>________________________________ > F >  4. FW: Use of "Alias" (als) in Cornwall (Julia Mosman) >  >This is a most useful & interesting article, but it may need to be pointed out that many family historians tend to forget that being Cornish is not being English;  like the Welsh, the Cornish used patronymics, although it seems to have been generally abandoned earlier than in Wales. Hence the use of an 'alias' in Cornwall at an early date is sometimes due to this as well as the other origins outlined in the article. I find my own TRESEDER family with aliases in records of the 16th century. >My Welsh side of the family is giving me problems in Laugharne, Carmarthen in the 18th century due to the use of patronymics. >We should also remember that illegitimacy could result in an 'alias' where the base child was given the surname of either the mother or the putative father. If the mother later married the husband may have 'adopted' the child and treated it as his own. Thus the child could choose between two (or even three) surnames. A similar situation could also arise with the re-marriage of a widow with previous offspring. >Dew genes, >Stephen. >