The Etherton's Genealogical Page

Thirteen Commandments for Names

1. Thou shalt name your male children: James, John, Joseph, Abel, Richard, Thomas or William.
2. Thou shalt name your female children: Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Maria, Sarah, Ida, Virginia or Mae.
3. Thou shalt leave NO trace of your female children.
4. Thou shalt, after naming your childen from the above lists, never refer to them by those names again; instead, thou shalt call them by strange nicknames as: Ike, Eli, Polly, Dolly, Sukey.
5. Thou shalt not use any middle names on ANY legal documents or census reports; and whenever possible, use only initials on legal documents.
6. Thou shalt learn to sign all documants illegibly so that your surname can be spelled, or misspelled in various ways: Tipper, Topper, Hopper, Tucker,Tapper.
7. Thou shalt, after no more than 3 generation, make sure that all family records are lost, misplaced, burned in a court house fire, lost at sea or buried so that NO future trace of them can be found.
8. Thou shalt propagate misleading legends, rumors and vague innuendo regarding your place of origin.
   • You may have come from: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales ...or Iran.
   • You may have American Indian Ancestory of the ____tribe.
   • You MAY have descended from one of three brothers that came over from _____.
9. Thou shalt leave no cemetery records, headstones or headstones with legible names; nor will any of the dates thereon match those in public records.
10. Thou shalt leave no family bible with records of birth, marriage or death.
11. Thou shalt ALWAYS flip thy name around. If born James Albert, thou must make the rest of thy records in the name of Albert, AJ, JA, AL, Bert, Bart or Fred.
12. Thou must also flip thy parents names around when making reference to them, although "Unknown" is an acceptable alternative.
13. Thou shalt name all generations of children with the identical first names, as will all of the brothers so that all cousins are named the same.

Home Genealogical Page Pedegree Chart Alpha. Index