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From:
Subject: RE: [IRL-CARLOW] Irish Naming Patterns
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 21:13:51 +0000
Hi Roger and everyone -
Just had to comment on the naming pattern. I think many of the Irish went by their middle names - not only those named Joseph and Mary. Two of my cousins, James Nolan and Edward Nolan were known to everyone as Jim and Ed. Growing up I knew that Jim's name was really Merton James, the Merton after his father but it wasn't until a couple of years ago when I saw Ed and he was talking about the Nun in school who insisted on calling him Thomas that I realized that he also was named for his father and Edward was his middle name.
Then in the past year I was entering my son-in-law's family into my Family Tree Program so that my grandson would have a record of his ancestors. I asked my son-in-law's mom for help and she gave me her father's name along with his siblings and their parents (her grandparents) names. She told me her grandfather's name was Walter Malone. But when I entered her fathers name in Ancestry.com's census reports he came up with the right siblings and mother's name but his father was listed as William W. Malone. After checking back with family members it turns out that he too was known to all by his middle name.
So all you Irish out there who may be having trouble locating a relative it is very possible you may not have the right 1st name. Makes it very difficult!
Mary
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Roger Nowlan" <>
> Hi!
> Naming boys Joseph and girls Mary as a first name used to be a common
> practice still in my generation growing up in New Brunswick, Canada. I
> always thought that it was a reflection of the Roman Catholic Acadian
> culture (my mother's side) but I see that it may have been a custom
> introduced by the Irish immigrants. The custom as it was explained to me was
> that a Catholic's first name should be that of a saint, Joseph and Mary
> being by far the most commonly chosen names. In my parents' family, three
> boys were given the first name of Joseph and a fourth the name Jean (French
> for John). My two sisters both had Marie as a first name. In all cases,
> except for my sister Marie (who does not have a second name and hence goes
> by Marie), we all use our second names in everyday life.
>
> Regards, Roger Nowlan
> (originally from New Brunswick, Canada, with Irish and Acadian roots)
>
> P.S. Back in 1784 when New Brunswick was created out of a part of then Nova
> Scotia, the new province was almost named New Ireland but the name New
> Brunswick (Neu Braunsweig) was chosen instead to honour King George III's
> German roots.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shirley & Ross Smith [mailto:]
> Sent: August 8, 2006 5:57 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [IRL-CARLOW] Irish Naming Patterns
>
>
>
>
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