It can be useful to consider the names of our ancestors, and in family history the further back you go, the more likely it is that names were handed down from generation to generation. Not just surnames, but given names. I can trace the given names handed down in my paternal family across at least nine generations, back to the 1600s.
My great-grandfather, Harry Steed born 1900 was the son of George Harry Steed born 1867, both in Victoria, Australia. George Harry Steed was the son of Henry Steed born in Newport, Shropshire in 1829, and he was the son of George Steed born in Long Melford, Suffolk in 1795, both of whom were boot and shoemakers. You can see the names George and Harry or Henry have been repeated in different ways down the line to that point.
Generally the eldest son has been named after their father (indicated in the diagram above by the red text), which is rather traditional in England. There are some generations where I’m directly related to the eldest son of the generation, and some not.
That’s the case where my 4x great-grandfather George was the fourth son born to Joshua Steed who was born in 1755. George didn’t inherit his father’s given name. That went to his older brother Joshua, who was landlord of Long Melford’s Swan Inn.
Similarly, George and Joshua’s father wasn’t the eldest son either. In fact he was the seventh of eight children of Luke Steed born 1716. Luke was himself the eldest and inherited his name from his father, whose uncle Barnabie was the eldest son and named after his Barnaby Steade who was born in 1605.
That’s nine generations of one branch of my family where I’ve been able to find inheritance of given names.
Selected references
English Heritage, ‘Why do we have surnames?’, https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/blog/blog-posts/norman-saxon-surname/, accessed 1 December 2024.
Family Search Wiki, ‘England Given Name Origins – International Institute’, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/England_Given_Name_Origins_-_International_Institute, accessed 1 December 2024.
Untangled Family History 
On my mother’s side there are generations of Thomas Pitkin, who seemed to prefer to marry Sarah’s 🙂
On my father’s side, all of the boys were named after English kings throughout the generations.
It can get very confusing without their birth & death dates!
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Yes. I have a lot of Roberts and Josephs in my Goundry branch. They came from Durham where my great grandfather Robert was born in 1855. In fact someone said that if there are any Goundrys left in Crook, Durham, they are probably related to us. My Goundrys go back to a John Goundry born in 1770.
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