Naming conventions

I wonder how many of us named our children using this convention:

Birth Order	Named After the
1st daughter	Maternal grandmother
1st son	Paternal grandfather
2nd daughter	Paternal grandmother
2nd son	Maternal grandfather
3rd daughter	Mother
3rd son	Father
4th daughter	Eldest maternal aunt
4th son	Eldest paternal uncle

I certainly didn't! So I wonder if my ancestors knew about that convention? Sometimes, names do not follow this convention, because a cousin has already received that name, or perhaps there are similar names in the maternal and paternal families.

However, the article is well worth a read as there are number of different options for tracking down that missing ancestor, based on the names of their grandchildren.

Here is another of the tips:

Examples of patronyms and matronyms:

1. Eric Thorvaldsson, AKA Erik the Red, was son of Thorvald and probably had red hair. His son was named Leif Ericson. (Norwegian and Icelandic)
   
2. Geesjie Barentsdochter can be identified as the “daughter of Barent”. (Dutch)
   
3. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, AKA Leonardo da Vinci, was the son of Piero of Vinci, Italy.
   
4. Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787 – 1864), was the son of Stevan, and Vuk. Vuk means Wolf, and was a given name likely chosen to protect him from bad spirits.
   (Serbian)

Extracted from: RootsWeb Review: 10 March 2010, Vol. 13, No. 3