Genealogy Chat

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Hi Folks, I have about 9 Thomas Williams on my family tree (including father and grandfather). I was curious as to why the name was so popular in my family because it was a new introduction from about 1840 onwards. Previously, the dominant male names in the family had been Charles, James and Joseph. I then discovered that the local aristrocracy (the Cokes of Holkham Hall) produced four Earls of Leicester all called Thomas William Coke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Coke,_1st_Earl_of_Leicester_of_Holkham So, it might pay to look at the local big wigs names in your ancestral villages and towns to see if that might have any bearing on the choice of your families Christian names! Cheers, Horatia Nelson

I'll have to check it out......I had a spate of Alfred Thomas and William James in the Surrey area..... Deb

Well it just might be possible to say where the unusual middle name for my G g/parents generation came from.but still doesn't answer whether the name is connected to Guernsey. The name is slightly changed but looks like 3xg g/m maiden name,just wish i could find the marriage. Another Norfolk mystery. Glen

Horatia I was curious about the sudden appearance of the name Jarvis/Gervaise/Jervis in my tree. Turned out to have been sucking up to his Master at the Big House! Personally, I'm glad that the use of family names seems to have died out in the early 1900s, in my families at least. Fifteen generations of Thomas Greens (who mostly married a Mary), umpteen interelated families of Holdens who all called eldest son James since time immemorial. Four great grandmothers, all called Eleanor - makes a nice change to have an Edith and an Ethel, a few Johns and an Edward! OC

Hi OC, Glad it's not just me who had relatives sucking up to the local gentry! ;-) I wondered if anyone else had come across this phenomenon! The first Thomas William was born out of wedlock so perhaps as the baby didn't have a father who wanted to be involved in his upbringing, the mother chose the local big wigs name instead for her child. Incidentally I don't think this was a case of the local big wig begatting children on local maidens. This big wig seems to have done a lot of good in the area and was interested in agricultural improvements, so the children were probably named after him as a token of respect. Cheers, Horatia

Horatia I believe that William got to be popular after William the conqueror. There are tons of Williams, Johns and Thomas in my and husband;s family trees and we also have John Williams, Thomas Williams, William Thomas, Thomas Thomas and William Williams. My paternal grandfather was called Jeuel. This is a Biblical name, though it occurs in the Bible only once. Jeuel's mother was devoutly religious (maybe to compensate for the fact that she was illegitimate) and lots of her 10 children had biblical names - Samuel, Lemuel, Jeuel, etc. Jeuel Jabez Gray is an ancestry-whack (like googlewhack - the only mentions of him are my chap!). But he's been mistranscribed as Jeul, Denel etc. and on the electoral roll he is consistently called Jule. So an odd name isn't always easier. The other odd name is also on my dad's side of the family - his mother's grandfather. He was called Emmets Matthews - again mangled to Emits, Emmels etc on the census. I only recently discovered that his father's mother's maiden name was Anne Emmets. Luckily lots of Emmets' grandchildren have Emmets as a middle name, which is helpful in making sure I've got the right families. nell

When I started on the Jewish branch of my husband's lot I thought I'd be getting away from all the John/Thomas/Williamses. Except that the Jewish lot have their own favourites. Rosetta was popular for the girls and the boys liked Zuzman, Zalig and Isaac. But as with the way of mistranscriptions, Isaac is more than once recorded as Isaces. Zalig became Telig and once, poor lad, I know the writing was awful, but Fairy???!!!! Zuzman was husband's gt grandfather and his name isn't the same twice. Zusman on birth cert Zueseman on marriage cert Zuzeman on daughter's birth cert and on the census he's mistranscribed as Guzman, Luisman, Luzman, Juseman and Tuesman!!!

I am still curious as to why my great-grandad was named Luke. No one else in the family was, and he was the only boy. :-) Joy

Cosmo Lang was Archbishop of York and then Cantabury - could he have been named after him? Following on from the gentry theme, in villages like mine babies in the late 1800's early 1900's were often named after the vicar and his family or the local doctor, as well as the farmers, who were the main source of employment. Jay