Names and the sudden urges to confuse others!

[mongoose2]

My Dad's mum was born Mary Matilda Edith Corner and was known as Doll all her life. fortunately her dad put the right name on the census.

Bazza

[omega 1]

My F-I-Laws  lot drove me mad.

Is Mum`s name was Mary but always chose to be called Maggie .

His brother we were led to believe was Joe turned out to be David.
Another went from Toby to Frank.
A sister May was Ellen.

That was JUST the christian names.

They changed their surname like the weather .

I discovered all of this when doing the family tree & getting Certs

Bet Dear F-I-Law was looking down laughing.

Omega

[Steve G]

Another went from Toby to Frank.

  Isn't that just a tad understandable ....?

I mean; " Toby " 

[spiderboy]

My mother in law born in Scotland in 1904 was named Barbara, that is until she went to school when she became Ethel, the name by which she was known for the rest of her life even by her husband. The reason she gave was that on her first day at school the school mistress already had three other girls named Barbara in her class and for whatever reason decided that she should be called Ethel. If the teacher made a habit of doing this and some of the other children continued to use their new names later in life it could pose a problem for future family historians to ponder over.

[Sue R]

My dad grew up thinking his name was William Elgin Alexander only to find out when he applied for a passport at the age of 57 that his real name was Alexander William Elgin.  He was called Jack throughout his life.  His brother, Stewart, was known as Shine, his sister, Lillian, was Bubbles, Helene was Babs, Beulah is Bunny and Joan is Dodo.  I just found out this year what their real names were.  It's hard to research when you only know them by their nicknames.  lol

Sue

[buttercup]

ANd it seems the English language isn't the only one to change names!

My great Aunt was always known to me as Aunty Kooka (it's spanish so it may sound strange) but only earlier this year when i scratched the surface of my Peruvian tree did i find out her real name was Maruja.

and another great aunt, sister of the above aunt, was known as aunty Henny, only her real name was Genara...

The eyes roll don't they! 

At least i asked now and mum was happy enough to provide quick answers! 

[danuslave]

At least i asked now and mum was happy enough to provide quick answers!At least i asked now and mum was happy enough to provide quick answers!

Thus reinforcing the advice to ask older living relatives everything you can think of 

Linda

[Marmaduke 123]

What about Mally? Maybe that's a Yorkshire thing - I always thought it was "short" for Mary, but could it be Martha as well, or instead?

Anne

[Mark1973]

My great grandmother Violet was always known as Cissie for some reason, maybe their sisters just gave them that name.