middle name does it always point to a possible fathers name

[pinefamily]

As a positive example,  I couldn't find a baptism for an ancestor of mine. By checking through the original PR, I discovered that Nathaniel Pine/Pyne was baptised Nathaniel Pine Williams, as his parents were not married until the following year.

[fallenleaves]

Some interesting answers thank you..  Seems in my family the poem   comes to mind" oh what a tangled web we weave when we deceive"..  I feel sure i am going to find more intriguing info.. To be honest i have spent the best part of 24 years i have kept going because i was always intrigued by my grandmothers adoption which was before the 1926 adoption act..

[HannahB]

It did for my grandmother who was given her father's last name as a middle name (in the 1870s).  Hannah

[bevo]

I have one branch of my family whoused the surname of a sibling's spouse (usually a sister) as a middle name for thier children. Sometimes the first name, too. Took me a while to figure it out!

 Example
Jane Smith marries John Brown and her sister Ellen Smith marries Tom White

Jane and John have a child called Ellen White Brown
Ellen  and Tom have a child called Jane Brown  White

[coombs]

I have an Elizabeth Emily Goodacre Roberts born in 1867, sister of my great, great gran. Daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Roberts nee Walder. No Goodacre's on the mothers side.

I then stumbled across a Frederick Goodacre Roberts born in 1860 in Brighton. Got the cert and he was the son of Thomas and esther Roberts. Confirmed the one in the 1861 census aged 47 was mine. I then found that his mums maiden name was Goodacre. Ann Goodacre born 1777, Bermondsey, wed Thomas Roberts Snr in 1807.

[kathb]

Hi, the use of the fathers last name as a middle name was certainly the case with an illegitimate uncle of mine.  On checking the census data there were two young men with the last name residing in the same village as the mother.  One was the same age as the mother and the other (his brother) was already married.  I have read somewhere that the vicar often encouraged single mothers to insert the last name of the father as a middle name to enable the child to claim on the estate in the future.  How true this is I cannot verfify, but other Rootschatters may also have heard of this happening.
Regards
Kathb

[fallenleaves]

Kathb thats interesting....It appears that my grandmother was baptised with the forname  middle name and  surname her birth certificate mentions her forname  middle name  and mothers surname though her adoption agreement states otherwise just her forname and mothers surname..

[Ringrose]

My G and gggrandfather had the middle name of Hart.When I saw a baptism record for the eldest one in St Peter Port his sponsors had the name Hart .His mothers sister had married  Hart.
Ringrose

[HannahB]

With my granmother it was a case of having to do a lot of homework which would not have been necessary if we had sat her down and ASKED while she was still alive.  As it turned out she had told a lot of us details but no one had the whole story.  In the end we put it all together.  She had told one person his occupation, another how old he was when he died, a third how old SHE was when he died, a fourth where he lived and what his sister's name was.  It was like a treasure hunt but in the end we found him and to our surprise there was only one person who fit every criterion.  Hannah