Tracing distinctive first names and middle names

[Andrew Tarr]

.... I would still like to know what Poynder/Poyander/ Poyarder means .

Regards  Orkrad

I don't know what it means, but I do know someone called Pounder, which is pretty close.  Many surnames exist in all sorts of mutations, some almost unrecognisable - for example the golfer Ian Woosnam (=Wolstenholme), the MP Brokenshire (=Birkenshaw) and the strange-looking Smurfit (=Smirthwaite).  It may be no coincidence that all these are places in Yorkshire 

[orkrad]

 Greetings from NZ

Thanks Annie. Unfortunately the lad with the strange name comes from a family named Smith! I have only been able to trace this family as far back as the father James Smith who was a lawyer who worked  in London from early 1800's. I have been unable to trace his wife's maiden name as she is only listed as Sarah on all the birth and baptism registers. Her death notice  in the London Times records her as Sarah Smith .I think James and Sarah  married  around 1807/8 but where is not known.  Their first born child was named James Fitch Smith and after his death a subsequent child was also given the same name .  In total they had at least seven children all born around Tokenhouse Yard or Austinfriers  London. I was hoping the Poyarder/Poinder/ Poyder might just be a clue to finding his mothers family.  Regards Orkrad.

[DavidG02]

I have a Pancas/Pancras/Pancoust in my direct descendants name.

Most say Pancas , wills and newspaper notices , but the odd thing is his grandmother has a last name Pancoust. So I wonder if it is a misspelling at birth or deliberate?

[andrewalston]

With those musical references, maybe they were related to the English composer John Marsh (1752-1828) ?

I'm pretty sure the musical references were to do with membership of the colliery's brass band. No idea where Mulvino arrived from though. The only reference to the name in the UK appears to be in Scottish romantic poetry. It's certainly not someone's maiden name!

[jaybelnz]

If it helps, I think Mulvino/Malvino/Melvino are Italian names, (also places)!

[pinefamily]

I came across that name with a man with the same surname as one of those I am researching. He married a woman with Malvino as a middle name; I never followed it up as it had no connection to me, but I think he married her overseas.

[jbml]

It seems to me that "Poynder", if encountered in a lawyer's children, is almost surely intended to be "Poinder" ... referencing the legal process of poinding. Wiki, as ever, explains it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poinding

[Maggyanne1950]

My grandmother had a child with the middle name Moren. My mother once mentioned Irish connections, and someone else told me that a spurious middle name, in an otherwise legitimate looking child, might indicate that the named father was not actually the father. The child died. Moren appears to be an Irish surname and there are no Irish connections otherwise.
Without DNA, the only ancestry that you can really be sure of is the female line!

[pinefamily]

A similar thing happened on a collateral branch of the family. The husband/father died in early 1885, and his widow gave birth almost 18 months later to a son. Given the family surname, and even a very distinctive family middle name, this boy grew up looking nothing like the rest of the family, judging by photos. He ended up killed in action in 1917 on the Western Front. Without sounding too harsh, it was probably a blessing, to not have to explain to descendants his origin. I ended up buying the birth certificate to be sure; no father named.