Every family has a way. Here are 46 of them.

Scottish

Grandparents in a set order

For generations many Scottish families named children in a fixed order, so a family’s names could be read like a tree: the grandparents first, then the parents.

1. Is this a son or a daughter?
2. Count the sons (or daughters) born so far.
3. First son: father’s father · second: mother’s father · third: the father.
4. First daughter: mother’s mother · second: father’s mother · third: the mother.

Some families reversed the grandparents’ order; many never followed it strictly.

JamesMargaretAlexanderIsabella

Irish

A name for every branch

The Irish pattern honored both grandfathers and grandmothers before the parents, then reached out to the eldest aunts and uncles. It was kept across classes and denominations well into the twentieth century.

1. Sons: father’s father, mother’s father, the father, father’s eldest brother, mother’s eldest brother.
2. Daughters: mother’s mother, father’s mother, the mother, mother’s eldest sister, father’s eldest sister.

PatrickBridgetMichaelMary

Italian

The paternal grandparents first

An Italian custom so strong many thought it was law: the first son takes his paternal grandfather’s name, the first daughter her paternal grandmother’s, then the maternal side, then the parents. A firstborn daughter might carry a grandfather’s name in its feminine form, Paola for Paolo.

1. Sons: father’s father, mother’s father, the father.
2. Daughters: father’s mother, mother’s mother, the mother.
3. Feminine and masculine forms (Francesco, Francesca) keep the honor across sexes.

GiuseppeMariaAntonioRosa

Greek

Grandparents first, and a name day

A first son is expected to carry his paternal grandfather’s name and a first daughter her paternal grandmother’s, with the maternal grandparents next. The name belongs to an Orthodox saint, whose feast becomes the child’s name day, often celebrated more than the birthday.

1. Sons: father’s father, then mother’s father.
2. Daughters: father’s mother, then mother’s mother.
3. The saint’s feast gives the child a name day.

NikolaosEleniDimitriosSophia

Dutch

Vernoemen: naming after

Most Dutch families followed a strict order: the first son for the paternal grandfather, the first daughter for the maternal grandmother, then the other two grandparents. Some regions named only grandparents who had died.

1. Sons: father’s father, then mother’s father.
2. Daughters: mother’s mother, then father’s mother.
3. In some regions, only grandparents who had died.

JanJohannaPieterMaria

Norwegian and Scandinavian

Oppkalling: calling the names back

Across Norway and much of Scandinavia, the first son was usually named for his father’s father and the first daughter for her mother’s mother, a way to find a family two generations back from the children’s names alone.

1. Sons: father’s father, then mother’s father.
2. Daughters: mother’s mother, then father’s mother.
3. Later children: great-grandparents.

OleIngridLarsKari

Icelandic

A parent’s name becomes yours

Most Icelanders have no family surname. A child takes a parent’s first name with -son or -dóttir (or, since 2019, -bur, “child of”), and new first names must fit Icelandic grammar and appear on the national register or be approved by the Naming Committee.

1. Choose a first name from the Personal Name Register, or apply for approval.
2. Add the father’s or mother’s name in the genitive, with -son, -dóttir or -bur.

SigrúnEinarKatlaBirkir

Spanish and Latin American

Two surnames, and a saint

A Spanish name carries both families: the father’s first surname and the mother’s first surname, in an order Spanish parents have chosen since 2017. Many Catholic families also celebrate the día de tu santo, the feast of the saint whose name the child carries.

1. Choose a given name, often a saint’s or a compound like José María.
2. Add both parents’ first surnames.
3. Celebrate the saint’s day as a second birthday.

MateoLucíaSantiagoGuadalupe

Portuguese and Brazilian

Mother’s name, then father’s

Portuguese and Brazilian names usually place the mother’s surname before the father’s, with the father’s last, though Brazilian law lets families choose the order.

1. Choose a given name (often two).
2. Mother’s surname, then father’s.

JoãoAnaGabrielBeatriz

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian

The father’s name in the middle

East Slavic names have three parts: a given name, a patronymic from the father’s name (Ivanovich, Ivanovna), and a surname that often changes form for daughters. Many Orthodox families also chose a saint from the calendar and kept the name day.

1. Choose a given name, often from the saints’ calendar.
2. Add the patronymic from the father’s name.
3. Use the surname in its masculine or feminine form.

