If French & a Catholic the J usually stood for Joseph. Catholics almost always named their sons after the Saint Joseph and their daughters after Sainte Marie. Most likely the name was James A Joseph BLANCHARD. I am researching Acadian ancestors & have often run into a lot of difficulty when sometimes there were 2 or 3 Josephs &/or 2 or 3 Maries listed as children in the same family. The next greatest difficulty appeared was when a child died, the next one born would be given the same name. In the 1600's - 1800's French Acadian families were large, averaging 12 or more children. I often could only sort them out if I had their birth dates &/or the names of their spouses. You know that nearly10,000 Acadians were dispersed worldwide by the British in 1755 Deportations & most of their descendants in USA are called Cajuns. Hope I was of some help, cheers Martha. "J. Creamer" wrote: > Does anyone know what the deal is with TWO middle initials?? My ancestor > > James A. J. Blanchard carried on that tradition with his children too. > > The Past Is But Prologue, > > Janice > > http://pages.prodigy.net/jancheryl/ > > ==== BLANCHARD Mailing List ==== > Support RootsWeb! Go to: > http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html