What's in a name?

Sometimes your research can come to a dead stop when you simply can’t find someone however hard you look. Don’t rule out the possibility that you’re looking for the wrong name!

Nicknames, preferred names and bogus names

On some occasions the first name someone calls themselves by isn’t the name they were born with. Your family may refer to the person you are trying to trace by a nickname such as ‘Peggy’ for ‘Margaret’ or ‘Polly’ for Mary Ann’. Your ancestor might have decided they didn’t like their first name and call themselves by their middle name instead or decide to insert an extra name or invent a completely new name!

Changes in the spelling of surnames both intentional and unintentional

Are you sure of the spelling of the surname you’re trying to trace? Could your surname have been anglicised at some point? Part of my first husband’s family changed their name from ‘Clayman’ to ‘Claymore’ when they emigrated to America because they thought it would help them fit in if they had a more English name. My maternal family’s surname alternates between ‘Lashley’ and ‘Leslie’ in one generation, nobody is quite sure why. In fact on one great great aunt’s marriage certificate the Registrar has recorded her surname as ‘Leslie’ but she has signed the Register as ‘Lashley!’ Or perhaps the census taker simply heard the surname incorrectly on census day, at one point the Lashleys are recorded as ‘Bashley’!

Fashions and Family Names

Sometimes a name can work in your favour. Does your ancestor have an unusual middle name? Bear in mind that in Victorian times it was fashionable for first sons to sometimes have their mother’s maiden name as a middle name. This can help you verify missing links. Families often use the same names from one generation to the next, often the names used are common to many families, e.g. James, Thomas, Sarah and Jane but you may come across an unusual family first name which can be a clue, if not an infallible one, when looking for missing siblings.

Siblings with the same first name

Lastly don’t be surprised if you find siblings with the same first name. Most families in times gone by had one or two siblings that died in childbirth and often a subsequent child was named in memory of the dead older sibling. The positive to this is that it narrows down the range of years during which the older sibling died!