What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet said Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet
Yesterday morning there was a small segment on Sky News (UK) about those in the USA naming their children after UK place names; in this instance, Aberdeen, Cardiff and Bradford.
Surnames frequently occur as place names and it is one of those that debates, which came first, did the place, through common usage adopt the surname of a key family, or did families adopt the name of the community they lived in. It is a chicken and the egg debate and either has merit.
In a similar fashion, some children bear the name of their mother’s family, or another family surname, as either a given name, a middle name and even a hyphenated surname.
So why might people use Bradford as a given name for a baby? Perhaps the family were from that region, or maybe the place name has a sentimental link to the parents and as such they give their baby the place name.
Logo from FreeBMD
I did a quick search of FreeBMD which is a free website where volunteers transcribe the indexes of the Births, Deaths and Marriages of England and Wales. Statutory registration began in September 1837 and whilst the site does not contain material for the current year, it is a key resource for genealogists.
Below is the results for England and Wales:
Bradford is recorded as being a given name in more than 150 babies from 1837 until 1992.
Cardiff has four instances, although these seem to be the same individual – all occur in 1993.
Aberdeen has two such instances, one from 1893 and the other in 1900.
Logo from Scotlands People
Turning to records from across the Scottish Border, I did a search of Scotlands People and that revealed a bumper crop of results. Let me quantify the parameters of material on the Scotlands People website, valuation rolls and legal records. Also, is Occupation, poor relief and migration and prison records.
Bradford revealed more than 6,000 instances across the various record sets
Cardiff revealed more than 4,000 instances, but most of these related to Coat of Arms. There is just four births.
Aberdeen revealed just over 5,000 instances.
One other significant factor is that the Scottish People site also includes within the results where the name is used as a middle name.
Looking at data collection from FreeBMD features in the Practicalities of a One-Name Study course. Analysis of data is explored in the Introduction to One-Name Studies course.
Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest 
… clarification question, prompted by some research I’m doing at the moment:
– is there some ambiguity as between place names used as surnames and christian names ie the nature of the source of the christian name is a surname, not a place name.
My example would be an individual called John Bedford WOODYER, who was the Godson of John BEDFORD, with a clear inference that the middle name was his Godfather’s surname (which also happens to be a place name).
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Hi Liz,
I think there is much overlap here and some ambiguity – almost a chicken and egg scenario.
Place names can and indeed are used as surnames, whether the place established first, lending itself to the surname, or a group of individuals that had accepted a surname which gave rise to the place accepting the name.
The use of a place name being adopted as part of an individuals name more than likely does stem from acknowledging an individual who has that name as a surname, as your Bedford example. Though we cannot be absolutely sure unless of course there is some record left.
Lewin Bentham Bowring (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewin_Bentham_Bowring) was given the middle name of Bentham in recognition of the friendship and mutual respect between Bentham and Lewin’s father. I am 95% certain that Bentham was Lewin’s Godfather, but cannot recall where I read that, but likely one of the many books written about or by the Bowrings.
In more recent times, there has been numerous instances of given or middle names chosen because of some specific reasoning – a friend who has given me permission to share her situation in part, has the middle name of Eve, as a nod to when she was conceived. An example from my One-Place Study finds an inhabitant adopting another name in order to claim a legacy.
The bottom line is can we prove why someone has a particular name, or are we working with a hypothesis?
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