The meaning of AB?

[Peter L. Mitchell]

The screenshot below comes from the Chester-le-Street records for 1765 and at the bottom is a baptism with the letters AB. I suspect that this might mean a bastard, but am happy to be wrong. Can anyone help, please?

Peter

[Tickettyboo]

This looks to be from the Bishops Transcript.
The transcriptions on Durham Records Online are from the PR so I compared a few including this one which have this A.B.
They all say the child was illegitimate.

Boo

[LizzieL]

I would agree " A Bastard". The entry the initials come after have father and mother with different surnames. All the others above (where A B doesn't appear) have parents written in the format : [father's fore name] and [mother's forename] [surname] indicating a married couple

[Peter L. Mitchell]

Thanks to you both. I appreciate your knowledge and quick responses.
Peter

[arthurk]

I would question whether it's an abbreviation for "A Bastard", since the A is followed by a colon ("A:"), showing that it's an abbreviation, which the indefinite article "A" clearly isn't.

I accept that A:B. might well mean illegitimate, and if all families where this appears have a couple with different surnames that would be good evidence for that. The opinion of Durham Records Online is also worth noting, since they have a lot of experience of these documents, but I still don't think that explains exactly what the letters stand for. I was thinking it might be A.... Born, but I can't think of a suitable word beginning with 'A'.

(The other thing that crossed my mind was that it might be Anabaptist, so referring to someone coming to the C of E after an association with them, but if all the couples appear to be unmarried, that's probably unlikely.)

[ShaunJ]

There's another AB on the previous page, also illegitimate, and a couple more on page 7 so the meaning is pretty clear.

[Tickettyboo]

Durham Records Online's transcript is from the PR, not the BT which is what this image is
I haven't seen the PR but  as the site is very reliable  I'd expect that if it said A B in the PR then that would be in the record - perhaps with an explanatory note to say they conclude it means illegitimate?

Durham Record Office - or as its now known, Durham Archives is still closed while they move premises.
TWAS have the PRs on microfilm so if Peter is in that area and can visit (or posts a lookup request in RC in case anyone else is going) he should be able to find out what the PR says and maybe clarify the situation.

Boo

[tellx]

Could it be Adult Baptism

[LizzieL]

Could it be Adult Baptism

All the instances that I've found where it occurs are of children where just the mother is mentioned or parents have different surnames, so I think it must indicate illegitimate.