Hi Susan, In this case, as you already know that Robert's mother's maiden name is Burnside, you can _probably_ assume that that _is_ where George got his middle name from ... rather than from his own mother, particularly as you seem to already know that Robert Ainslie married Ann Ewing. But middle names can derive in many ways, so it pays to be open minded: My grandfather is Edward Crosby Collett. When I finally saw his full birth certificate, it confirmed his mother's maiden name was Crosby, and that his father's name was Sydney Slater Collett. So I assumed that Sydney's mother's maiden name must be Slater. But it was Little. So I looked for a male Little - female Slater marriage and couldn't find one. The mystery was solved once I looked at her birth certificate: her father's name was Slater Little: Sydney was given his maternal grandfather's forename as a second name. And now I have another mystery: why did he get given Slater as his first given name? So I suppose the important bits are: although naming patterns can be useful, also be open-minded, they may not even persist over two generations ... and wherever possible, check the original documents! Karen On 19 March 2013 14:08, Susan C <[email protected]> wrote: > Thank you Geoff, > > > It is interesting the history of naming a child with the mother's maiden > name. The research in tracing the family with more than one name is not > too easy. For example: > > Robert Ainslie - Ann Ewing > > > George Burnside Ainslie b. 1827 > > So now, must I look for George's mother as Ann Burnside? Roberts' parents > were: > > > George Ainslie - Isabel Burnside. > > > This is why I thought George's (b. 1827) middle name, Burnside, was named > after his grandparents on his mother's side. > >

Karen Lynn <[email protected]> wrote: >In this case, as you already know that Robert's mother's maiden name is >Burnside, you can _probably_ assume that that _is_ where George got his >middle name from ... rather than from his own mother, particularly as >you seem to already know that Robert Ainslie married Ann Ewing. Please don't cross-post to two lists as you did here. When subscribers do that it can cause problems with replies from people who belong to one list but not the other. If you want your message to go to two lists, post to each separately and use copy and paste to put the same text in each. Brian -- Brian Pears (Joint List Admin - NORTHUMBRIA Mailing List)