At some stage before this crazy week started someone mentioned names and how given names often differ from what one is called.
My Mother was supposed to have been Christened Flora Irene. Unfortunately her Godmother Edith was so miffed at her not being named after her that she added it when asked "How do you name this child?" It, needless to say, caused a bit of a family tiff.
My father was Morris Thompson-Edwards. However my mother refused to marry a double-barrelled name so he appeared on the Marriage certificate as Morris Thompson Edwards sans hyphen.
I was named Graham Barry Edwards. My parents called me Barry but Barry Graham Edwards didn't scan. Since I was 16 I've been known by both fore-names. One of the reasons for my names was that they were not easily shortened. So my parents thought. At school I was usually Bas and in our road simply Ba. Today I'm also known as GB, Geeb and various other things some of which are completely unrelated to my given names and which I shall ignore (as I usually do).
My brother was named Clive John Edwards and to our parents and some people from his youth, he was and is Clive. Everyone else including me and his wife and offspring only use John or CJ (so far as I know!).
The husband of one of my brother's daughters took her surname on marriage.
My son Gaz was named Gareth Vernon Spencer Edwards and called Gareth or Gaz. Virtually no one knew his full name until he got married. In Scotland you have to recite your full given name when getting married. His contempt for his chosen names was shown when on signing the register he then signed a deed changing his name to Gareth Macrae Edwards.
His wife was, and remains, Carol Macrae although uses the title Mrs. In Scotland the taking of the husband's surname only came into general use in the 19th Century.
Their son is Brodie Edwards Macrae.
I'm glad that I will never have to be researching the family history.
However if they do then this public record, boring though it might have been to you, will be of considerable interest to the researchers.
I think your post is interesting, names seem important. My sister changed her name from Cindy to Sky when she was about 40. Now we are Sky and Earth, since my name Terra is Latin for earth.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really fascinating story, Terra.
DeleteNobody in my family changed their names, no names have been shortened and we all use the name we were given at birth as per our birth certificates. One brother has one name and no middle name because my mother said she had run out of names. She said that when she registered my birth she had agreed my first name with my father and no middle name had been talked about. She thought about a middle name on the way to the registry and so I got a first and middle name. Both are fine with me.
ReplyDeleteRachel, there are a great many advantages in being straightforward.
DeleteWe were fortunate in being given good names I suppose. If I hadn't liked mine I would have had no hesitation in changing it when I got older but that situation fortunately did not arise. Reading other comments here has reminded me that me and my youngest brother did have family names as children that developed because we couldn't pronouce our names properly as infants. However these were kept within the four walls of the home and never used by other people I am pleased to say.
DeleteYou were, indeed, fortunate Rachel.
DeleteMy mother told me many years ago that, as her first child, I was expected to be a boy and was to be named after my father, John. When I eventually turned out to be a girl I was named after a character in a film that my mother had seen shortly before my birth. My middle name was that of her best friend who had died at a very young age.
ReplyDeleteNames can be quite a minefield.
They certainly can, JayCee, especially if they are unusual or unliked. One of my colleagues many decades ago was named Theresa Green. There are many similar combinations which can lead to problems.
DeleteGenuinely, I knew a woman called Nora Bone.
DeleteSomewhere, YP, there must be a witty response to that.
DeleteAbsolutely not boring! My mother, Stella, is called "Ted" by the entire extended family (not by my sister and I, who of course call her "Mom") because her younger brother couldn't say "Stella", and it came out "Tedda", which was then shortened to "Ted". My mom's older sister, Claudette, is called "Toots" (long "o", like the sound a train makes, "toot, toot") for no reason I can call to mind, except that perhaps her Italian husband, my uncle Ralphie (RIP) probably called her that and we all went along. Mom's younger sister, Sheila, is called "Cheechie" by the entire extended family - again, no idea why. These nicknames have been in existence for as long as I've been alive, and only when I think about it now as an adult do I realize how odd these names must sound to strangers.
ReplyDeleteI just realized I left out the relatives on my dad's side of the family. That's easier to remember. We just call them "arsewipes". 8-D
DeleteWell, Marcheline, there's some information there that I certainly didn't know about you and yours.
