Unusual Christian name

[Bervonian]

I was christened Isles John Burness in 1927 after an uncle who was born in 1894 at Inverbervie, Kincardineshire. He was Isles Kinloch Burness. I only wish that my parents had named me John Isles because every person to whom I introduce myself usually says " Oh! that's an unusual name" ! Had I been interested in genealogy at the time I could have asked my uncle who would have known who he was named after. I expect that 'Isles' is a surname and suppose rightly or wrongly that my grannie whose maiden surname was Kinloch had a relative or friend who married someone with the name. Although it's most unlikely, if anyone can throw some light on this problem I'd be grateful.

Isles.

[paddyscar]

Hi Bervonian:

Searching ScotlandsPeople 1855-2006 shows that 2 Isles Burness were born, with one being in 1894. Have you looked at that birth record/christening on SP? It might show a person from whom the name was taken.

In searching the marriages, there were none between Isles and Burness or between Isles and Kinloch, but there is one coming up for a male Burness and a female Kinloch. Following up on that 1884 marriage may give you some options.

The IGI http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... _form=true responds to a search with a First Name: Isles Surname: none entered Events: All Region: British Isles Country: Scotland with several persons with the first names Isles. Isles Tozer, Isles Pye Guthrie and Isles Melville all submitted entries with some reported link to Fife.

Don't know whether either of these will help,

Frances

[speleobat2]

Have you seen the Thomson Family tree on Ancestry? Looks to be your uncle's family. Isles Kinloch Burness with parents John Sherrat Burness and Ann Anderson Kinloch.

Carol

[Currie]

A search for first name Isles at the incomplete Welsh/English FreeBMD http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl gives only one result, a Guthrie, probably one of the family Frances mentioned. A search for first name Iles gives about 30 BMD events ranging from the 1830s to the 1960s. It’s still a very uncommon name but maybe it was based on that?

The IGI has some Iles, and variations, and they’re all English/Welsh and almost all pre 1840s.

A surname search for Isles at SP doesn’t produce all that many results and it appears to be much more common in England than it is in Scotland.

Alan

[Bervonian]

Many thanks for your replies, Frances, Carol and Stephen. I didn't expect to get any response at all !! I downloaded the Isles Kinloch Burness birth certificate of 1894 but it only gave the names of his parents John S. Burness and Ann Anderson Kinloch who married at Bervie, Kincardineshire on 26 Mar 1884. The mention of Isles Toner, Isles Pye Guthrie and Isles Melville is interesting and shows that the Christian name is not as rare as I thought. The website Burness CA is a marvellous website operated by John Burness of Canada and a "must" for anyone with the surname Burness or those who married a Burness. Thank you again for responding.

Isles.