Invented Middle Names

Unlike 3 of his 7 brothers and sisters, my grandfather, Watson Rodger (b. Forfar 1887), had no middle name. Obviously, this was a sore point with him, so he decided to create one for himself. One of his older brothers was named James Bowman Rodger (I still don't know the origin of the name Bowman...), so Grandpa, who knew French and by then had a wife who spoke the language fluently, decided to go one better and took to calling himself Watson Beaumont Rodger.

 

I have a fourth cousin twice removed called Robert Lee Valentine Bousfield, born in Lowdham, Nottinghamshire in 1845. According to his birth certificate, his name was simply Robert Bousfield. However, Robert emigrated to the United States, where he re-invented himself - and his name! Valentine is clearly after the day he was born, 14 February, and the Lee is apparently after the American general, Robert E. Lee (1807-1870).

 

Especially amusing to me, Gillian, because I was saved from a dire first name (Eugènie) because the doctor pointed out to my mother that it was St Valentine's Day! ( I still have the dire first name but mercifully never have to use it...)

 

My Scottish grandmother gave herself a middle name, as did her younger sister. And I had trouble tracing her death as she had altered her first name from ordinary Mary to the more romantic Marie. Or perhaps her daughter, who registered the death, preferred the less ordinary name?

 

Peter, thank you! I didn't realize... Haven't found any other examples in my family tree.

 

When I discovered that my mother's sister, my Aunty Winnie, was actually baptised Clara Winifred but always referred to as Winifred Clara, my dear mother told me it was because she couldn't officially have the initials of "W.C"!

 

Margery, when I lived in Texas years ago, friends had a cat whose name, as pronounced by them, was W.C. I thought maybe he was named after W.C. Fields... but it turned out that his name was actually Debussy!

 

Back to my 4 c 1 r Robert Lee Valentine Bousfield: today I discovered that his son-in-law in the US was called Benjamin Franklin Rist. So it obviously ran in the family.

 

This all makes me think I should make up a middle name for myself?

I don't have one because my mother had trouble even thinking of a Christian name.. Expecting to produce a boy she was totally floored when I turned out to be a girl . The family name of David Charles would obviously have not been appropriate (although now it seems anything goes) so in desperation my mother asked my aunt to think of a name, and she came up with Carla. My mother tells me that my aunt was going out with an Austrian gentleman at the time and Carla was his sister's name! It was an unusual name back in the late 1950's and no-one could think of a middle name to go with it.

So there you have it! I have only one name, but of course I am open to suitable suggestions (maiden name Martin, married name Allen)

 

That's really weird. Our youngest daughter is Carla Ilona. C I!! I had wanted her to be Ilona Carla, but when she was born she had thick almost black hair and my husband told me (half dead as I was!) that all Ilona's are fair so she'll have to be Carla. I agreed and Carla Ilona she has been ever since, even though her hair turned fair pretty soon. Her daughter is Ilona, so we got the name in the end, which comes from Carla's godfather, who was Hungarian. Ilona is both a Hungarian and a Finnish name. My husband is Finnish, which explains the choice of name.

 

I am sure that I have read of a person named Davida (a bit like Nigella, I suppose).

 

I love them all .

Looking at Peter's suggestion reminds me of the importance of checking how the initials of a full name look before making up your mind what to call your children! My son has always moaned at me for giving him the names Michael Robert, which obviously are the initials M R. It means he will often get a letter addressed to Mr MR G..... which makes him actually growl out loud (and yes I do mean growl!) "Mister mister" he mutters. I honestly never thought about it when his name was chosen .

 

In Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where my father-in-law grew up, many of the men had the same name. I'm sure every man on the island was called William, John or Donald! They were baptised with only a single name, but were often known by their father's name as well, as in Willie John, for William son of John. I spent weeks trying to find William John in the records, before I figured that out.

 

And in francophone parts of New Brunswick, you find names like "Marie à Jean-Pierre" based on the same thinking: "Jean-Pierre's [daughter] Marie".