Hi All - Just transcribed this for the March 5, 1858 West Briton, but thought it might be of great interest now to the List, as we just discussed names a bit ago. This was part of an article about a court case which dealt with wills, and interpretations of what entries in the will meant. ................ In the course of this cause, some quasi-philological discussion took place as to the name Jennifer. The Rev. F. TODD said it was within his own knowledge, as vicar of St. Austell, and as formerly curate of another parish, that persons named Jane were frequently called Jennifer, and vice versa; he himself had a daughter baptized Jane, but was very frequently called Jennifer; but still, “Jane” and “Jennifer” were distinct baptismal names. The lawyers seemed puzzled to account for the addition of the syllable FOR to Jenny; various conjectures were hazarded, and the learned Judge suggested the whole name “Jennifer,” might possibly be a corruption of Ginevra! A more homely and reasonable suggestion was that Jennifer was merely a Cornish mode of giving a familiar endearment to the name; and a similar explanation was given of the name “Un-Jane,” by which it appeared the “Jane” of this case was sometimes called by her friends; the prefix “Un” it was suggested, might represent “Aunt”; the terms “aunt: and “uncle” being employed in Cornwall as expressive of respect and affection, with intimating relationship. .............. So there you are; even more complications in the naming patterns used in Cornwall! Just what we needed. Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving to those living in the US, Julia

Julia, this is my nightmare of a name. My 3x and 4x great grandmother's both born in Gwennap in appear as Jane and Jenifer throughout their lifes and a cousin whom I always assumed was named Jenifer I found recently was actually registered at birth , marriage and death as Jane! Daphne On 22 November 2012 05:18, Julia Mosman <jwmos99@msn.com> wrote: > > Hi All - > Just transcribed this for the March 5, 1858 West Briton, but thought it > might be of great interest now to the List, as we just discussed names a > bit ago. > This was part of an article about a court case which dealt with wills, and > interpretations of what entries in the will meant. > ................ > In the course of this cause, some quasi-philological discussion took place > as to the name Jennifer. The Rev. F. TODD said it was within his own > knowledge, as vicar of St. Austell, and as formerly curate of another > parish, that persons named Jane were frequently called Jennifer, and vice > versa; he himself had a daughter baptized Jane, but was very frequently > called Jennifer; but still, “Jane” and “Jennifer” were distinct baptismal > names. > The lawyers seemed puzzled to account for the addition of the syllable FOR > to Jenny; various conjectures were hazarded, and the learned Judge > suggested the whole name “Jennifer,” might possibly be a corruption of > Ginevra! A more homely and reasonable suggestion was that Jennifer was > merely a Cornish mode of giving a familiar endearment to the name; and a > similar explanation was given of the name “Un-Jane,” by which it appeared > the “Jane” of this case was sometimes called by her friends; the prefix > “Un” it was suggested, might represent “Aunt”; the terms “aunt: and “uncle” > being employed in Cornwall as expressive of respect and affection, with > intimating relationship. > .............. > So there you are; even more complications in the naming patterns used in > Cornwall! Just what we needed. > Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving to those living in the US, > Julia > ------------------------------- > Subscribe to digest by sending an email to CORNISH-D-request@rootsweb.comwith the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and body text. If you want, > MIME digests, email CORNISH-admin@rootsweb.com. > > Unsubscribe from either by sending an email to > CORNISH-request@rootsweb.com. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > CORNISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >