Oftentimes we start looking for our ancestor only knowing their name. Using that we search for the rest of their life, death, marriage, children, birth and parents. But what happens when names change, or when your ancestors are from places such as Jamaica (and much of the Caribbean) where people seem to gather more aliases than you can count? Today I’d like to write about naming systems in Jamaica and how to navigate this in your search to rediscover your ancestors.
This collection of names in Jamaica seems to be caused both by policy and culture.
It’s a common joke that you go to a Caribbean funeral and the name being spoken is one you have never heard before in your interactions with the deceased. ‘Pet’ or ‘yard’ names are often the used far more than ‘official’ names. These quite often have no root in the person’s actual name. My dad (George Gordon) was Kay, apparently because he was too pretty to be a boy. I didn’t even realise his full name until I needed his passport for something.
My grandfather was Bor (Clifford Gordon), and I have no idea where that came from, same for his mother, Tick (Florence Pringle) and my great grandfather on the other side who was Sonny (Arnold Jackson). Others seem at least somewhat connected to the given name my grandmother was Miss Icey (Florence Iceline Jackson) and her mother was Jessie (Hilda Josephine Johnson).
Pet names can be very personal and it does seem you need a thick skin to grow up in the Caribbean. I’ve heard of someone with either an injured or deformed leg being called Limpy. Complexion can also be used or even an embarrassing event from your childhood.
It is very rare for these pet names to make it onto an official document, though you might see them on a funeral booklet. The only occasion I have seen a possible pet name on an official document is with my great grandmother Jessie and that wasn’t consistent. It’s one of the things that makes me wish we had a stronger oral history. I can find ancestors born in the 1850s but I will never know their pet names, if they even had them back then.
I would love to delve deeper into the history of pet names. I wonder if they stem from the names that enslavers and overseers would give to the enslaved people? Those often sounded like names you would give to a pet these days and could be changed when ‘ownership’ changed.
Along with this culture of pet or yard names you often see a change in the official names used, especially in the earlier documents. This may be somewhat caused by the use of pet names. Quite often the forename given on a birth certificate isn’t actually used on a wedding record, or middle names have changed or been added. With those born in the early 1900s we still have oral history to confirm that these are the same people, otherwise I really would think I was on the wrong track some days.
One of the trickiest ones to sort through was my great grandmother, she was born in 1890 as Josephine Johnson. When her first children were born she was recorded as Jessie Johnson or Josephine Johnson. When She married in 1921 she was Hilda Josephine Johnson. After marriage she is Josephine Jackson formerly Johnson but that changes to simply Jessie Jackson, sometimes with formerly Johnson added on. By her death she is recorded as Jessie Jackson. Where did Hilda come from and why wasn’t it used after her marriage? If it hadn’t had been for knowing her husband and some of her children’s names to start with I would have really struggled to connect all her documents.
The last change of name you might see is entirely policy driven and occurs for children born out of wedlock. There has long been an official stigma around children born outside of marriage, although it seems that socially this was more accepted.
As such you often see baptism records with no parents recorded at all or (if the official was so inclined) the mothers were recorded but fathers were not. Civil records required that the mothers name was always recorded, but fathers were left blank unless the parents were married. You then see children essentially being given their mother’s surnames. The child’s father was often known though, sometimes it was even him who registered the birth. So the community would know the child by the father’s surname, and this is the surname that would actually be used going forwards, on marriage records, passports and death records (unless there was a name change at marriage).
This happened with both my grandfather and father. They were both fathered by a Gordon man who was active in their lives and they used that surname in life but their birth certificates record them as Pringle and Jackson respectively. My grandfather’s even has a note to say that it is his birth certificate which was added when he applied for his passport. Although his is slightly more complicated as no first name was recorded when his birth was registered either.
It is so important when looking through records and uncovering oral history to keep in mind the differing names your Jamaican ancestors may have gone by. Look for them under their mother’s maiden name if you’re struggling to find a birth or baptism record, or leave the surname blank if you don’t yet know the mother. Look for the relationships you know to confirm you have the right person. A known spouse or child’s name can really help but don’t forget to look at the witnesses/informants on a record, they are likely family or a close family friend. Lastly. when it comes to oral history do remember that the person you are talking with may know your relative by a pet name, give as much information as possible (when they died, who they lived with, cousins even) to help identify the right people.
So that covers all the different possible names your Jamaican ancestors could hold and why. It certainly makes it more interesting when you try to identify them in the records but hopefully this will help you find your ancestors.
