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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cheshire => Topic started by: nsc on Saturday 30 July 05 17:42 BST (UK)
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Sorry, this is a bit of a general question:
Was it common practice in the 1850s to give a child their mother's maiden name as a middle name? I have 3 instances in my family - John Dean Cartwright and Sampson Cartwright Worsey in 1853, and William Jervis Cartwright in 1857.
Does anybody else have anything like that? Was it fashionable, or in some way, perhaps, a response to the cholera epidemic in Nantwich in the late 1840s?
It definitely seems to be a middle name and not a 'double-barrelling'.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Neil
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Seems to have been quite common if our family are anything to go by. Very useful for tracing the ancestry!
Andrea
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3 of my dad's male cousin's were given the middle name of Jeffries which was their mothers maiden name. They were all born in the 1940's or 1950's. Is definately a middle name and not a double-barrelled surname. Their sister, fortunately was not given this as a middle name!
Sue
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My family have been passing surnames down as middle names since about the mid 1700's...
my father has Driver & Gear as his,
I have Gear as mine, as does my son (I'm sure he'll thank me for it one day! ;D )
and my elder brother has Dart.
But it seems that often the daughter would have the grandmothers first name as her middlename, my daughter has her Gt-grandmothers first name,any thoughts on this?
Richard Gear Reed :)
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We gave our third daughter the second name of Kirk - this being her father's second name. The original forebear was the Reverend Kirk who was a missionary at Hokianga - New Zealand in the early 19th century when the natives were still in a ' savage state.' We thought it would be nice to retain it in some way and she has always been proud of it.
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I definitely have this in my family too. From various different branches so it wasn't just 1 particular family.
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Check this thread
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,18801.msg285347.html#msg285347
for a great way of tracing those middle names
Bob
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My Grandad had his mothers maiden name Peverill for his middle name!
He's the only one in the family to have a surname for a middle name that I've found so far though.
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Hi Neil:
I have had lots of relatives with surnames for middle names. Including my grgrgrandfather who had his mothers maiden name for a first name he was called Frankish Thompson. My great grandfather had his mother's maiden name for this middle name John Allison Thompson. I can be a big clue in finding out maiden names of wife's if you don;t know it all ready.
Anne
Canada
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My grandad was named Henry Albert Mockridge ROGERS.
His mothers maiden name being Mockridge.
It was what started my family tree interest,and knowing she originally came from Somerset to London made it easy at the start.Of course it's become harder and harder to find people over the years ::) but that's half the fun ;D
Happy Hunting
Carol
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Did this trend start in London & move North?
I have relatives from Southport & Manchester doing this in 1856-64 but an ancestor from an unconnected bit of family in London using the mother's maiden name back in 1842.
It then seems to stop completely after 1870.
As has been said, can be v helpful when information is sparse.
SandraC
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My grandfather was Samuel Owen Gee, and his father was Samuel Gee, his mother was Catherine Owens - I managed to suss thatb out for myself as I didn't know her name and my hunch proved right. Always worth a try! Samuel Owen was born in 1872.
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Hi chris.perry - I had one instance like yours. My 3xGt.Grandpa was a John Glover Stringle and yes his mother proved to be Sally Glover. Quite a thrill to find one has sussed correctly !
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Including the mothers or grandmothers maiden name in a very prevalent in Scotland. It also proves very useful in tracing any scottish ancestry - I was able to get back to the early 1700's because of this naming tradition. Nearly all of our Scottish relatives have the mother or grandmothers maiden name after their given name.
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I have this in my family tree, too. Sometimes it can provide a clue to the mother's maiden name. My g-g-grandfather's middle name was his mother's maiden name. The same is true for his father's middle name.
My great-grandmother gave one of her sons an unusual middle name. I recently learned that it was her aunt's married surname. That couple got married on my great-grandmother's birthday. My g-g-grandmother died when my g-grandmother was about 12 years old, and I wonder if her aunt helped take care of her. In any case, I'm guessing that she loved this aunt & uncle a lot.
One of my daughter's middle names is my maiden name (which I kept when I got married).
Regards,
Josephine
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This trend is very common in my family. Either the mother's maiden name or the maternal grandfathers first name are often used as middle names in my family even today. Most of my ancesters that have done this were from the Isle of Man.
erin
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Mine are from Bedfordshire and it seems to have been common there. Not bad if you have a nice surname to use but I wouldnt have wanted to be called Esther Mumford Reynolds.
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Hi there, I've found that in addition to the middle name being the mother's maiden name, it can also be the surname of the father if the parents were not married. Sue x
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I've seen a lot of maiden names as middle names in my family too - including one where I have not yet found the original woman who passed on her name.
Sometimes, however, the middle name is a location, which, if the name could also be a surname, can lead you well off-track. I had a few of these (e.g. Richmond, and Clifton), but I was sceptical about Augathella from the outset!
The location most often used was the birthplace of the child, but could also have been the birthplace of either parent (particularly if they had emigrated). Around 1915-1920 Anzac and Gallipolli became surprisingly popular middle names for boys in Australia, possibly due to the media reports of the WW1 fighting there, or maybe the death of the childs father there. I've seen other battlefield names used as middle names too.
If the name is a location, its sure to be another clue to follow.
Sandra
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I've had Beaumaris as a middle name, nut no family of that name and no apparent conneciton wit Beaumaris.
Not sure people had David Beckham's ideas in those days - (Brooklyn Beckham after place of conception)
Bob
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This has been a regular occurrence down one branch of my family free; there are at least 5 Pembertons that I know of so far, going back to 1804. The problem I have is that I have not yet found the original maiden name .............. so, strictly speaking, I haven't proved that it is a maiden name.
As this is also a town in Lancs, there may be a connection there but, so far, no leg of the family tree is in that part of lancs.
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In my family the mother's maiden name was sometimes used as a child's first name. My ggg grandparents Thomas Machell and Mary Rowlandson had a son named Rowlandson Machell. Thomas's son William married a Mary Wilson and had a son named Wilson Machell.
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My Great Uncle Bill was William Bickerdike Walker, Bickerdike being his Mother's maiden name. He was born in the late 1890's.
Busybod