I see you have found something similar, though the name "James" is a recognised Christian name with historical origins. I need to look further back than 1797 for VIGROW it seems, to my Gt Mother's own Grandmother and earlier. I make this assumption for the fact that one of her siblings was formally baptised with the name. Similarly a sibling with the name LIVINGSTON that I've not traced. I have seen a Gt Grandmother's maiden name appear this way and its going to be more difficult to locate for its early date. Janet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron & Mary Harris" > Hi, > > This middle name thing has always puzzled us too! We have several relatives, > of Argyll origins, who suddenly had middle names, where none existed before. > > George MCMILLAN (1856 - 1830) was George Hamilton MCMILLAN by the end of his > life. (Of course his mother was a HAMILTON & he did have a son also named > George, so we can see the reasoning behind taking this middle name.) > > Donald MCKINNON (1884 - 1964), always known as "Dan" to family, evolved to > Donald James Paterson MCKINNON, but this evolved to an entirely new surname > & he was eventually Donald James PATERSON-MCKINNON! (His mother was a > PATERSON, but no Jameses in the family, as far as we can find. And he never > married nor had a namesake son.) > > Both men immigrated - 1 to USA & 1 to Canada. I understand that there may > have been other men of the same name in the area, but it just seems that > adding a new middle name was no big deal years ago. These days, it's an > issue of legality & identity, so it seems odd to us. Another factor for us > to consider when searching for these elusive ancestors of our's!