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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: what0101 on Tuesday 28 May 19 10:33 BST (UK)
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I've been looking at baptism records in Kerry in the mid-1800s and am very unclear on whether the female sponsors have their maiden or married names recorded. I have read that maiden names are used, but most genealogy sites don't mention this. Did it vary by town or decade?
I have some where I am sure it must be maiden names, but I don't know if this was the tradition or not. I'm specifically looking at Ballybunion parish in Kerry.
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I'm pretty sure it would be maiden name.
If someone else could confirm.
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I would have thought that it was the name they were using at the time so their married name if married.
I have not come across a record so far that looked as if the maiden name was used for a married woman.
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Maiden name for the mother (if you're lucky), sponsors would be their marital surname...unless they were unmarried of course.
Annie
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I'm pretty sure it would be maiden name.
If someone else could confirm.
I have read this elsewhere, too, but there doesn't seem to be consensus about it.
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I'm pretty sure it would be maiden name.
If someone else could confirm.
I have read this elsewhere, too, but there doesn't seem to be consensus about it.
You can always find incorrect information on any topic.
But there is consensus: the correct answer is "never".
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I asked Kay Caball on her blog, and the answer is not never. I think it's more like rarely. Here's what she said:
the direct reply to your query is ‘NO’. But in real life, the maiden surname of girls was often used her own locality for a number of years after she married – particularly if her husband ‘married into’ the area. The priest would normally use the correct married name but I am sure it is possible that he could slip up and her maiden name would be included instead.
In the few instances I am pretty sure I am seeing this, it would be within a year of their marriage, so the above makes sense to me.
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Married women known by maiden name was mentioned by Robert Matheson, Registrar General of Ireland in his book "Varieties and Synonyms of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland" published 1901. He named a few places where registrars had encountered it; I vaguely remember that the women referred to were widows. The book is on Internet Archive.
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"I vaguely remember that the women referred to were widows"
I can relate to the above as many Scottish Widows reverted back to their maiden names which is evident on census records although I haven't witnessed it on a baptism so far, not to say it didn't occur.
Annie
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In parts of Kerry (I think particularly Dingle) I understand that the woman kept their maiden names after marriage.
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I agree eadaoin and probably so would anyone who learned Irish in school in Ireland for many years
Peig Sayers Bn Uí Guithín; being the wife of Paádraig Ó Guithín but nearly always known as Peig Sayers.
The difficulty here really is that the names of the sponsor will be the name she used and determining if what that actually was!
My Grandmother was known as Mrs Peter which was neither her first or last name but her husband's first name. If some one wrote that down I'll never find some records!
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I agree eadaoin and probably so would anyone who learned Irish in school in Ireland for many years
Peig Sayers Bn Uí Guithín; being the wife of Paádraig Ó Guithín but nearly always known as Peig Sayers.
Correction, not anyone, only those who had a breeze notion what Peig was going on about. :D
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My impression is that the answer is sometimes. It depends on the parish.
Sometimes it seems evident that it is a married couple acting as sponsors, and they give the wife's maiden name. I've seen virtual confirmation of this, in one family, as the putative couple seems to have had a daughter that later married into the family to which they were acting as sponsors.
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My impression is that the answer is sometimes. It depends on the parish.
Sometimes it seems evident that it is a married couple acting as sponsors, and they give the wife's maiden name. I've seen virtual confirmation of this, in one family, as the putative couple seems to have had a daughter that later married into the family to which they were acting as sponsors.
This is what I am seeing, as well. I have a few sponsors where the name is that of a married couple, but it appears the maiden name is used. So for example John Ahern and Joanna Doody, but they are married so it should say John Ahern and Joanna Ahern. It's a small enough town that I am looking at that I know there are no other Joanna Doodys in the right age range, so I'm pretty sure this must be the same person.