Pamela, One thing that has driven me nuts looking for my Arkansas ancestors is the crazy nick names. Many times people did not know what a person's real name was. For example: Robert Henry George, Jr was Jack, Herman Oscar George was Jim, Walter John George was Bill, Walter Hardin George was Peter, James Franklin George was Pete, ... I could go on and on. I'm beginning to think the fathers got into the moonshine before the kids were named and the kids resented the name they got stuck with. Joe [email protected] wrote: > Hello All: > > Hope the weather in your neck of the woods is more predictable than the issue > I've run into... > > I have another burning question for you historians. I located my > gr-grandmother's family in the 1900 Lonoke AR census that listed one of the > children as "little sister." Well, she was only 6 months old, so I didn't > think much of it. Fast forward ten years, and she is listed as "Babe" (which > I suppose is a sort of a name). I thought this was unique to my relatives, > but as I've been browsing through census images, I have noticed several > instances of children listed as "Not Named" -- one little girl was 3 years > old! > > Of course that made me curious about the real story behind this cold data. > Why would it take so long to provide a child with a name? Was there a > religious or cultural reason for this? Was the name of a child so > insignificant in that time period that the parents felt there was no rush? > And, in the case of the 3 year old "Not Named", would her birth certificate > have been filled out 3 years after her actual birth? If so, would it have > even been accurate?? > > Okay...I guess that was more than one question, but I was just curious if > anyone had any ideas on this one. Forgive me if I seem a bit obsessed about > these oddities--I'm just trying to get a real taste for the flavor of the > times, not simply places, dates, and (sometimes) names. > > Thanks a bunch! > -Pamela > > ==== AGS Mailing List ==== > ARKANSAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY > 2002 FALL SEMINAR and BOOK FAIR > Friday, October 11, and Saturday, October 12, 2002 > Holiday Inn Airport-East, Little Rock, Arkansas > I-440, Exit 3 (Airport Exit) > For details see: http://www.rootsweb.com/~args/

Oh, ya'll, don't get me started on that one! I have many cousins in one family that I never knew had nicknames. One cousin, Pete, I recently found out was really Gene. I asked him about it, and he said it was no secret, just the name he'd always gone by. He said when the other kids saw him as a baby for the first time, one of his brothers said "Hey, he looks like Pete the mule!" and it stuck. Then he went on to tell me that his wife is not really Nancy (I'd known of her as that all my life), she was actually Margaret - now how to they get Nancy from Margaret? I was afraid to ask - maybe she was nick-named after one of the other farm animals! LOL! Makes genealogy difficult though! Tsana ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe George" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 7:08 PM Subject: Re: [AGS] Children "Not Named" > Pamela, > > One thing that has driven me nuts looking for my Arkansas ancestors is the crazy > nick names. Many times people did not know what a person's real name was. For > example: Robert Henry George, Jr was Jack, Herman Oscar George was Jim, Walter > John George was Bill, Walter Hardin George was Peter, James Franklin George was > Pete, ... I could go on and on. I'm beginning to think the fathers got into the > moonshine before the kids were named and the kids resented the name they got > stuck with. > > Joe > > > > [email protected] wrote: > > > Hello All: > > > > Hope the weather in your neck of the woods is more predictable than the issue > > I've run into... > > > > I have another burning question for you historians. I located my > > gr-grandmother's family in the 1900 Lonoke AR census that listed one of the > > children as "little sister." Well, she was only 6 months old, so I didn't > > think much of it. Fast forward ten years, and she is listed as "Babe" (which > > I suppose is a sort of a name). I thought this was unique to my relatives, > > but as I've been browsing through census images, I have noticed several > > instances of children listed as "Not Named" -- one little girl was 3 years > > old! > > > > Of course that made me curious about the real story behind this cold data. > > Why would it take so long to provide a child with a name? Was there a > > religious or cultural reason for this? Was the name of a child so > > insignificant in that time period that the parents felt there was no rush? > > And, in the case of the 3 year old "Not Named", would her birth certificate > > have been filled out 3 years after her actual birth? If so, would it have > > even been accurate?? > > > > Okay...I guess that was more than one question, but I was just curious if > > anyone had any ideas on this one. Forgive me if I seem a bit obsessed about > > these oddities--I'm just trying to get a real taste for the flavor of the > > times, not simply places, dates, and (sometimes) names. > > > > Thanks a bunch! > > -Pamela > > > > ==== AGS Mailing List ==== > > ARKANSAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY > > 2002 FALL SEMINAR and BOOK FAIR > > Friday, October 11, and Saturday, October 12, 2002 > > Holiday Inn Airport-East, Little Rock, Arkansas > > I-440, Exit 3 (Airport Exit) > > For details see: http://www.rootsweb.com/~args/ > > > ==== AGS Mailing List ==== > The Arkansas History Commission has updated their website. > www.ark-ives.com >