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Reports
| # | Report Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Go(a)tham as a Christian name / forename | [The table below extracts data from the trees that are online, so at present it and the accompanying article omit most Americans] From the late C18th using a family or other surname as a Christian name, usually a middle name, became quite popular, particularly in Devon. This report summaries this use, with notes on what is known of the choice - who the recipients of the name were being named after and why. It does not generally show the living, but there have been some recent instances (the most recent I know of were born in the 1990s). If you could see living data you would see an apparent gap from 1935 to the early 1970s with none; this is probably due to me not knowing that a 'G' stands for Goatham or Gotham because middle names were dropped from the GRO indexes for many years (those missing in the original index from the early C20th to 1934 can now be found in the GRO online index). At the time of writing there are 70 with the middle name of Gotham or Goatham, 67 between 1782 and 1930. Of these 67, just 7 were relations of or named after Kent 'Goathams'. Of these seven: three were not blood relations of Goathams, and the name appears a tribute to a Goatham; one was illegitimate, and Goatham was probably the father's surname; just three were given the family name because doing so had become popular: 2 were given their mother's maiden name, 1 their paternal grandmother's maiden name. By contrast most of the others were Devonians or recently descended from the Devon Gothams. Even there, the practice was particularly found in some families, and varied in that some gave the same middle name (usually the mother's maiden name) to most of their children, others used a variety of family surnames. The number shown with Gotham or Goatham as a middle name is somewhat arbitrary due to one particular branch; Gotham was given as a middle name to some Potter children, but this practice continued over several generations, until some started using Gotham not as a forename but part of a double-barrelled surname, Gotham Potter. Quite when this change from second Christian name to first part of surname occurred is not entirely clear (there are often double entries in indexes) - hence the number being somewhat arbitrary. It was not just in Kent and by the Devon Gothams that Go(a)tham was given as a middle name; it is also found in those from the Shropshire Gottams and the Lancashire group, despite the latter having only recently acquired the surname (from the Anglicization of an Irish surname). Sometimes the first name used with the Gotham / Goatham middle name suggests a person was named after a particular person, in others there is no closely related person with the first Christian name, or there is, but they were not a Gotham (by birth or marriage). Quite often the first name was so common that it is not possible to tell. The following table is in order of One-Name Study groups; it can also be viewed in birth date order here. One-Name Study groups These appear after the name and in a separate 'Suffix [ONS gp]' column. [G-?(M)] - Gothams of unknown origin, found in Middlesex [G-D(n)] - Devon Gotham ancestry where n can be: AD - Gothams and their descendants who descend from Andrew of Abbotskerswell, Gothams still in Devon LS - Gothams and their descendants who descend from Agnes of Abbotskerswell, moved to Liverpool and Staffordshire MB - Gothams and their descendants from a Gotham family in Morchard Bishop (now thought probably also descendants from Agnes of Abbotskerswell) TM - Gothams and their descendants from a Gotham family of Teignmouth Mariners (now believed also to be descendants from Agnes of Abbotskerswell) [G-K] - Kentish Goatham ancestry [G-L] - Gotham ancestry originating in Lancashire in C19th from Anglicization of an Irish surname [G-S] - Shropshire/Staffordsire Gotham ancestry (n.b. separate from the many Staffordshire Gothams with Devon Gotham ancestry) |
| 2. | Go(a)tham as a Christian name / forename (birth date order) | [see this same report but in One-Name Study group order for a description of what this report shows] One-Name Study groups These appear after the name and in a separate 'Suffix [ONS gp]' column. [G-?(M)] - Gothams of unknown origin, found in Middlesex [G-D(n)] - Devon Gotham ancestry where n can be: AD - Gothams and their descendants who descend from Andrew of Abbotskerswell, Gothams still in Devon LS - Gothams and their descendants who descend from Agnes of Abbotskerswell, moved to Liverpool and Staffordshire MB - Gothams and their descendants from a Gotham family in Morchard Bishop (now thought probably also descendants from Agnes of Abbotskerswell) TM - Gothams and their descendants from a Gotham family of Teignmouth Mariners (now believed also to be descendants from Agnes of Abbotskerswell) [G-K] - Kentish Goatham ancestry [G-L] - Gotham ancestry originating in Lancashire in C19th from Anglicization of an Irish surname [G-S] - Shropshire/Staffordsire Gotham ancestry (n.b. separate from the many Staffordshire Gothams with Devon Gotham ancestry) |
