A recent post commented on the Ward family, with only the youngest child of 4 having a middle name (Thankful Kennedy). Volumes have probably been written on when and why names are given. Looking through my database, there are about 8000 people with first names, from the late 1500s to this year, but heavy on the 1700s and 1800s. Most are Yankees, from Cape Cod and Maine. Middle names were uncommon before 1800, and then the majority seem to have had them. This can change with the fashions. For example, even though all my grandparents and their siblings had middle names, and my uncles do, my mother and aunts were not given them, with the expectation that they would use their birth names as middle names when married. Middle names are often family names, especially the mother's given name (for girls) or birth name (for both boys and girls), sometimes the same as the father's name (for juniors, etc.) or switched first and middle, sometimes a favorite minister or other notable. But often they seem to have randomly used use other local family names, which can be misleading when you assume they are clues for close relations. To use my Wellfleet grandparents and their siblings as examples: the children of Wilton Linwood Wiles and Ella Frances Ames were Edna Frances, Leroy Bartlett, Elmer Furbush, Lizzie Leach, Jennie Stevens and Wilton Linwood Jr. And the children of George Pickering Baker and Henrietta Evelyn Reed were Esther Reed, Lulie Snow, Cora Morrison, Charlotte Evelyn and Ralph Ellsworth. Of these, Evelyn and Frances use the mothers' middle names, Wilton Linwood is a Jr. (but itself of unknown significance), and Reed is the mother's birth name. Cora Morrison was previously used in town for Cora Morrison Higgins, and there was ship and ship owner of that name, but not a known relation. Sources for the other names are mysteries to me. The "virtue" names are less common than I expected. I have: Charity, 1; Constant, 5; Constance, 4; Deliverance, 14; Desire, 12; Experience, 10, Fidelia/Faith, 2; Fear, 1; Grace, 15; Hope, 12; Increase, 1; Love, 1; Mercy/Marcy, 90; Mindwell, 1; Patience, 14; Prudence, 3, Reliance, 2; Temperance/Tempy 13; Thankful, 70; Waitstill, 1; and Wrestling, 1. (Elder William Brewster is responsible for Fear, Love, Patience, and Wrestling.) Few boys received virtue names. Temperance was used as early as 1689, but was most common in the 1800s. I wonder whether there are sectarian differences in names, for example whether more Methodists than Congregationalists named girls Temperance. Names usually seen as last names were sometimes used as given names, nearly always for boys. I have: Atkins, 5; Austin, 4; Chillingsworth, 1; Collins, 5; Converse, 2; Crisp, 1; Crosby, 1 (the only girl, I think); Cushing, 2; Doane, 1; Foster, 1; Freeman, 30; Green, 1; Greenleaf, 1; Harding, 6; Hawes, 5; Hinks, 1; Holmes, 2; Lewis, 12; Lincoln, 1; Lyman, 4; Mulford, 2; Payne, 7; Prence/Prince, 4; Redford, 2; Rowland, 1; Schuyler, 1; Scammell, 1; Scammons, 1, Scotto, 6; Sears, 2, Smith, 3; Snow, 1; Sparrow, 3; Stillman, 3; Thatcher, 3; Wallace, 3, Waterman, 1; Wells, 2; Winslow, 6; Winthrop, 2, Wooster, 1. Ambrose and Tully might fit this category, too. Stillman Pratt (1804-1862) was a Universalist minister, and he was remembered with Stillman Pratt Doane (1841-1915). The most popular names in the past are generally still popular now. I list those with 20 or more occurrences. Numbers are approximate, and combine the various spellings. Girls: Abigail, 140; Alice, 38; Ann/Anne/Annie, 100; Bethia, 40, Betsey/Betty, 40; Catherine, 30; Deborah, 35; Eliza, 25, Elizabeth, 185; Eunice, 35, Hannah, 210, Jane, 32; Jerusha, 35; Joanna/Johanna, 35; Lucy/Lucille, 50; Lydia, 65; Margaret, 40; Maria, 25, Martha, 82; Mary, 330, Mehitable, 26; Mercy/Marcy, 90; Nancy, 42; Phebe/Phoebe, 45; Polly, 25; Priscilla, 35, Rachel, 32, Rebecca, 75; Ruth, 90; Sally, 42, Sarah, 200; Susan/Susannah, 60; Thankful, 70. Mercy and Thankful are the only virtue names here. Sally was sometimes a diminutive for Sarah, Polly for Mary, Betsey and Lizzie for Elizabeth, but I try to enter the names from the birth registers, and most were in fact born as Sally, Betsey or Lizzie, and some as Polly. Boys: Benjamin, 90; Charles, 90, Daniel, 60, David, 70;, Ebenezer, 50, Edmund, 25; Edward, 55; Elisha, 65; Eleazer, 22; Ephraim, 25; Francis, 20, Frank/Franklin, 30; Frederick, 30, Freeman, 30; George, 95, Henry, 85, Isaac, 90, Isaiah, 32; James, 132; Jeremiah, 21; Jesse, 20, John, 310; Jonathan, 58; Joseph, 155, Joshua, 90; Josiah, 30; Nathaniel, 60; Reuben, 22; Richard, 62, Robert, 50, Samuel, 125, Seth, 20, Simeon, 21, Solomon, 30; Steven, 25; Thomas, 125; Timothy, 22, William, 185. Edmund makes the list because of its long use by the Freemans. Totaling the common given names, there are about 4700 out of about 8000 total. -- Sincerely, David Kew http://CapeCodHistory.us/