ONTARIO-L Archives

From: CATT <>
Subject: McKinnon's changing their names
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:07:08 -0500

I had an ancestor who added a J. as his middle name, which was to
differ himself from the other men with the same first and surname in his
area of habitation, with most being relatives.. The J. stood for
nothing especially, according to his son..

Another man, although named after his father with the same first name,
was called by his second name and goes by his second name and Initial of
his first name as his middle initial, and name.

If a Scottish family followed the Scottish Method of Naming Children,
then it is possible that children in the same family, would have a
mother with a parent with the same name as his parent, then more than
one child in the family would end up with the same names.
www.twicelovedtreasures.com/new_page_5.htm, or google yourself for
Scottish Naming Patterns.
In the next generation, the same thing, so lots of people named the
same. So things get confusing. So nick names come into use. Jamie for
James, Jack for John, Bill for William, etc.

The English Method of Naming Children can be tricky also. I have seen
girl children naming their first born child after their father even when
the child was a girl. However, in different times the naming methods
may change. Google for Naming Patterns and have a good read.




Subject:
Re: [ONT] McKinnon Birth:
From:
"Ron & Mary Harris" <>
Date:
Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:59:46 -0500

To:



Jean,

I can sympathize. Maybe it's a Scottish thing - I have more than one
Scottish relative who aquired middle names later on in life. Or maybe
it's a MCKINNON thing! I have been trying to fill in the blanks in the
life story of my grandmother's never married brother who immigrated from
Argyllshire, Scotland in 1905. He was born Donald MCKINNON on June 19,
1884, on the island of Tyree, Argyll to Neil MCKINNON & Ann PATERSON. He
added James as his middle name (where he got this, I just can't figure
out), then Paterson, which has an obvious source. But then his whole
surname got changed - by his death in 1964, in Winnipeg, MB, he was
known as Donald James PATERSON-MCKINNON! Of course, he was always Uncle
Dan to us! I suppose he might then be mistakenly listed as Daniel
MCKINNON somewhere! Oh what fun.

I guess the moral of the story is: just when you think you've thought of
every possible name/date/place combination, it turns out there's still
more. Leave no stone unturned.

Mary

Drives me batty when this happens.
And another thing they seem to change their first and middle names
around also. Names and birthdate didn't seem to matter much back then.
Jean

This thread:

• McKinnon's changing their names by CATT <>