AnastasiaNikolaiYelenaMikhail

Polish

Imieniny, the name day

In Poland the name day (imieniny) of a saint is widely celebrated, often more than a birthday, and many families choose a name whose feast falls close to the birth.

1. Look at the saints’ feasts near the birth.
2. Choose a name, and keep its imieniny each year.

ZofiaJanKatarzynaStanisław

German and French Catholic

The godparent’s name

In many German and French Catholic families a child received the godparent’s name at baptism, often alongside a grandparent’s, and went by a chosen call name (Rufname) among several given names.

1. Choose godparents.
2. The child receives the godparent’s name, often with a grandparent’s.
3. Pick the name the child will be called by.

JohannMarieLouisAnna

Ashkenazi Jewish

Honoring those who came before

Many Ashkenazi families name a child for a relative who has died, and avoid the names of the living. Some carry only the first letter or sound forward, so a great-grandfather Samuel might inspire a Simon or a Sadie.

1. Which relatives have died whom you want to remember?
2. Use the name, a related form, or its first letter.
3. Set aside the names of living relatives.

SamuelMiriamElianaAsher

Sephardic Jewish

Celebrating the living

In many Sephardic families children are named for living grandparents, starting with the father’s parents, an honor the grandparents get to enjoy. A grandparent who has died often takes precedence.

1. Sons: father’s father, then mother’s father.
2. Daughters: father’s mother, then mother’s mother.
3. A relative who has died may come first.

EstherIsaacRebeccaJoseph

Catholic

A saint for every child

Many Catholic families choose a saint’s name, sometimes the saint whose feast falls on the birthday, and celebrate that feast as a name day. Godparents’ names and Marian names (Maria as a first or middle name) are common threads.

1. Look at the saints whose feasts fall near the birth.
2. Consider godparents and Marian names.
3. Keep the saint’s feast as a name day.

FrancisClareThereseAnthony

Puritan and Quaker

Virtues worn as names

From the sixteenth century Puritans named children for the qualities they hoped they would grow into: Grace, Hope, Faith, Prudence, Constance. Many were given to boys and girls alike.

1. Choose a quality you hope your child carries.
2. Pair it with a family name in the middle.

GraceConstanceVerityHonor

Muslim

A good name on the seventh day

Many Muslim families name a child on the seventh day, with the ʿaqīqah. The Prophet called ʿAbdullah and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān the most beloved of names, and the names of the prophets and the women of early Islam are cherished choices.

1. Choose a name with a good meaning.
2. Consider an ʿAbd name, a prophet’s name, or a name of the Prophet’s family and companions.
3. Announce it by the seventh day.

MaryamYusufFatimaIbrahim

Arab

Grandfather’s name, father’s name

Across much of the Arab world the eldest son takes his paternal grandfather’s name, and parents are then known by their eldest son: Abu Yusuf, Umm Yusuf. A full name traces the father’s line (the nasab).

1. First son: the father’s father.
2. Add bin or bint and the father’s name.
3. Parents may take the kunya Abu or Umm and the eldest son’s name.

OmarLaylaKhalilNour

Akan (Ghana)

Named for the day you arrived

Every Akan child carries a day name for the weekday of their birth: a boy born on Saturday may be Kwame, a girl born on Friday, Afua. Other names mark birth order (Manu, Mensah, Nsia) and the circumstances of birth, like Atta for twins.

1. Which day of the week? That gives the day name.
2. Where in the birth order? Some families add an order name.
3. Twins, a long wait or a happy season can add a name of circumstance.

Spellings differ between Twi and Fante communities.

KwameAmaKofiAfua

Ewe (Ghana and Togo)

Day names of the Volta

The Ewe of Ghana and Togo also name children for the day of birth, with forms like Kossi, Kodjo and Komla for boys and Akossiwa, Adjoa and Abla for girls.

1. Which day of the week?
2. Choose the boy’s or girl’s day name.

KossiAblaKodjoAfi

Yoruba (Nigeria)

Names that arrive with the child

Oruko amutorunwa, names “brought from heaven,” are given by the way a child arrives: Taiwo and Kehinde for twins, Idowu for the child after twins, Ige for a baby born feet first, Dada for thick curly hair. Family names (oruko abiso) are given on the eighth day.

1. Did anything mark the birth: twins, feet first, the cord, curly hair?
2. The name of arrival comes first.
3. The family adds names at the naming ceremony.

