[email protected] wrote: > I wonder if someone has a guess about something a little odd I > found in Waddesden PRs: > > William and Anne STRANGE had several children baptised and buried > in that parish in the 1750s. They themselves are also buried there, > William in the 1750s, and Anne in the 1770s. > > In a number of these records, Anne is refered to as Ann Steward > Strange. At first I thought STEWARD was her maiden name, but I have > since found her marriage, and she was Anne MARSHALL. > > Is Steward just Anne's middle name, or is something else going on > here? Steward would be her middle name but, as you've discovered, not her maiden name. It isn't an English habit for women to maintain their maiden name as a part of their married name as American women seem to. It's possible that it's her mother's maiden name, not an unusual occurrence. It could also be her grandmother's maiden name, not particularly unusual. If Anne was illegitimate, it could be her reputed father's surname. However, it could be the surname of a friend, business associate, colleague or someone else important to the parents. It's only by tracing back further that you might find the answer.