Scottish Naming Patterns

In the not too distant past the following conventions were followed by Scottish parents. This still happened in the early 20th century. Scots who went abroad often stuck to it too.

This practice is very helpful to family historians!

First born son named after paternal grandfather
First born daughter named after maternal grandmother
Second born son named after maternal grandfather
Second born daughter named after paternal grandmother

So it is possible to deduce what the parents in the previous generation were called.

2 children with same name usually indicates the first one died and the next child born of the right sex is given the same name.

Here are some examples from my tree

Thomas's father should be James Murdoch and his mother Ann Gibson and indeed they are. Middle names are not all that common, but where they are given it is usually a surname, as in this case. 

Wife Isabella's mother should be Agnes and her father Robert. 

The subsequent children should be named after the father/mother then great grandparents and so on. Less reliable.

Other names given to children could be an aunt or uncle or local dignitary, very often the minister.

Because of the practice of naming children after a grandparent there are often several children in an extended family of the same name. They will be cousins.

Can you deduce the wife of Thomas Burley?

Yes it's Amelia Clary and I have recently found a third Amelia Clary Burley born in 1910 in Michigan, another cousin. There may be more!

Further reading

http://www.brownlee.com.au/Pages/ScottishNamingPatterns.html

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scottish/ScottishNamingPatterns.html