It is not unusual in genealogical research, in all countries, to find certain families using a given name again and again, generation after generation. While naming patterns are never conclusive and vary from culture to culture and region to region, there are some standards which were prevalent throughout most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Several different patters are outlined here, including

• Standard Naming Pattern (1700 - 1850)
• Old Jones Naming Pattern
• 19th Century Naming Pattern
• Scottish/Irish and early Dutch Naming Pattern (1700 - 1800)
• Irish Naming Pattern (1800s)
• Italian Naming Pattern
• German Naming Pattern
• Welsh Naming Patterns
• Colonial American Naming Patterns

People being what they are, there were all sorts of variations, some covered by rules and some by family decision.</p>\n\n<p>It was customary to name the next daughter/son born within a second marriage for the deceased husband/wife. If a father died before his child was born, the child was often named for him. If a mother died in childbirth, that child, if a girl, was usually named for the mother. It was common to \'replace\' a child that died by giving the next child of that gender the same name. This is a useful way of dating deaths.

Other modifications to the model would be applied were the naming pattern was already satisfied. For instance if the Mothers Name was Martha, and her mothers name was Martha, the the third daughter may be given the mothers middle name, or alternatively move straight to the fourth daughter pattern.