English Naming Customs (1600-1800)

John D. Beatty’s slide in “Naming Practices and Genealogy” on YouTube:

Eldest son for the father's father (the paternal grandfather)

Second son for the mother's father

Third son for the father (himself).

Fourth son for the oldest paternal uncle

Eldest daughter for the mother's mother (the maternal grandmother)

Second daughter for the father's mother

Third daughter for the mother

Fourth daughter for the oldest maternal aunt

Expanded for the understanding of the writer:

The reference person (RP) in John D. Beatty's talk is the father who is naming the child.

Name the eldest son for the reference person’s father's father (the paternal grandfather). (The oldest son will have his great grandfather’s name.)

Second son for the RP’s mother's father (the maternal grandfather)

Third son for the father himself (the RP).

Fourth son for the oldest paternal uncle (the RP’s oldest brother. The child will have the name of an uncle.)

Eldest daughter for the RP’s mother's mother (the maternal grandmother)

Second daughter for the father's mother (the RP’s mother)

Third daughter for the mother (the wife of the RP)

Fourth daughter for the oldest maternal aunt (the oldest sister of the RP’s wife. The child will have the name of an aunt.)

Trav’s four finger rule for eldest-son naming:

Hold up four fingers. Let the middle finger represent the father who is naming his son. The index finger is the new firstborn. The remaining two are father and grandfather. If the index finger and little finger have identical names, the English naming custom may be in play.

(claude.ai:)

First sons being named after the paternal grandfather

Second sons being named after the maternal grandfather

Third sons being named after the father himself

First daughters being named after the maternal grandmother

Second daughters being named after the paternal grandmother

Third daughters being named after the mother.

Claude.ai:

For fourth sons and daughters in English naming customs from 1600-1800, the patterns became more flexible but still typically followed family connections:

Fourth sons were often named after:

The father's eldest brother

A paternal great-grandfather

A respected paternal uncle

A godfather or patron of the family

A respected local or national figure

Fourth daughters were typically named after:

The mother's eldest sister

A maternal great-grandmother

A respected maternal aunt

A godmother or patroness of the family

Sometimes a fashionable name of the era

By the time families reached their fourth child of a gender, they had typically exhausted the most immediate family names (grandfathers, grandmothers, parents), allowing for more variation and personal choice while still maintaining family connections. Some families also revived names of deceased siblings, particularly if a previous child bearing a family name had died young. (Claude.ai)

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