Second opinion please on first name

[goldie61]

Not sure of the abbreviation of the Bainbridge witness name.
John? Joseph?
Thanks very much

[aus*jen]

Looks like Jos so most likely Joseph

Regards,
Jen.

[Rosinish]

I would agree on the name being Joseph...

My reasoning is...
Although I can't make out what the superscript initial is...with regards to the choices of either John or Joseph, I doubt John would ever have/need a superscript initial, if it helps?

Annie

[mckha489]

Isn’t that an apparent superscript due to  a faint upstroke in the h of John?
Also if Jo^s. Then what is the squiggle afterward? 

I plump for John

[Rosinish]

I have my doubts on the name being John…

If you look at the name directly to the right of James Robson it is clearly written in full…’John Bainbridge’
If you look at the name being queried, there’s not enough room for the name John (from my view) with the spacing of the ‘John’ above even if the ink was running dry (faint)?

Annie

[Rosinish]

what is the squiggle afterward? 

I wonder if it's possibly Joshua...could the 'squiggle be an 'a'?

goldie, what year is this & where?

You may be able to find them on census records but if your query is 'John' would that not mean there were 2 Johns with same surname as witnesses?

Looking at the entry, all 4 are witnesses?

Annie

[mckha489]

Sorry, am jet lagged filling in a few hours of awakeness  in the middle of the night.
Dint see the OTHER Bainbridge witness,  yes I agree Jo^s
I should clearly go back to sleep

[Rosinish]

Sometimes the more we look at things the more we think we see?

I'm now not convinced the 2nd letter is an 'o' as it doesn't resemble the 'o's in Robson 

It looks more like an 'a' 

Could the witness actually be female as the norm would be best man & bridesmaid/maid of honour 

Annie

[Josephine]

My guess would be Jo^s.

The only short form for John that I'm familiar with is Jno. This doesn't look like that to me.