What forenames reveal about our Ancestors

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Our December meeting was planned to be a hybrid meeting, with some members using Zoom, and with others meeting at Leiston Community Centre to listen to the talk.  However, following concerns about Covid numbers, the talk was presented on Zoom only.  It was a most entertaining talk given from Manchester by Denise Bates. She became interested in the use of non-standard names after discovering several examples whilst researching her own family tree.

Non-standard forenames are not unusual, although parents were possibly restrained by clergy.  After 1837, civil registration made it easier to study what was happening and how choices of names were changing.  Useful sites to use are Free BMD, Parish and Census records — and https://demos.flourish.studio/namehistory/ which gives an idea of the frequency of use of names since 1837.

Denise advised that there are three main areas from which names are sought.

Tribute names, taken from an admired person, e.g. Charles Dickens, Florence Nightingale, Sherlock Holmes. Royalty gives Alexandra (especially after March 1863 when the Prince of Wales married Alexandra of Denmark). John Lennon of Beatles fame, born in 1940, had the second name of Winston. Some tribute names were of those not so popular, like Guy (Fawkes) or Napoleon (Bonaparte).

Commemorative names can originate from an incident or place of national importance or individual significance. War creates commemorative names - Alma, Sebastopol, Redan (from the Crimean War), Pretoria, Ladysmith (from the Boer War) and Lille, Somme, Armistice (from the Great War). Some names were based on the Imperial period (1897 to 1903) which includes the Diamond Jubilee, the Boer War in South Africa, the Coronation of Edward Vll, and in June 1911 the registration of a daughter as Coronation with surname Street!

Localised names occurred in various parts of the country. Squire was popular in Yorkshire and Lancashire, Christmas was used in Wales, and Edward Colston (he of the vandalised statue) was used in the Bristol area.

Names ending in ‘a’ were usually used for girls, but some were unisex. Those with unusual names will not always suffer embarrassment as, on second thoughts, one can discard them or change order – Mary J instead of Jubilee Mary.

During the interwar years, tribute and commemorative names continued, but at a reduced level.  Film stars replaced military and politicians’ names — for example, Errol Flynn, Scarlett ("Gone with the Wind"), Wendy (from "Peter Pan").  Localised naming also declined.

Denise’s conclusion is that unusual forenames add to our knowledge about public feeling, and offer insight into the interest values and the character of the ancestors who choose them.  The meeting then opened up for questions and participants related their stories of family names.

Pat Carter

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STOP PRESS!  The talk will now be hosted solely via Zoom — you can read more by clicking here.

© EADT 6/12/21

Alongside traditional forenames used across many generations, birth, marriage and death records reveal that there have always been some parents who selected non-standard names.  Denise became interested in the use of such names after discovering several examples whilst researching her family tree.  This inspired her to conduct her own extensive research into the topic, and enabled her to identify particular naming patterns.  She linked this into wider social history, considering what the use of certain names might reveal about individual parents, the times or the community where they lived.

Denise covers royal names, actual and fictional tribute names, names associated with a locality or occupation, and names that reflect a particular moment in history or the parents' anti-establishment views.  She also touches upon the declining popularity of names, as well as the inspiration for unusual names — and how they can help a family historian.  She promises some seasonal names as well, in this run-up to Christmas.

Incidentally, you can find a related article about English and Irish naming conventions in our Newsletter 45 (p.11) dated June 2019, and another on Scottish names in NL50 (p.12) for October 2020.  The articles contain links, which have since changed slightly to
www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/how-to-use-naming-patterns-to-find-your-ancestors/  or
www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/help/traditional-scottish-naming-patterns , for further information.

From 1st October, our annual membership (for an individual, equivalent to the cost of just two talks) runs through until December the next year (2022), and talks attended are then free.  So why not consider joining us if you're not already a Member? — though memberships taken out on/since 1st January 2020 are yet to expire.  You can read about the full benefits of membership here.

This afternoon event, at 2.30pm, is free to members 'attending' over Zoom, and available to non-members at a cost of £3.00.  We've met on Monday afternoons in Winter for several years, and can now revert to the practice.  If you wish to ‘attend’, register via our «Book for our next Zoom talk» page by Friday, 10th December at the latest please, and you should receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours or so — and chase us if you don't!  The link will be emailed to you around 1:30pm (lunchtime) before the talk.  Zoom attendees must always pre-book, so as to receive the necessary Zoom-link email around an hour before the talk starts. 

For those attending in person, we're returning to a former and familiar venue, Leiston Community Centre, where a 75"(!) backlit screen (so reflection-free) was installed by Leiston Town Council during the pandemic, as the building has doubled as the accessible Council Chamber for many years.  In all other respects, our meeting will proceed as traditionally, with members paying £1.00 at the door to cover tea/bickies, room hire, etc. whilst non-members can attend for £3.00, or indeed are most welcome to join as explained above, there and then.  Either way, just turn up(!) and you should find sufficient parking available.  Click above, top right, on "View Map" if you need further directions.