Male middle name for a girl - any theories?

[EllenEyewater]

One of my great-grandmothers had a middle name that is definitely a boy’s name or surname (and afaik always has been).

I’d always assumed it was her mother’s / grandmother’s maiden name. But I’ve recently traced that line of the family and there seems to be no family connection to the name whatsoever - the name doesn’t occur in anyone else in the family that I’ve traced, as surname or as given name.

As far as I can tell she was legitimate - born around 10 months after the wedding - so presumably not some kind of paternity issue.

Any ideas? The family otherwise have completely conventional names of their time, so it definitely stands out! Or was there some kind of 1860s fad around using male names for girls?

Perhaps they had wanted a boy? In those days, stillbirths were not registered. Maybe she gave birth to twins, boy and girl, but the boy was stillborn so they gave the girl both names.

Maybe they were honouring some close family friend, or the child's godfather, or even someone who had given them financial or other support at a difficult time. Perhaps a close friend died the day she was born and they wanted to remember him that way.

Have a look at newspapers for mention of someone with that name around the time she was born. There may have been some significant national event they wanted to mark in some way. Lots of children were named after royals in those days.

There are any number of reasons, really.

I have a few random middle names in my family tree, that aren't family names in any way. My best theory is friends, possibly godparents etc, that the parents want to honour.

Or sometimes it's royalty, politicians, heroes, events. (I quite fancy Jubilee as a middle name... 😄)

I found odd names that were links to several generations before, maiden names, maternal/step grandparents etc

Oh, interesting! Thank you all!

I hadn’t realised that point about stillbirth and hadn’t thought about honouring godparents / family friends. The name in question is actually the family name of quite a prominent family in the area at the time, so I guess not impossible one of them had been in service there or some connection like that.

I have some AMAZING names on a different branch of the family tree, but I know where they come from.

Are you sure it was definitely only a male name at that point in time? I hadn't realised until recently Beverley used to be considered a unisex name.

It’s Howard, so I’m pretty sure that’s never been unisex?

Ah yes not very unisex I dont think but it is also a surname so not completely unusual for a fence to have it as a middle name.

A female not a fence it would be very odd for a fence to have a middle name.

Howard, as in the Dukes of Norfolk, Castle Howard, etc?

Yes, I can see why they might have chosen that name if any of the family worked on one of their estates.

We have Howards from a surname further back in the family line.
We also have various rather whimsical names associated with the politics of the time or association with queen Victoria.
There is also the use of the surname as middle name of a very distinguished artist well known at the time and related in a very tenuous manner.

My mum had a very unusual middle name (it was Ward). Dh did my family tree back to about 1780 and it never cropped up anywhere. Even mum didn’t know where it came from.

Howard could easily be a surname.

I know there is a Scottish tradition in my family of using a surname of godparents as parent of a child's name.

I definitely wouldn't assume this was a male first name.

There are a few Irish men who have been given the middle name Mary. Out of respect for the Virgin Mary - they must have had religious parents.

Could be any of the above!

We have a few random names like that too, one of which is very obviously a nod to the political leanings of that family unit!

One ancestor of mine was named after her fathers first wife who had died in childbirth. They all lived in a small village and I like to think that his second wife had known her and was happy to name her daughter after her. There was no record of the birth so it’s a bit off a guess.
It is common in our family for mother or grandmothers maiden name to be used as a second Christian name for both boys and girls. My cousins, two brothers second names are surnames, one grandmothers maiden name and the other is his mums maiden name.

I think the 1860s is a bit early for Howard to be thought of as a male name; afaik it was the following generation when aristocratic surnames really started to take off as fashionable boys' names. I'd definitely consider it a surname in this context. And the fact that the Howards were prominent nearby is so tantalising, isn't it - it must have been inspired by the family, but wouldn't you love to know why? There must have been a really lovely personal story there, lost to history. Have you looked in the census to see if there's any trace of her mother in service there? I think there was a tradition of ladies being godmother to the children of favoured servants (don't quote me), and you can see how the surname gives a bit of protection and status.

A female ancestor of mine who was born in the Downpatrick Workhouse had "Patrick" as her middle name.

No father is listed on her birth record, so I wonder if this is a nod to her birth father. Her other sibling has no middle name and I believe I've found another child born to their mother whose first name is unknown as not on birth record as well.

This was a poor family. Yours might not have been.

Or it was possibly a nod to St Patrick.