On 14 March 2017 at 04:07, Tony <mingay@xtra.co.nz> wrote: > > Hi All, > I have come across a problem which I hope someone can solve; in a transcript of the Statuary Register of Scotland of the marriage of a William Douglas MINGAY which is said to have taken place in recent times it gives the bride as Deborah Ann SWANSON but then adds three other males all with given names of William Douglas but each with a different surname, viz GARDNER, NARRIE, WESTWOOD. At first I thought that they might have been the names of her previous husbands, as has occurred in other entries, but this I doubt because of her age, even gave some thought that they might be witnesses but there is no evidence to support that idea. The idea that the groom has changed his surname several times also sprung to mind, if so why? > So what else can be the explanation? Maybe that someone more familiar with those Registers could offer a suggested reason behind this puzzle of mine. > Regards Tony. > Anthony John Mingay > Member of the Guild of One Name Studies, 1985 > (once of Kent & Suffolk now in NZ but still researching the surname MINGAY and its variants Worldwide. Tony the names might be changes to the male name either through adoption or common usage. I have several examples in my own family and that of my husband whereby a parental remarriage resulted in the child either being adopted by the mother's new spouse or by changing the surname through common usage following a remarriage. I have an example on my maternal line in the early 1960's in England. My husband has two examples, one if the early 1970's in England and another in the same time frame in Scotland. Both of these were formal adoptions by the mother's second spouse. Regards Julie Goucher