Early Naming Conventions

Anyone who has spent much time at all looking at Colonial names has noticed how they appear and re-appear in family and related lines. Naming conventions now forgotten had been observed for decades—centuries, maybe. When I visited the Eastern Shore in 1996, Dr. Bill and I visited with Nora Turman one afternoon. Since I was fairly new to Eastern Shore history, and was (still am) clearly delighted by the names and their recurrences, Mrs. Turman recited the naming convention for me. More recently, ghote Bill Leatherbury (thanks, Bill) found and sent the one shown below. Maybe this will help you make sense of some of those wily ancestors.
Barbara Cox
April, 1999

Early Naming Conventions

Child: - - Named for:

1st son: - - father's father

2nd son: - - mother's father

3rd son: - - father

4th son: - - father's oldest brother

5th son: - - father's 2nd oldest brother or mother's oldest brother

1st daughter: - - mother's mother

2nd daughter: - - father's mother

3rd daughter: - - mother

4th daughter: - - mother's oldest sister

5th daughter; - - mother's 2nd oldest sister or father's oldest sister

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Barbara Cox ghotes@ix.netcom.com