If your tree is anything like mine, you'll find the same names repeating through generations. There are lots of reasons for this, and they bring both advantages and disadvantages for genealogists.
Why Do Names Repeat?
In the past, it was much more common to name children after family members than it is today. Some families stuck to the traditional pattern which said the first son should be named after the father's father, the first girl named after the mother's mother and so on. Others dabbled with the pattern, or ignored it totally. But in families where many children were named after grandparents, it gets complex. Imagine 5 brothers with the same surname, all marrying within the same decade, all having a son called John and a daughter named Mary, all cousins to each other growing up in the same town. Untangling all these branches of the same family can be almost impossible, especially when they have not helped you out with middle names.
Repeating Family Names as Middle Names
One much better tradition in Scotland at least is giving surnames to children as middle names, typically the maiden name of the maternal grandmother.
This is my maternal grandmother, Margaret Clark Little, known to everyone as Peg. She was born in 1906 in Dumfries, and her parents were John Little and Mary Ann McKenzie. The Clark as a middle name came from Mary Ann's mother Margaret Clark. This sort of clue left as a middle name can help build links between the generations, especially when dealing with common given names (like Margaret) and equally common surnames (like Clark). My paternal grandmother's name was Janet Purves Simpson, and again the Purves came from her own grandmother's maiden surname.
Fashions in Naming
It's definitely true that parents in 2025 are naming their kids far more creatively than in 1925 or 1825. Names come and go out of fashion; the top 5 names for boys in 1904 were William, John, George, Thomas and Arthur, and in 2024 the top boys' names in Scotland were Luca, Noah, Leo, Jack and Harris. Girls' names are perhaps even more prone to fashion changes. The top 5 names in 1904 for girls were Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, Annie and Jane - and I'm sure that we all have a good number of those names in our trees. The top 2024 names for girls were Isla, Olivia, Freya, Emily and Amelia. Could these be the hard to research names of the future?
If you're struggling getting past a block of common names on your family tree, get in touch. I'd be delighted to help.