52 Ancestors Week 23: Namesake

Question

Time for the next 52 Ancestors challenge!

Please share with us a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches this week's theme:

Namesake

From Amy Johnson Crow:

 This week's theme is "Namesake," which was suggested by Linda Whitmore. Here's what she suggested: "They could be ancestors who had the same name for many generations? Or were named for famous people? Someone who saved a person's life? Or were named for a favorite food, flower, or scenic spot?"

 

Share below!

Participants who share every week can earn badges. If this is your first time participating and you don't have the participation badge, or if you pass a milestone (13 in 13, 26 in 26, 52 in 52) let us know here. Click here for more about the challenge. 

Comments

Yes, I can proudly say my namesakes are for paternal and maternal great-grandmothers:  Susan and Jane.  Naming was unintentional by my patents but after I began family research I put the relationship together and have claimed it ever since.  Unintentional became intentional!

Today is first day to participate, two in one day!

---

My maternal grandmother was Margaret and my paternal grandmother was Julia. My mother combined the two names forming my middle name of Marlia.

---

I was named after my maternal grandmother's best friend, (Aunt) Mary Colgrove, and my maternal grandmother, Pearl Gable.  I was bullied in school, being told I should be Minnie Pearl and wear a funny hat.  Now, when asked my middle name I reply, 'Pearl, 'cause I'm a real gem!'.   And I am!!!

---

Named after Great Grandmother on my mother's side and also my grandmother also on my mother's side. Thus, Elena (after Elena Gassagne) and my middle name, Claudine (after Claudine Foote, Elena's daughter.

Answer 1

My adoptive great grandmother and my grandmother were both named Louise. My grandmother gave my mother the middle name Louise. My middle name is also Louise, as is my eldest daughter's and her daughter's. Six generations of Louises. 

Comments

OK, everyone's thinking it--I'll go ahead and type it:

JEEZ LOUISE!!  :)

(My sister's middle name is Louise.  My Godmother's first name - Quebecoise, so the idea in French is to say Louise in just one syllable.  Takes practice!)

---

Hahaha.

---

My great-grandmother was Louisa Mary.  Her oldest daughter's first daughter was given Louise as a middle name. (My grandmother was her second-youngest daughter).

My mother's middle name is Louise, as is mine, and my daughter's :)

---

Louise as a first name should make a comeback! 

Answer 2

Archie is a name which was passed down for a few generations in my husband's family beginning, as far as I know, with Archie Robert Spires so we were delighted with the naming of Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. On my husband's mother's side, Marion has been a traditional name for a few generations also. My husband's grandfather on that side was Francis Marion Mobley. He was, according to family story, named after the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion. The name Marion has been passed down through four generations.

Answer 3

I have several generations of those named John (first name) Paul (last name). We got to John Paul IV (which I personally find hilarious).

I also have several generations of those named George (first name) Paul (last name).  Two of those were George William Paul. 

I've more than one branch where a child was named for a deceased sibling.

My longest living rellie, 2nd cousin twice removed, Maggie Gordon Vernon Stewart, was named for her family lineage. Her grandmother was Margaret Gordon and her great-grandmother was Margaret Vernon.  And, of course, there's the Margaret that for her was Maggie when she was born and Margaret when she died.

My Granddad was named for one of his father's best friends (and a colleague, and also a brother-in-law of sorts)., and used that name as his preferred use-name rather than his actual given first name.

My Uncle (I only have the one, my dad was an only child) was named for his paternal grandmother's family (Gordon) and also his mother's family (Newton).  Fortunately for him, both names worked as forenames.

My younger brother was named for TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).

My children are named, in part, for (gr)grandparents and an uncle.  My son was also named for Douglas Bader, someone I had the absolute pleasure of meeting when he was in Western Australia in 1976.  (I also met his second wife, who was with him.  Delightful people, both of them, and very gracious hosts to someone who was meant to have only a "10 to 15 minutes" meeting (his words on setting up the meeting) that went on for over an hour.)

My one grandson is named for my family name.

Me .. I wasn't named for anyone but myself because my mother liked the names she gave me (and, no, she had not read, or seen, Gone With the Wind at the time).

.

.

23 weeks, 23 participation posts. :)

Answer 4

I hardly know where to start with this one, as Irish naming conventions are VERY strong in my family, in all branches, so I have so many possibilites!

I'm named after my granny Jessie, who in turn was named after her grandmother Jessie.  I also had a favourite aunt Jess(ie).  It was one of those old fashioned names that meant I got mercilessly teased when I was a child, but as I've got older and also learned the heritage - great great granny Jessie's family was from Scotland - I have come to like it, even if I still don't love it, as a name.

Comments

Jessie seems to be a name which is coming back into vogue, though I seem to see it and Jesse more among boys. One of my nephews is named Jesse. I had a great-aunt Jessie. I understand about being teased for your name--my first name subjected me to ridicule as a child, as well. Like you, I have come to love my unusual first name.

