General Chat

Did you find out or were told your Grandparents given names.
I was in my 20s and at my Grandmothers funeral.

I only had a paternal grandfather and a maternal grandmother. I only found out her first name when doing my family tree, but I was only about 9 or 10 when she died. I’ve no idea about the other one. He had the same first name as my dad, but dad was known by his second.

My paternal gran was always called by her middle name, as her first name was the same as 2 of her sisters-in-law. Didn't know this for years. Maternal grandad was always called 'Jack' but that wasn't his real name.

I knew the birth names of my mams mam & dad from childhood, but my dads parents birth mames didn't come to light until I started my family research, I only knew their "nick" names of Ginny ( ginger hair colour I believe) & Pop! lol,

Joan.

We always called dads sister Auntie M........ we wrote thank you letters to M.......

Didn’t know that wasn’t her name until she died aged about 90.

my nan Sarah to me was known as nanny Sall

my nan Harriet was known as nanny Lall

My maternal grandparents died many years before I was born, I don't remember when I knew their names, but I was a child I think.
Paternal grandparents were alive, grandad was known as Jim, granny used to talk about family history so I knew his names were James Wilson S...........when I was no older than 11. She also told me the surnames of his mother, grandmother and ggrandmother. Useful for later research.
Granny was known as Mary, or Molly, but more recently I idly looked up her birth, and she was registered as Mary Ann, but Ann was never used, even on marriage and death certs.

What I did find confusing as a young child was granny and Mum, (her DIL) talking about the same Aunt Clara, (long dead) who I knew had been Mum's auntie. I eventually was told that Mum and her MIL (granny) were cousins, so shared the same aunts. I was still at primary school so no older than 11.

I always knew my mum's mum's name - it's my second name.
It was a bit of a shock to find out my first name was my gran's dead sister's name - she died aged 4.
I was 6 weeks premature, so wasn't expected to live, so in her enthusiasm, mum decided a dead child's name was the way to go!!

I learnt my dad's mum's name, the first time I met her - at 10.
My cousins, who were living with her, told me.

Both my mum's dad and dad's stepdad died before I was born, but I knew mum's dad's name quite early, and dad's stepdad's name when I started Genealogy.
I knew his middle name, as one of my brother's has it.

Both grandads died when I was very young

We did know both Nans first names but no maiden names

When I started doing my trees I had to get both parents birth certs to see the mmn

Both nans were just known as nanny and grandma and their surnames

I do remember mum telling us her dads name though and that both Nan and grandad has been married before ,which we knew because there was half siblings in the family

They brought up all the children as one family with the exception of the eldest girl who became a BHC in 1909 before Nan and grandad married

On dads side we knew his dad died when he was young and his mum remarried
He too had half siblings

Fred always called his parents Jack and Kate, as did his brother so I always knew their given names.

My grandad decided he didn't want to be called 'Dad' anymore so he tod his sons to call him Jack.

I must have been in double figures before I even thought to ask about the others.

I always knew all four of mine's names, and also my maternal grandmother's maiden name, because I knew her brothers. My other grandmother I didn't find out until I started genealogy.

My mum always called her mum by her first name as apparently calling her mum made her feel old. My mum’s dad told me his name when I was young along with how much he disliked it. His name was Norman. My dad’s dad was dead before I was born but his first and middle names are my dad’s two middle names and I think my dad must have told me when I was young. My dad’s mum was always known as Netta again I learned as a girl it was short for Janet.

I only knew about one set of grandparents when I was a child and that was my Dads parents but not their given names, when I started this genealogy I found my Mums Mum and oh boy that opened up whole can of worms but I love it all.

I knew the names of my four grandparents and where they came from even though two were dead, one dying when Dad was only 5, the other when I was a toddler.

I even knew the birthdays of three of them, just not my long-gone paternal grandmother's until I was older and saw her birth certificate that my cousin had.

I was lucky - my parents told me a lot about their parents and stories of happenings over the years, also my uncle and aunt had a lot of information about my paternal grandmother's side from the family bible that was in my great-aunt's possession.

I was also very curious - it helped!

When I was 11 I was told that our surname was not our real one but never asked why.

I just accepted it. It did not bother me at all. I have two retired full brothers with different surnames! One kept the made-up one and the other changed his surname.