Aliases in Genealogical Registers

 Aliases in Genealogical Registers.

Taken from Wedmore Parish Registries – Baptisms 1561 to 1821. Hervey, Sydenham Henry Augustus. Volume 1. 1888.

A certain number of aliases will be found in these Registers, especially in the earlier part. The Editor of the “Register of the University of Oxford” brings together all the instances of an alias that he had noticed in that Register, and says that no adequate explanation of the usage has yet been given. It seems to me that they may be easily accounted for. (1) In some cases obvious circumstances may cause a man to be called by his mother's maiden name as often as his father's name. That may account for some. (2) But others may be otherwise accounted for. In the earlier days of surnames, when their roots were not so deep as they are now, when they had scarcely lost their original descriptive character, and were still in the process gradual formation, it is easy to imagine a man being called by two surnames. One would fit him for one reason, the other would fit him for another reason. So some would call him by the one, and some would call him by the other. And so he would have an alias. If a 14^th or 15^th century John were the son of Tom and likewise a baker by trade, some might call him Tomson and some might call him Baker, and so he would be Tomson alias Baker. One seems to see an instance of that in the case of Martin alias Smith. Several entries of that alias between 1570 and 1610 ; whilst the entry of burial shows that some Martins were smiths by trade :-

1571. June 22. Thomas Hitchings, apprenticius Richardi Martyn fabri ferrarii.

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