---

There must have been some sort of Western series on TV when I was little, as 'Jesse James' was quite a thing.  Also being called 'a big Jessie' is a British slang term, meaning someone who is a bit of a sissy/a bit effeminate.  Neither of these 'insults' really made sense as I was a girl.  Of course as soon as kids realise you don't like something they don't let it go no matter how nonsensical it is.

---

Linda, glad we like our namesake names now that we are adults.

Answer 5

The name that is repeated in various generations in my line - and helped me to confirm I had the correct family when I was researching the ancestry of my 2nd Great Grandmother Olive Traver Smith is Freeman. I knew my Grandfather's brother, Freeman, was named after their mother's brother Freeman Smith who died in 1930 at age 21 from injuries in a car accident. What I found out was that his mother, Olive, had a grandfather, an uncle, and two first cousins named Freeman. In addition, my Great Uncle's oldest son is also named Freeman. So we have a total of at least five men in the family named Freeman. There may be more behind the brick wall that is my 4th Great Grandfather Freeman Traver.

Answer 6

Namesake is a perfect category this week for me as I was just having a conversation with someone about how the passing of family names is something that isn't often noted or documented in family history. 

It's difficult, 100 years on, to prove that one person was named after their relative unless we have some writing from that person that spells it out for us. Beyond that, we're forced to make assumptions. 

One uncommon name that has been repeated through the generations in my family is the name "Drury". My paternal grandmother carries this name and her oldest brother carries the name "Drewry". Their paternal grandfather was named Drewry Edwards which is where the name originates from. 

Another uncommon name that has travelled the generations is "Stoker". I have an uncle named Herbert Stoker Gray, his maternal grandfather was named William Stoker Edwards, who was named for his mother's maiden name of Stoker. 

For a more modern answer, I was named for an aunt who died as a baby, Pattie Ruth Gray, and an aunt of my mother, Louis Jean Wiley, who was a baker of large, ornate cakes. My husband's middle name Dwayne is a portmanteau of his uncle's first and second name, David Wayne, who passed shortly before he was born.

Answer 7

Bit of a coincidence for me this comes up now because I have just been working on on my ggg uncle William Hicks Bate and his niece's husband, William Hicks Bate. That marriage record was a bit alarming when I first saw it. 

Answer 8

"Old Hugh" Weir or Ware has many namesakes among his descendants in Rockbridge County, Virginia. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Weir-452

He was a native of Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Ireland, a town on an island or narrow peninsula.  When Derry was under siege, some Enniskillen men stayed behind to protect their own town.  These were the famed Enniskillen men who fought like no others.  The Irish were terrified of them.

"Old Hugh" is an ancestor of the Presidents Bush.  I am a sixth cousin to George Herbert Walker Bush.

There are so many Hugh Weirs in Rockbridge County that it's difficult to keep track.  "Old Hugh's" son, Hugh, Jr., had no children, but made sure that he would have a namesake, even on the other side of the world. In 1821 Hugh Weir Jr. left $150.00 in his will to the American Board of Foreign Missions to educate a Hindoo boy, who was to bear his name after baptism.

Just to keep to the challenge of a different surname every week, and since I've already used Weir, I include a link to "Old Hugh's" wife, Margaret McEwen https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mcewen-176 They were married in Virginia.      

Answer 9

My mum was named after her paternal grandmother. Obviously mum has a different LNAB than her grandmother, but her first name is that one of her grandmother.

Answer 10

There has been a strong custom in Italy that determines how children are named:

• The first male is named after his paternal grandfather.
• The second male is named after his maternal grandfather.
• The first female is named after her paternal grandmother.
• The second female is named after her maternal grandmother.

https://www.italiangenealogy.com/articles/italian-culture-traditions/italian-naming-traditions-and-their-ramifications

Just wait until you get into Italian ancestors!

Namesakes are part of what makes Italian research so intense and so fun---but NOT intensely fun  because you have to skip a generation for the names to 'recycle'.

For example start with Alesio Fino (B. ~ 1780) . My 3XGGF https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Fino-Descendants-59  

Then to my GGF Alesio Fino (B. 1846)  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fino-8

There is an Alesio Fino listed in current records for my 'hometown that I'm sure is related but I haven't been able to connect him on the tree yet........

Comments

Keeping track of your cousins must be a nightmare 

---

Katherine,

Indeed it is....BUT it is the JOY I get from making contact with some of those cousins through this effort that makes the effort totally worthwhile

---

Many Scots-Irish followed this same tradition. It is a nightmare keeping track of the cousins. They are all born in the same generation, sometimes the same year with the same name. UGH!

