Sunday, January 9, 2011

Irish Naming Patterns and Timothy Creeden

Many of the Irish followed a naming pattern for their children. I looked at this as a possible clue on Timothy Creeden's parent's and sibling names, but it doesn't appear that Timothy and Mary followed this! It's possible though that they had some children that died young. My great-grandfather said he remembered several more children than the ones that lived to adulthood.

I am fairly confident that Patrick was their first child. He was born about 12 months after they were married and is listed in the 1870 census as being born in December, 1869. Timothy and Mary were married in December 1868. So, was Timothy's father named Patrick and his mother named Julia? Since they didn't appear to follow the other rules, I certainly can't count on that! I've listed Timothy's children after the rules.

For sons:

The 1st son was named after the father's father. (Patrick)
The 2nd son was named after the mother's father. (James -- Mary's father was Asa.)
The 3rd son was named after the father. (Daniel - Doesn't match with Timothy!)
The 4th son was named after the father's eldest brother. (Dennis)
The 5th son was named after the mother's eldest brother. (Edward)

Timothy's other sons were Charles Acey and Joshua Patrick.

For daughters:

The 1st daughter was named after the mother's mother. (Mary Elizabeth - Mary's mother was Dorothy)
The 2nd daughter was named after the father's mother. (Julia Dorothy - Possibly covered both parents?)
The 3rd daughter was named after the mother. (Idabel - Doesn't match with Mary!)
The 4th daughter was named after the mother's eldest sister.
The 5th daughter was named after the father's eldest sister.

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