Name - Christian or Charity?

[rebeccaclaire86]

Trying to figure this one out, I have seen it transcribed as Christin and Charitie in two different sources, and I'm quite on the fence.  Any thoughts?

I tried looking through the parish registers as Charity/Christian crops up a few times, but each time the handwriting is clearly different so I can't compare that way.

[Ruskie]

It looks like the name starts with Chr rather than Cha
I can't see a y at the end
I can see what looks like an iti at the end of the word with the is clearly dotted.

Maybe Christin? Closer to Christian than Charity. Christin/Christian may be interchangeable.

What is the date of the entry? Is it a Scottish entry? Christian (and variants) was a fairly popular name in Scotland. Not so sure about Charity which is an English name popular in the Victorian era.

Just some thoughts and guesses until the experts arrive. 

[Gadget]

Most like Christin. I don't see one of those special  es at the end 

Added - the letters before the t could just be Chari, so I could also think it might be Chariti??

[goldie61]

The letters are "Ch?ritie"
Compare the 'r' in the middle with the 'r' in'daughter'.
Compare the 'e' at the end with the 'e' at the end of 'ye' below (ye = the).
The upstroke of the 'h' in the word below all helps to confuse the whole thing!

The letter after the 'Ch' is strange.
I don't think it's an 'r'. This is not how they were formed. You can see an 'r' in several other words.
It could be a badly formed 'a'. making it 'Charitie'.

As Ruskie says, it would be helpful to have a date.
Also helpful to have a bigger clipping from the page to compare the way the scribe forms his letters.

[Gadget]

The letter after the 'Ch' is strange.
It could be a badly formed 'a'. making it 'Charitie'.

Agree, goldie. I've just added to my post and now have seen yours 

[rebeccaclaire86]

Thanks for the replies! It’s from 1648 and from Lynton in Devon. I phrased it badly earlier, Charity crops up a few times in this parish in this era, I’m not sure about Christian.

[Ruskie]

Devon? That might make a difference.  (particularly if there are other instances of this name in the area)

Yes, it might be worth seeing other entries on the same page to get a feel for the writing, but some people form letters differently even within the same word. 

Goldie's interpretation is looking good.

[rebeccaclaire86]

Larger sample of the text attached, it's not the clearest to read unfortunately!

I am leaning towards Charitie (Charity) on balance I think, FindMyPast and a pedigree in a book both have this woman as Christin (Christian) and I can certainly see where that's come from, but I think it looks more like Charity.  Having searched the index of baptisms for Lynton there are no other Christians, but quite a few Charity baptisms in the 1600's.  There is also a marriage for a Charity Popham in Oare in 1670 that fits date-wise.

[Gadget]

I was looking a t the FindMyPast page last night - such a pity that this page is sandwiched between two pages of very clear handwriting.

I'm voting for Charity/Charitie

Gadget