---

Yes, it adds up to a LOT more research to narrow down the exact namesake you're trying to chart. Some of the Italian families that held rigidly to this tradition coupled with the massive child mortality in some periods of southern Italy also created situations where a family would 'recycle' one of these 'mandatory' names until a child survived. So just in one family you'll find 2, 3, 4--all the way up to 5!  children with the exact same name.......

---

Another layer of tracking my Italian cousins that adds to the intensity is that we all seem to share 52 ancestors!

Just as an example because I'm working on them now & they're fresh in my mind-others are even more connected....

Maria Mattea "Emily" Capece married Giovanni "John" Fratta in Milford MA in 1923. 

Emily is my 3rd cousin once removed on her maternal line through Ferdinando Niro & Maria Fedela Niro . {It is not known how closely related these two Niro's were yet}

Emily is also my 3rd cousin once removed on her paternal line through Marcello Rossacci & Teodora Brunetti .

So a double cousin...(?)..

John is my 2nd cousin twice removed on his maternal line through Alesio Colavita & Lucia De Salvia .

So Emily & John's children become triple cousins  ...(?)... of mine 

Answer 11

Jacob and Sidney became very popular in my Underwood line. Jacob Underwood was the first Jacob; his son, Jacob Sidney, was the first Sidney. Those names are still being used.

The surname Neal, as a first and middle name for boys and girls, became a way to honor my grandmother. Six of her descendants carry (carried) that name, including my daughter who, when she married last January, kept that as a middle name.

Answer 12

There was a Samuel in every generation on my direct male line from the original immigrant to the colonies, Samuel Handy (my 8th great-grandfather), who was born in England circa 1650 and settled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, through my great-grandfather's brother, born in 1882 (so 8 generations; my line is Samuel > William > Samuel > William >Samuel > Samuel S. > George > Edward; both Williams, George, and Edward had brothers named Samuel).

Comments

So everyone has always had an Uncle Sam!  Fun, but it seems like they always want something from you ;).

Answer 13

In this week's blog:

Vincenzo became James!

Last names become middle names in 19th century Massachusetts! 

All this and more: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2019/06/52-ancestors-week-23-namesake.html

Actually, that's pretty much it. How did Vincenzo become James? I still want to know.

Comments

Chris,

That's actually not that uncommon. I've got several that did that 'conversion'. For example; Vincenzo AKA James's son was born as Vincenzo Jr......but went through his life in Massachusetts as James Jr.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/D'Arcangelo-47

There was some discussion on this particular topic at the other website...but no real conclusion as to the how's & why's it became converted this way.

---

I suspect a lot of people who have Italian ancestry have that same story. By the way, have you joined the Italian Roots Project? We'd love to have ya.

Link here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Italian_Roots

---

My Vincezo logically became Vincent, and the Giuseppes became Joseph, etc. Then some people just up and took completely different first and/or last names.

I see this on naturalization papers all the time where they state the name under which they entered the US and the name the currently go by. I suspect since they were able to take any name they wanted, sometimes they took something they felt suited them better. Maybe Vincenzo just prefered the English name James.

I have a great-grand aunt who was born Johanna Elizabeth, but somehow ended up being Mabel. In fact, I had Johanna Elizabeth and Mabel as separate children in my tree assuming Johanna had died young until I noticed they had the exact same birth date and went digging through my sources to find Mabel did not have a birth record, and none could be found. I also couldn't find a death record for Johanna, and she was not buried in either of the family plots or either cemetery. Johanna's birth record did not list her as a twin either. Not even Mabel's close relatives knew about Johanna.

Mabel had a sister Jesse Mabel who died at age 11, when Johanna was barely a year old. I think what likely happened is Johanna's parents just started calling her Mabel after the daughter they lost, and that was the only name she ever knew and used on all of her later identifying documents.

---

That's true. Maybe he just felt like it. Haha. Not much of a fun story there, right?

Interesting facts about your family.

Answer 14

William Clayton, born 1713 in Chester County, Pennsylvania is 6th of this name.  He was the son of:

William Clayton III (abt. 1685 - 1758), Chichester, Sussex, England, who was the son of
William Mickel Clayton Jr. (1655 - 1727), Chichester, Sussex, England, who was the son of
William (Claiton) Clayton Sr. (bef. 1632 - bef. 1689), Boxgrove, Sussex, England, migrated to Pennsylvania and was appointed to the Pennsylvania Provincial Council, who was the son of
William Claiton younger (abt. 1610 - aft. 1658), Boxgrove, Sussex, England, who was the son of
William Cleton the Elder (1589 - 1644), Walberton, Sussex, England, who is my 12th great-grandfather.
 

Answer 15

The D is for Douglas, the J is for John, except for my son

Father DJ

His son(My Brother) JD

His son (My Nephew) DJ

To avoid confusion with my nephew, I opted for J D for my son.

