Scotch-Irish-L Archives

From: "Daniel and Beverly Patterson" <>
Subject: [Scotch-Irish] The Phrase "Alias" to Indicate a Married Woman's Name
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 10:13:10 -0400

On gravestones of Scotch-Irish settlers in NC and SC I have found one use of
the word “alias” to indicate a woman’s married name (“Agness Beatey alias
Armstrong, who was married to Robert Armstrong”) and a number of instances
when "alias" (also spelled “alies” and “alius”) introduced a woman’s maiden
name (“Mary Starrat alies Hunter wife to Benjamin Starrat”). These spanned
a period from 1772-1810. I have seen the latter usage also on stones in
Northern Ireland but am not aware of occurrences on grave markers in New
England (where the customary phrase is "wife of" with no indication of a
maiden name (“Mrs. Kezia Stiles wife of ye Revd. Mr. Isaac Stiles”) or on
gravestones in England or Scotland. I would welcome responses from persons
who have encountered either use of the “alias” phrase on monuments in any of
these places or seen it in legal or other historical documents. If the
locution was current only among Ulster Scots and their American descendents,
can anyone suggest why?

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• [Scotch-Irish] The Phrase "Alias" to Indicate a Married Woman's Name by "Daniel and Beverly Patterson" <>