Any reason why an ancestor would use two last names?

[hilarykellis]

Doing my husband's tree and very confused on this.
His ggggrandmother, Ellen/Eleanor, married Richard Merrick in 1836 in Bushbury, Staffordshire. She got married as Ellen READY.

Basically, I determined that she is the child of Joseph Meredith and Margaret Green. They had 8 other kids besides Ellen/Eleanor b. 1815:
Mary Meredith
1813–1877
William Ready (burial as Ready)
1816–1818
John Meredith
1818–1893
George Meredith
1821–1855
Benjamin Meredith
1822–1891
Charles Meredith
1824–1898
Alexander Meredith or Ready
1827–1900
Elizabeth Meredith
1831–1906

It seems the kids all flip flop back and forth between using "MEREDITH" and "READY" as their last name? I also can't seem to find a marriage record for Margaret Green to either a READY or a MEREDITH so I am extremely confused.

Any idea what might be going on here and why two different surnames would be used?

[BumbleB]

Apologies for this, but where did you find the marriage between Joseph Meredith and Margaret Green?  I cannot see anything on FindMyPast or Ancestry for such a marriage

APOLOGIES again - I see that you haven't found a marriage between Joseph and Margaret.  So where and how have you made an assumption of this marriage? 

Yes, I have seen the baptism entry for Alexander with both surnames.

[hilarykellis]

Apologies for this, but where did you find the marriage between Joseph Meredith and Margaret Green?  I cannot see anything on FindMyPast or Ancestry for such a marriage

I can’t find one. I only have the marriage for Ellen Ready and Richard Merrick, their daughter.

Margaret’s mother Mary Green is living with her in one census so that’s how I know Margaret was surnamed Green.

[arthurk]

I'm afraid I don't have time to do any research on this, but I'll just throw out a few thoughts:

If you're assuming that Margaret Green married Joseph Meredith, how would she still be Margaret Green in a census many years later? What was her marital status in the census?

If at that date she was Margaret Green, that suggests to me that after her marriage (or 'marriage') to Joseph Meredith she might have actually married a Mr Green, hence her later surname (but subject to the appropriate marital status in the census).

And taking it back a step, is it possible that Joseph was one of those people with an alias, so he was sometimes Meredith, sometimes Ready - and this was continued by his children? Then, whether Margaret married him or not, her surname could have been something entirely different that hasn't been found yet.

The other possibility that comes to mind is that they didn't marry; she was Margaret Ready, so the children sometimes used her surname and sometimes Joseph's.

[brigidmac]

I would suggest that Margaret married a Green after her "marriage" to Joseph Meredith
+ Maybe had some Ready children before they got together

You would need to see birth records for all the children to see what is listed as mother's maiden name 

She could also have had children after Joseph Merricks death who would still have been registered in his name

Lots of further investigation needed here I think .
Have you found any of them on 1841 census

[hilarykellis]

I would suggest that Margaret married a Green after her "marriage" to Joseph Meredith
+ Maybe had some Ready children before they got together

You would need to see birth records for all the children to see what is listed as mother's maiden name 

She could also have had children after Joseph Merricks death who would still have been registered in his name

Lots of further investigation needed here I think .
Have you found any of them on 1841 census

Sorry, let me clarify. I know Margaret's maiden name was likely Green because her mother, Mary Green, was living with the family in the 1851 census.
Margaret is listed as Margaret Meredith and Joseph is listed as Joseph Meredith in both 1841 and 1851 census. She is never listed as Margaret Green in the census.
Margaret does not appear to have remarried after Joseph's death in 1857
(name in record is listed as Joseph Meredith). Joseph and Margaret and their 9 children were always Meredith in the census records, and it seems they lived together until Joseph's death.
Margaret died as Margaret Meredith in 1874.
I have found some, not all, baptism records for the kids and all list parents as Joseph and Margaret and none of the baptism records list Margaret's maiden name.
Alexander, born 1827, has "Meredith or Ready" recorded as his surname in the parish book.

Hope this helps clarify...sorry for causing confusion.

Margaret's mother, Mary Green, died in 1853. Ancestry trees have her as the wife of Joseph Green and maiden name Walker; haven't investigated these yet.

[BumbleB]

So - 1851 census - HO107/2017 folio 43, page 17

Oaken, Staffordshire

Mary Green is shown as aged 92, widow - mother to the wife of Jos. Meredith.

Margaret is shown as aged 62, and born in Codsall.

It might not help too much, depends on the knowledge of the informant, but I would be inclined to purchase the death certificate for Mary Green, died 1853.

ADDED:  There is a death registration September quarter 1853 - Wolverhampton RD - Mary Green aged 98 - from GRO website.

[Wendy2305]

Could Joseph have been known by both Meredith or Ready as a child whether through his mother being unmarried when he was born or his father died and his mother remarried

[Raybistre]

In a branch of my family, one of my ancestors who was born out of wedlock was known in various records by either of the surnames of his parents. His children again in various records used either surname during their lifetime and one used both names and occasionally flipped them, i.e. William Xxx Yyy and William Yyy Xxx. This chap married a widow with children who sometimes were recorded under whatever version of his surname he was using at the time. Took a bit of effort to sort out. Ray