MIDDLE NAMES

[wini]

How common were Middle Names in the 19th Century?
Was it more common among the BETTER OFF?
I have only one with a middle name and that is between Skye, Sutherland and Lanarkshire.
It would have been helpful with the more common names if at least some of them had a middle name.

Frustrated as ever

wini

[AndrewP]

Hi Wini,

On looking at the long list of names on my family tree, I see middle names coming into more common use in the second half of the 19th century. I have my suspicions that people born prior to that may have been given middle names (normally family names from a generation or two back), but when they were baptised only their "christian" name was recorded in the parochial register (that which became the OPR). So middle names were more commonly recorded after the begining of statutiry registration in 1855.

I don't think it was a matter of being better off or not.

All the best,

AndrewP

[SarahND]

Hi Wini,
I have always heard that a middle name before the mid-19th century meant either 1) that the child came from an aristocratic family or 2) was illegitimate. The middle name was often the surname of the father. But I'm sure this varied from place to place.
Regards,
Sarah

[paddyscar]

Hi Wini:

You may find something helpful on the following site:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com ... mesIGI.htm

Frances

[CatrionaL]

Hi Wini
In my family, middle names were given fairly commonly, from the 1830s in Aberdeenshire and from the 1860s in Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire.

Best wishes
Catriona

[Chris Paton]

Hi Wini,

I recently did a study at university of the handloom weaving community in Perth, from 1770 to 1844. I looked at over 9000 births of children born to weavers in the town, and the advent of middle names there really hit around the year 1800 or so, and became a fashion almost overnight.

In Perth there were a handful of families working as weavers in 1770, with around 40 births a years at that point. By 1800 there were five times as many births per years, as the industry mushroomed, and many of the children of the earlier weavers themselves became weavers. Names like Robertson absolutely dominated the industry, and so middle names were found more and more at this point, as there were only so many James Robertsons that once could take without further identification! lol I think in this case middle names may have become a necessity as much as a fashion or class statement, but I am hoping to look into this at a further stage in the future in much more detail.

It's a really interesting question!

Chris

[HeatherH]

Hi Wini,
I agree with Andrew. I have a wedding band from my 2x great gran inscribed AQ to JRY 23 July 1868.
This is Andrew Queate and Janet Rankin Young however on the parish reg for Janet's birth and christening its just Janet Young. The Rankin however appears on census and her death cert.
HeatherH

[speleobat2]

Hi Wini,

That is an interesting question! When I sat down and thought about it, my Grandmother's family, the Munros, gave some of their children middle names as far back as the 1820's, but others didn't have them or write them down anyway. On my Grandfather's side, the Clerihews and Longmuirs didn't use middle names until my grandfather's generation.

I wish they had! In my grandfather's generation, the first child, a girl was named Jessie Milne--her grandmother's name. The next two children both of whom died before their second birthdays had no middle names. The last three children, one girl and two boys all had the same middle name--Longmore!

The family originates in Banffshire around Deskford and up there the name is spelled Longmore. When various members moved down to Aberdeen, the name suddenly became Longmuir so my great grandmother Isabella Longmuir Clerihew named her last three kids Longmore. Haven't exactly figured that out, but it stuck because my father's middle name was Longmore and he passed it on to my brother too!

Carol

[wini]

Thanks for your replies.
Your study sounds quite fascinating Chris, perhaps you will let us know how it develops.
My only recorded middle name is Donald Murdo MacPhie from Skye, he seems to have been commonly called Murdo.
In my fathers family, his two sisters who were born 1897 and 1901 have middle names, Grace McCreadie Munro and Marion Gebbie Munro.
Maternal and Paternal grandmothers maiden names. My father and his brother had no middle names. David born 1906 and Hugh born 1910.
It would just have made life much easier if they had had middle names.
No good complaining now. For those of you still having children, give them at least five names and then there will be no mistake.

wini

[Chris Paton]

Other trends I have noticed more generally in the second half of the 19th Century are men taking on their mother's maiden names as middle names after their mothers' deaths, and also Roman Catholics adopting their confirmation names as middle names as well.

Chris