DeleteYou remind me of the scene in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads when Terry discovers at Bob's wedding what the S stands for in Robert S Ferris,
ReplyDeleteGosh, Tasker, that was going back a bit. That was a great series (in my humble opinion). Apart from the fact that Scarborough is a fairly unusual name, nowadays the circumstances wouldn't be unusual. You have reminded me that friends had twins. They were nearly named Achil and Tabuie (having been conceived under the stars in the Highland place of that name).
DeleteOne of the best punchlines ever, the way James Bolam (Bob) stood up when the name was read out and said in loud astonishment: "Scarborough???!!!" I have the book of the series somewhere.
DeleteTasker, that's the sort of series to look out one cold winter's evening. The book would only really come to life if you could envisage the characters. Like the Goon Show Scripts which I have. Just reading them makes them sound like nonsense. Oh yes. That's right. They were nonsense.
DeleteInteresting post, Graham.
ReplyDeleteMy first name is hyphenated, but computers don't recognize the hyphen. Thus my name became a 5-3 to an 8 letters. The 5 is after my mother, sort of a girl junior. All my life I wanted a name of my own, not my mother's name. Besides, the women I met with that name appear to all be neurotic, imho; and, I did not like being called a witch. After mother passed, I announced my name change. Not a good response. I let it settle and a few years later became Maywyn. May is my nickname from childhood and after the hyphen name. I knew a woman with the name Wyn that was a perfect lady; and, Wyn signifies to me a positive aspect of my life. I still go by my old name.
Maywyn, I am a great believer now in being called what one wishes to be called and what one is comfortable with.
DeleteWith the way information is recorded today I think researchers should find it easy enough to follow. It will be better than the paper trail and tombstone method.
ReplyDeleteAs always, Red, the voice of a practical man.
DeleteA friend of our called Todd was recently on the news concerning his chain of Motorway Electric Car recharging stations. He was named after an M1 service station, and I noticed on TV that he was addressed as Toddington.
ReplyDeleteCro, I can just imagine him as a wee fellow at prep school with the name Toddington.
DeleteI forgot to mention that Todd's brother is called Heston; named after the Heston Service Station on the M4.
DeleteNames - one of the most fascinating topics I know, and one I have blogged about in the past, too.
ReplyDeleteTo me, you are Graham and your brother is John. Interesting to learn a bit of background.
For decades, I did not particularly like my name. As I was quite the tomboy as a little girl, I dreamt of being a proper girl, with long curly hair and a princess-like name such as Victoria or Felicitas or Isabella. Nowadays, I am quite happy with Meike, especially in connection with my surname.
Speaking of surnames, I have changed mine three times which makes it hard to trace me for someone who only knows my maiden name from school or so.
Meike, I think that, at the end of the day, if we are comfortable in our own skin then the rest will follow.
DeletePeople changing names can indeed be a tricky part of family history research - I have a bit of that in my own family tree as well. My father for example was christened Nils Gustaf Bertil, but was always called Bertil. (Nils was the name of his uncle; and Gustaf the name of his own father.) Letters from official authorities etc were often addressed to him as either Nils or Nils Gustaf. I remember him sighing a bit about that now and then through life, but all in all it wasn't a major problem - until he got old, in need of a lot of health care from strangers, and at the same time, with increasing dementia and less able to speak up for himself and explain things when needed. Then I got frustrated on his behalf and actually applied (with his consent) to have the order of his names officially changed to Bertil Nils Gustaf; so that at least he would be addressed by nurses and doctors and other carers by his right name... To me that seemed a matter of dignity!
ReplyDeleteThat, Monica, was as sensible a decision as anyone could have taken and, to be honest, one I would never have thought of.
DeleteAs you know my late brother's name was Graham. And, during his teens he had a mate named "Barry Edwards". Elma Flora were the names of our mother...and Ivy Flora of our grandmother. :)
ReplyDeleteLee, many apologies for late reply. I came down to Glasgow in Monday. The idea that your brother had a mate named Barry Edwards is fascinating (to me). Barry is not a very common name in my experience.