TaiwoKehindeIdowuDada

Igbo (Nigeria)

The market day of your birth

Time in Igboland runs on a four-day market week: Eke, Orie, Afọ and Nkwọ. Traditionally a child could be named for the market day of birth: Okeke, Okorie, Okafor and Okonkwo for boys, Mgbeke and Mgbafor for girls.

1. Which market day was the birth?
2. Choose the boy’s or girl’s market-day name.

OkekeOkaforMgbekeOkonkwo

Luo (Kenya and Uganda)

The hour names the child

Luo names often tell the time of birth: Akinyi at daybreak, Ochieng in the afternoon sun, Odhiambo in the evening, Otieno at night. Boys’ names begin with O and girls’ with A. Twins and rain have names too.

1. What time of day?
2. Twins, or born in the rain?
3. Boys take O-, girls A-.

OtienoAkinyiOchiengAdhiambo

Swahili (East Africa)

Friday’s child is Juma

Along the Swahili coast some names mark the day of birth: Juma for Friday, Khamisi for Thursday, Jumaane for Tuesday, and Mwanajuma, “child of Friday,” for a girl.

1. Which day of the week?
2. Choose a day name, or a name from the family’s faith.

JumaMwanajumaKhamisiImani

Zulu and Xhosa (South Africa)

Names that tell the family’s story

Zulu and Xhosa names often carry the family’s hopes or the moment of birth: Sipho, “gift”; Thandiwe, “beloved”; Nomvula, “mother of rain,” for a daughter born in the rain. The imbeleko ceremony introduces the child to the ancestors.

1. What was happening when the child arrived?
2. What do you hope for this child?
3. Choose a name that says it.

SiphoThandiweNomvulaThemba

Ethiopian and Eritrean

Your father’s name follows yours

Habesha names have no family surname: a person carries their own name, their father’s name and, on official papers, their grandfather’s. Women keep their names after marriage.

1. Choose the given name.
2. The father’s name follows.
3. The grandfather’s name completes it on official documents.

SelamDawitHiwotYonas

Hindu

A sound chosen by the stars

At the Namakarana, many Hindu families look to the child’s birth star, the nakshatra where the moon stood at birth. Each of the 27 nakshatras has four quarters (padas), and each pada gives a syllable the name may begin with.

1. Find the nakshatra and pada from the birth time (a panchang or priest can tell you).
2. Take that pada’s syllable.
3. Choose a name that begins with it.

AshaArjunPriyaIshaan

Sikh

A letter from the Guru Granth Sahib

At the Naam Karan, the Guru Granth Sahib is opened at random and the first letter of the hymn (the Hukamnama) becomes the first letter of the child’s name. Every girl is a Kaur and every boy a Singh.

1. Receive the letter at the Naam Karan.
2. Choose a name beginning with it.
3. Add Kaur or Singh.

HarpreetJaskaranSimranGurleen

Tamil

Your father’s initial, not a surname

Most Tamils carry no caste surname. The father’s initial is written before the given name (S. Murugan), and in full the father’s name follows it.

1. Choose the given name.
2. The father’s initial comes first.

KavyaArunMeenaKarthik

Chinese

A generation shares a character

Many Chinese lineages keep a generation poem: each generation takes the next character, so siblings and cousins share one syllable of their names. Using an elder’s character is avoided out of respect.

1. Take this generation’s character from the family poem, if there is one.
2. Choose the other character for meaning and sound.
3. Avoid any character from an elder’s name.

MeiWeiLinJun

Korean

Dollimja: the shared syllable

Korean siblings and cousins traditionally share one syllable of their given names, the dollimja, which alternates position from one generation to the next.

1. Take the generation syllable, first or second.
2. Give each child a syllable of their own.
3. Family name first.

Min-junSeo-yeonJi-hoHa-Eun

Japanese

Tsūji: a character handed down

Some Japanese families pass one character of a parent’s name to a child of the same sex: Hiroshi, Hiroyuki, Hiroaki. Many parents also weigh stroke counts (seimei handan) and the balance with the family name.

1. Choose the character to carry from the parent’s name.
2. Balance it with the family name.
3. Check the strokes, if your family does.

HarutoYuiSotaHina

Mongolian

Names that protect

Some older Mongolians carry protective names meant to turn misfortune away, like Nergüi (“no name”) or Enebish (“not this one”), often given after a family had lost a child.

