Irish Naming and Baptism Traditions

[Bob Spiers]

I received via my Ireland XO membership a most interesting article entitled as above.

You can find it here - and I think many will find it of interest for those, like myself, struggling to understanding why things just do not add up when researching our Irish Ancestors. It's purpose to overcome the loss of Ireland's early census records, and concentrate on church records as 19th century census substitutes. Its purpose is fully explained and while mainly concerning Catholic traditions, is also covers Anglican (Church of Ireland) traditions as well.

Its main sub-headings are as follows:

Irish Naming Practice for Boys
Irish Naming Practice for Girls
Reliability and Exceptions to the Rule
Middle First Names
Middle and Double-barreled Surnames
Infant Deaths
Stillborn and unbaptised infants
Using the patterns to solve gap-ridden baptism records - Before and after the Great Irish Famine
Irish Baptism Traditions and Customs
The 'Italian' in the family
The Stipend (fee, if any, paid to the Priest)
Sponsor/Godparents

As I am already a member of Ireland XO -and have been for some years - it may require you to register to view but as it asks me to share it with others - via Facebook, Twitter, Google or Email, I doubt that will be necessary.

 

[peter]

No need to register to read the article, but good luck to anyone hoping to use naming patterns in order to knock down 'brick walls'!

 

[Bob Spiers]

No need to register to read the article, but good luck to anyone hoping to use naming patterns in order to knock down 'brick walls'!

Yes, I agree good 'Irish' luck indeed will be needed, but as someone who long despaired at tracking down someone, or something (like a Parish or a Townland) and being led up the 'Irish' path only to find the answer lay in one or more of the tips afforded in the article, I just wished I had known of such in advance.

The best advice I can give is to become a member of Ireland XO and then seek out your County of interest (or Counties if unsure) and narrow it down to a Parish (preferably Ecclesiastical) and register your interest with that Parish (most are represented). Again if unsure register with more than one.

You will be asked to enter known family details and they will then check their database to see if they have the family already earmarked. Whether they have or not questions are welcomed and someone will always respond. I have received tremendous help in this fashion because as locals they have the advantage of knowing the substance and vagaries of their own Records. Not surprisingly much of what was uncovered and explained to me can be found in the substance of the article.

 

[peter]

It's both strange and unfortunate that so few people in Ireland have joined LostCousins - perhaps when you make contact with people through the Ireland XO forum you could invite them to join so that they can help their own cousins.

 

[Bob Spiers]

It's both strange and unfortunate that so few people in Ireland have joined LostCousins - perhaps when you make contact with people through the Ireland XO forum you could invite them to join so that they can help their own cousins.

Communication dialogue in Ireland XO is always through or via Moderators (or their like) rather than one-to-one with other members. Of course all members subscribed to the same Parish can read posted topics and respond to same if they believe the topic relevant to their own research. By this means of course one-to-one contact could be instigated through the Moderator. If this happened you can be sure I would mention LC.