Genealogic Names

While I was researching my family tree (and getting frustrated by missing ancestors), I came up with the following ideas to help future generations trace their roots:

1. When married, a wife adds her husband's last name before hers, and the husband adds his wife's name before his. Example: John Paul Smith marries Michelle Ellen Doe, he becomes John Paul Doe Smith, she becomes Michelle Ellen Smith Doe.

2. Sons share their dad's married name as their middle and last name (Doe Smith), while daughters share their mom's married name as their middle and last name (Smith Doe).

3. Children's first name is derived from their parents' name thusly: middle name of opposite sex parent, middle name of same sex parent, first name of opposite sex parent, first name of same sex parent, suitably adjusted for sex. For the above couple, this means the first son is Allen Doe Smith, second son is Paul Doe Smith, third son is Michael Doe Smith, fourth son is John Doe Smith. For daughters, we would have something like Paulene Smith Doe, Ellen Smith Doe, Joanne Smith Doe, and Michelle Smith Doe. Any further children would be named whatever the family desires.

With such a method, given any four children we could come up with the full names of both parents, and make it a lot easier to trace one's family tree (unless one were the fifth son of a fifth son <grin>). On the other hand, it would reduce the amount of creativity needed to name your child and might make things confusing in large families, which might be a negative in some cases.