In the records of the immigrants to the Germanna II colony in Virginia, the "first" name of the children were always that of the family's traditional male & female patron saints. So a family might have Anna Margaretha, Anna Maria, Anna Magdalena---of course, the daughters were called Margaretha, Maria, and Magdalena. I have never heard of this "disallowed" middle names before--- that doesn't mean it wasn't true at some point, possibly for some part of the English Colonial empire. (I have learned to be flexible in my approach to discoveries, as there have been a lot of surprises over the years!) :-) Pam pamstone@cfl.rr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harriet Imrey" <himrey@ntelos.net> To: <SCEDGEFI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:54 PM Subject: Re: [SCEDGEFI] Colonists Forbidden Middle Names I've never heard about that. German-origin people normally used their middle-name as the call-name, but I can't imagine that the English-origin people couldn't even HAVE one. A few of the British-born residents of Edgefield really did have middle-names, just not most of them. They used their middle-names and middle-initials when signing documents--just not always. I've never read a "how-to" genealogy book that said non-German people couldn't have middle names, and I'd sure ask for their sources if somebody had done that--it's not something that turns up in the land records. That tale about "no-middle-names" sounds like utter-nonsense to me. An immigrant named John Barkley could perfectly well have been named John Calvin Barkley. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Betty Bivins" <halbet@angus1841.com> To: <SCEDGEFI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:04 PM Subject: [SCEDGEFI] Colonists Forbidden Middle Names Does anyone have any further information on this? betty in ga Colonists Forbidden Middle Names By Frances Willess Years ago in a "how to" genealogy book I read that in the early British Empire common people were forbidden to have middle names and only the royal family was allowed to have them. British subjects in the U.S. did not have middle names until after the Revolutionary War. Therefore I have doubted that my 3-great-grandfather John BARKLEY in Ireland in the mid-1700s was actually named John Calvin BARKLEY as some of his descendants believe; although I have no idea if that was actually the law. My grandfather was named Washington Irving BEASLEY. He had brothers and uncles named Andrew Jackson and Benjamin Franklin. The brothers were called Jack and Frank. I have often wondered what papa was called before was big enough to give himself the name of B.I. -- that information didn't come down with the family story. ==== SCEDGEFI Mailing List ==== This list is generously provided by Rootsweb: http://www.rootsweb.com