- going on from naming patterns, whether parents who name another child the same as one of the same sex that died are MORE likely to be following the patterns, so that certain details of their parents etc can be inferred with some good confidence.
I don't think you can be so definite. What you can infer is that the first Michael would have been named according to family patterns.
The second Michael may have been named in memory of the first who was named according to tradition.
I have come across second named ones who have been named like this. ie another Michael. I have also come across the second named being known informally by a another family name or nickname. So a second Michael may be called 'Paddy', then that is made into Patrick by later officials, or if the second child looked likea more distant family member then named for them
- use of middle names or even an entirely different name from the given (seemingly more common with females)
Sometimes those middle names or different names are in fact nicknames for the same name so Nancy, Agnes, Ann/e; Esther, Hester; Catherine, Kate, Kitty and are not different names at all.
Second names were often traditionally given after receiving the first communion and were often a Saint's name so a child known as John might recieve a saints name of Patrick. I've heard of famiilies where the boys have continued the Saint's name of the father.
I think i would be inclined to accept the name/parentage for now. And see where it gets you. I have found that if some thing does not spring out as a possibility it is better to leave it for a while. More records, databases might become available.
Search on for siblings of Michael and explore their naming patterns and track them down the generations
Search on for siblings of the parents and explore their naming patterns and track them down the generations
And my last bit of advice for this post - don't let a database escape, old or new, without you putting in the names of your ancestors. How otherwise would I have found my gt grandafther's brother and been able to track him to find more of his/my family? They lived in different parts of Ireland, one in Co Londonderry and the other in Co Carlow and my gt Grandfather always maintained, to his children, that he was an only child.
