What's in a name...

 A comment from my son sent me wandering down this particular path. As an amateur genealogist, I have researched the stories connected with thousands of the names within both my family tree and that of my husband. Without a name, there is no history to be found; the dilemma of many people searching for birth families and a sense of place. 

https://www.tmgenealogy.com/2012/07/free-pedigree-charts-and-family-trees.htm

When we named our children we bought books, made lists and asked questions; shall we name ? after a favorite family member or our parents, do we want a name that has a special meaning, is there a tradition we want to follow etc.. Then having decided, we bestow our choice on a small unsuspecting human, who will be called by it each day going forward, learn to print it, and see it on all official documents. Odd that we have no say in this decision which determines so much of our identity.

Grandpa, Grandma and my dad 1910

Early on in my pursuit of the history of my father's family, I worked on the the section for my great grandmother Flora McEachern. My father had a copy of a basic skeleton of the tree and I thought that it would be fairly simple to flesh out this framework. This is when I first became aware of the Scottish traditions for naming.

I soon discovered that this process was not in the least simple. There were no middle names to help differentiate between member of the same name, birth dates were wobbly and varied between documents, and birth order could alter if someone in the line up died and was replaced by another one of the same name. I found 7 Peters, 12 Johns, 9 James, 6 Floras, 9 Archibalds, 12 Marys, and 12 Neils over 2 generations and this didn't include the ones that decided to go by MacEachern instead of McEachern. I guess there were a lot of nicknames to help out at the time, but those don't generally show up in official records. 

This is the left page only of the chart. Peter McEachern married Catherine Currie and the first five of their children are listed horizontally; #1 John, #2 Neil #3 Mary, #4 Archibald & #5 James. John, Neil and Archie all named their 1st son Peter. Check. The 3rd sons should be namesakes. Nope. The 2nd daughters should be named for their mother Catherine. 1 out of 3. This clearly not a reliable pattern, or rather the pattern is not reliably followed in this case. Clearly these Isle of Islay ancestors were not slaves to tradition, at least this one, however there does seem to be a shallow pool of names to choose from.

Lynn's paternal uncle's baptism record; Joseph Alphonse Fernand, son of Josaphat Croteau and Lucienne Genest; godfather Alphonse Genest, grandfather of child

In my husband's paternal line, a different naming tradition was found, that of the French Catholic church. Early in the 1700s the Church Diocese in Quebec determined that only certain names would be acceptable and these would be the names of saints to encourage the child to emulate the virtues of the aforesaid saint. Of the three names  most often given to a child and documented at the time of baptism, the first would be Marie or Joseph. This usually indicated the sex of the recipient. The next name would connect the child to its godparent and the third would be the name the child would be called. Interestingly, my husband's father and 2 uncles were all baptized Joseph Adelard then a third name and in all three cases the godfather's name was Adelard. I often had to find some other document in order to know which of the three name a person actually went by, as it varied.  

Portion of 1922 baptism record of Lynn's father, baptized Joseph Adelard Jean-Louis Croteau. Parrain or godfather, Adelard Senechal

Sometimes names are a clear link to a place and time. In the 1800's in

 Quebec, you might see Medieval French names like Ombeline, Onesime, Adjutor or Esaie. Or names that related to the Church like Hippolyte, Philias, Cleophas, Barthelemy and Desneiges. Or perhaps Chrysostom or Chrysologue. Each of these names are in my husband's family tree.

Chrysologue Labonte married Celina Duval in 1886. They named their children Desire, Gedeon, Diogene, Alexina, Auguste, Calixte and Chrysologue.

At this same time, in New England, you might find Old Testament names, like the minor prophet Amos. There were 12 named Amos in the Bryant tree, along with 3 named Azariah, 6 Asaphs, 4 Ashers, Noahs, Samuels and of course great grandfather Moses Steven Bryant who named his son Stephen Moses. There are 13 men named Moses in the tree, but I guess Grandpa Bryant was not enamored enough with the name to pass it on to any of his sons.

Moses S Bryant - Bryant Cemetery

The Puritans brought a unique naming tradition to America. Generally speaking the name given was to encourage good and moral behaviour, hence Patience, Constance, and like 3rd great grandmother Gladden, Mercy. We also have an Experience Gladden and it is not quite so certain what the intent might have been; remember a certain experience, beware a certain experience? She may have had a cousin Remember, which might help. I think the Puritans got a bit carried away though as there are names documented that are cruel and weird; like Joy in Sorrow, Kill-sin, Abstinence, Die-Well and No-Merit. You could preach a sermon and call your kid for supper at the same time... Just sayin'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praise-God_Barebone#/media/File:Praise-god_Barebone.jpg

This is certainly not the strangest Puritan name but because he became a member of the Nominated Assembly in London in 1653, he is well documented. I am pretty sure there is Puritan heritage in the Bryant family, but not this particular fellow.

