Name traditions

[SeanChailleach]

Does anyone still use a traditional method for choosing names? In part of my family there used to be a rule like eldest son named after father, second after paternal grandfather etc. It gets confusing as you can imagine, and only appears for a few generations.
However, it must have prevented the name regret some of us suffer.
Does anyone still do this or have another system for naming children?

Almost every male in my maternal family has the same name - none of my kids have it though. It’s daft because they end up with really convoluted nicknames like ‘oh this is John but his nickname is Jenky-Joe’ because otherwise everyone has the same name. That or people end up being 45 and called ‘little Thomas.’

@RiotAtTheRodeo

I couldn't cope with the pressure of having to call my first born son Humphrey because that what his family had always done. I'd gladly be that tradition denying witch that brought an end to 15 generations of Humphrey.

God, this.

I couldn't think of anything worse. I call my babies what I want to call them.

I remember hearing, 'If you name your child after yourself, she will be your last!" Just a superstition/saying. Irish or Scottish I think.

Good grief Moon! Think before you post!

My husband's family is like this for the males - it was XY, YX, XY, YX for generations until my mother in law decided she was going to deviate from the tradition and used AY for my husband's name, and then we've used BY for our son's name although it was a name that was on our short list of names anyway, as it's quite a popular traditional name. The name that was dropped is more "old fashioned" and I don't know of any younger people called it in the same spelling.

On my Dad's side, the first born son is called after the father so I have a great grandad, Grandad, Dad and Brother all called John.
We carried it on so my Husbands eldest is the same as his name.
His Mother died when be was a child so his second son is the male version of their name and they both have the middle names of Grandfather's and his mum's maiden name too.

I like these traditions but it's obviously personal choice.

‘Sean’ (pronounced ‘Shan’ just means old. eg ‘Is seanbhean mise’ (‘I’m an old woman’).
Seán (pronounced Shawn because of the fada) is the Irish version of John, and means ‘God is gracious’ or equivalent.

Well, you learn something new every day. So man 'Sean's in the world.

So many*

Eldest girl has a name used either as a first or (mainly) middle name. I continued the tradition as I love the link between us all. No-one's name is an exact repeat of a previous version so we retain our individuality. My younger dsis equally loved having the freedom to choose which ever names she wanted.

Slightly off topic but Irish name Seán is from Norman French Jean.
The "English" who first came to Ireland in 12th century spoke French.
Seán was spelt "Seon" a lot until the Irish got fed up of the English who they called Johnnies and put the a in to distance from John. People often say Seán means "beautiful", and is a different name from John.

All my children have grandparents names but we love the names and no confusion

I think this was fairly common in previous generations. In mum’s family, her sister & Mum & 2 cousins (on the same side!) are all called Margaret. It’s a tad confusing.