Middle

This week's blogging prompt of "middle" had me stumped.  Middle of what?  I guess it was chosen because we are approaching the middle of the year, a year we all probably wish was closer to the end . . . So, what angle should I take?  Maybe, an ancestor who was a middle child?  Then it occurred to me that a study of MIDDLE NAMES would be interesting.  

So, I sat down and tallied up all the middle names used in my family over the last five generations.  It was a fun process for a genealogy geek.  Some of the people I knew had used their middle names in lieu of their first names.  Most of the names were clearly masculine or feminine, but many were surnames or otherwise gender neutral and have been handed down to both male and female descendants.  Several of my 2xgreat grandparents either had no middle name, or I've only been able to find a middle initial.

Anyway, here's the list of all the middle names I collected, in alphabetical order:

Adeline

Agnes - traces back to my 7xgreat grandmother Agnes (Rives) Walker, who lived in Virginia in the early 1700s, and is still in regular circulation among her descendants.

Alan, Alice, Annie, Barco, Barry, Baxter, Bernice, Blakesley, Bonner, Caroline, Claire, Curtis

DeSales - attributable to St. Frances DeSales, patron saint of writers.  (Like this one!)

Diane, Edith, Edward, Elaine, Elizabeth, Ella, Estelle, Etta, Flowers, Frances, Francis, Franklin, Fred, Grace, Henry, Inez, Jane,  John, Joseph, Josephine, Lobban

Lorenzo - popular among my Methodist relatives, attributed to an itinerant preacher named Lorenzo Dow who evangelized the South in the early 1800s.  Many baby boys were named for him.  For more info, check out this post.

Lowry, Macy

Madison - supposedly inherited from one Mrs. Faith Hanna who died in Anson County, North Carolina, in 1841.  I have not been able to confirm Madison was her maiden name, but it has certainly been perpetuated among her descendants.

Margaret, Mary, McClure, Oscar, Pate, Patrick, Paul, Peter, Roxanna

Swinney - my own middle name, origin explained in prior post.

Thomas, Vincent

Virginia - traces back to my 3xgreat grandmother, who went by the nickname "Ginny."

Wahnita, Wayne

#52Ancestors