DeleteI have many names in my ancestry I could choose from but would rather keep it simple, however my middle name is Catherine, as is my daughter's middle name, as was my grandmother's name, her mother's name and her grandmother's name and my mum told me if I was a boy I'd be called Aaron - how's that lol. btw my other half's name is Barry.
ReplyDeleteAmy, apologies for the late reply. I just said to Lee that I though Barry was not a common name and then it occurs in two successive comments. I'm just trying to imagine Barry in a New Zealand accent.
DeleteMy mother wanted to give all her sons their father's name but Dad constantly refused until the seventh son was born when he finally agreed. However, Mum was not well after the birth of this, her 11th child and Dad was given the job of registering the birth. And, guess what, he got "confused" and put the names in the wrong order putting his name second. And Mum let him get away with it! I've always thought that
ReplyDeleteshe was getting back at him when she named the next child, a daughter, after a comic strip character. (Although she has always denied that!)
Having spent hours researching family history I sometimes wish we had stuck to the "old ways" of naming the oldest son after the father's father, etc. It took me years to unravel my grandmother's past but when I did it was all there in her children's names. She had never spoken about her past but it's obvious she never forgot, all her children are named for her brothers and sisters she was parted from when she was seven years old. I guess to me what someone is named is not important what is important is that the name helps us remember who is who.
And that is a very all over the place comment if ever I've seen one.
Pauline, apologies for the late response. When you are talking about that number of children I'm not surprised that there is room for confusion. It certainly helps when you can find a pattern to help sort it out.
DeleteMy grandfather wanted my mother to be called Pollyanna and my grandmother sensibly put her foot down. He called my Mum Polly until the day he died. He also so strongly disliked my brother's name that he never once uttered it and called my brother Snips. He had some firm opinions about names! My own husband's parents came from large Italian families and he had two uncles from a family of mostly boys who were named for their number in the brood as their parents had run out of ideas.
ReplyDeletePipistrello, I was rather amused at your grandfather's thrawnness over the name Polly. Did the name Snips for your brother get used by anyone else? I have to say that I smiled at the naming of two children by the number in the brood.
DeleteNames! Being a family researcher I know how hard it is to track down and sort out families who change names. Many altered their surname upon emigration. Christian names were as complicated as you have recorded above. How can you trace a Grace Mary that was always called Hazel? And then you get the ones who swap between names - I have just finished searching into a family who used both the Buckingham and Tuckett surnames indiscriminately. Very confusing :)
ReplyDeleteGosh, Margaret, that really must have been a minefield.
DeleteI was not named for anyone in my family, past or present at the time. I always wondered whether or not my first name was from a movie character (Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz). Then, I learned the meaning of my name is Greek for "gift of God). I wasn[t given a middle name as was the tradition in my family.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice, that was fascinating given that you call yourself Beatrice and have given yourself a middle initial if not a middle name.
DeleteI'm late to this discussion, but wanted to add my two cents! I was named Jacqueline, but called Jill from before birth. Why oh why didn't my parents name me Jill to begin with? This name difference has been a concern my entire life, Jacqueline for everything legal and Jill to all my friends and relatives. My middle name was a bother too, Huie was my mother's maiden name.
ReplyDeleteHi Jill. Thanks for the contribution. I can well imagine just how awkward that made your life.
DeleteAny wonder family history is so difficult. I'm sure your family isn't alone in changing names.
ReplyDeleteI have always been annoyed with my mum for naming me Kay Diane Howard Speakman. She and everyone has always called me Diane but it has caused problems with officialdom that always calls me Kay. one time nurses were trying to wake me up after anaesthetic by calling out "Kay, wake up" I wasn't interested. Since then I always made sure they knew I was known as Diane. Then The Howard part caused me problems too. Howard was my Grandma's maiden name and My mother promised her to call her child 'Howard" to keep the name going. When my brother was born 5 years before me, my mum forgot her promise, so he was called David Michael. When I came along, mum remembered her promise. I hated having that name and when ever I had to write my whole name I would leave it out. However, that landed me in trouble with banks and land titles. Now I've learnt its easier to be correct with names.
Reading that, Diane, has made me understand more what my son went through with his bunch of names except that he was called by his first name and all his names were at leat male.
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