52 Ancestors Week 6: Same Name

Question

Time for the next 52 Ancestors challenge!

Please share with us a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches this week's theme:

Same Name

From Amy Johnson Crow: Do you share your name with an ancestor? What about a name that keeps repeating itself in your family tree? Do you have an instance of ancestors naming two children the same? (It happened more often than you might expect!)
Share below!

Participants who share every week can earn badges. If this is your first time participating and you don't have the participation badge, or if you pass a milestone (13 in 13, 26 in 26, 52 in 52) let us know here. Click here for more about the challenge.

Comments

The earliest arrival in the colonies on my direct paternal line was Samuel Handy, who came to Northampton County, Virginia in 1662 and eventually settled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. There was a Samuel in every generation for at least 8 generations on my line, from him down to my great-grandfather's brother (my line is Samuel>William>Samuel>William>Samuel>Samuel>George>Edward; both Williams, George and Edward had brothers named Samuel).

---

This keeps coming up in my family for some reason and it drives me nuts. I have to be very careful to apply the right documents to the right person. Does anyone really know how many Benedict Arnolds' there were? I have at least 6 generations of them in my tree. I guess I want my legacy to be for future generations, please give each child a unique name. Every genealogist will thank you.

---

whoops -- commented instead of answered

---

A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (i.e., an avonymic),^[1][2] or an earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. A name based on the name of one's child is a teknonymic or paedonymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.  Oh boy, our family is full of patronymic and martonymics and sifting through all the Malcolms, Roberts, Johns, Minnies and Isobels have resulted in one good thing:  I am very careful about checking dates and places of births so as not to enter wrong data (we've all done it) and modifying our entries can be challenging!    When I get so tired I'm leaning on my elbow staring at family tree stuff, I know its time to shut down the computer as that's when the errors can stampede! 

---

I have at least 10 people named Douglas in my family tree.

That's probably not that rare, but the thing is, they're all women!

Douglass Hay 1794 - 1873

Douglass Hay 1849 - 1918

Douglas Barr 1840 - 1914

Douglas Hay Barr 1852 - ?

Douglas Currie 1863 - ?

Douglas Fulton 1892 - ?

Douglas Laing 1908 -?

Douglas Fulton 1905 - ?

Douglas Cockburn 1847 - ?

There were also a few ladies that had Douglas as a middle name. I just wish I knew why my 3rd great grandparents, Adam Hay & Agnes Pinkerton, started this trend and why they didn't name any sons Douglas, but only the daughters. 

---

Love it! Hint: Next week do an "answer" instead of a "comment" :)

---

Thanks Lyn. Will do. ;-)

---

That's crazy, Joe.. the multiple Douglases alone... and that they were all women puts it in another stratosphere.

---

I've been working on this ancestor this weekend and it makes my head spin a bit. Researcher Gail Linderman has identified over 10 different Brinsley Barneses, which makes records a bit fun... Several were born in Gilmer County, GA around the same time - this is what I am working to straighten out.

Answer 1

I have been spending recent months researching a branch of my family which has been very rewarding but at times also a little frustrating.  My Wilson ancestors seemed to specialise in recycling the same names, especially John, Robert and Samuel.  They also seemed to have large families.  The one name that has cropped up very consistently is Samuel Wilson, including my great-great-grandfather.  So far I have found that as well as his own son Samuel Wilson he had two nephews with this name, three grandsons and five great-nephews and I'm gradually adding them to WikiTree.  There is a peak of Samuel Wilsons between the 1860s and 1890s which makes the research "interesting".  I'm glad to say a few have distinguishing middle names but even then there is a penchant for Samuel Johns.

I'm not even going to go into the complexities in the records from Wilsons married to Wilsons, but it has all been helping me hone my forensic investigation skills and make sure I have multiple sources for events, just to be sure I have the right Samuel Wilson!

Answer 2

How about namesakes? Here are some from my research notes.

John George Washington Hancock b. 1778 (John Hancock and George Washington)

George Washington Gifford b. 1778

George Washington Butler b. 1776

George Washington Blaisdell b. 1779

George Washington Bennett b. 1842

Thomas Jefferson  Winchester b. 1802

Thomas Jefferson Pierce b. 1808

Answer 3

My maternal grandfather was Marion Alexander Duncan. He inspired my passion for genealogy and I now have possession of volumes of his writing. I recently found one document in which he recounts being teased as a youth for having a “girl’s name.” He named my Mom “Marion,” because he liked the name, just not for a girl because he didn’t want my uncle to have the same experience.

Answer 4

Italian naming conventions. How one family decided to buck tradition and do it THEIR way! https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2020/02/52-ancestors-week-6-same-name.html

Answer 5

William is the third great grandfather of William

1. William is the son of William Clayton III 
2. William is the son of William Clayton Jr. 
3. William is the son of William (Claiton) Clayton Sr. 
4. William is the son of William Claiton 
5. William is the son of William Cleton the Elder
This makes William the third great grandfather of William.

