Souney alias Allice - Allice alias Souney. Strange!

[Wexflyer]

I first noticed these unusual back-to-back baptisms from April 1775 in Our Lady's Island when I looked at the original registers 25 years ago. I was reminded when I came across them again last night. In the first baptism, the child is named Souney, alias Allice. In the second, Allice, alias Souney. Can anyone understand this?

Separately in another baptism, a sponsor is named as Mary Walsh, alias Rashford. Am I right in interpreting this as Mary was then married to a Walsh, and previously to a Rashford?

Thanks

[eileenwilson]

This doesn't explain the use of alias for a first name, but does for the use of an alias for a surname:

https://mpsgg.com/what-does-it-mean/alias/

[Wexflyer]

Perhaps I should add that with regard to the baptisms, what I don't understand is Souney as a given name. Not a normal name as far as I know.

[eileenwilson]

https://www.wordsense.eu/Souney/

[Wexflyer]

https://www.wordsense.eu/Souney/

Well....

Interesting, but this wasn't the Isle of Man. Why would different families in this one Irish parish suddenly start using an (unheard of) Manx name? One not used in any other local parish at the same time?

I don't think the two I posted are the only instances of "Souney" in this parish register, though I haven't rechecked.

My feeling is that I/we are missing something.

Note - no parents/witnesses/sponsors seems to have the same Souney.

[eileenwilson]

Agree .... altho' i did see reference to the same as being Old Celtic so perhaps a remnant in Ireland. I had wanted to ask if you had checked the rest of the register for other references but it also doesn't answer the question as to why they were noted as an alias???  Have you found the marriages for either of them?

[Wexflyer]

Let me say that there are in fact three very unusual things about these baptismal entries:

- First, is the Christian or given name, Souney. I am very familiar with Wexford records from the 1700s to today. I have never encountered or heard of this name anywhere else except in this parish register, where it occurs several times.

- Second, is the use of "alias" with reference to a Christian name at baptism. Difficult to understand.

- Third, Souney only seems to be associated with children, not adults.

To address some of the other points by Eileen:
- Souney may be an obscure Manx name, but the original Old Irish word from which it derives is not a personal name.
- My interest lies with the Rashford (Rochford) family, as ancestors of mine. I am not aware of a subsequent marriage for Alice, or Souney for that matter, though there is a later gap in the registers (of course).
- Interestingly, Ancestry does not index any of these Souney baptisms - under Souney, that is. No Souney appears in Ancestry for the diocese of Ferns as far as I can see.
- I believe there may be other Souney alias entries in the same registers, but that is based on an ~25 year old memory.

[manukarik]

Could it be that Souney was the given name but not considered a Christian name for baptism so an alternative, Allice,  was given for the Church?

[Wexflyer]

Could it be that Souney was the given name but not considered a Christian name for baptism so an alternative, Allice,  was given for the Church?

In those days, there pretty much only were Christian names, as far as I can tell.

More fundamentally,  where did multiple families suddenly come up with this name from?
A name that appears nowhere else, at any time, in Wexford?
Why is there no record of any adult Souney?

All very strange and perplexing