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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Familyskeletons on Wednesday 01 April 20 18:18 BST (UK)
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My three times great grandfather was born in Gloucestershire in 1779. We was christened with just a forename and surname. When he married in 1806 it appears he had added a middle name. This middle name also appeared in the Christening records of his first two children in 1808 and 1810. By the time his third child was born in 1816 the middle name wasn't there and it never appeared again. I read somewhere that only the upper classes had middle names in that era. Might he have arbitrarily given himself a middle name? I have recently found that his brother might also have given himself a middle name for some period of his life. Any thoughts? And information sources I could look at?
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hi Familyskeletons
just an idea, but not sure if it applied in late 18th century.
In the catholic religion when children were confirmed they took on the name of a saint. Many people adopted that as a middle name. however, just as people who have a middle name now, never ever choose to use it, perhaps your ancestor exercised that choice.
cheers taffie
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Thanks for the idea and I'll mull that over. In this case the names added weren't names of saints - rather they were the names of people that the fellows might have held in high regard.
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You only have to look at baptisms in a parish register for that period to see that middle names were not uncommon so not related to status. Maybe he just liked the name, he could call himself what he liked without it being the name he was baptised with
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That is an excellent idea and, fortunately, the parish registers for the place of their birth (Winchcombe, Gloucestershire) are available online on Ancestry so I went through them page by page for the period from 1768 up to the birth of the second son in 1782. Less than 1 percent of the christenings had a middle name. I'm curious whether this was also the case in the London area where they moved to so now I just have to find some parish registers online for comparative purposes. If the majority of those they associated with in London had middle names, maybe they felt compelled to create their own so that they'd fit in. Many thanks for the suggestion.
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It is possible that the middle names were given to acknowledge godparents.
I don't think it was necessarily associated with any one place or area. I have examples from the late 18th century in Sussex, Dorset and Hampshire.
Nell
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Hi Little Nell: Just to clarify what you're saying: Are you saying that children in Sussex, Dorset and Hampshire gave themselves middle names to acknowledge a godparent? Was that a common practice in what you've seen in Sussex, Dorset and Hampshire? If so, then perhaps the two fellows I'm looking at didn't do something odd.
What I'm trying to figure out is what motivated these two boys to give themselves a middle name despite the fact that their parents hadn't given them a middle name. In the place of their birth, middle names were extremely rare so something, subsequent to their birth, motivated them to give themselves a middle name. They did move to London area so that's why I was querying whether middle names were common in London for people in their age group.
I'd be really keen to see if somebody else has seen the same thing in their family history.
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I have to admit I was thinking mainly of what you said in your post at reply #4 about giving middle names perhaps being common in the area that he moved to.
I wonder did he have cousins with the same name and so he added another name to distinguish himself from them? Or were their names relatively common in their local area and again perhaps they added the second name to make it easier.
Nell
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This is a subject that has fascinated me. My great-grandfather was born in Wiltshire in 1830 and was given two middle names: David Abdie Jackson Jones. He has an older brother named William Solomon Banks Jones and another older brother with only one middle name: Henry Thomas Jones.
I believe the "Solomon Banks" middle name is some relation of his mother, Sarah Banks, but I have not found any candidates named that.
My great-grandfather's middle names are a complete mystery. Neither of those names, together or separately, show up in my family....yet.
I believe the "Thomas" in Henry Thomas Jones could be his grandfather's name but I can't prove that one either.
Then, trying to find a "Jones" in Wiltshire or anywhere in the British Isles is daunting.
:)
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Little Nell - I had initially focussed on my great grandfather - the middle name that he added produced a name that very closely matched a person of considerable status so I thought perhaps he was trying to look more important than he really was. I recently found that his brother may have also used a middle name that he hadn't been christened with but I knew where that name came from. With respect to my great grandfather, I do think it had something to do with climbing the social ladder - just not sure if I can verify this one way or the other. Interesting situation to say the least!
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uk4753 - you have my sympathy. With middle names like those, you'd think that it would be relatively easy to find where they came from. One article I read referenced a tradition that the first child a new clergyman baptized would take his name - so there could be all sorts of obscure traditions out there. Good luck!
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How do you know who added the middle name?
His parents may have just had him baptised with one name, but then used 2 names when they referred to him. They could have done the social climbing for him.
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The baptismal record for each son shows the complete name so no, they did not adopt their names later in life. Scanning the records I observed this practice was not uncommon; other children were given a middle name. I guess it was stylish in Chippenham in those days.
:)
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I've never been able to find where and ancestor of mine got his middle name - William "Whiteley" Isherwood Although on some trees it arrives incorrectly transcribed as "Whickley", on documents and records it is clearly "Whiteley", but search round the family - even neighbours - as I can, I simply cannot discover where he got it - although it has been passed down to descendants.
And I rather doubt it'd help the family (joiners ) to advance socially!
TY
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Here's a good one: My grandfather was named Frederick James Jones. We had never seen the first two names anywhere until I looked at his parents wedding record. A witness, probably the best man, was named Frederick James Styles! He must have been a favorite of the couple and they honored him by naming their first son after him.
As it turns out, the name Frederick has been used in my family to name the first boy in each generation. This has been going on for 6 generations!
:)
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Hi, Could never work out where the PEPLOE name originated from in my family tree so many generations had the second name PEPLOE,and for the life of me I couldn`t find my 5X greatgrandfathers perents until a lovely person on rootschat found a marriage for me in Bristol in 1771 of JAMES MELLIN to JANE PEPLOE, so Happy now problem solved.Margaretx
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ThrelfallYorky - another interesting thing about you William Whitely Isherton, of six siblings baptized on same day he is only one with middle name.
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My husband's paternal grandmother had a C of E wedding as Lucy however she may have thought she hadn't been baptised as she later had an adult baptism in the same church. In the church records she has suddenly acquired the middle name Margaret and when she died, some 15 years later, her death cert. names her as Lucy Margaret.
From all the evidence I have for the family going back into the 1700s they always had C of E baptisms and weddings so not about changing religion.
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medpat - thanks for the comment - that is closer to my situation. Can I ask what year she was born and year of wedding? I'm looking for patterns of behavior. Thanks
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Lucy born 5th November 1877 - can't find baptism but not saying she wasn't baptised
Married 1900 married as Lucy
Baptised St Christopher's Walworth London 1902 became Lucy Margaret - baptised in married name and her parents named on the register, they were the same as her birth cert. - proof same person
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Familyskeletons, "Mine" was actually William Whiteley ISHERWOOD", not Sherton - but that was an aside from your main point about middle names.
A young friend of mine recently got married, and after the event, decided to "keep" her maiden surname, as an additional middle name to be followed by her married surname. Apparently she had to do it by deed poll, - I'd thought she could just say she wanted to be known as......".......". But she actually did that, I know because she asked me to sign it. I was most surprised.