their names from, all lined up like ducks in a row; and even better, you know for sure that you're on the right track.

Susan

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by Lynne » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:49 am

calleytwo wrote:The tradition was followed through in my father's generation. Uncle Jim. eldest son was named after my great grandfather, Dad, after his mum's father(Alexander Borthwick) and the sisters, all followed the formula. My only sibling, elder brother John, was named after dad's father but dad broke with tradition - left out the second option (mum's dad - Dugald Mclellan) and named me after himself - using the gaelic form Alistair. The joy of my life - daughter Bonnie (anybodie want a 14 year old attitude) did not appear to follow the tradition. However since both her grandmothers were Mary we gave her that for a middle name. My brother did not follow the tradition for the three delights of his life but picked nice Scots names, Heather, Fiona and Jeanette. Wee Ali (or should it be Wee Doogie? ) :roll:
My brother, John, was named after my mother's brother, but apart from that, the names are all over the place. We also have a Heather, though!! :) My daughter's middle name is Maree....a variation on my mother's middle name, Mary, while my youngest daughter swears blind that we named her after a racehorse!! :) Lynne. :)

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by calleytwo » Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:32 am

The tradition was followed through in my father's generation. Uncle Jim. eldest son was named after my great grandfather, Dad, after his mum's father(Alexander Borthwick) and the sisters, all followed the formula. My only sibling, elder brother John, was named after dad's father but dad broke with tradition - left out the second option (mum's dad - Dugald Mclellan) and named me after himself - using the gaelic form Alistair. The joy of my life - daughter Bonnie (anybodie want a 14 year old attitude) did not appear to follow the tradition. However since both her grandmothers were Mary we gave her that for a middle name. My brother did not follow the tradition for the three delights of his life but picked nice Scots names, Heather, Fiona and Jeanette. Wee Ali (or should it be Wee Doogie? ) :roll:

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by Lynne » Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:21 am

We have hung onto the John a bit in my family, but alas the Boyd & Finnie names have been dropped in my branch. Had I realised when I had my children, the significance of these names, I would have included them when naming my children. My 5th g.grandfather retained the Boyd when naming his children (his mother's maiden name), and the McEwens kept the Finnie, so we had Robert Finnie McEwen and John Helias Finnie McEwen. I have no idea where the Helias came from, but I stumbled upon a John Helias Finnie one day, who was a policeman in Matabeleland...having emigrated to there from India. I haven't as yet pursued this line, being too busy trying to establish William Finnie & Ann Boyd's ancestry.

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by sheenaj » Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:51 pm

Many years ago I asked my mum about my name as there were no Sheena's. in either family.
I discovered it is Gaelic for Jane,[Janet or Jean]. discovered all of these reditions appeared through out my Father's tree As for Rae I believe it was a shortened form of Rachel -my Grandmother's name.
Now surnames they all seem to recycle in my Dad's side. Mostly as a middle name, Callow and Lawrie being the more persistant ones.
When my son was born as we had SO many John's on either side [mine and Husbands] we chose the Gaelic form of Iain and Stewart for my Father's side.'course living in America poor Iain has had to put up with a lot of strange interpretations of his name:-)

Re: Scottish naming traditions - Topic for December 2009

by Milda » Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:57 am

My mum's mother was called Matilda,so my name was made up from letters out of that and my middle name is Ann because my dad's mum was Margaret Ann.

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