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Middle names

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by veritas (U1735705) on Tuesday, 16th August 2005

  I am trying to trace my Scottish Grandmothers roots, born in 1850 in Leith Edinburgh, l notice that the females middle name is the surname of the mother befor her marriage, therefor introducing the mothers surname into the family she has married into?
  
  Does anyone know if this was common practice, and was there any other reason except perhaps for the obvious of keeping the name 'alive' in case perhaps of no sons being born?

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by dmatt74 (U1690430) on Tuesday, 16th August 2005

  Scotland naming patterns often had the first son with the paternal grandfather's name as a christian name and the first daughter the maternal grandmothers name and so on. It just kept a family history link.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Adam Girdwood (U1688149) on Tuesday, 16th August 2005

  I am Scottish. It is very common for a maiden surname to be used as a middle name. In my ancestry there is no real pattern. In one family the first son has the forename of the Paternal Grandfather with the Paternal Grandmother's maiden surname as a middle name. The second son is usually named after the Maternal Father, the third after the father and then alternating between uncles.
  
  With girls the first is named after the maternal Grandmother with her maiden surname for a middle name. The second after the Father's mother and so on.
  
  The naming pattern is such that a child could end up being named after an uncle or an aunt. On a coupe of lines I have noticed that the middle name is actually the married surname of the aunt after whom the daughter has been named.
  
  Another naming pattern to be aware of before the 1920s is the practice of naming a child after an older brother or sister who had predeceased. In a few lines I have come across several couples with three or four sons and daughters with the same name.

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• Message 4

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  Posted by veritas (U1735705) on Wednesday, 17th August 2005

  thanks both for replies.
  
  It is certainly more daunting and complicated than i thought it would be, but l dont suppose our ancesters ever thought people would be that interested in them a hundred years or so down the line?

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• Message 5

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  Posted by dmatt74 (U1690430) on Wednesday, 17th August 2005

  It is also helpful and a middle name may indicate another family line you didn't know about.

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