Can Names Give Us Hints To Family Origins/Can AI help?

The most common first names in my Family Tree

This isn't an April Fools' Joke. Yes, in some cases, names can indicate family origins. You can use AI, with the caveat that it can sometimes generate inaccurate information, to point to a possible place of origin based on naming patterns.

For instance, no one in the family knew where our Kapple line originated. Doing some library research using books on surname origins, we discovered it's of Germanic origin. It's also easy to identify colonial American German ancestors because they tend to use different first names, sometimes written in German, such as Johann or Ludwig.

I've been interested in tracing my colonial American ancestors back to a place of origin in the British Isles. In most cases, that is impossible to do because passenger lists weren't kept. British Isles ancestors were citizens of the empire and didn't have to swear an oath of allegiance when arriving in America. I know my Forgey ancestors were Scots-Irish. Family members left a written record of where the family was from, and approximately when they came to America, which was in the mid-18th century. The fact that they were Presbyterians was also a clue to their origins.

Most of my colonial ancestors settled in the backcountry. According to the book "Albion's Seed," most of these backcountry people were from Northern England. The settlers were often from both sides of the Scottish Border, and Ulster Ireland. I know I have several Scottish and Scots-Irish lines.

Lines I'm not sure of the origins of are my Browning, Wray, and Hicks lines. I decided to do a quick comparison of popular first names in England and Scotland in the 18th century to see if I could relate the choices of names to either England or Scotland. I already know, from my Forgey family, that Andrew, James, and Hugh were very popular names for the Scots and Scots-Irish.

According to ChatGPT, these male first names were most popular in 18th-century England:

The most popular 18th Century Scottish male first names according to ChatGPT were: 

According to ChatGPT the most popular girls names in 18th century England were: 

According to ChatGPT the popular Scottish girls names in the 18th Century were:

Some popular names should have been on the Scottish lists are Hugh, and Eleanor. Otherwise I think ChatGPT did a good job coming up with popular names. 

The names used by the lowland Scots and English are quite similar not really helping me much. The names Andrew, Alexander, are helpful in identifying families with Scottish origins in the 18th century, otherwise the names used are basically the same. 

I then gave ChatGPT the names of my ancestors Moses and Elizabeth Wray's children's names and asked about this families origins. 

What ChatGPT came up with is very plausible. I don't know when the Wray's came to America. They certainly could have been mixed English and Scottish. 

Moving on to the Browning family. What does ChatGPT have to say about them?

ChatGPT is predicting English ancestry based on these names. Edward, the father of this family, was likely an indentured servant. He may have come from England. Could be right? Unfortunately nothing was past down in the family regarding where the family originally came from? 

ChatGPT also predicted English origins for the Hicks based on first names used:

Let's test ChatGPT with ancestors with known origins in Ulster Ireland, my Forgey family. 

It identified them correctly as Scottish or Scots-Irish. 

I'm not sure how long the Wrays, Brownings, or Hicks families were in America or whether they married out of their ethnic group? They could be mixed English and Scottish. Mainly English and Scottish. Without surviving records it's hard to say. 

I mainly did this for fun. The information regarding origins is impossible to verify, at this time.