Hi, Linda -- I believe that children of better-educated, well-to-do (often Protestant) families were most often found to have middle names on Irish records and in literature. An unusual first or middle name for a son could be a surname important to the family such as mother's maiden ("nee") surname. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda Hess" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:34 PM Subject: Re: [IRISH-AMER] NAME VERSIONS >I have another question about Irish naming patterns that is a bit >different. I have read about the typical naming patterns for boys vs >girls, and have read comments that there may be some variations to the >pattern in different areas of Ireland. But my question is about the use of >middle names. I see Irish families on Census records where there is a 1st >and last name for the parents who were born in Ireland and moved to the US, >but then start to see 1st and middle names for some of their children born >in the US, though usually no middle names for the first child or two. Did >people born in Ireland have middle names or was that something that started >in the US? Just wondering if anyone knows about that. <snip>

Jean, This is interesting. My family was Catholic. I'm not sure really what their economic status was in Ireland, but maybe I will find this out soon, if I'm able to pinpoint their townland of origin. I'm not completely sure of their education or economic status in the US - it seemed to be a bit mixed from what I've found. I'll see what I can find about middle names that might point to the mother's maiden name. Thanks! Linda "Jean R." <[email protected]> wrote: Hi, Linda -- I believe that children of better-educated, well-to-do (often Protestant) families were most often found to have middle names on Irish records and in literature. An unusual first or middle name for a son could be a surname important to the family such as mother's maiden ("nee") surname. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda Hess" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:34 PM Subject: Re: [IRISH-AMER] NAME VERSIONS >I have another question about Irish naming patterns that is a bit >different. I have read about the typical naming patterns for boys vs >girls, and have read comments that there may be some variations to the >pattern in different areas of Ireland. But my question is about the use of >middle names. I see Irish families on Census records where there is a 1st >and last name for the parents who were born in Ireland and moved to the US, >but then start to see 1st and middle names for some of their children born >in the US, though usually no middle names for the first child or two. Did >people born in Ireland have middle names or was that something that started >in the US? Just wondering if anyone knows about that. ====Irish American Mailing List===== Add/check your surname to the Irish-American mailing list Surname Registry at: http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/IrishAmerican/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.