Shields Family’s Repeated Names: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Namesake”

 

Scottish Naming Conventions in the Shields/Sutherland Line

 

            A quick glance at the Shields/Sutherland section of my husband Bruce’s family tree shows repeated use of certain first names, both across and down generations. I wondered why they kept using the same names even when there had to be confusion, with cousins just months or years apart often sharing the same first name and surname. Then I ran across notes my mother-in-law took while talking to her husband’s aunt, Ruth Shields MacNiven. Ruth explained that the family followed a Scottish naming tradition.

            According to Ruth, in Scottish families, the first son is named for the father’s father, the first daughter is named for the mother’s mother, the second son is named for the mother’s father, and the second daughter is named for the father’s mother, etc. So Mary “May” Seller Shields Aird was named for her mother, Mary Jane Pollock’s, mother, Mary Seller.

            Confusion can result when the families are quite large, so you have five or six siblings all wanting to use their parents’ first names for their first or second sons and daughters. And that’s exactly what happened in the Shields line: repeated Effie/Euphemias, Johns/Jacks, Archibalds, Marys/Mays, Bethias and Margarets.

            As an example, let’s look at my husband’s fourth great grandparents, Robert Muir and Margaret Mary Anderson Lauder. Robert was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland on December 11, 1779 to parents John Muir and Ann Penman Muir. Margaret was born on June 1, 1780 to parents Archibald Lauder and Bethia Anderson Lauder.

The couple married in Lanarkshire, and Robert and Margaret Mary went on to have several children. The first two sons and daughters, in order, along with the grandparent who they were the namesake of, are listed as follows:

Son John Muir, born 1806. Named for his father’s father, John Muir.

Son Archibald Muir, born 1808. Named for his mother’s father, Archibald Lauder.

Daughter Mary Anne Muir, born 1812. Named for her father’s mother, Ann Penman Muir.

Daughter Bethia Muir, born 1815. Named for her mother’s mother, Bethia Anderson Lauder.

Old Monkland area of Lanarkshire, Scotland where Muirs and Sutherlands lived

            Bethia Muir went on to marry John Sutherland. Among their first children were Robert Sutherland, namesake for Bethia’s father Robert Muir, and Margaret Sutherland, namesake for Bethia’s mother Margaret Anderson Lauder.

            Margaret Sutherland went on to marry Thomas Shields. Their first daughter was named Bethia Shields, named in honor of  Margaret’s mother Bethia Muir. However, Margaret and Thomas broke tradition somewhat, naming their first son Archibald Shields, thus honoring Margaret’s grandfather Archibald Lauder instead of her father Robert Sutherland. Margaret and Thomas waited until their fourth son was born to use her father’s name, Robert.

            Ruth Shields MacNiven, the source of the information on Scottish naming practices, was the grandchild of Margaret Sutherland and Thomas Shields. Ruth married a cousin named John (but called Jack), had an aunt named Bethia, a sister named Margaret and both an uncle and a brother named Archibald, so the names continued on for several more generations.

            These examples show how complicated and confusing this branch of the family tree can be. While namesake children are a charming tradition, they make the genealogist’s job much trickier.