Children named numerically

+7 votes
201 views
Has anyone seen children named numerically by birth order?

For some time I have been fascinated by the first name of the father-in-law of my 2nd great-uncle. His name was Ogdoos Starbuck. I finally looked up the name/ word origin, it means the eighth, related to the ancient Greek word okto, and other ancient languages.

Next step was to look for other children in the family, it turns out that he was the eighth child in a family of 9 children, his older brother named Septimus was the seventh child in the family and Septimus is Latin for seven.

I have not added the other family members yet.

The other children in the family were in birth order Maria, Thomas, John, William, Joseph, Henry and the last and ninth child named George. Perhaps their parents John and Ann ran out of ideas for naming their children?

,
WikiTree profile: Ogdoos Starbuck
in The Tree House by M Ross G2G6 Pilot (709k points)
edited by Ellen Smith
I did know a family who had named their children alphabetically.  I don't know if they expected more children but they ended up with only five, starting with Alberta and ending with Edward (the only boy).

8 Answers

+5 votes
Sir Robert Wigram (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wigram-12) had 23 children by his two wives. His 8th son was called Octavius; his 12th son Ely Duodecimus; and his 20th child George Vicesimus (all from the latin ordinals).
by Stephen Heathcote G2G6 Pilot (108k points)
Septimus was quite a frequently-used name.
+5 votes

You see that occasionally in Sweden, using numbering in Swedish. What first came to mind was Tolvina for the twelfth child - I just did a first-name search for that and came up with the children of Anders Högberg.

I don't think I have ever seen a case where they start from the first child, but I know I have seen sequences starting earlier.

by Eva Ekeblad G2G6 Pilot (566k points)
+6 votes

M, that's just great!  I like it!  Keep a look out for Primus, he may be the eldest! cheeky

by SJ Baty G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
As in Primo Levi, perhaps? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi (who doesn't have a profile yet.)
+3 votes

The absolutely best result for researching this quite distant relative is that with the help of Quentin the great grandson of Ogdoos,( I have never been able to figure out our relationship) as it is only by marriage 

 I can now connect his family to the  2 x great grandfather of Ogdoos

 William Starbuck  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Starbuck-161 and to his brother Edward https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Starbuck-46 one of the founders of the Nantucket colony 

It will take a while to enter all the in between generations so stay tuned!

by M Ross G2G6 Pilot (709k points)
+3 votes

A great great aunt had Octavia as one of her middle names, and she was the eighth child.

All the sons in the German noble Reuss or Reuß family were named Heinrich so they all have roman numerals after their names.  See this Wikipedia article as an example.

I think eventually they decided it was getting too ridiculous and each generation they started from one again.

by John Atkinson G2G6 Pilot (612k points)
+3 votes
A friend of mine had an uncle Quintus (fifth child in the family).
by Ellen Smith G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
+1 vote
The closest I can recall was George Foreman, who named all his children George.

George the father was George Sr. (or George I)

His boys were George Jr. (or George II), George III, George IV, George V, and George VI. He also has nicknames for each: Junior, Monk, Big Wheel, Red, and Little Joey. So I doubt he calls them by number, but I seem to remember that when he yells "George, come here!" he only has to do it once.
by Scott Fulkerson G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
+2 votes

The noble family Reuß names all boys Heinrich. From 1700 on the Heinrichs are numbered by birth and this goes on til the end of the century. The firstborn was I., and if the boy born in 1769 is the 48. male born in the century, he gets the number XLVIII. Always at the beginning of a new century a new line of number is started. 

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)

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