1. A family custom, not a style to borrow.

Vietnamese

Family name first, a shared middle

A Vietnamese name runs family name, middle name, given name. Văn for boys and Thị for girls were the traditional middle names; siblings may share a middle name, and ancestors’ names are avoided.

1. Family name first.
2. A middle name (traditionally Văn or Thị), shared by siblings.
3. A given name that no ancestor carried.

LinhMinhAnhBảo

Balinese

Wayan, Made, Nyoman, Ketut

In Bali the first four children are named by birth order (Wayan, Putu or Gede; Made, Kadek or Nengah; Nyoman or Komang; Ketut) and the cycle begins again with the fifth. I marks a boy and Ni a girl, before a personal name.

1. Where in the birth order?
2. I for a boy, Ni for a girl.
3. Add a personal name.

WayanMadeNyomanKetut

Burmese (Myanmar)

Your birthday picks your letter

Burmese astrology divides the week into eight days (Wednesday has a morning and an afternoon) and gives each day its letters: vowels for Sunday, K and G for Monday, S and Z for Tuesday. Names begin with the letters of the day of birth.

1. Which day of the week (and, on Wednesday, morning or afternoon)?
2. Choose a name beginning with that day’s letters.

AyeKhinZawThiha

Filipino

Jomar, Marivic, and the mother’s middle

Filipino parents famously blend their own names (Jose and Maria make Jomar), and the middle name is the mother’s maiden surname.

1. Try blending both parents’ names.
2. The mother’s maiden surname becomes the middle name.

JomarMarivicMaricelJomari

Sherpa and Tibetan

The day’s protector

Sherpa children are named for the day they were born: Nima (Sunday), Dawa (Monday), Mingma, Lhakpa, Phurba, Pasang, Pemba. Each day is tied to a celestial body and a protector.

1. Which day of the week?
2. The day name comes first; a second name often follows.

NimaDawaPasangPemba

Hmong

A name on the third day

A Hmong child is traditionally named on the third day at a hu plig (soul-calling) ceremony led by an elder, and a man may receive a mature name as an adult.

1. The family’s elder leads the naming.

Thai

A formal name and a nickname

Nearly every Thai child has a formal name, often chosen with a monk or astrologer to suit the day and time of birth, and a short nickname (chue len) used every day.

1. Consult on the formal name’s lucky letters.
2. Choose a playful nickname.

Hawaiian

Inoa kupuna: an ancestor’s name

A Hawaiian name is a birthright that can carry lineage, place and mana. Inoa kupuna pass an elder’s name to a descendant; other names come through dreams (inoa pō), signs, or events. Traditionally, a kupuna or the parents give the name.

1. Which ancestors do you want to carry forward?
2. Ask the family’s kūpuna.
3. Names from dreams and signs come in their own time.

Names given through dreams and signs belong to the family; the Finder can only help gather ancestors’ names.

KaiLeilaniMakanaNoelani

Southern and Scots-Irish American

Keep the family name alive

Across the American South, maiden names and grandparents’ surnames often become first or middle names (Reese, Early, Carter), and double names like Mary Ann are said aloud together.

1. Gather the family surnames, especially maiden names.
2. Try one as a first name or in the middle.
3. Say the first and middle names together.

ReeseCarterMary annBeau

Namesake (Jr., II, III)

The same name, one generation on

A son named for his father becomes Jr.; a grandson for his grandfather, III. Daughters are named for their mothers more quietly, often in the middle.

1. Which parent or grandparent?
2. Use the name whole, or in the middle.

John Jr.Robert IIIElizabeth

Native American nations

Names given in ceremony

There are hundreds of Native nations, each with its own language and naming ways. Many names are given by elders or spiritual leaders, sometimes years after birth, and some are held by clans.

1. Follow your nation’s and family’s own ways.

Sibling harmony

Names that belong together

Many parents want siblings’ names to share a feeling without matching too closely: Clara and Theodore rather than Clara and Claire.

1. Tell us your other children’s names.
2. We look for a shared style and era.
3. We flag rhymes and repeated first letters.

ClaraTheodoreHazelArthur

Birth flower and birthstone

A name from the month

Modern lists give each month a flower and a gem: Violet and Amethyst for February, Rose and Pearl for June, Poppy for August, Opal for October.

1. When is the baby due?
2. Look at the month’s flower and stone.

VioletRoseRubyOpal