Middle names

[iian]

Hi everyone,

was just wondering how many people have had an experience of researching an ancestor using the census then birth certificate only to find on their wedding certificate that their ancestor has suddenly got a middle name which didn't exist on their birth certificate.

Can anyone offer an explanation why this should happen, can be very confusing.

Ian

[CaroleW]

Middle name may have been added at baptism

My nephews birth was registered with just one christian name.  However - by the time he was christened, his maternal grandfather had died so he was given his grandfathers christian name as a middle name when he was christened

[mshrmh]

Ian - mine seem more inclined to go the other way - eg one set of grandparents were both known by their middle name - on their marriage certificate granddad has only his middle name while grandma has both.

Regards adding a name - did they have the same name as a parent and then add another (or even the opposite), perhaps? Or may be there was another nearby with the same name and similar age so they became known by both names to distinguish them?

[toni*]

my Nan, Emma Susannah, was named after her Nan, Sarah Susannah,  and she was named after her Nan, Susannah
i don't have a middle name but should have been named after my Nan when i get married i might add a middle name 

[aghadowey]

One of my grandfather's was born (and presumably baptised with 1 first name)- he added a 'middle' name in his teens and his 2nd son was eventually given the same names. Other grandfather changed his middle name around the same age (original middle name had been his father's middle name).

[GR2]

I have come across quite a few people who are recorded in the parish registers being baptised  with a maternal grandparent's Christian name who later in life use the maternal grandparent's surname as a middle name. In a sense they have not made up a middle name as they are just using a fuller form of the name of the person they were called after. That said, I have a very distant relative who just made up a middle name for himself as his wife and all his children had one!

Graham.

[roopat]

According to my mum (the fount of all wisdom) Catholics used to take on an extra name (in my family, a saint's name) when they were confirmed at about age 13 - so both my parents & my maternal grandmother had a 3rd Christian name. Not sure whether this still applies, I lapsed years ago I'm afraid! Maybe it's the same in the C of E
Pat

[myluck!]

Still in Catholicism children take a christian name at confirmation which is recorded against their baptism - you must be confirmed before you are married so records will be checked.

My children have one name on the civil register; two on baptism and one is about to be confirmed aged 12 and will take a third Christian name. However they only use the name shown on the civil register as being theirs.

In Ireland with many people having been named after relatives you can find cousins John Michael (Michael being his father) and John Pat (Pat being his father) where Mick and Pat are brothers for example.

Or as mentioned by mshrmh where they are named after the relative as John Michael but the John is never used so by the time they come to marry they may be oblivious to the fact the John was ever used!!

I have many of these in my family - finding them on the civil register is a nightmare. Up until recently (I am open to correction if there are changes) but legally in Ireland if you used a name for two years you could claim that name and apply for a passport etc

[weste]

I have my mom's first name as my middle nameand my sister has mom's middle name as her first.  Mom had my grans second and 3rd names for her first and second.  We think my grans was stung together from her sister's names.  The eldest of my brothers had his dads middle name as his first but dad did n't his first name so i wonder what would have happened if he did? I 've got some  edmund christian names who suddenly become edward, sometimes it's a misprint and sometimes not just to confuse. Naming patterns can sometimes be very helpful but may cause problems with large families and their offspring when they ar amed after grandad etc.