Genealogy Chat

i recieved birth cert today of my greatgrandmother... mary ann thirza rockley... now im certain i have her on the 1901 working as a mental nurse born in ilkeston derbyshire (name mostly mistranscribed on census mary annie theresa) and i have her marriage cert (mary thurza rockley) the clearest writting is on the marriage cert question one. is it possible her middle name could have been mispelt on birth cert??? question two. could she have just dropped her middle name at marriage??? if all these things are possible would i be right in thinking ive got the right lady on all 3 sorry if ive made this long winded kaz (2 weeks ago cert were ordered online!!)

I'd be inclined to reckon I'd got the right one, but carry in my head the knowledge of the assumption, to compare against other info that comes in. I've worked on what is a very reasonable and logical assumption on my father's side (in the absence of much info from him before his death 20 years ago), but know I may have to offer up a chunk of family tree for someone else's pleasure, if ever something comes to demolish the foundation of the house I've built. By the way, I think that name can be spelled with a Y as well: Thyrza. Y is linked quite closely to U & I: in some languages it's called "upsilon" the Greek equivalent of U. In English, it often sounds the same as I. As for dropping names at different stages, I believe that that happened, that and abbreviating, e.g. Eliza(beth), Ann(ie), Ma(r)y and so on. Christine

Would think birth cert more likely to be correct. As I understand they did not have to show birth cert to get married so could give any name really or drop them all together if they wish.Don't think they were too hot on spelling in past I have Mary Ann Harwood varying on different certs fro her children between Harrard,Harrad, Harwood and Horwood. Kim

thank you both for replying............i think ill run with it for now as it does seem to point all in the same direction kaz

I think you're right to run with it Kaz. You have to remember that in those days many people were illiterate and the registrar spelled names as he heard them pronounced, different registrars spelled names in different ways. As the people concerned couldn't read or write they didn't know if their name was being spelled differently. In my own tree I've found the name Ambrose spelled Ambers, Ambruce, Ambrows, Ambros and so on. SHAUN

A friend of mine once worked as a registrar. A woman came in to register her daughter's birth, name Elizabeth. My friend: is that Elizabeth spellt with an s (Elisabeth) or a z? woman [v. puzzled]: with an E! nell

Kaz I'd be inclined to agree that its the right lady. Neither of my ggrandmother's used their middle names when they got married, nor do they use them on their children's birth certificates. The only place I've seen them used apart from their own birth certs is on census info when they were still with family. As soon as they married they seemed to drop them! Not sure why...the names weren't THAT hideous! Lou

thank you again one and all............im going to add her to my tree right now!!! kaz