two marys daughters with1911 census same family ?

[oldhippyone]

i have 2 mary mclachlan both born south shields   in 1911 census both daughters of robert and sarah one born 1901 the other 1911 was it normal to have 2 daughters with same name ?

[lizdb]

I wouldnt say it was 'normal' but it has been known!

Are you sure they are both children of the couple though? More often than not when this sort of scenario comes up, it is because it is a second marriage for them both, and they both already had a daughter called Mary from their first marriages.

[BumbleB]

From the information given in the census return, I don't think there have been two marriages 

There are two registrations in South Shields Registration District to match:

Mary Elizabeth McLachlan registered March quarter 1901 and Mary A McLachlan in December quarter 1910, but there is no way of knowing, without purchasing the birth certificates, whether these are the two children concerned.

[oldhippyone]

robert married sarah in 1895 so mary 1901 must be theres and is on 1901 census with them

[oldhippyone]

yes bumbbleb i have both the births , i find it strange

[BumbleB]

Well, they do say that there's nowt so queer as folk    Robert and Sarah obviously just ran out of names to choose from!!

[oldhippyone]

there has to be another reason for them to have 2 mary,s

[dawnsh]

Mary Elizabeth might have been known as Elizabeth or Mary as she was the first one.

Is "Mary A" Mary Ann? she could have been known as MaryAnn, one name not 2.

[lizdb]

Why?    (Referring to post before last, red writing has come up when I went to send this post)

One thing we NEVER know when researching family history is WHY! ! !


I had a family who had two children called William. Their first son, William Henry appeared to always be known as Harry, I assumed  ( but will never actually know) it was to distinguish from Dad, also William.  Then many years and many children later, they called their yoingest William. I liked to think (and again I will never know) that as the first one was very much a Harry, they were determined to carry on the family name PROPERLY!

We can only guess the reasons why people in the past chose a particular name, it is fun to dream up stories as to the possible reasons, as long as we keep those stories separate in our minds from the facts we are trying to seek out in our research.  If the facts show they had two Marys, then so be it.