The Aldens childrens names The current entry contains the following However there are no further occurrences of the names George Richard and Avys in his family which would have been unusual in the seventeenth century This observation about the naming patterns would hold true among most Christian families in the 17th c But among Puritan families this was not so The Puritans wanted to purify their church and their society of anything not found in the Bible let family traditions dating back hundreds of years be cast out Puritans bestowed on their children Old Testament names Sarah Rebecca Jacob Joseph and virtue names Constance Prudence Faith If you will study the names of John and Priscilla Alden s children you will note that the names chosen very much conform to the pattern of the typical Puritan family