I don't know about that. I know of a few people from well before the Revolution who had middle names and none of them were royalty or even "landed gentry". In the cases that I have personal knowledge of middle names were derived from the surnames of related families (e.g. a mother's maiden name or even the last name of a married aunt, etc.). Greg Matthews ============================== Mat(t)hews genealogy: http://bluntrazor.com Remember, family tradition, creative genealogy and stuff taken for granted from Gen Circles, Family Tree Maker, and the like, is not bonified research.. ----- 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 > he was big enough to give himself the name of B.I. -- that information > didn't come down with the family story. > > > > RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine > 6 September 2006, Vol. 9, No. 36 > > > ==== SCEDGEFI Mailing List ==== > To SEARCH or BROWSE the archived postings of the EDGEFIELD, SOUTH CAROLINA > mail list, go to: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/SC/edgefield.html > And scroll to the bottom of the page. >