Babies named after dead siblings

[kooky]

My gt.gr.parents did this 3 times! They had a son Robert Henry b. in Ireland, after he died they moved to Glasgow. The next son was also named Robert Henry - my grand father. Hugh Alexander and William were also the second children to be given their name. James was born in Ireland and survived.
 Apparently he puzzled his grown up children by claiming to be the 7th son. My gt.gr. parents must have been honest about the family history.
Kooky

ps this was in 1870s and 1880s

[tjugg]

My grandparents did this in the early 1900's Two daughters Cecilia Ivy and Evelyn May died in early childhood so they combined the two second names for their last child and called her Ivy May.

[Just Kia]

This happens over and over in my tree.
One couple named 3 children "Charles" and all 3 died as young babies, where the rest of their children lived - obviously this wasn't a wise choice of name for their children.
Many many couples in my ancestry lost babies and re-used the name for subsequent children. Sometimes they added or changed the middle name, but not always. I also noticed that sometimes the new baby was given the name of an older sibling who it seems was still alive when baby was registered but then in the following quarter or two there is then a death for that child, so I'm guessing that the older child was probably sick and the parents thought they would die and so re-used the name, even before the older child actaully died.

[MKG]

It's family naming traditions, which you can find out about in a zillion places on the net. The tradition was strong throughout the 19th century, beginning to break down only after 1890ish. Basically, eldest son was always named after his paternal grandfather, eldest daughter after her maternal grnadmother, and a following hierarchy of rules for other children. So, if a first-born son died and there were no other sons at that point, the next-born son was the eldest and so took the same name. I have three James's in a single family for this reason. It often happened even if there were other sons around at the time, too.

Mike

[coombs]

Hi

I have had many births of siblings with the same first names to the same parents. The older children died and subsequent ones were named after their deceased sibling.

Two sisters Clara Hannah Coombs born in 1861 and Clara Emma Coombs born in 1876. Clarah Hannah died in 1862. Clara Emma survived to adulthood.

I think this was a very common pratice.

Ben

[LizzieW]

It happened many, many times in my family history and can sometimes explain why the ages on the census don't appear to be correct.  

My late brother in law fell into the trap of not realising that two sons of the same family both had the same name, the first one having died, so his research was wrongly diverted to finding someone of the age of the first son.  As soon as his notes etc. were sent to us, after he died, it was obvious what the problem was.  All it took was a quick check on FreeBMD to find the death of the first child and the birth of the next one with the same name (since verified with the certs).

It seems to me that giving the next child the name of a dead sibling, was almost a kiss of death to that child too.  Often in my family history, there have been 3 children in the same family all with the same name and all have died young.  Superstitious moi

Lizzie

[mother25]

I've recently discovered two cases of babies being named after dead siblings.  One was Esther who died aged just 3 years. Her mum had two sons and then another daughter, who became Esther. There were also two Henry's in the same family, one died in infancy the other reached adulthood safely as far as I can tell 
All that was in the late 19th and early 20th century.
More recently, I had a sister who died in 1946 when she was only 11 months old. Another brother was born soon after her death and then 7 years later mum had another daughter who was given a name almost the same as our dead sister. Not identical, but close enough for us to realise she was named for the little one.

[Viktoria]

Thanks to everyone who sent in their info, it is all very interesting.Sad too, all those babies lost. When my friends and I used to go to our local cemetery just for a walk or to visit grandparent`s graves etc. we used to look for graves with lots of babies ,only days and weeks old very often. This was in the older Victorian section. Quite often the mother had died too . It makes you appreciate      the improved maternity services we have now and anti-biotics etc.My friend has just sent me a book called "Call the Midwife" by Jennifer Worth. It`s about London`s docklands in the 1950`s,Cable Street , the Krays ,the marvellous women who bore more than ten children in poverty stricken conditions. That`s what it says on the back cover so it promises to be heartbreakingly interesting. Not a lot more to read of The Da Vinci Code so this will be next. Thanks again. Viktoria.

[kiwihalfpint]

Viktoria,

I have read the book ...... enjoy 


Cheers
KHP