Genealogy Chat

I have come across whole families that are listed by their surname eg. Smith aka Jones. Can anyone explain why they were known by the two names please? This certain lot were in the late 1700's.

The only one I have was a woman who shacked up with a man and never married him. At her death both she and the kids were shown as also known as.

Thanks for the replies but the whole family were 'akas' including the husband.

I think it was to do with some rule of the church not recognising marriages during a certain time frame. (I did read a thread on here about it some time ago!!) In my tree I have a whole family going through generations who are down as Love alias Angel in the parish records. Paula x

Thanks Paula, if you remember anything else let me know please? Was it hubbys name that came first or the wifes? I'm presuming the hubbys.

Only two days ago I was reading about another reason for this, but can I remember????? Aaggghhh!! It was something to do with a particular form of inheritance, where the beneficiary needed to have the same surname....... There was a special word/phrase for it, but I've forgotten. Wasn't to do with being rich either...... I'm typing this ''non-help'' here if only to jog someone elses memory that is better than mine lol Sarah

HI Trish, I really can't remember anything else about it, but hoping this nudge might just jog someone's memory. Wish I'd copied it now!! Typical!!!!!! Paula x

Thank you for the replies everyone. I knew it was going to be confusing!!!! (for me anyway) LOL

Nudgie... Sounds like Wifey Webb Paula and I are sharing the same brain cell this week, and it's one that doesn't ''do'' remembering! lol Sarah

Olde Crone to the rescue! The 'aka' business was the Established Church's snotty way of indicating that a marriage between the couple, if it had indeed taken place, was in a non-conformist Church or Chapel and was not recognised as a 'legal' marriage by the Established Church and therefore the Law of the land. My ancestors were strong non-conformists and quite often got this treatment, especially when being dealt removal orders, it was very confusing at first as I thought the husband was pretending to be someone else! Another common entry is 'alias' or 'als' in Parish and legal documents. Hope this helps. Olde Crone

Found the details of the ''Wills thing'' I couldn't remember earlier! ''There were several reasons for using an alias. One of them related to copyhold land and occurred when the mother of a family remarried, having had children by her first marriage. Quite often, if the children were very young, they could take the surname of their step-father, but in order not to lose their claim to their natural father's copyhold land, they would use both names as their surname. Remember that the only place where the entitlement to the copyhold land could be registered was in the manor courts, and without birth certificates etc. to prove descent from a particular person it was easier to continue the surname, so the alias would continue for generations and would be used very much as a hyphenated surname of today. '' Sarah

Sarah Thankyou for that, I will add it to my growing list of 'Reasons For Using An Alias' (!) Old Crone

Hi - When I worked in indureance many, many moons ago, the abbreviation 'aka' was used instead of 'also known as'. For example my father was a Michael Thomas aka Thomas Michael. or Alan Smith aka Alan Smythe Rita

Occasionally, there may be other reasons for possessing two surnames. One of my favourites is Bunker, alias Goodheart, where a Hugenot family (Boncoeur?) has anglicised its name. There is a brilliant book on Yorkshire surnames, suggesting that where there are only a handful of surnames, aliases are used to identify the different branches.

Thanks everyone, you've been brilliant. Will print this out now and file it with my 'bits'.