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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Aberdeenshire => Scotland => Aberdeenshire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: lawrenceb on Saturday 06 June 09 23:53 BST (UK)
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Primrose Bell Thompson was my 3Xgreatgrandmother's(Mary Thompson) brother. His parents were John Thompson and Margaret Bell, married 3 Feb 1812 in St Nicholas, Aberdeen. The name Primrose(applied to males) was carried on through the generations. The last one known to me is my great grandmother's brother, Primrose Gerrie, who died in infancy. Is there anyone else who has run into this name used for a male?
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I remember seeing correspondence about the name Primrose some years ago in Family Tree Magazine. It's a surname used as a forename.
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Yes, confirm that Isobel, I saw it in Family History Monthly. I have also seen the name Mavis used as a male name, in these circumstances: In Boston, Lincs there was an optician John M. Enderby, the Mavis was after the Lincolnshire village Mavis Enderby. There is also a nearby village Bag Enderby, I wonder if anyone is so named?
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Interesting. I also found online a reference to a Primrose Thompson who was, if I remember correctly, an English Lord, or at least someone with great connections. :) It was in the Old Bailey Records about someone robbing him of a watch. Mavis as a male forename is also interesting, but not nearly so thought provoking as Bag Enderby as a name!
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hi :)
i can see at least 11 primrose males on the 1881 census for scotland
including primrose b thomson(b. c1825) and his son primrose b.(b. c1855)
ev
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I believe too that Florence is used as a male name in Ireland, and also understand that sometimes in the Catholic faith male saints are given the name Mary!
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Our village shop, when I was a child, was owned by a man whose christian name was Peach. I've just checked on FreeBMD, because I never entirely believed it, but he is there. I wouldn't have had it down as a likely christian name for anyone in the early part of the twentieth century but certainly not a man growing up on industrial Tees-side. I wonder if he suffered.
Sorry, this is not really anything to do with your Primrose but I have always wondered about it.
Jen
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The ones you see in the census are my relatives, and there are other male relatives in that same branch also called "Primrose". I don't think there are any in the current generation....much to my son's relief!
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I have a former male colleague whose forename is Beverley. Apparently his father was a keen racing fan, and he said that his child was going to be named for the racecourse where he backed his next winner. Could have been worse I suppose; Uttoxeter, Newton Abbott, Yarmouth, Doncaster, Sedgefield....etc.
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Primrose Bell Thompson was my 3Xgreatgrandmother's(Mary Thompson) brother. His parents were John Thompson and Margaret Bell, married 3 Feb 1812 in St Nicholas, Aberdeen. The name Primrose(applied to males) was carried on through the generations. The last one known to me is my great grandmother's brother, Primrose Gerrie, who died in infancy. Is there anyone else who has run into this name used for a male?
Hello, I just stumbled upon the site when I searched for this name. The Primrose Bell Thomson who died in 1950 was my maternal grandfather. He was a master plumber who had a son (my uncle) also called Primrose Bell Thomson who has since died and with him the name. My grandfather's family lived at 110 Hutcheon Street Aberdeen. Primrose Bell, as male Christian names, seems to go back to the early 19th century. What I'd like to know is why was the 1st born male Thomson child for generations ever given this name? I don't suppose I will ever know. My brother is currently working on our family tree.
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Hi, good to meet up with you. I saw the plumbing company and was sure they had to be related to us. Is your brother on rootschat too?
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I wonder if there is any sort of connection here? The History of Boston (Lincs) published 1856 was written by one Pishey Thompson! It has been suggested that Pishey was a familiar version of Peachey.
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Hi, good to meet up with you. I saw the plumbing company and was sure they had to be related to us. Is your brother on rootschat too?
No he's not on Roots. We must be distant cousins. Do you still have family living in Aberdeen?
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I believe too that Florence is used as a male name in Ireland, and also understand that sometimes in the Catholic faith male saints are given the name Mary!
An Austrian example; - Klaus-Maria Brandauer, the actor
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On the war memorial at Leith Primary School in Edinburgh there is a Primrose. Can't remember the surname but the children did a big project about him. So must have been used as a first name in Edinburgh too.
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That's interesting to learn that Primrose has been used a male forename elsewhere.
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A good place to check on whethere a first name is rare or not that common is on IGI here www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true
From the search screen, just put in first name of Primrose and no surname. Then British Isles and followed by Scotland and click search. There are certainly entries showing for the first name/male, either for births or christenings.
See also www.whatsinaname.net/male-names/Primrose.html
Monica :)
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Thank you Monica, I shall have a look!
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Morning Humboldt,
I think we are distant cousins! And yes, I still have a number of relatives living in Aberdeen. The part of my family that is directly related to your Primrose also lived on Hutcheon St. Interesting. We should talk! Perhaps you could PM me?
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Is Primrose as a male name more often used in Scottish communities?
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Some notes on the use of the name in Scotland on that link from earlier www.whatsinaname.net/male-names/Primrose.html
Monica
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That makes sense, adaption of a surname as a forename like the case of Mavis I mentioned earlier in this thread. Must be an embarrassment though to the bearer.Need a hide like a rhino to wear that name as a male I would think.