Some of my favorite names in the family tree come from the ladies of the 1800's. Tryphena Stevens, Lynn's 2nd great grandmother, became the wife of Christopher Bryant and they travelled by ox cart about 1807 from Enfield, NH to Brome County, Quebec. They were the first of our Bryant family to settle in Quebec and are buried in the Bryant Cemetery in Austin, QC.

Tryphena Maria Stevens Bryant (1784-1853)

Tryphena and Christopher named their first daughter Classical, which is a lovely name. Classical was born March 15th 1805 in Enfield, NH and later married Isaac Brown. They also named a daughter Classical, but no one else in the tree bears that name.

Classical Bryant Brown died in Massachusetts in 1891 at the home of her son. She is buried in the Bryant Cemetery.

Tryphena and Christopher's son, Holsey, married a woman named Calista Packard, 'Calista' being another name with Greek and Roman origins. Her father was a preacher and seems to be named after the John Alden who arrived on the Mayflower. Because Calista and Holsey named one of their daughters Calista as well, there are two in the tree with this unusual name. Calista's grandmother was named Artemisia, so maybe it was under her influence that Calista got her name.

I also like the name of Christopher Bryant Jr.'s  wife; Sarepta Geer.   'Sarepta' is the name of a Phoenician city that is apparently mentioned in the Bible and interestingly the name of existing places in Russia, Louisiana and Alberta. Christopher, a son of Tryphena and Christopher  was granted letters patent for 50 acres of land in Bolton in 1860. 

from forests and Clearings the history of Stanstead county

One last Roman name belonged to Lucretia Adams, daughter of Rev L P Adams, who married Classical and Isaac's son Isaac. The name is thought to have its root in the Latin 'lucrum', and be a derivative of the Roman name Lucretius and is found 9 times so far in the family. An interesting note here is that Rev Adams signed many records pertaining to the Bryant family including the 1858 marriage record of Isaac and Lucretia.

It is pretty fascinating to find these historic and grand names on pioneer women, who must have been made of stern stuff to follow their husbands to a new country and start from scratch to build homesteads as well as bear, and often bury, children.

Fitch bay Cemetery

 At the same time, some of the men in the County had weighty and ponderous names like; Eliphalet Bodwell, Jeremiah Lovejoy, Quartus Pomroy, Lothrop Shurtleff and Theophilus Cass. These seem to have been named for greatness and influence. It would be interesting to research what became of them and see if these names affected their destiny.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73677435/lothrop-shurtleff/photo

Apparently Lothrop became a doctor.

It appears that parents have for centuries named their children as a form of remembrance. Sons of course, carried their father's surname but often carried their mother's surname either as their first name, or as a second name. For the name 'Bryant', I found 6 males and 2 females who were given that name as a middle name but surprisingly, no one was given it as a first name. For my maiden name 'Thornton', I found 7 males and only 1 female who received this as a middle name, but there were 5 who were given it as a first name. 

Parents now seem more likely to commemorate the name of a favorite relative or a friend as a middle name. My own middle name was my grandma's middle name, making me Catherine Jane. I don't know why I didn't get her first name as Catherine Isabella is kind of lovely. My father never forgave his parents for his middle name. He always acknowledged it as his middle initial, but this name was never spoken. Dad's given name was Byron Ethelbert Thornton, and as he barely reached 5 feet in height I think he blamed this on the weight of his name more than his premature birth. I believe his first name was in remembrance of Grandpa's brother who died as a young man. The unspoken and unspeakable 'Ethelbert', though the name of several early kings, more likely came from Grandpa's cousin Lafayette Ethelbert Thornton. I'm not sure Dad would have been any happier with Lafayette!

https://en.wikipedia.org File:Aethelberht_of_Kent_sculpture_on_Canterbury_Cathedral.jpg

My Uncle Frank was named Francis Leonard after his grandfather. Before he went overseas in WW2, he visited my parents who were living in Saint John, NB at the time. My mother was expecting at the time and Uncle Frank asked a favour of my parents; should this child be a boy, could he be named Francis in his memory, just in case he never returned. In June 1943, Francis Alan Thornton was born and three years later Uncle Frank returned from war with a British bride and went on to have two sons of his own. 

Although there are legal ways to change your name, and illegal ways to assume a new name, generally a name change is something only women experience. You go from Mary Jones to Mrs. John Smith, losing not one but two names; kind of a paradigm shift. As a researcher I have often 'lost'  women because I did not know what name to find them under in the absence of available marriage records. In Quebec, since 1981 women, by Provincial law, have been keeping their maiden names, so the investigator in me applauds this. After 44 years I am accustomed to my new name, but if you called me by my maiden name I would probably still answer without thinking. Just don't call me 'Catherine Jane', because I would think I was in trouble.

I think most parents just want to give their child a name that will serve them well; a name that has a meaning or a memory or a hope. This is probably a tradition that is timeless.