Answer 6

Men are too easy for this question. I have many males whose names were copied from generation to generation. I thought I would give an interesting answer including females.

My 4th-great grandmother was born Elizabeth Warner Whitlock. I wondered about her middle name. It turns out that her father had a sister named Elizabeth Whitlock who married a Mr. Warner. So Elizabeth Warner Whitlock was the namesake of her paternal aunt, Elizabeth Whitlock Warner.  Warner was her middle name and her aunt's married name. Both women were born Elizabeth Whitlock. The aunt died without issue and was certain to remember her namesake niece in her will.

Comments

That's pretty cool.

Answer 7

To link them would take forever, my one family line up until till a generation ago seems to have had a strong belief in the naming tradition. John, James, William and Charles then Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah and Emma. My mother named me Emma without realising there were relatives with the same name. My Cambridge folk were strong with the tradition until that line migrated to Australia.

Answer 8

For me, the bane of my genealogy existence has been the given name, Jeduthan! My 2x GGF is Jeduthan Baldwin. His father was Jeduthan Baldwin. This 3x GGF was very likely named for his uncle, Col. Jeduthan Baldwin-9142, who engineered the structures at Mt. Independence, VT during the Revolution. While Jeduthan is not really that common a name, it is among my direct paternal ancestors. Years ago, prior to computers for genealogy. I was stymied with my 2X GGF having birth dates (and death dates) that didn't jive! I was very lucky to write to and hear from a records keeper/junior genealogist in Cattaraugus County, New York, who solved the puzzle and found 'evidence' for the father (Baldwin-8772) and son (Baldwin-10528) relationship between these ancestors.

Answer 9

I have several instances in my line in which cousins married cousins. Jeff Foxworthy said once, "If your family tree doesn't branch, you might be a redneck."

However, the most prevalent same name phenomenon in my line is my mother's line. My 3rd great-grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Sherwood. She married William Bradley Sherwood, her first cousin. One of their daughters was Mary Evelyn Sherwood. Mary's oldest child was Ella Bernice Knight (the lone "skip"). Ella's 2nd daughter was Mary Elizabeth Atkinson. Mary's 2nd daughter is my mother, Mary Carol Binkley. My sister (youngest of 4 children and the only girl) is Mary Dian Christopher.

So, in 6 generations on my female line, there are 5 Mary's. So the extended family could know who was being called or talked about, my grandma went by Mary (but grandpa called her Mom), my mother by Mary Carol (her sister and brother still call her that, in her 80's), and my sister by Dian.

Comments

I often think about Jeff Foxworthy's routines when I'm doing genealogy.  Even though I'm from the UK, the people in my background (Ulster Scots) are the same as those who settled in the Southern USA, especially the North Carolina and Tennessee areas that Jeff liked to satirise.  Even though I've not found any of my family diaspora in those states (yet!) we did live in North Carolina for a while and I could see so many parallels with my own upbringing.  There were plenty of times when I thought "I might be a redneck"

Answer 10

I've got a continous line with 5 Jean Bourguignon. At leat 3 of them married a Marie.  So I have to know them by their firstname + their year of birth:

• Jean 1630
• Jean 1660
• Jean 1690
• Jean 1739
• Jean 1775

It was a tradition back at the time, to name the first child with the firstname of the parent of the same sex.

Quite fun for a genealogist !

And suddently, they start to try more unique firstname:

• Jean-Pierre
• Jean-Luc
• Jean-Michel
• etc

Answer 11

Christian Wilhelm Waldemar was born 10 Feb 1867 to Jorgen and Anna Henrikka in Odense, Denmark.  He arrived in the US in the 1880's and settled in Jacksonville, Florida.  Christian married Anna Caroline Frieda Hulda Lotze (Lutzen).  Their second son, William, called Billy by all familiar to him, was born in Jacksonville in 1899.  He named his first born son William Christian.  And William Christian named his first born son William Keith who named his first born son William Bruce who also ... you guessed it .. named his first born son William something or other.  Family lore tells that German tradition (Frieda Lotze aka Lutzen who married Christian William Waldemar was born 1878 in Erfurt, Germany) offers that persons go by their middle name around those who know and love them best but by their first name by everyone else.  This, so that should someone wish to place a curse on them they would curse the first name which is not really the name they go by and thus weaken the quality of the curse.

Answer 12

I was named after my great-grandmother, Karolina

Ironically, my husbands tree is full of Carolines as well.  Makes me wonder if his genes were drawn to me because of my name.  LOL

As we all know, families tended to repeat names over and over again.  I've even found that if a baby or young child dies, they tend to name the next one the same name.  It's very interesting the lack of diversity in names the further you go back.

Answer 13

My husbands family has had a John or Johan for at least 6-7 generations before him... confirmed at this point back to 1700s. This Dr. John/Johan came to America's in 1800s, named all 6-7 of his boys Johan but each boy went by middle name.  The oldest boy named his first son John and he name his son, my husband's uncle John 'Mac' who named his first son John-Johnny, who named his first kid John-Kevin, and that kid's first kid was named John-Kreighton.

