Name Recycling

Source

See:Transcript:Colonial Walker Birth and Baptism Records Maryland Eastern Shore. Note especially caveats on accuracy of the transcription.

Discussion

During the Colonial period, when large families prevailed, when a child died their name might be used again for a later child. This might have been intended to commemorate the first childs name, or it might have been an insistence by the parents about having a specific given name preserved in the children. A possible example of this is found in the family of Daniel Walker and wife Phyllis in Talbot County, MD (children born 1705-1724). Baptismal records for this couple show three children who apparently died young, whose name was "recycled" for children born later (Daniel, Elizabeth, and Nathan).

This practice seems to occur with some frequency in genealogists records. However, most instances of this are not so well documented as the above example. It is entirely possible that purported occurrences of this reflect an attempt to reconcile conflicting information, such as wehre where child lists of two similarly named couples have been merged.