Newsgroups: soc.roots
Subject: Re: "marker" names
From: "Jill Lilly,MAC,PCHS" <lillyj@OHSU.EDU>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 12:09:43 -0600
Reply-To: "Jill Lilly,MAC,PCHS" <lillyj@OHSU.EDU>
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------------ Original Message -------------
I am interested in your comments on what I call "marker names" --
since I don't know of any other term for this phenomenon. (Does
anyone else out there?)

By "marker name" I mean a name which (1) a family favors as an
appropriate name for several generations of children and which (2)
is sufficiently unusual that to come across a person of this name
quickly produces the hypothesis that s/he is a relative. (Some
marker names are *so* unusual that this hypothesis springs to mind
regardless of the surname; others may only take on significance in
combination with particular family names.)

I have found marker names particularly helpful in tracing families
whose surnames are too common to easily identify relatives. For
example, my Jones family became possible to trace only after I
realized that the given name Mosias was a useful clue. More than
useful, for *every* Mosias, regardless of surname, in any American
record I have so far located, is descended from a Mosias Jones, the
earliest I have found, who seems to have died in a shipwreck in late
1720 or early 1721. (Have an American Mosias in your tree? I'd like
to hear from you.)

Whether a name is unusual or not may depend on when and where it
was used. Mosias may not be a marker name in pre-1700 Wales for
example. (Does anyone out there know?) Sometimes I come across
names which look like they might have marker potential, only to find
they were common at one time and have simply gone out of style. For
example, Permelia, which I have now found in too many contexts to
believe it is unusual or significant. Does anyone know of any studies
of the frequency of given names in past times and places? This could
be a help in deciding whether you are looking at a clue or a passing
style.

The greatest hindrance in making good use of marker names is that
no one seems to realize that it can be useful. Book indexes and
computer databases are only made to work with surnames. How
helpful it could be to be able to answer questions like:

- how many females named Sidney are found in Virginia records
prior to 1800?
- which families in Kentucky or Missouri 1800-1860 included a male
named Chatham?

or simply:
-Display everyone in the database named Mosias.

If there is some way to search the computerized IGI for *first*
name, matching on *any* last name, please tell me! I will be so
delighted!

Alicia Towster
towster@usl.edu
--------- End of Original Message ---------

Interesting hypothesis. I have a name in my family that I was thinking
something the same thing about. The surname is Johnson, and I would despair
of finding anything, except the first name is General. Was this a common
name in the South (Tennessee, Oklahoma) around the turn of the century or
slightly before?