My own family tree has a few repeats as well.. both with women naming her own daughters after herself as well as having multiple kids with same name, ie. Sarah born say 1648 but died as child, so next girl born also named Sarah after the mom. Or Thanksgiving first name for 3-4 generations and a few others.  

Another popular name on my family tree was Thomas Clark along with three Lillian's (mother, daughter, granddaughter) in a row linked to multiple John Busers.

Answer 14

Denton 3185, Gillette 828, Mastick 6. Gillette 829, Gillette 830, Gillette 831

Answer 15

Denton-3186 Gillette-828 Gillette-830 Gillette-831 Mastick-6  Gillette-829

Answer 16

My Dad's family used same names in one family..it's almost like a circle:  Joseph John, John Michael, Michael Anthony, Anthony, James Joseph, Emil James, and Steve James...but then, there's Ralph Wilson.

Answer 17

SAME NAME

At first glance one may speculate that Taft Aldrich was named after President William Howard Taft, until the birth dates are reviewed and the realization strikes that Taft Aldrich was born in 1804 and President Taft was born later, in 1857.  According to RELATIONSHIP FINDER, their common ancestor was Robert Taft-88.  

Taft Aldrich was apparently named after his grandmother, Annah Taft-386.  

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aldrich-918

Answer 18

There are so many name repeats in our Casiah/Kizziah family that keeping the generations straight just about drove our research group to the looney bin. But we finally figured out their logic and so here it is for anyone who has wondered why??? (The double cousin bit happens a lot in Native families. We like keeping the heirlooms in the family. ) 

The "Official Kizzie Policy for Naming Newlyborns". 

Previously used names are cheaper, and the more shopworn the name the cheaper it is. If it is the newborn's Daddy's, Grandaddy's, Uncle's or cousin's name it only cost a dime to use it again, where if you give the kid a name your family hasn't used before it cost 15 cents. 

If the name has been used at least three times in the past two generations it cost seven cents to use. If the name has been given to a 1st or 2nd-degree cousin born in the same town within the same year it only cost two cents to use. 

If the newly named has four living relations within spitting distance, all with the same name, you get PAID a nickel to use it. If the mother and daddy of the baby are first cousins and one of the baby's cousins of the same name has parents who are siblings of the newborn's parents they ALL got a dime. 

If you can manage it so that the child's parents are not only related but have the same names as the 1st cousins living next door whose shared Kizzie grandparent also had the same name as the first child's Kizzie Grandparent, EVERY LIVING RELATIVE within five miles got $5.00. This Nirvana of naming bliss has never been achieved as far as we know but it has not been for lack of trying. We are not an imaginative bunch when it comes to naming our children. 

But at suppertime yell, "Johnny, Willy, Dunning, Sam, Sandy, Neil!" and 25 little boys would come running. 

Answer 19

Hi,

This is my first time participating, I have added not just my personal tree but my partners, and in his tree are 3 generations with the same name....George Baylis....working out which records belong to which George is sometimes tricky. The 1st George Baylis was a tallow chandler (cheap candle maker) in Middlesex, England who fathered 11 children. George Baylis 1796. 

The second his son, was George Henry Baylis c.1818-1881 who when his children decided to emigrate to New Zealand, decided after the death of his wife and his mother that there was nothing left in England for him, so he went with them. 

The third was George Henry Baylis 1846 born in London, England  still working on his profile...

It would be so much easier if we could label them Snr and Jr. *sigh* but I get why we can't....especially when you get more than 2 generations.

Comments

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to 52 Ancestors! The weeks will pass very quickly! Enjoy!

Answer 20

Week 6 - Same Name. I managed to stumble upon this interesting name the other day, while adding very distant family. Donald Trump-468. Same name different person from the POTUS. But I will choose an ancestor instead.

I have a couple of family lines, where a name is repeated for a few generations, but the person whom I will choose here is Mavis Evelyn Keane-668. (www.wikitree.com/wiki/keane-668)  I struggled and struggled to find parents for Mavis, where she was married in Victoria. Now you need to understand, in Australia, we don't have as many people as in other countries, so it is quite regular to find people with unique names. So when I couldn't find details in Victoria, I checked other states, and found a Mavis Eveline Keane in South Australia. Great, fantastic, I thought. This is the link I was missing. So I traced back that tree as far as I could, entering all the details in I could find, until I discovered, it was another Mavis Evelyn (Eveline) Keane, born within a handful of years of each other, with the Same Name. Aaaarrrgh!! Oh well, disconnect those wrong parents, add in the correct ones, and in the process discover a bunch of cousins I didn't know! Yay! Put in as much as I can for the other family Mavis Keane-1008, and fortunately orphan them to someone else who has adopted them.

It goes to show that you have to be very careful researching back in time.

I since had other people contact me about Mavis Keane, mixing up the two families too, even quite adament there should be a connection, when there isn't. The funny thing is, both families also have a Reginald Keane, and some other repeated names, which helped the confusion.