MARY or MARGARET?

[Tunbridge]

My 4th grt grandmother was born 1755-1765 Lanark, Lanark, and died 1821 Midlothian.  At least, I (think) these particulars refer to Mary TORRANCE/TORRENCE (married to William BELL).  My question - is the name Mary/Margaret interchangeable?  The only logical entries for both birth and death refer to this lady as Mary and/or Margaret; all other information agrees.

Thank you for any suggestions.
Pat

[MonicaL]

Hi Pat

Just adding link to your other post here www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=676000.0 so we do not have duplication of effort by people trying to help with both posts.

Monica

[GR2]

I have never come across these names as interchangeable. The only possibility (and I have seen this) is for a transcriber to misread "Marg^t" as "Mary". If you have seen the original documents and one says "Margaret" and the other "Mary", a poor transcription is ruled out.

[Tunbridge]

Thank you for you suggestion.  It is a very good likelihood that indeed, the transcription might have been in error and Mary is in fact Margt.  I will have a second look.

[Alb R]

I've come across Mary/Margaret as interchangeable a number of times while being 100% sure that they were the same person.  Mary/Marion, Martha/Mary also seem common.

[tidybooks]

Hi All,

Have a look at this link,

http://www.whatsinaname.net/female-names/Marg.html

Does mention the mis-transcription.

Tom

[Tunbridge]

Many thanks - it appears I have much more checking/research to do.

[Forfarian]

I've come across Mary/Margaret as interchangeable a number of times while being 100% sure that they were the same person.  Mary/Marion, Martha/Mary also seem common.

Marion/Marian/Marianne/Mary Ann are all variants of Mary, no problem there.

However I reckon that confusion between Margaret and Mary, or between Martha and Mary, has to arise out of some sort of mistake in recording or transcription. I would certainly not describe either as 'common'.

I have seen just one incidence of confusion between Mary and Margaret that I could not trace back to poor record-keeping, and I have never seen an incidence of confusion between Martha and Mary. Nor would I expect to - I am sure that the biblical story of Martha and Mary would have been far too well known to most people for them to imagine that the two names are equivalent.

[Tunbridge]

My thanks - in this instance, it would appear the consensus is that it is more likely an error in transcription (Mary/Margt) and I have more work to do.