Names and the sudden urges to confuse others!

[ozlady]

Wasn't there an Empress Elizabeth of Austria who was known as Cissi?

[Gaille]

I too find this interchangeability, even apparent adoption of or being brought up by names completely removed from the given, birth name a real PITA at times.

 Lady on the left? Mary Elizabeth. aka " Polly ". Don't ask me how they managed That one!

 Uncle Fred was born Thomas. Uncle Bill was Roy. Uncle George still is Frederick, though I can't imagine he'd even turn round if ye called him Fred! Aunty Pip? God knows! I could go on and on.

Why? Why call a kid William, on his birth certificate, then call him Jacob, to his face for the rest of his life? I seriously wonder if half of them even knew their real names.

 Oh and Danuslave / Linda; Yeppers. Frank / Francis. I too have even just recently fallen foul of that one! 

LOL your lot sound like mine!

I have the 1911 Cencus for my nanas family - theres only ONE person on it has their correct name, the rest have family nicknames! ............. Luckily for me the only one with the right name is MY nana lol .........
Heaven help anyone looking for James (Jimmy), John (Jack) Edith (Eddie - yeah that ones going to be easy to find!) Margaret (Maggie) Charles (Charlie), Thomas (Tom)............ Neice Margaret (Mags), Caroline (Carrie) his mother in law Margaret (Mary).............
OK the names ARE mainly familiar nicknames, butout of the entire family only Nana got her given name and if you dont put HER name in the search you cant find the others!

On the other side I have a Gt-grandmother who was Born Planceana Mary, but hated her name & used Blanche Mary all her life, her daughter didnt know her real name she died!

HER father was named James Henry, as was his father & Grandfather, and they ALL used James Henry, James or Henry at random throughout their lives, I have to take an educated guess which one id which on records cos theres no pattern to it!

My Nana was christened Doris ............ but always called "Doll" or "Dolly"
My Grandad was John, ................ but known as Jack

One of my Neighbours is Named Geoff ............. but everyone calls him Sam, LOL no idea why

lol and another is named Sydney Mary............. but called Mary at work cos her employer refused to believe a woman could be called Sydney!

Gaille

[Gaille]

I just thought, my Nana has a Childhood friend we all grew up calling "Auntie Cissy" ........... Her REAL name was Frances.

Gaille

[buttercup]

Oh goody!

So it seems I'm not going mental after all!

And Martha being Mary is perfect - just to add i do not have her birth certificate wasn't really planning on getting it either as shes not a direct relative, but am considering getting her marriage to confirm fathers name!

Cissie and Elizabeth?! Goodness i never realised just how many meanings 'cissie' can have! But again scored well with Elizabeth! The 1891 has Cissie's mother as Elizabeth and there is a birth later that year for Elizabeth - the said Cissie.

Agnes and Ann - it was a hunch i had but confirmation is always a good feeling!

I had immense fun reading these replies, Rootschat never ceases to amaze me one can always guarantee they'll learn something new, have a laugh along the way or both! 

And speaking of interchangeable names my aunt has always been known to me as Toni - was a surprise to find out her real name is Maria Antoinetta! Go figure!

And my mum always goes by her second name....

Honestly! Why name a child if only to call it something else!

Jen 

[stonechat]

Martha can be known as Pattie (honest) I have to of those

I have two Cissy's - they were called Annie and Sarah!

And according to my mother my grandfather would sometime call his wife Mary 'Poll'

I also have a Sally in the tree, who was baptised as Sally, but also got recorded once as Sarah in a Census

I think sometime people who have names that look like nicknames, so they are wrongly 'corrected'

[Glenpenny]

My mum was actually christened Cissie, with no middle name to fall back on and she loathed it!!

[danuslave]

another is named Sydney Mary............. but called Mary at work cos her employer refused to believe a woman could be called Sydney!

I think that is the female spelling - but when my Grandad was born in 1899, he was called Sydney George.  They had already had a Sidney George in 1896 who had died young.

Somewhere between the 1901 & 1911 census Grandad was change to Sidney George and never looked back 

Linda

[Lydart]

I know a Cissie whose real name is Priscilla ...

[Aulus]

None of the Cissies in my family tree were actually called Cissy.

I'm pretty certain that in all my cases, Cissy was short for sister, as they were the only girls in the families.

I've got a Hilda Florence (my mother's aunt) who was always known as Bob or Bobby.  Apparently it derived from her having her hair in a bob as a child, and the name stuck.  I only found out her real name when I found her immigration documents to USA/Canada by looking up her husband.