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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: 2mi3museum on Monday 09 December 19 07:45 GMT (UK)

Title: Names in The Family
Post by: 2mi3museum on Monday 09 December 19 07:45 GMT (UK)
Have you ever checked the origins of the names in your family? From whom did they receive and why?

Here in this post i would like to share with you some stories of the names in our family.

I hope you will enjoy....:)

https://www.2mi3museum.com/namesinfamily (https://www.2mi3museum.com/namesinfamily)
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Mart 'n' Al on Monday 09 December 19 10:38 GMT (UK)
Ever since I saw his name on my grandmother's memorial plaque I wondered how her late husband had acquired the middle name Sedcole. Three or four years ago I finally started to try and find out. That's what got me started on this crazy pastime. It was the surname of his mother's sister's husband

Martin
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: medpat on Monday 09 December 19 11:25 GMT (UK)
There are lots of Simeons in my father's paternal side, I had an uncle, grandfather and gt grandfather with the name. My gt gt grandfather's brother was also Simeon. My gt gt grandfather had 7 siblings so lots of children born and several more Simeons going through generations to my father's generation. Two Simeons went to WW1, my grandfather being the one that came home.

I have found my 3rd gt grandmother had a brother Simeon born 1803 but he didn't make 1841 census or any other that I can find. Looks like the Simeon name comes from my 3rd gt grandmother's family. All her male siblings have biblical names. Simeon (New Testament) met Joseph and Mary when Jesus was taken to the temple when he was 40 days old. Simeon  (Old Testament) the son of Jacob and Leah and leader of the Simeon Tribe one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Different Simeons crop up occasionally in both testaments.

Perhaps I had very religious 4th gt grandparents or perhaps if I get back past them I may find others in the family.

My husband's family used Tennant as a middle name quite often, my father in law's eldest brother bore the middle name Tennant - he died young. He would have been my husband's uncle. I had to go back to a lady born in 1781 (OHs 3rd gt grandmother) to find a Tennant marrying into the family.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: guest189040 on Monday 09 December 19 11:33 GMT (UK)
When I started to research my family tree I started to find that Surnames were often used as forenames.

So I have family members with the surnames Ewbank, Thompson and Collins as there middle names and this can go on for two or three generations.

On my Wife’s tree she has the name Sewell in there and that frequently turns up as a middle forename. 

There is even a person who is still alive so I will call her Grace BELL SEWELL Grey (Grace and Grey are fictitious) so this lady gets two Surnames in her actual name.  We are still trying to find who the Bell line is but USA online records are very much hit and miss.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Jebber on Monday 09 December 19 11:58 GMT (UK)
Bell may not have been a surname, it is quite a common forename.

One set of my 3x great grandparents had eleven children, ten of them all have surnames as middle names.

It seems quite a common practice in Kent, although it also occurs in other branches and  areas on both sides of my tree.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Ruskie on Monday 09 December 19 12:17 GMT (UK)
It's very common in the NE to use surnames as first and middle names ... also in Scotland.  :)

In fact there are lots of Bells in those areas too.

One of the families I was researching had 11 children and all were given the same middle name (which was their mother's maiden name).
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: carol8353 on Monday 09 December 19 12:19 GMT (UK)
I have always known that my paternal grandad's 2nd middle name was Mockridge.

It wasn't till I started doing my family history over 30 years ago,that I discovered that was his mothers maiden name.A far easier name to trace than our family name of Rogers  ::)

Carol
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Marmalady on Monday 09 December 19 12:22 GMT (UK)
In my paternal line there is 6 generations of "Francis Drake Waldron Wheaton"s

The first one was my 3xgreat grandfather born in 1795 and the last I have traced born 1937 (a 3rd cousin once removed)

The Waldrons married into the Wheatons 2 generations before the first FDWW was born (my 5xgreat-grandparents), and the Drakes into the Waldrons a generation before that (my 6xgreat grandparents) in 1729.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Mart 'n' Al on Monday 09 December 19 12:40 GMT (UK)
One of my North East England ancestors has the surname Ogle as a middle name.

I also have several generations of Lancelot without going too far back. That would be a fine name. I wonder why it died out.

Martin
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Jebber on Monday 09 December 19 13:18 GMT (UK)
One of my North East England ancestors has the surname Ogle as a middle name.

I also have several generations of Lancelot without going too far back. That would be a fine name. I wonder why it died out.

Martin

What makes your think it has died out? There are quite a number showing in the births as first name and middle name this century,  up to 2005, the latest year I can see births online. There were lots registered between 1950 and 2000.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Vance Mead on Monday 09 December 19 14:31 GMT (UK)
The name Pricilla or Priscilla was used as a male name in my family for several generations from 1550 until 1700 (in Watford and Ridge, Herts). They were called Prissley, Tillius, Tilly, and so on. I'm not sure where the name came from. Possibly the surname Priestley or Presley?
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: guest189040 on Monday 09 December 19 15:12 GMT (UK)
Whilst not used as a middle name my Wife is descended from a Prodger which is probably a pretty uncommon surname.

The strangest forename used that I have found is a person by the name of:-

Quickfall Gladwin.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Top-of-the-hill on Monday 09 December 19 21:47 GMT (UK)

   Surnames as middle names - "It seems quite a common practice in Kent". Not in my Kent families, (East Kent) nor my husband's (North Kent). In fact there were very few middle names at all before the latter years of the 19th century, apart from a few Mary Anns. I am talking almost entirely about agricultural workers.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: a chesters on Monday 09 December 19 22:20 GMT (UK)
In OH's direct paternal line, there is Henry with son John, with son Henry etc............. for ten (10) generations. ::)
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: pharmaT on Monday 09 December 19 22:29 GMT (UK)
It's very common in the NE to use surnames as first and middle names ... also in Scotland.  :)

In fact there are lots of Bells in those areas too.

