When you family name dies out!

[BourneGooner]

Hi All

Just a quick realisation really, we've been researching family history for years now, piecing together bits and pieces like a massive jigsaw and can trace family lines back with certainty to at least the 1600's.
Then it suddenly dawns on you that a family name i.e. my wife's, Lock, will simply disappear within the next generation. As I say we've traced the Lock's back to the 1600's but then realised there is no one to carry the name Lock forward. The wife only has sister's so no continuation there, her male 1st cousins are passing without issue, leaving only female family who take on another name.
Sad fact of life I suppose and as I say it only dawns on you when you do this sort of research 400 years of a family name suddenly comes to an end. There are distant cousins who could carry the name on, but not close relatives to the wife's direct line.
So as far as the name Lock is concerned from my wife's point of view they will stop with her.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts really, part and parcel of history I suppose but hey ho the research goes on.

BourneGooner

[roopat]

I had 3 daughters, obviously they have their father's name, OH is an only child. (Only one daughter has children - 3 daughters!)
My brother has no children.


My female cousin on dad's side has 4 children but obviously they have their father's name.
Her brother has (I think) a boy & a girl but they have been estranged from us all for about 45 years so although my family name will presumably go on if indeed he did have a son, it's getting quite far removed from my descendants.


When I married I did consider using my maiden name double barrelled with my OH's name but it just didn't sound right. At least nowadays that is a modern trend so names might go on longer.

[Top-of-the-hill]

   One of my cousins is the last Pay in our branch of the family. I was thinking about this a while ago and wondering why - there were plenty of male "Pays" in the 1800s. Then I realised that as families got smaller, there was more chance of just one or two girls in a family. Of course there could be two boys, but that doesn't seem to have happened! Does this make sense?

[DavidG02]

Its a good topic to discuss

While it affects my personal family name the Gibbins name will go on elsewhere. Though there is still hope and life as I have 1 son and he has a daughter, my brother has no children, my father was an only child.

My grandmothers Simpson line for her family is a Dodo. 1 male and 5 sisters and the male had 6 daughters.

But my DNA goes on

[Marmalady]

It is looking like my son is going to be the last of our branch of my husband's family -- although there is still a possibility he might  start producing offspring sometime as he is still in his mid-30's.

My husband does not have a brother and his only male cousin does not have any sons
His father did not have any male cousins
His Grandfather did not have any male cousins

So it goes back to descendants of my husband's 2xGreat-Grandfather to carry on the family name -- and even they are somewhat sparse!

[Sandy_W]

I have one of the most common surnames in England so the name itself will never die out, but on my particular family line it will. I have one brother who has no children and is 60 now and highly unlikely to have any. My sister has three children but they have their father's surname.

My Dad had four siblings who each had one daughter and no other children (that I know of!), so the name won't be carried down on those lines either.

[Mart 'n' Al]

BourneGooner, have a look here. There might be more of you than you thought.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_(surname)

Many people change the Locks after moving house, of course.

Of course there are your ancestors who used to travel around the country on the Waterways, the canal Locks.

Martin

[ThrelfallYorky]

My paternal line / maiden name line will die out. No siblings, no cousins, no children, uncles or aunts with the name ... exeunt omnes within a generation. I'm told of one, offspring of my father's (male dead) cousin who has the surname, but no-one else . It's an unusual name. A great pity.

[Guy Etchells]

It was for that very reason I was named Guy.
My mother's maiden surname was Guy but her only brother John Percy Hugh Guy was killed in action in 1944.
I in turn gave my first son the middle name Guy in the hope the name would be carried on but alas that is not to be, but perhaps a future generation will resurrect the name.

Cheers
Guy