Genealogy Chat

I've recently discovered that one of my great uncles was called Craven. I'd never heard of it before - has anyone else? Has there every been a famous Craven? Where do you think his parents got that name from. (It seems he was called by his middle name of Charles usually.) I was a fan of John Craven's Newsround when I was younger (and Swap Shop)!

Hello John It may well be that Craven could have been one of the female relative's maiden name. I have a Greenwood Malkin (male) in my tree and I'm now trying to find out where the Greenwood bit came from! Good luck Rachel

I go with Rachel I have a watson as a middle name --my Dad but his brother always called him Watson and not John which was his first name Watson was passed down from his Gran who was Emma Watson! Ann,Darlington

Maybe his father was a Fulham supporter! Craven Cottage. Sue at Langley Vale

Hi John. Normal naming pattern until quite recently was that eldest son had mother's maiden name as his second christian name. Useful sometimes when you are looking back through registers for the marriage (name of the mother)

I always wonder what people will make of our names in a century or two, even if they're not unusual. Just as we say 'oh, Gertrude, what an old-fashioned name', so my great-great-granddaughter may well say 'Kathryn? What the hell were her parents' thinking?'.