| 3. | Go(a)thams with multiple Christian names / forenames - all | This report shows how late it was before GO(A)THAMs began to be given two (or more) Christian names (forenames), the first not being recorded until 1728, although Go(a)thams have been recorded and are on the tree this report is based on back to the C13th. The 'middle name relationship' column in the table below indicates the relationship of someone with a forename from a surname to their closest relation with the surname. It can be seen that most of the C18th middle names were family surnames, and most all were amongst GOTHAMs with Devonshire GOTHAM ancestry (those born / baptised in Deptford, then in Kent, had Devonshire parents). I plan to add a column to make group / origins of the individuals clearer but some changes are needed in what software I use before I can easily do this. Caveats: 1. Because people are identified by having 2 or more forenames by a blank space in their forenames there may be a few false positives (e.g. where a pet name is included - in brackets) but common sense should make it easy to ignore these. 2. This report extracts data from the trees; work is ongoing on US Gothams (most of whom may well descend from Kentish GOATHAMs) but at present they are not on the tree so are not included in this report. 3. Before the spelling of names settled down a person might be recorded with different spellings of their surname in different records - even with more than one spelling in a single record. On the tree on this website the spelling of the surname used for English Go(a)thams of Kentish Go(a)than ancestry is GOATHAM (the spelling in individual records is or will be recorded in the details of the relevant event); GOTHAM is used for most others, although some with Shropshire / Staffordshire origins are recorded with the variant GOTTAM. 4. At present this report covers those for whom I consider GO(A)THAM or GOTTAM as their main surname (or main pre-marriage surname for women who married); I may amend it to take account of others who at sometime had the surname (other than by marriage). It might also be interesting to compare the figures with those who were GOATHAMs / GOTHAMs / GOTTAMs by marriage and who consequently came from a wider range of families / backgrounds / geographical locations. 5. With the results table split over several pages, the same comments and caveats will appear on each page - don't waste your time looking for anything new! |
| 4. | Go(a)thams with multiple Christian names / forenames - Goathams only | This report shows how late it was before Kentish GOATHAMs began to be given two (or more) Christian names (or forenames), the first not being recorded until 1840, although Go(a)thams have been in Kent (and recorded on the tree this is based on) from at least the 1530s. A glance through a listing of all the births of GOATHAMs* from 1800 onwards shows how the proportion with more than one forename changed. We can see that although the first with 2 forenames was in 1840, of 19 born 1840-49 only two had two forenames; of 21 born 1850-59 six had two forenames (1 was un-named) i.e. the proportion had tripled (1 was a family surname given as a second forename); of 29 born 1860-69 sixteen had two forenames i.e.more than half now had two forenames (5 were family or other surnames given as a second forename); of 38 born 1870-79 twenty two had two or more forenames i.e. still more than half now had two or more forenames - just a slight increase from c. 55% to 58%. It was the first time GOATHAMs were recorded with more than two forenames; three had three forenames. (only 2 were surnames given as a second forename); of 38 born 1880-89 thirty three had two or more forenames i.e. it was now very much the norm to give a child more than one forename - only 5 (c. 13%) just had one forename. Only two were recorded with more than two forenames (three each) - this was not becoming more popular. (Again, only 2 were surnames given as a second forename so this practice was also not increasing in popularity). The 'middle name relationship' column in the table below indicates the relationship of someone with a surname used as a forename to their closest relation with the surname. Caveats: 1. Because people are identified by having 2 or more forenames by a blank space in their forenames there may be a few false positives (e.g. where a pet name is included - in brackets) but common sense should make it easy to ignore these. 2. This report extracts data from the trees; work is ongoing on US Gothams (most of whom may well descend from Kentish GOATHAMs) but at present they are not on the tree so are not included in this report. 3. Before the spelling of names settled down a person might be recorded with different spellings of their surname in different records - even with more than one spelling in a single record. On the tree on this website the spelling of the surname used for English Go(a)thams of Kentish Go(a)than ancestry is GOATHAM (the spelling in individual records is or will be recorded in the details of the relevant event). 4. At present this report covers those for whom I consider GOATHAM as their main surname (main pre-marriage surname for women who married); I may amend it to take account of others who at sometime had the surname (other than by marriage). It might also be interesting to compare the figures with those who were GOATHAMs by marriage and who consequently came from a wider range of families / backgrounds / geographical locations. 5. With the results table split over several pages, the same comments and caveats will appear on each page - don't waste your time looking for anything new! |
| 5. | People with multiple Christian names / forenames | [This article extracts data from the trees, so at present omits most Americans] |
| 6. | Those who died in a workhouse | (I thought it would be interesting to see the range of people who died there by occupation - but at present this means an entry for each occupation event, hence 3 for Thomas Gotham, because I have three events for him as a mariner. I haven't combined them because I want the map on his page to record each place he was based!) |