Benor

[mikewarr2]

On the Scottish marriage record for my second great-grandfather Roger Ferrie his parents are recorded as Edward Ferrie and Mary Benar. I was able to find the family in the Scottish 1861 census which lists Ireland as the birth place of both Edward and Mary. I was unable to find much evidence of Benar being an Irish name and so obtained, in hope that it would clarify the issue, a copy of Roger Ferrie's sister's marriage record which proved to be of little help as this time the name appears to be spelled Benor. I now think that Benar or Benor might be the attempts of Scottish registrar's to spell a name that was unfamiliar to them and hope that others on the list might be able to offer some guesses as to what Mary's true name might be. For example, on another Scottish record my 2nd great-grandmothers name, which I know to be Maher, is written as Marr.
Thanks,
Mike

[magsbutler]

Hi
If you type in 'Benar' or 'Benor' in the IGI familysearch.org site, you will see that there are several variations on the name, Benner seeming to be the most prevalent. Spellings of surnames could vary considerably in the 19th century; my own Bailey name I have seen as Bealy, for instance, in an index transcribed from church registers. So keep an open mind, the 'right' surname could be one of several, depending on circumstances.
Not so many Benners in Ireland though as appear in England; when I first saw the names you mentioned, Ferrie and Benor, I thought how French they sounded.

Still , a trawl through the IGI is always interesting, for the spelling variations you can get if nothing else.

Cheers,
Mags