Scottish naming customs
From LFAwiki
- By Douglas Ron Livingston
Choosing a child’s name in Scotland during this period of time was a very different procedure that it is today in the United States. A child’s name was basically a foregone conclusion, the only real question being its gender. The firstborn son was typically given the same name as his paternal grandfather. Similarly, the firstborn daughter was given the same name as her maternal grandmother. The second oldest son and daughter would be named after the maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother respectively. Additional children would often be named after an uncle or an aunt.
If a child died at a young age, it was also quite common for another sibling born after the first child’s passing to be given the same name. As a result, some names are particularly strong in some families. That repetition and naming pattern can sometimes be exploited to find additional family members.
On the other hand, it also creates additional problems. If each sibling in a family names their firstborn son after his paternal grandfather, it can result in number of children who bear the same name, who are close to the same age, and often live in close proximity to one another.