Another in the Oglesby clan, Lucy Christian Oglesby, got her first and middle names from her grandmother, Lucy Christian. My much-removed cousin Thomas Oglesby Rosser, for example, got his middle name from his mother’s maiden name, Elizabeth Oglesby. This use of maiden names, which became especially popular in the second half of the 19 th century, turned surnames into middle names-a boon for genealogists. Common sources of middle names include a parent or grandparent’s first name, or the maiden name of the mother or a grandmother. But middle names can also suggest family ties, especially among earlier ancestors. Even just middle initials can be helpful here. The most obvious use of middle names in genealogy is differentiating between individuals with the same first and last names. Below are some things to keep in mind when you stumble upon ancestors’ middle names. But that name might hold meaning that is worth exploring more deeply. World War I enlistment forms were among the first official government documents to provide a space for a middle name.Īs you research your own ancestors, you may be tempted to scan over that extra name and zero in mostly on the surname. By 1900, nearly every child was given a middle name. Pennsylvania Germans were among the first to routinely give children middle names.īy the Civil War, middle names had become common in the US. German families had begun adding middle names in the 1600s-think Johann Sebastian Bach-and German immigrants brought the practice to their settlements in America. “Not one person in a hundred in New England a century ago had more than two names.” The term “middle name” first appeared in an 1835 Harvard University periodical. Mostly immigrants from England, the settlers of New England were equally parsimonious in naming: “Middle names are a modern innovation,” The Vermont Record and Farmer reported in 1873. In England, early common law recognized just two names for children-except for royalty and nobility-and extra names were simply discarded by authorities. A middle name let parents name a son Sebastian after the saint, as well as Robert after a favorite grandfather, for example. Aristocratic families in Italy began adding middle names in the early 13 th century, and the practice spread as an embellishment to the tradition of naming children after saints. Middle names mostly died out with the Roman Empire, though Arabic and Spanish families incorporated extra names to honor previous generations. The tradition of middle names dates back to ancient Rome, when important people like Gaius Julius Caesar went by three names. Even post-independence, only three of the first 17 US presidents had middle names. Most of the Founding Fathers had no middle names only three signers of the Declaration of Independence had three names, and two of them were brothers. The Virginia Settlers Research Project found that only 5 colonists out of 33,000 before 1660 had a middle name. None of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower was recorded as having a middle name. Zebulon’s parents, however, were relatively early adopters when it comes to middle names. For example, as far as I know my distant 19 th-century cousin Zebulon Pike Clough was not related to the discoverer of Pike’s Peak. Positioned between first names and surnames, they could derive from either-or they might simply celebrate some then-popular historical figure. My grandson knows when he hears the double salvo of “Lincoln Michael!” that he’d better pay attention.īut middle names can also be useful in genealogy, and not just for separating “your” John Quentin Smith from all the other John Smiths. Middle names are probably most useful when a child has done something very wrong. Family Tree Templates and Relationship Charts.Best Genealogy Websites for Asia and the Pacific.Best Geography and Historical Map Websites.Best African American Genealogy Websites. ![]() Best US and Canadian Genealogy Websites.Surnames: Family Search Tips and Surname Origins.Preserving Old Photos of Your Family History.How to Find Your Ancestor’s US Military Records.
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