Genealogy Chat

Has anyone else come across this problem of parents putting two names for a child on a birth certificate but calling them by the second name. My aunt Peggy was christened Barbara Margaret, my aunt Ivy was Phylis Ivy and my mother was christened Dorothy Irene but is known as Rene. Even my husband's family have used this method. Highly inconsiderate for us researchers. The best one was a friend who was researching her gt. grandmother Queenie. Apparently, she was christened Victoria but called Queenie because Victoria was on the throne. Was it deemed too posh perhaps/

Loads of my ancestors were known by their middle name. I think it is possibly because their first name was after a grandparent or uncle etc. and the second name was the one the parents actually liked and wanted to use. Kath. x

yep, my grandmother's side of the family did it a lot. She was regd as Frances Annie, everyone knew her as Annie & it was a real surprise to find the 'Frances'... but useful too, as it turned out to be her grandmother's name. the really confusing one, was her sister regd as Agnes Catherine but known as Kate. Agnes was her mother's name. She named one of her sons William Henry after his dad, the family knew him as Harry, he was married as Henry & when he registered his dad's death he used his full name.

Hiya I have that my grt-grt-grandfather was born Alfred Thomas for 20years they called him Thomas he actually got married under Thomas Alfred! probably thought that was his real name at that time..But then he changed it back to Alfred Thomas ~ was stuck on that for a while LOL..Don't know why they do that mind you gives us a little mystery for a while Zoe

glad we,re not the only ones. My husband had a great uncle Jean Pierre, yes he was English. After he died we had great fun, as he was known as Peter or Raymond. He had had passports, official documents, tax returns and bank accounts i all three names. Try explaining that to officials when you are trying to sort out his estate!

'the really confusing one, was her sister regd as Agnes Catherine but known as Kate. Agnes was her mother's name.' That shouldn't be confusing, Kate is the old short form of Catherine. Incidentally, I think it crops up in Shakespeare's Henry V as the name of the King's French wife. I haven't done much research on her side of the family, but one of my ancestors had four given names, and they appear in a different order and with different names omitted seemingly every time that they were written down. With census enumerators who followed the rules strictly and only used initials for any middle names, it's a bit of a pain! Her husband was never around for the census because he was at sea, and their surname was Johnson, so it's been fun trying to run them to ground...!

my husbands name is John, but all first born son's were named Sam so everyone called him Sam, also my neice was christened Karen Ann but from birth was always called Katy, heaven help future researchers!!!

yes I know Kate is a short form of Catherine, but I'd been looking for Katherine, not with a 'C'!

Fair 'nuff! I've occasionally had my surname spelled with a 'Q' or even an initial 'Mc'...!

My Miller family did this, all 9 kids went by the middle name. This went on until the youngest met her future husband, she introduced herself to him using her first name. No one knows why. Hence within the family she is Aunt Vi but to everyone else she is Lilian. It is a real pain.... I also have a Butler in the family that sometimes called himself John Dale Butler, sometimes John Butler and sometimes Dale Butler. This is a pain when he just calls himself John, but helpful when he uses the name Dale. ------------------ I find this touchs home--------------------------- NEWS FLASH. -- 1852 NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS TO SOLVE GENEALOGICAL MYSTERIES. It is New Year's Eve 1852 and Henry HYDENWELL sits at his desk by candlelight. He dips his quill pen in ink and begins to writes his New Year's resolutions. 1. No man is truly well-educated unless he learns to spell his name at least three different ways within the same document. I resolve to give the appearance of being extremely well-educated in the coming year. 2. I resolve to see to it that all of my children will have the same names that my ancestors have used for six generations in a row. 3. My age is no one's business but my own. I hereby resolve to never list the same age or birth year twice on any document. 4. I resolve to have each of my children baptized in a different church -- either in a different faith or in a different parish. Every third child will not be baptized at all or will be baptized by an itinerant minister who keeps no records. 5. I resolve to move to a new town, new county, or new state at least once every 10 years -- just before those pesky enumerators come around asking silly questions. 6. I will make every attempt to reside in counties and towns where no vital records are maintained or where the courthouse burns down every few years. 7. I resolve to join an obscure religious cult that does not believe in record keeping or in participating in military service. 8. When the tax collector comes to my door, I'll loan him my pen, which has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink. 9. I resolve that if my beloved wife Mary should die, I will marry another Mary. 10. I resolve not to make a will. Who needs to spend money on a lawyer

My husband has been known by his middle name since birth why on earth she ever gave him his first name we will never know xxhugx

This problem as been the situation in my family, made worse when older rellies that actualy had brothers, sisters, and parents, that used to call people by their middle name and then give that middle name a nickname, also my mum born 1928 had a brother born 1908, she always insisted his name was Harry, this brick wall took me 6 months to break down, His name was William Henry. Roy