One of the families I was researching had 11 children and all were given the same middle name (which was their mother's maiden name).

I have a lot of surnames used as first and middle names in my tree.  I have one where the son was named after the Dad's employer.  He had given permission for the parents to marry before the dad had finished his apprenticeship on the condition that they named a child after him.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: coombs on Monday 09 December 19 22:39 GMT (UK)
I find in Suffolk and Essex, a higher percentage of family names being used as middle names or first names. I have a Newman Jacques born 1775, son of Thomas Jacques and Sarah Newman.

Nathan Jackson Quilter, Mary Newman Smith, Mary Robjent Boosey - all names for some of my Essex lot. They can be very handy but on the other hand it could be a tribute to a local celebrity or more. Take Joseph Carey Merrick - The Elephant Man, his middle name was after William Carey, a preacher, who was in no way related to Merrick.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Andrew Tarr on Tuesday 10 December 19 09:40 GMT (UK)
One of the families I was researching had 11 children and all were given the same middle name (which was their mother's maiden name).

... which is still standard practice in Spain I believe.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: UK4753 on Tuesday 10 December 19 19:35 GMT (UK)
My first name, Bryce or Brice in the old days, can be traced back about 250 years to Maryland, USA and appears in each generation of my family tree.  The name first appeared in the Selbys but was picked up by other related family surnames.  This makes tracing a little easier. 

I haven't found that name farther back but I did notice "Brice" used as a surname in another prominent Maryland family and assume my Selbys added it out of respect.  I only wish I could make the Selby connection back to England.

Interesting topic.

 :)
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: zetlander on Tuesday 10 December 19 20:53 GMT (UK)
6th Earl Fitzwilliam (Wentworth Woodhouse - Rotherham) had 8 surviving sons all with the first name  William.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Roobarb on Tuesday 10 December 19 22:11 GMT (UK)
I have an ancestor whose middle name was Trout! I've never managed to track down why ...... her father was a sailor though  ;D ;D

As for my own first name, my 3 x great grandmother had the same name but I'll never know whether that was relevant. Other than that it dates back to the bible.  :D
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Andrew Tarr on Tuesday 10 December 19 23:16 GMT (UK)
The strangest forename used that I have found is a person by the name of:- Quickfall Gladwin.

That is probably also a relative's surname, as I know someone with it (from Lancashire).  It may originally be Manx, like other Q surnames?
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: guest189040 on Wednesday 11 December 19 18:00 GMT (UK)
The strangest forename used that I have found is a person by the name of:- Quickfall Gladwin.

That is probably also a relative's surname, as I know someone with it (from Lancashire).  It may originally be Manx, like other Q surnames?

Indeed it was, his mother was Mary Quickfall and they came from Lincolnshire.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: BenRalph on Friday 13 December 19 05:28 GMT (UK)
I have a bunch of French (a surname not the country) relatives who liked using surnames as fore names. Richmond, Troughton, Blakey.

In my family I have a line that used Frederetta for 5 or 6 children but I cant find at all where it came from. I'd love to know.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: guest189040 on Friday 13 December 19 10:01 GMT (UK)
When we started the Family Tree building I remembered my Father (forenames William James Thomas) saying that he was named after his Uncles.

He had Uncles James and two William’s but I still cannot find an Uncle of his called Thomas.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Chilternbirder on Friday 13 December 19 11:51 GMT (UK)
When we started the Family Tree building I remembered my Father (forenames William James Thomas) saying that he was named after his Uncles.

He had Uncles James and two William’s but I still cannot find an Uncle of his called Thomas.
"Uncle" may have been a paren't cousin or a great uncle. Three of my cousins once removed call me "uncle" and my mother always referred to two of her father's cousins as aunts. (Took me ages to get the relationship untangled)
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Jebber on Friday 13 December 19 13:34 GMT (UK)
When we started the Family Tree building I remembered my Father (forenames William James Thomas) saying that he was named after his Uncles.

He had Uncles James and two William’s but I still cannot find an Uncle of his called Thomas.

"Uncle" may have been a paren't cousin or a great uncle. Three of my cousins once removed call me "uncle" and my mother always referred to two of her father's cousins as aunts. (Took me ages to get the relationship untangled)

It didn't necessarily have to a relation, before today's familiarity of children addressing adults by their first name, it was common practice for children to call family friends and neighbours Uncle an Aunty.

I am still called Aunty by a Friend's daughters now in their sixties.  A friend of my mother, who I always called Aunty, named her daughter after me, I could quite quite a few other similar examples.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: brigidmac on Saturday 14 December 19 01:10 GMT (UK)
I came across great name

Cadwallader JONES

 he was in a Welsh  household of my JONES family but down as a servant .

Any ideas of origins ..?

I could do with a name like that to follow after a day spent on Mary Martha Thomas John and Davids .
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: BumbleB on Saturday 14 December 19 07:54 GMT (UK)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadwaladr_(name)
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: Andrew Tarr on Saturday 14 December 19 09:33 GMT (UK)
I came across great name : Cadwallader JONES 
Cadwallader is a very old genuine Welsh name.  I can't remember any detail but I'm sure Google will provide.
Title: Re: Names in The Family
Post by: brigidmac on Saturday 14 December 19 11:03 GMT (UK)
Thanks cadwallader apparently from 7th century means" battle leader"

The one I found was 1871 in denbighshire Wales.Id never seen it before except for a wizards name in fiction somewhere ?