Answer 16

One of the naming patterns I have observed in Cornwall is where a mother's maiden name becomes the middle name of her children and is then passed down as the middle name or sometimes the first name of some of her descendants. This has led to some unusual cases where an surname like Dymoke or Sharrock becomes a first name.
I don't have such an extreme example in my family but I do have an ancestor Christian Francis. Most of her children with her husband John Hamlyn, who were conveniently all boys, had Francis as a middle name. Many of her descendants for several generations repeated Francis as a middle name. Since Francis is a fairly normal boys name it didn't stand out until I noticed how many times it was repeated across the family over time.
 

Answer 17

I think I am of the first generation in my family for whom they broke the "namesake" tradition.  I do have cousins who are named "Sarah Frances" and "Nancy Elizabeth", one named after the mother's parents (Sarah was her maternal grandmother and Frances was the paternal GM) and Nancy, named after the dad's parents.  If I had been a boy, they were going to name me after my dad's dad: Harry Augustus Thorniley.  Initials: HAT, and my mother, in her faux "cleverness", planned to call me "Topper".  Thank gawd I was a girl!!

Comments

Lynn, I also was glad that I was a girl. I was so bad at sports, and having one bad eye and refusing to wear glasses did not help my athletic ability.

Answer 18

I was supposed to have been a boy named David, but when I was born a girl my mother had to come up with another name. My grandfather’s name was Clare Alexander Lovelace Sr. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lovelace-588 and my father was Clare Alexander Lovelace Jr., so she decided to name me Alexandria. Then she thought that was too long, so she named me Alexis Clare Lovelace. I really did not like my name when I was a child, since I wanted a more common name like my friends. Funny how common the name Alexis has become, and I like it very much.

Comments

I like Alexis as a name as well but I must admit it does always make me think of Joan Collins (Alexis Carrington Colby in Dynasty).  I'm sure she helped popularise it!

---

Linda, you are exactly right about Dynasty. All of a sudden my name was not mispronounced. Then I started to notice little girls named Alexis, before that it was a male name. I got a draft notice in 1964, and when I did not respond, I got an arrest notice. Wish I had saved it.

---

Too funny about the draft notice!  I'm surprised they didn't use other biographical data to find out you were a girl!  I wonder how many girls called Chris got one?

---

Linda, I remember being very concerned, but my mother just saying that it was fine, since she wanted to see the looks on their faces when they saw me. I think she wanted a good laugh. You are probably right about the name Chris.

---

My mother was supposed to be named Marilyn but ended up being Carol. She said "Dad wrote Carol on my birth certificate because he couldn't spell Marilyn."  

---

My mother's name is Marion (not Marian) and has the same problem with the gender issue.  She recently had some health issues involving her bladder and when we got home and looked at the packet of information we had been given discovered she had been coded as male and the  "health notes" we had been given had lots of information dealing with her prostrate gland.

---

Linda, I love that about being able to spell Carol. I recently found out that my uncle was named after his father because the doctor had given my grandmother so much medication that my grandfather was able to write what he wanted to on the birth certificate.

---

Jill, what a story about your mother. You would think that in 2019 they would be keeping better records than that. I will actually be with my friend Marion today, as group of us are going to a funeral. Be sure and save the records, as it may be a good laugh in future years. Hope it does not worry your mother about what kind of care she is getting.

Answer 19

My great-great-grandmother, Julia Toothman, was the first (that I know of) of several Julias in the family-my grandmother was given her name as a middle name and one of my cousins was named in her honor.  Am investigating a still very tentative but possible breakthrough-if the correct family, she would have had an aunt named Julia.

Answer 20

Yes, it was a very strong international Catholic tradition to name your sons Joseph + Name and your daughters  Mary + Name.  But I think this is noteworthy: on my great grandfathers tall grave marker's front side is his first wife, Mary Delaney, beloved wife of John (himself).  Then below that after he dies, he is identified as beloved of husband of Mary M. Delaney, and to know who that's referring to, you need to look at the left side of the marker, where Mary Delaney (his second wife and my great grandmother) is found, but, then have a look at the opposite side, and you'll find his mother, you guessed it, Mary Delaney!  Talk about a Mary-go-round!  It was a genealogical hot mess:  After his first wife died in 1890 and he bought the plot, he had his mother, who had died in 1866, disinterred and moved to the swankier spot, burial date...1890.  He married my great grandmother in 1892, but lots of budding genealogists seemed to want to kill her off that year, rather than 1946 when she really passed.  I'll always be grateful to the cemetery's on-staff genealogist who helped me sort it all out--with sources to cite!

Comments

My namesake is my paternal grandmother, [[Bloom-1249|Martha Elizabeth Demi]] although she preferred to be called Betty. I was actually due to be born on her birthday 21 Aug but since I was C-section, my mom wanted me to at least have my own birthday on 28 Aug.

---

What a good story Bernard. Nightmarish genealogical puzzle.