What’s in a name? Nicknames, Family Names, and Middle Names

In a few posts, I have been discussing some of the challenges of identifying people when you are doing genealogical research. I covered immigration and census records in this post. I talked about some of the difficulties encountered in translation and working with older documents in this post.

Today, I am going to look at some naming conventions that can make it difficult to determine exactly who you are looking at.

Nicknames

When I was growing up, my nickname was Missy. Now, Missy could be a nickname for Michelle, which it was in this case. It could also be a nickname for Melissa, which is more common. If you are looking at old pictures of me, you might see either Michelle or Missy on the back. Not a real problem, since I am here and can tell you who I am. When you go further back in time, it might not be so easy.

One name that has a huge list of nicknames is Elizabeth. Liz, Lizzie, Lisa, Libby, Beth, Betty, and Bessie are just a few of the options. The Spanish variant of Elizabeth is Isobel which adds Izzy and Belle to the mix. There are many more out there.

Tony could stand for Anthony, Antonio, Anton, Antun, Andon, Antwan or just be Tony. Those same names might have the nickname Ant, Anth, or Tone. I remember watching a couple of British shows where one of the people was referred to as Ant. It took me a while to figure out that that was a common nickname for Anthony there.

Family names

When you are looking at family history, there is often repetition of names in a family. Maria Catharina Kruempelmann (Walt’s great grandmother) was the daughter of Maria Elisabeth Kroeger Kruempelmann and the granddaughter of Maria Katherina Bokels Kruempelmann on her father’s side and Anna Maria Huenfeld Kroeger on her mother’s side of the family. So 4 Marias in 3 generations.

In the records I have so far, I have found 6 William Hoels. There are also 4 William Links and a Willis Link and a Wilma Link.  There are 4 Charles in the Kellogg line, plus others in other branches of my family, including a couple in my mom’s family, and some in Walt’s family as well.

When researching family history, it can be challenging to figure out which William J. Link is being referred to without more information. Birthdates, spouses or children, and location all help to determine if this is the correct person.

People also tend to find other people with a shared history to live near when they immigrate, so an area may have a lot of people of German descent, like southeastern Iowa. There may be people who have a similar name but may actually not be related. Walt’s branch of the Hoel family came through southwestern Ohio, and we have found several Hole/Hoel families that do not appear to be related at all.

Middle Names

There is a frequent practice of using a middle name for common usage. For example, Walt’s uncle Charles Aaron Hoel, went by his middle name. Everyone called him Aaron, and until I started working on the genealogy, I only knew of him as Aaron. All references were to Aaron and Edna, his uncle and aunt.

Names on pictures

When you are searching through old photos, you are limited by what is written on the picture to know who is in the photo. When I did the post about my Grandmother Kellogg, one of the pictures had a child listed simply as “Sonny.” Without further information, Sonny could be a cousin, friend, or neighbor. As I go through her pictures, I will keep looking for more information about who he might be.

Nicknames such as Sonny, Junior, Sissy, and the like, tell the genealogist very little about who the person is or how they relate to the others in the photograph.  I appreciate nicknames but love it when people write the full name and put the nickname in quotes or parentheses.