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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