In
a post on the Pharos Blog in May of last year, Are middle names
just a fashion statement?, Helen Osborne commented on the use of second names
in her family, and in English families historically, in general. She noted that
the furthest back ancestor she could find in her family to have a second name
was in 1744. She wondered about the origin of second names – when it became
commonplace to give offspring a second name.
Middle
names when used in the past were generally the mother’s or possibly a
grandmother’s surname. Having such information is an important genealogical
tool, as one can usually go a long way to identifying the families going
further back.
For
those of us who go by our second name, the question was of more than just
passing interest.
A
number of readers commented, using their own family history as illustrations,
but only one person could find a member of their family further back – a
relative born in 1711. Even that one was qualified as his background may have
been Dutch. Second names appear to have been much more common in continental
Europe than in the British Isles. No one had a person in their family tree born
in the 17th century who was given a second name. One person offered
the location of websites put together by Hugh Wallis, on which he gives second
name indexes for many English and Scottish counties, all
sourced from the International Genealogical Index (IGI) lists.
My
own comments on the Pharos blog post were as follows:
The
earliest I have is a 4th great-grandmother, Mary Collins Plier, born in 1754,
in Cornwood parish, Devon. The baptism entry does not show the name of a father
although she had a brother, James Collins, also with no father listed,
indicating the father’s name might have been Collins.
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1754
February 22 – entry in Cornwood parish baptism register for Mary Collins Plier,
daughter of Rachael Plier.
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1756
February 13 – entry in Cornwood parish baptism register for James Collins Plier,
son of Rachel Plier.
Another
4th great-grandmother was baptized as Jane Treby Shepheard in 1769, also in
Cornwood parish. None of her siblings had a second name and the name, Treby,
does not appear with any other family member. Treby was the surname of a
prominent land-owning family in the area. Jane Treby’s father, Nicholas Shepheard,
was also a land owner, tax assessor, churchwarden and otherwise important
individual in the community. He is listed in the Devon Freeholders lists
between 1762 and 1783. He may have been a friend of the Treby family and was
undoubtedly involved with them in both parish and business affairs.
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1769
August 11 – entry in Cornwood parish baptism register for Jane Treby Shepard,
daughter of Mr. Nicholas and Mrs. Mary Shepard
The
early use of second names may have been more common in mainland Europe, as
Helen commented. I have one family line that originated in Germany – surname
Kettenring. The earliest individual found so far by family researchers is Hans
Jacob Kettenring, born in Pflaz, Bayern, Germany, in 1595. Another line had the
name of De Busk in Virginia with possible (unconfirmed) connections to France.
A 4th great-granduncle, William Province De Bouse, born in 1744, is shown in
the family tree.
In
my work as a Devon Online
Parish Clerk
I have transcribed all of the parish records for Cornwood, Harford, Plympton
St. Mary and Plympton St. Maurice parishes which gives me primary name data. In
Cornwood only eight children, out of a total of 930, were baptized with a
second name between 1685 and 1750. The earliest was in 1695. Four of them were
base-born indicating the second names had something to do with the unnamed
father. One was the child of a local baronet. In Harford, two of 124 children
were baptized with a second name between 1699 and 1750. In Plympton St.
Maurice, six of 1,720 children baptized had a second name, the earliest in
1729. In Plympton St. Mary parish, 5,578 children were baptized between 1602
and 1750. Twenty-one of them had a second name and, of these, four were
base-born. Curiously, three children from different families, baptized between
1730 and 1736, all had the second name of Pearse. There is no explanation for
the coincidence although the Pearce/Pearse family appears to have been
important well back into the 1600s in the area.
As
to Helen’s question about whether the use of a second name was fashionable, it
seems more likely, at least early on, that it was used in acknowledgement of
family connections or ancestors or as a sign of respect for other important
people within the community.
I
have no idea why my parents picked Wayne for my second name. According to the Behind the Name website, it
reached its highest use in the mid-1940s, which fits me, so they may have been
taken with the general popularity – although it only ever reached about 0.5% of
names given to baby boys. It’s still a mystery!
All
baptism images reproduced here are used with the kind permission of the
rights holder, Plymouth and
West Devon Record Office. Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program in
England, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has
published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past
Editor of Chinook, the quarterly
journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides
genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.
