Thanks everyone for your interesting answers. We all know that some children received the full name of Presidents or other famous figures. However many seem to have middle names that are surnames. I suppose sometimes these were family friends. In my case I wonder if my gggg grandfather William Stewart's mother's maiden name might have been Cole as the daughter bearing this middle name is the eldest child. The second daughter has her own mother's first name. I don't know for sure who was the mother of this William so keep wondering if she could have been a Cole. William was born in 1766 in Virginia and I will need to find out if a Stewart male married a female Cole in the right time frame and in what I think is the right county. I asked the question to see if anyone had some inside knowledge about this type of naming and also felt it might help others think about where the surnames used as middle names in their families came from. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: <MHess138@aol.com> To: <STEWART-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:26 PM Subject: Re: [STEWART] Stewart use of surnames as middle names for children? > Karen, > My James Stewart family all seem to have surnames for a middle name. > This pattern followed through when Polly Stewart married a Windsor. > Do you know if they just chose the middle name from friends or were > they > relatives? > Some of my middle names cannot be connected to the family that I know. > > Mary > > > ==== STEWART Mailing List ==== > When was the last time you updated your anti-virus program? > Keep your fellow listmembers safe -- make sure your anti-virus program > is on, active and up to date! The data you save may be your own. > >