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ArchivesRe: Another article ... and a query
in reply to a message by Cleveland Kent Evans
Good thinking! I'm sure you're right; though to me and I suppose still a majority of non-Americans the extra L just looks redundant. (I'd been wondering if it was an attempt to make Hilary - and, as you point out, Alison - look extra-feminine. Hilary Benn, a minister in the British government, is a man, after all.)
A week ago I'd have agreed with you about Americans specialising in surnames becoming given names, but I've been digging round a bit on genealogy boards and found my great-uncle's mother-in-law! This lady, formidable if her daughter, my great-aunt, was anything to go by, is entered as: "wife Sandford Pick Watson b 1844 Leeds". I've double-checked! And these were ordinary working people; definitely not out of the pages of Debrett or the Peerage. It's such fun having one's mind stretched.
A week ago I'd have agreed with you about Americans specialising in surnames becoming given names, but I've been digging round a bit on genealogy boards and found my great-uncle's mother-in-law! This lady, formidable if her daughter, my great-aunt, was anything to go by, is entered as: "wife Sandford Pick Watson b 1844 Leeds". I've double-checked! And these were ordinary working people; definitely not out of the pages of Debrett or the Peerage. It's such fun having one's mind stretched.
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