would Lyon have been a. name a. non jewish family would. have used

[carol8353]

I have a family member who married someone called Lyons in London in the early 1950's.
He was indeed very Jewish and she had to change religion.

[Ashtone]

And of course J. Lyons & Co has the Nigella Lawson family connection. 

[David Nicoll]

Hi, I think the answer is yes, Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, wife of George VI was Very definitely Scottish.

[Rena]

I don't know where else to post. this......ive got a. family.in England who give their son the middle name of Lyon. in England in 1819....was this a purely jewish name at the. time and.considered  somehow not very respectable by conservative non jewish families, or was it used by everyone

If a middle surname such as "Lyon" is not a family name, nor is it a place in France where the family originated from,  it possibly means that somebody with the surname  "Lyon" was helpful to the parents.   By "helpful" I mean Mr/Mrs/Miss Lyon could have given a job to the father, or was a kindly landlord, or was helpful in another way.

[David Nicoll]

Hi, sorry I should perhaps have been clearer, it was late!

Lyon is a not uncommon Scottish surname, as other people have mentioned, a middle name could be a grandparents surname, some other relative, or someone who was looked up to, I have relatives with the name of the local landowner. My reading of this that they were appreciative of their support or something similar.

[greyingrey]

my family. had no Scottish connections, as far as I can see

I think there are 3 possibilities here...either the family were jewish...the. woman went on to marry a jewish. man named Lyon...first name....or they were grateful to Lyon for some reason...but as I said, I understand that. it is against jewish tradition to name a. baby after someone while they're still alive.

intriguingly, the biological father might not still have been around at the baptism and I'm wondering if the mother took up with Lyon and put the name in herself, without the fathers knowledge....im really trying to figure out if the biological father was jewish.

we cant find any birth details. for the father....believe me everyone here has tried and I'm not going to put them through.  that again..-....I do wonder about the name pattern of the first son.....the fathers first name was George and the second name was his mother's surname ....obviously,  we've no idea. if the baby. paternal grandfather was George,  but, would,it have been usual with the first ....anid indeed second. son.....to have shut. the fathers name out so much.


we cant find any birth details f

[David Nicoll]

Hi, assuming we are talking about Samuel Lyon Asher, from previous thread, he is recorded as a Methodist, on the records of the James Pattison when he was transported in 1837.
His father is recorded as William and mother Elizabeth?
Do you need to assume a different father from Lyon who you see later in the Census?
William may have been a name taken when he immigrated.
The Nottingham synagogue opened in 1822 as far as I can see, so could he simply have reverted for the 1841 and 1851 Census?

[greyingrey]

aaah thank you David...I didn't know he'd declared himself a methodist.

ive long had the thought that maybe his father, William and his stepfather, Lyon, were one and the. same.

but then I thought about it from. the point of view of. George and Samuel.

your father presumably feels confident. enough to change his fitting in name William to his real name of Lyon....so everyone calls. him Lyon in. the new place he's moved to-....would you still continue to say your father was. William....possible, but I think unlikely.

I don't. know if you're interested in this family, but my line goes....lyon.....Jacob....Joseph....Joseph changes his. name to James, which fits in with the. anglicised name pattern of. Jacobs oldest son...which he was....ive been told by several descendants of Lyons various children that they'd been told by family members, that this was a family decision to leave the jewish faith....I wasn't told anything.

we did come up with.one possible candidate for William, where a William Asher married someone in Leicester roughly around the time that Lyon and Elizabeth are listed together....he became a soldier and stayed resident in Leicester and married. to her until his death

the good. people of this forum have been through. hell and high water to find his birth, but cant find anything,  which maybe strengthens the idea. he was born abroad and or was. our man and made a bigamous. marriage..who knows.

j8u

[David Nicoll]

Hi, glad to supply another brick removal! Yes, I see what you mean, though could it be that he felt a census was more official than his wedding, it could be the only place he referred to himself as Lyon? It seems a bit strange, though not impossible for Elizabeth to have married a William Asher and then a Lyon Asher?
I do know quite a lot of people who go by a completely different name than their “legal” name. Karen rather than Catherine springs to mind.