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Lots of people from non-English backgrounds changed their names when they got in America. Take the Fugates for example.

Where does supposition stop and truth certain begin to start?

It would be easy and perhaps more honest to simply list the matter as “in dispute,” but how do I know that what was put down as fact by a previous genealogist (such as that John C. Couch was born in Germany) was not a result of a “dispute” that the genealogist wanted to settle once and for all, and so he simply decided that the “German” originally came from Fairfield?

I am too old now and too far removed from the field of professional genealogy to hope that my study will lead to a second What’s In A Name?

(or third or fouth) career parsing out other families’ genealogies. The only thing I care about in the Matter of John C. Couch is to satisfy my curiosity and find out where he came from. I’m just interested in solving the puzzle, that’s all.

Perhaps the “C” in John C. Couch really stands for “Connecticut” – or I could make it so – and write a heartwarming magazine story about it. Who would know?

Names are codes to be deciphered by genealogists, anthropologists, linguists, and ethnologists – but they are usually not secrets And if I could think this up, maybe some genealogist before me did so.

to the families which carried them.

By the way, I’ve investigated a bit further than this in the Matter of John C. Couch, and I’ve stumbled on a possible answer: Naming practices can help trace ancestors and ancestral movement. “Martin de la Tours,” for example – another ancestor –

one which involves NONE of the theories above. He’s – believe it or not – well, the answer will be forthcoming at the end of our was a guy named Martin from a city in France called Tours. Virginia and Kentucky naming practices are in some ways similar: family chapters.

“Missouri Ann Noble” was the daughter of parents who went to Missouri – and returned.

But such are the problems and promises of studying genealogy.

In other ways the names of early setters appear to follow English and European naming practices, which, by the way, are not necessarily universal. Fathers and sons with the same name are called Esquire, or II, III, etc. (this is not common, for example, in Jewish practice). “Junior” is a popular title in Christian Land (again, not so in the Jewish). Often the last name of the mother or grandmother will be used as either the first or middle name of the descendants – and those names were commonly applied in some sort of consecutive order as the generations proceded, until finally – who can know when? – the name will come to signify little more than a “characteristic family first name” (such as Henley – a name which has been carried on in the Fugate family since Sarah Henley married in) – even to the one who carries it. In fact, this study indicates that “odd” first names that sound like last names may serve as clues to ancestry – or to the last names of the close friends or relatives of ancestors.

Siblings will often give their children the same names as their sisters and brothers – or as their living parents or grandparents (which is different from the Jewish practice which only honors the dead), or their aunts and uncles – or their neighbors ( the mystery presented by the Deevers family, it has been suggested, might be solved through this interpretation). Thus, there can be multiple Bill Nobles of the same generation in the same location but of different parentage ( this was avoided in Jewish culture because of the confusion they though would be inherent in duplication).

Children of siblings can be distinguished from one another by switching first and middle names. Thus, one brother can have a daughter and name her Virginia Jane, and another brother can name his daughter Jane Virginia. Even two children of the same parents can have the same first name (which, in some families, is only done when one child dies, and another one of the same sex follows): so you could have two Bill Nobles – one Billy Ray, and the other Billy Bob – which may be responsible for the Southern stereotype of using the first and middle names.

Biblical first names were common – especially during the 18th century: Josias, Rebecca, Samuel, Hezekiah are examples, and names from the New Testament never fell out of favor, while those from the Old, did. These were often the names of the disciples (John, Peter, Thomas, etc.). Catholic naming practices followed the saints (Patrick and Jerome, in this family).

Famous people in American history may be honoredl: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and of course Jefferson Davis

could be taken in front of the surname. Initials for first and middle names – especially if they were famous - are more likely to be used in the Southern than in the Northern states. This more closely follows English tradition. But they too can be varied to avoid confusion.“G.W.” (as in George Washington Noble) becomes one man’s first name, George another, “Wash” for a third, and even 37

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