Naming Conventions: Finding John and Mary

This article was first published on October 31, 2008 and has been modified for posting here today.


Over the past fifty years, we have seen a drastic change in the names parents are giving to their children. It is not uncommon for a new baby to be named for a place, a season, a plant or a flower, or even an inaminate object. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned names like John and Mary?  After the Norman Conquest of 1066, a few individuals passed on heritary surnames, but most of the population seemed to exist quite well without the use of more than one name. In early England, one's surname may have been the same as the location in which he lived. In later years, a man's surname may have been the same as the occupation in which he was engaged. As the number of people in the known world at the time grew, naming conventions changed from one name to two, and first or "given" names were repetitious in families throughout many generations. Most genealogists will tell you that tracing one's family tree is often complicated because of the repetitious nature of given names handed down for several generations, making it almost impossible in some situations to tell one family member from another. Even more complicating is the fact that siblings often named their children the same names. Below you will see how the naming system worked until its demise in the United States sometime during the late 1800's. 

SONS: 

First Son: Named for his paternal grandfather 
Second son: Named for his maternal grandfather 
Third son: Named for his father's paternal grandfather 
Fourth son: Named for his mother's paternal grandfather 
Fifth son: Named for his father's maternal grandfather 
Sixth son: Named for his mother's maternal grandfather 

DAUGHTERS: 

First Daughter: Named for maternal grandmother 
Second daughter: Named for paternal grandmother 
Third daughter: Named for mother's maternal grandmother 
Fourth daughter: Named for father's maternal grandmother 
Fifth daughter: Named for mother's paternal grandmother 
Sixth daughter: Named for father's paternal grandmother 

As strange as the custom may seem today, it was a common practice to name the next daughter born within a second marriage for the father's deceased wife.  If a mother died in childbirth, the child, if it was a girl, was usually named for the mother. If a family lost a young child to illness or disease,  it was not uncommon for the next child born to be named for the one who had died prematurely. It doesn't matter the century or the place, our names will remain as they have throughout history to be of the utmost importance in our daily lives, making us unique individuals.  As I reflect on the fact that none of us actually get to choose our birth names, I ask this question:  What would you have named yourself if you had been given the choice? 

Are you a Meme, Gigi, Ganne, or Just Plain Grandma?

Spring Break is this week, and we were fortunate enough to have a short visit with five of our eleven grandchildren. Making up the group of five are one girl and four boys, ranging in age from four to eleven years old. Two of our four daughters are their mothers. To all of them, we are "Meme" and "Pop." Although we always enjoy time spent with our grandchildren, I have to admit that we usually need a nap after they leave!

By age two, most grandchildren have already started referring to their grandparents by nicknames. Although a majority of nicknames are actually selected by the parents, occasionally a grandchild develops a unique name based on the grandparent's actual name. The grandchildren of one of my friends refer to her as "Gigi," a name that she decided on when her first grandchild began calling her by her given name that starts with the letter "G."

One of the sweetest and most unique names for a grandmother that I have ever heard is the name "Ganne," a name given to Mississippi author, Anne Hughes Porter, by her grandchildren. Click here to read a poetic tribute written by Anne's granddaughters on the occasion of her 75th birthday last year. The poem was re-printed, with permission from her granddaughters, on my old blog Attala County Memories in 2008.

While growing up, my siblings and I referred to our mother's mother as "Grandma," and to our father's mother as "Nanny." True to their mother's Southern upbringing, my own children refer to their grandparents on both sides of the family as "Mamaw" and "Papaw," followed by the appropriate surname to distinguish the correct grandparents.

I have found that grandparents' names, at least in the South, have changed little throughout the years, and now I am hearing our grandchildren use names that are identical to ones I recall growing up, Grandma, Grandpa, Mamaw, Papaw, Nana, and Granny. When I became a grandmother, I decided early on that I did not want to be called "Grandma" or "Granny," and that I preferred "Nana" or "Meme," instead. And my children and I made a mutual decision that I would be called "Meme." Whatever name our grandchildren end up calling us, however, becomes music to our ears, and the reason for the name itself soon is irrelevant.

But where did these names for grandparents originate, and what do they mean? When I sought answers to my own questions, I found that grandparents' nicknames have long been steeped in tradition and may even offer insights into families' ethnic origins, a boon for family history researchers like me. A great reference for seeing the variety of grandparents names that exist and for some information about their ethnic origins can be found on an internet version of The New Parents Guide. Maybe you will find your nickname there, too.