Hello, I (and several other people) have been hunting for the baptism of an Elizabeth PRING in Devon somewhere around ca1782 (from her death certificate, 1848) and ca 1786 (from the 1841 census) Her name is given as Elizabeth in the parish record for her marriage, as Elizabeth or Elisabeth in the parish records for her children's baptisms and as Elizabeth in the census and on her death certificate. She lived most of her life in the village of Broadhembury but there is no baptism there for an Elizabeth PRING at around the right time. However there is a baptism in 1788 for Betty PRING 'being 4 years old' (thus b. ca 1884) and on the same day her sister Jenny PRING. Betty is a commonly used form of Elizabeth and Jenny a form of Jane (and we're hunting for a Jane as well). Is it likely that a child would be baptised using the diminutive of a name but subsequently known by the name in it's full form? Elizabeth and Jane PRING both appear in the parish apprenticeship records but Betty and Jenny seem to have vanished. The mother of Betty and Jenny was called Martha so the family wasn't trying to avoid confusion with the family names. So the question is: were Betty and Jenny PRING the same as Elizabeth and Jane PRING? Any thoughts would be very welcome Thanks Angela Hamilton

A thought, Betty was 4 years old when baptised - could the family have been nonconformists at the time of her birth. Might be worth looking to see if there was a nonconformist chapel in the parish, or nearby, if so have a look at their records.. Peter Park, Fulwood Lancashire -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of ag.hamilton Sent: 07 June 2012 14:44 To: [email protected] Subject: [SOG-UK] baptismal names Hello, I (and several other people) have been hunting for the baptism of an Elizabeth PRING in Devon somewhere around ca1782 (from her death certificate, 1848) and ca 1786 (from the 1841 census) Her name is given as Elizabeth in the parish record for her marriage, as Elizabeth or Elisabeth in the parish records for her children's baptisms and as Elizabeth in the census and on her death certificate. She lived most of her life in the village of Broadhembury but there is no baptism there for an Elizabeth PRING at around the right time. However there is a baptism in 1788 for Betty PRING 'being 4 years old' (thus b. ca 1784) and on the same day her sister Jenny PRING. Betty is a commonly used form of Elizabeth and Jenny a form of Jane (and we're hunting for a Jane as well). Is it likely that a child would be baptised using the diminutive of a name but subsequently known by the name in it's full form? Elizabeth and Jane PRING both appear in the parish apprenticeship records but Betty and Jenny seem to have vanished. The mother of Betty and Jenny was called Martha so the family wasn't trying to avoid confusion with the family names. So the question is: were Betty and Jenny PRING the same as Elizabeth and Jane PRING? Any thoughts would be very welcome Thanks Angela Hamilton ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message