Same name siblings.*Completed - Thank You *

[blake1]

  Hi I have found a family of 9 children, one of which could be my G.Grandmother.
She would be 4th in line...but the next child, 3 years later has the same name!! this 2nd child died 2 years later.
Everything Talley's parents and location, all I can think is they took in one of these children.
Thoughts please.
Ken 

[suey]

This is not un-common.  Have you found the baptisms for these girls, you may find one or both have a second name by which they were known in the family.

One of my husbands families has three Marys, a plain Mary, a Mary Elizabeth and a Mary Ann. At least two were alive at the same time although only Mary Ann survived to adulthood.

My own tree has two Katherines in one family, both survived but the second daughter was always known as Caroline.  I think maybe the first Katherine may have been a 'sickly' child and was perhaps not expected to live.

[genjan1953]

Hello Ken,

I have quite a few examples of two children in the same family having been given the same first name.  In all cases I found that the first child had died after which another child was born and given the same name.  In one family the parents had named three consecutive boys Thomas, sadly all three of them died as infants       

I think it's fair to say that it's unusual for two live children to be given the same first name, even in those days.  From your description, it would make more sense for the later child to have survived (as your g grandmother), the earlier one with the same name having died.  I suppose you have double checked all the dates to see that the 2nd child's death record matches the correct birth record - if you see what I mean?!  And ... what record types do you have for the births and death of these two siblings?   

[blake1]

  Hi, thanks for the replies
I have these children's Baptisms and deaths all in the same parish records and church.

And living at the same addresses with a very slight variation which I've checked out to be the same place...and at the time of the baptisms and deaths.
Cheers Ken. Now do I go for it, as correct?

[suey]

I don't see any reason not to.  If you have baptisms for both giving the same parents, you have them at the same abode and burials with age at death matching short of ordering the birth certificates for both girls, costly  ,  I don't see what more you can do.

[blake1]

  Thanks again...we have been double checking things with the Census returns and found the family missing on the 1841 lists, but found them by searching the areas streets, going house by house and yes  they were there... just shows things are not foolproof.
Cheers Ken

[Meezer]

I have two Alfreds in the same family - one born in 1851 and still alive when his brother Alfred (also given a middle name) was born in 1860. The second one seems to have been known as Alfred through all the census returns. I would have thought it must have been quite confusing in the family!

[Colin Cruddace]

It might be due to naming conventions 

One son named after father's Grandad, next son named after mother's Grandad with the same name, so a second name is given. In everyday use, I would expect their names would be completely different, but for official documents such as the census their correct names were probably entered.

In Meezer's example of 2 Alfreds, one could be called Alfie and the other Freddie, but both shown as Alfred in the census.

Colin

[pinefamily]

The naming of children with the same name was more common in the 15 and 1600's. I have several instances from this era, where both children lived to adulthood and were known as the elder and the younger (just as if they had been father and son).