This is my third post about names and the naming of children. Each of these posts relates to the other and I am hopeful that my dear reader gleans some useful research tips from them.
Some years ago when I began searching my family tree (that is my mother and father’s sides of the family), my husband felt that I should also delve into his ancestors. Well….I did. There is a saying “If you can’t be a good example, then be a dire warning”! Here is your dire warning: Do not under any circumstances feel that it is a good idea to create an online tree with 4 lines. Just.Don’t.Do.It. Co-mingling is NOT a good idea but unfortunately I am in so deep now that there is no undoing it.
Since my husband’s family on his father’s side is Sicilian this has created an issue for me that I did not foresee. Naming customs.
The first male is named after his paternal grandfather.
The second male is named after his maternal grandfather.
The first female is named after her paternal grandmother.
The second female is named after her maternal grandmother.
And if a child with any of those names dies, then the next child gets the recycled name. Which means that in my husband’s tree he has no less than 20 Salvatore’s who are sons of Salvatore and the grandson of Salvatore………
Then add in the nicknames of Tutti (Salvatore), Sonny (Salvatore), Pretty (Prudentia) and finally the “Americanization” of the old country names. Giuseppe is Joseph, Antonino is now Anthony or Tony, Paolo is Paul and so on. Some even outright changed their names such as Saverio to Fred. Seems simple enough until you have 5 or more people in the same generation with the same monikers. This line has given me more trouble than the other 3 combined. However, I keep working at it, though admittedly in fits and starts because it just makes my brain hurt.
On my father’s side there is a bit of a similar situation as they were Germanic and ascribed to similar naming traditions. For an in-depth discussion of those please follow this link: German naming traditions
While they very often “recycled” the first names….Lots of Johann’s and Maria’s….the middle name was unique and their “call name”. My father’s family was no different. With the exception of one son all of the rest of the children were known by their middle name. In this respect I think the Germans did a nice job of refining naming conventions so that there wouldn’t be a room full of Otto’s or Hedwig’s, yet they could still honor their chosen relative or saint.
However, there needs to be a word of warning. NEVER assume that Salvatore is the son of Salvatore. There are a million things that could be wrong with that supposition: This may not really be the first born son, you may be trying to connect the wrong families, there could be a schism in the family and in every generation there are rebels! (Okay, so that isn’t a million but my dear reader there isn’t time nor space to list them all here) Remember that these are TRADITIONS, not hard and fast rules.
Names are the footprint that our ancestors have left behind. Many ethnic, religious and geographical groups have their own unique naming trends and traditions. Take the time to research those before you begin plugging names into your tree. In the long run it could prevent you from climbing out on a fragile limb that undoes the veracity of the rest of your research.