Hi Listers, I have recently been pondering over my many years of research notes, and one thing that struck me early on was how name transitions came about. With my Athey side the men had the odd habit of switching their first and middle names. The first noted for the practice was my great grandfather. He used the name Thomas Brant Athey. When I started locating the family in censuses, I discovered that his given name was David Thomas Athey, after his grandfathers David Ray and Thomas Athey. So why Thomas Brant? I knew that his aunt, Mary Athey had married Levi Brant, but I couldn't imagine a close relationship, because Thomas Athey lived in Hampshire County and Levi and Mary Brant lived in Cumberland, Maryland. But later an elderly aunt told me that she remembered that Thomas had told her that the Brants had taken him in during the Civil War when his father, William N. Athey was away with McNeill's Rangers and times were tough. Afterwards, Thomas dropped the David and was known as Thomas Brant Athey. Mystery solved! My grandfather always used the name Harry Athey, but when I found his birth record in Mineral County, WV he is named as James H. I asked my Uncle Gerald about this and he said that he thought that Harry didn't know his birth name was James, but later I found him in the 1910 and 1920 census and he lists himself as James H. My father always used the name Earl David, but his birth certificate says David Earl, same as mine. So far, I haven't flipped my name. ;-) With my German names, transitions can be explained by Americanization: Wilhelm Heinrich Schneider becomes William Henry Snyder Hardten becomes Harden Koch becomes Cook Burkhardt becomes Burkett Muller becomes Miller Fuchs becomes Fox What is the point of this posting? Never accept anything as fact until you have sufficient documentation to assure you that it is a fact. Anybody else have any interesting names transitions?

I loved your piece on names! I have lots of stories on this subject, but first, the early emigrant German Catholics tended to name all their kids the same first name (a saint's name) and different middle names, which were the ones the kids were called. By tradition, the Protestant Germans tended to follow this same pattern, though the first name wasn't necessarily a saint's. So I have German ancestors whose names appear in some records by the middle name and in others by the first name and in some by both given names! Other Catholics appear to have done this too. I have one family with seven daughters, all named Mary something, but none known as Mary. One woman I was researching was named Margaret Amanda. In one census, she was Margaret, in the next she was Amanda, and in the rest she was Margaret A. (Her husband called her Margie), Her daughter was named Adam Margaret (for her father Adam who died in the Civil War a few days before her birth). In one census the child was listed as Adam M., which was confusing since she was also listed as a female, but after that she was listed as Margaret A. Then there was Erasmus, who became Charley, who became Charles E., all whom were one Charles Erasmus, whom some called "Raz.". Then there was his daughter, Frances, who didn't like her middle name, so she simply changed it from Isabel to Elizabeth, and she used that from then on. And I am constantly finding records that refer to the same man first by his middle name, then a year or two later by his first name, back and forth, back and forth, and sometimes by only the two initials for his given name. And we had a relative who has had three different last names, depending on his mother's current husband. When he got mad at his last stepfather, he took the previous one's surname for his own. Egads! I could go on all day... I guess the point is that you need more than one source (preferably three) to be fairly certain of much of anything when it comes to names, unless you have a first-hand account that you can absolutely believe. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com

Hi David, My HARTSOCK name has went through Hertzog, Herzog, Hartsook. My STECKMAN line has been Stockman when they came over from Germany. My 2nd Great Grandfather, Espy L. Steckman, also went by his middle name of Levi in the Washington County census, but when he moved up to Allegany, you see him as Espy, which is on his tombstone. On my SLIDER side, there were so many Joseph's & William's that sometimes they went by their middle names so as not to confuse people. They should have just named them something else, huh? :) Becci David Athey wrote: > Hi Listers, > > I have recently been pondering over my many years of research notes, and > one thing that struck me early on was how name transitions came about. > > With my Athey side the men had the odd habit of switching their first > and middle names. The first noted for the practice was my great > grandfather. He used the name Thomas Brant Athey. When I started > locating the family in censuses, I discovered that his given name was > David Thomas Athey, after his grandfathers David Ray and Thomas Athey. > So why Thomas Brant? I knew that his aunt, Mary Athey had married Levi > Brant, but I couldn't imagine a close relationship, because Thomas Athey > lived in Hampshire County and Levi and Mary Brant lived in Cumberland, > Maryland. But later an elderly aunt told me that she remembered that > Thomas had told her that the Brants had taken him in during the Civil > War when his father, William N. Athey was away with McNeill's Rangers > and times were tough. Afterwards, Thomas dropped the David and was > known as Thomas Brant Athey. Mystery solved! > > My grandfather always used the name Harry Athey, but when I found his > birth record in Mineral County, WV he is named as James H. I asked my > Uncle Gerald about this and he said that he thought that Harry didn't > know his birth name was James, but later I found him in the 1910 and > 1920 census and he lists himself as James H. > > My father always used the name Earl David, but his birth certificate > says David Earl, same as mine. So far, I haven't flipped my name. ;-) > > With my German names, transitions can be explained by Americanization: > > Wilhelm Heinrich Schneider becomes William Henry Snyder > Hardten becomes Harden > Koch becomes Cook > Burkhardt becomes Burkett > Muller becomes Miller > Fuchs becomes Fox > > What is the point of this posting? Never accept anything as fact until > you have sufficient documentation to assure you that it is a fact. > > Anybody else have any interesting names transitions?