Personal (aka first or "Christian") Names (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, January 26, 2012, 16:22 (4681 days ago) @ mrsbruso

I agree with Mrs B that "George R" was quite possibly "Richard George".

Re the possibility of mixedup names, I've always considered my mother to be mentally very intelligent, good memory, always bemoaning the poor standards of grammar etc in today's media or business letters, always doing complicated crosswords etc etc, all since her 1940s EDGS days. However since I've started researching our line it seems her memory of close family names, "facts" & faces is quite ropey, especially when compared to the BMD records and her slightly older sister's memory. Many names & family ties she thought were fact are actually confused in her memory, perhaps as she had so many aunts & uncles as a child. Plus of course there's plenty of cases where a family is not what it seems, with siblings actually being "adopted" cousins etc.

Until a year ago I'd generally believed most people used their first "personal" name for most if not all the time. ("personal" = name or names before their Surname). I'd always referred to that as their Christian name, or Baptised name I guess. Usually this name was the "formal" name used on official paperwork etc and for use outside the family. End of.
However now I know different.

Re the census returns, I've seen quite a few examples where simple nicknames were used instead of the official "personal" name. Probably due to my mother's enthusiasm for correct English Grammer, I always write Jeffrey as my name even on simple computer forms etc even though I dislike it and everyone calls me Jeff; hence that went on my Census form. But not everyone does or did that.
As you say when searching for the common traditonal name Elizabeth, I now start with the obvious(perhaps) of just "Eliza" to hopefuly find both, then "Liz" and if I remember "Lil/Lily" too. All common abbreviations of a somewhat clumsy name that was likely to be shortened in general usage. However it was only lately I also thought of Bet, Beth and Bessie - silly really as I recall "good Queen Bess" (aka Elizabeth 1st) from my schooldays, but it just seems off the mark.

My researches have taught me just how common it was for a child having more than one "personal" names for one of them to have family connections (the father's, say). I've learnt that in some regions sometimes this would be the first formal name ( so in my old thoughts the "primary" & popular name). However actual family usage was to use the apparently less important second name, presumably for convenience within the household between say Robert Senior & Robert Junior; maybe that was actually the parent's preferred personal choice over the "traditional/formal" one they felt obliged to follow.
I'm now almost 50, yet until 18months ago I hadn't realised how often in history we had all repeated personal names, especially I think where there are Welsh ancestors; there are an awful lot of William Jones in my line including now my only son.
My sister married a Geordie. He is Robert, one of a very long line of Robert, he was known as "Bob", his son's Rob, his is Robbie etc etc, yet they all are officially named Robert. What confusion this will bring !
And yes his surname is Walton !!...

This website gives an excellent insight into names and their history.
http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/useofnames.html#British

A particularly relevant part for Foresters states
"There is a tendency in Wales for people not to use their first personal name but instead their second. Another trend is for the name of the place of birth to be a second name.

At one time, the Welsh used an ancient patronymic naming system whereby the children of a marriage took their father's forename as their surname. As a result, surnames were not fixed and changed from generation to generation. This practice continued up until the early 1800s in some areas, with rural areas clinging to the patronymic system longer than urban areas. Sometimes the word 'ap' (originally 'mab') meaning 'son of' was incorporated into the new surname. A distinctive feature of Wales is the mutation of 'ap' into the following first name to make a family name, so that ap Hywel becomes Powell, ap Huw becomes Pugh, and ap Richard becomes Pritchard. Since the origin of many Welsh surnames is a first name, one finds frequent occurrences of the same surnames in Wales, even when the familes are not related, such as Evans, Thomas and Williams."

Finally, you may recall this comedy take on an official 1980s British Leyland TV advert proudly exalting their new robot assembly line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU-tuY0Z7nQ