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Thanks Monica. Yes it's a bit like being 'A Boy Named Sue'! My granda & uncle were known as Prim which is just slightly better.
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Slightly off topic, but regarding the issue of names as we was been discussing, the great cowboy actor John Wayne's real name was....Marion Robert Morrison..... ::)
Monica
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Primrose Bell Thompson was my 3Xgreatgrandmother's(Mary Thompson) brother. His parents were John Thompson and Margaret Bell, married 3 Feb 1812 in St Nicholas, Aberdeen. The name Primrose(applied to males) was carried on through the generations. The last one known to me is my great grandmother's brother, Primrose Gerrie, who died in infancy. Is there anyone else who has run into this name used for a male?
I have a Primrose ROBERTSON and a Primrose STRACHEN in the family
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Primrose is the family surname of the Earls of Rosebery, of Dalmeny House, West Lothian. Apparently it was originally the name of lands they owned in Fife.
Harry
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I've got four men called Allison in my tree. I believe that two of them, cousins, were actually meant to be Allenson. The other two are on the other side:
Allison married Ann, and she had a brother called Allison, who had a cousin called Allison.
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There was also that boy named Sue.
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I had ancestors among the fisherfolk of Auchmithie, near Arbroath, and there were some strange women's names there, e.g. Nicholas, as in Nicholas Spink, Nicholas Beattie, etc. Nicholas was never used as a man's name in Auchmithie and it wasn't a local surname either.
Another women's first name in Auchmithie was Wortley, which puts me in mind of the English aristocratic Wortley Montagu family, as in Lady Mary Wortley Montagu the poet and letter writer.
There were two sisters in Auchmithie called Campbell Swankie and McKay Swankie, Campbell being my 3 x great-grandmother. I was amused to see that on her death-certificate her family recorded her name as Camilla, obviously thinking that Campbell was a bit crude. In the same way, an 18th century Grizel will often be named as Grace on her death-certificate in the following century.
Queen Victoria may have been fond of Balmoral and everything Scottish, but the Victorian age in Scotland is marked by increasing anglicisation of Scottish personal and place names. In St. Andrews, for instance, Marketgait, Southgait and Northgait become Market Street (etc.) and Baxter's Close becomes Baker's Lane.
Harry
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If you google "Society of Genealogists WDYTYA Speakers Handouts" there is a fascinating series of notes regarding talks given at WDYTYA.
One of them well worth reading is by Dr Jenny Swanson from 2015 called "Scottish Baptismal Names". She discusses a variety of issues. One quote is that "... in Scotland, particularly pre 1800, certain names were not used for the sex which a post- 1900 English speaker from England would expect". She gives the examples of Cecil (female), Giles (normally female), Esme (male) and Nicholas (normally female). She goes on to say that between 1701- 1800 more than two thirds of those baptised Nicholas were female, males being more likely to be Nichol or Nicol.
William
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At Boston Lincs i have seen an optician named John Mavis Enderby. i am nearly sure this comes from the village of that name. it was his lucky day there is another settlement Bag Enderby
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I've just remembered another one. My great-great-grandfather James Stewart had a half-sister called Graham Stewart, presumably because their father Richard Stewart was the son of a Jean Grahamslaw. At least Richard didn't call his daughter Grahamslaw Stewart.
Harry
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I believe I am a descendant of Primrose Bell Thomson and Mary MacDonald Thomson. It appears that their son, John Murray Thomson, was my great-grandfather. He married Jessie Anderson. Anyone out there related to John or Jessie? They immigrated to the US in 1905ish.
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Hi MBCfam , welcome to RC :)
There are four male births on the Statutory Records(from 1855 onwards) for a Primrose Bell Thomson in Scotland , 1855 , 1883 , 1908 , and 1918 , all Aberdeenshire.
Looks like Primrose Bell Thomson married Mary MacDonald in 1883 Old Machar Aberdeen(shire).
1881 Census(LDS)
16 Gerrard St , St Nicholas , Aberdeen
Primrose B Thomson 56 cloth boiler
Hellen Thomson 53 wife
William Thomson 30 son rope worker
Primrose B Thomson 26 son combmaker
Thomas Thomson 24 son combmaker
George Thomson 22 Son combmaker
James Thomson 11 son
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
Primrose Bell Thomson birth 7th March 1855 , Old Machar Aberdeen , father Primrose Bell Thomas mother Helen Smith(Familysearch)
ev
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Interesting thread....
I was musing on the Greek god Narcissus, and googling from there I discovered that Wordsworth, in 1768, wrote a (very) lengthy poem called Peter BELL, a "potter", who had been around and seen a lot which left him cold, and was not even moved by a primrose flower..... I think.
Coincidental I expect.
You can find the poem here:
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/peter-bell-a-tale/
MODIFY: I have been trying to read the entire work. ::)
Wikipedia offers this explanation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Bell_(Wordsworth)
:-\ and now I am going back to bed for a week or two!!