Genealogy Chat

My daughter had a son last week, and has included our surname as his third forename.

My brother's middle name is what was thought to be a family surname. Unfortunately, it was mis-remembered. It took me several years to discover what he should have been called. Brenda

I have got the surnames Henry, Lynch, Alexander, Marshall, and Haydon as middle names in both male and female members of the tree. Paul

I have seen it happen quite a few times when the child is born illegitimate and the mother marries later. The new husband's (who might or might not be the father) is added after her surname. Martin

YES. My son and his girl are finally getting married and plan to have children. She will keep her maiden name for business purposes and I have asked them to use her maiden name as a middle name for their children!!! They think it is a great idea. Wendy

Hi It still happens. One of my middle names is Habberley, which was my great grandmother's maiden name. My daughter also has it as one of her middle names. For us, it is to carry on a relatively rare surname as (we think) my great grandmother had no brothers, but I suspect it was used in the past also to differentiate different lines of the family, as they tended to pick from so many fewer first names than we do today, so that you get lots of cousins all with identical names! Tina PS And I'm not really that old!

It still carries on to this day! My husband's mother was the last of her line, and both he and our children have her maiden name as a middle name.

Yes, my great grandfather was called Charles johnson Zechariah Young Cullen. This was very helpful as when I looked at BMD, I found his father's name paired up with an Emma Elizabeth Young. It was like an extra confirmation I had got it right. Then someone looked up Emma's family and her father was called Zechariah Young. This again helped me to know I had got on the right track. i still haven't worked out where the Johnson thing came from.

Yes My uncle's middle name was Barry and this was his mothers maiden name , She had a brother and a sister who had Butterworth as their middle name and this was their mothers maiden name My husband's uncle had Simpson as his middle name and this was his mothers maiden name Bren

i have got quite a few children who have their mothers maiden name as their first name! susie

Absolutely! Or it could be passed down generations. My Mother was a Scot. As a tradition mothers maiden names are handed down in Scotland. Therefore one of my middle names is Dorward, after my GGGrandmother Mary Dorward 1831 - 1876.

The answer is a definite YES! Have discovered that my great great grandmothers maiden name was Thrower, she gave this as her youngest sons middle name.....I believe it was quite common place especially if the name had no-one to carry it on :0)

yep, I have several with mums maiden name as middle name,

I have a maiden name used as a first name - Reeson. I think it's a boy but who knows?!

my father in law had his mothers surname as his middle name cuthbert

Both my brother and I have my mother's maiden name as our middle name! Lou

I havent got any but in my hubby's family boys and girls have the mother's surname as a middle name. On my Mother's side all the girls have May as a middle name, what's really weird they appear on her mother's and father's sides of the family, very strange it's not anything to do with the Month, as only one was born in May. Middle names can have very personal meanings in families, so it seems. Pat x

This did not just happen to boys. My aunt had Thomas as her middle name - her mothers maiden name. Liz

so i could have marion billingsley mcadam but just a brother called George Mcadam?

Yes, that was quite common. It's because I had a great-uncle whose middle name was Barnes that I started looking for a Ruth Barnes marriage and found it. I knew my gt grandmother was called Ruth, but didn't know her surname, and as her husband was unimaginatively called John Gray I couldn't be sure which of the 1000s of John Grays who married Ruths in Norfolk was the right one. nell