Tracing distinctive first names and middle names

[markheal]

The saddest forenames?

Births Mar 1861   
COLVILL    Not Wanted James        Lambeth    1d   312   
Deaths Jun 1861   
Colvill    Not Wanted James        St George S    1d   111

[IgorStrav]

The saddest forenames?

Births Mar 1861   
COLVILL    Not Wanted James        Lambeth    1d   312   
Deaths Jun 1861   
Colvill    Not Wanted James        St George S    1d   111

 

[Bee]

Not quite sure what to make of this entry on familysearch, Thistle Never No More T Goldsmith b1888 in Suffolk, just a pity he wasn't the Goldsmith I was looking for.

[clairec666]

The saddest forenames?

Births Mar 1861   
COLVILL    Not Wanted James        Lambeth    1d   312   
Deaths Jun 1861   
Colvill    Not Wanted James        St George S    1d   111

That is indeed sad. Poor little James.

On a slightly different note, it's interesting to see children being named after heroes of the time. There were barely any children named Baden up until the 4th quarter of 1899, most had the middle name Powell.

I've always been surprised that Victoria didn't take off as a popular name early in Queen Victoria's reign... it seems to become more popular later in the 19th century, but still isn't one of the top ranking names of the time.

[IgorStrav]

On a slightly different note, it's interesting to see children being named after heroes of the time. There were barely any children named Baden up until the 4th quarter of 1899, most had the middle name Powell.

I've always been surprised that Victoria didn't take off as a popular name early in Queen Victoria's reign... it seems to become more popular later in the 19th century, but still isn't one of the top ranking names of the time.

My great grandmother (1865, Kent) was named Victoria Adelaide, and was evidently called Adelaide as she appears in one census as 'Delie' and another as Adelaide, but ended in her last couple of censuses as Victoria. 

[coombs]

It took me ages to find the origins of my 3xgreat grandfather Thomas Roberts, as he gave different parishes of birth in Kent in 1871 and 1881 and his age fluctuated. But he called one of his children the middle name Goodacre in 1868 in Bow, London. I then typed Goodacre Roberts into Anc and found a Frederick Goodacre Roberts birth in 1860 in Brighton. I had previously found a Thomas Roberts in Brighton who I thought was mine. I sent off for the cert and he was the son of that Thomas Roberts who was a servant and army pensioner. I then got the army records and it matched the signature of his marriage to his 3rd wife who I descend from. A distinctive middle name is good, Thomas mum was a Goodacre before she wed his dad.

[pinefamily]

Not sure if I mentioned this already on this thread, but I have several Horatio Nelson Pine's on my tree. In my wife's there is a Dardanella, born in 1915.

[DavidG02]

Not sure if I mentioned this already on this thread, but I have several Horatio Nelson Pine's on my tree. In my wife's there is a Dardanella, born in 1915.

Guessing she wasn't a Lone Pine either?

[markheal]

The first joy of an unusual forename [in these days of powerful computers], is to be able to search by forename only.
So I found my great uncle's 1921 marriage by searching for the forename MELGUND and then onto the 1881, 1891, 1901 census even with the spelling errors, but failed to find his civil birth registration.

I did find the Catholic baptism as Melgund Robert Anstruther BENNETT in Hanwell 02/11/1877 original register. Well BENNETT was not the surname of my mother's family but all his siblings were there with a new surname.,  Eventually found the civil registration after purchasing many possible certificates, as:

Births Sep 1876 
BENNETT  Robert Herbert     Brentford  3a 101

What happened to that nice unusual forename between the registrar and the Church baptism one year later!
 
In later life perhaps he just got fed-up with having to spell it out his name to his work mates and to endure their mocking.

He later called himself George Willson ANDERSON 1919 electoral roll and finally died 1944 as George ANSTRUTHER in Oxford where he ran a working mens cafe.

I think that some families are always fiddling with their names and not just forenames!  Clearly, Catholic shame or guilt might have something to do with the desire to hide or obscure aspects of the family history, but it does make for years of head scratching and ongoing brickwalls.