When researching family trees, one thing can be always counted on – that our ancestors will appear in the records under many different variants of their name. Whether it is using a forename and middle name interchangeably, or a shortened version of their name, or simply a nickname that appears to bear no relation to their actual name. Think of Jack, or Polly – both were used for the names John and Mary, but also seemingly at random!
A birth record from 1882 is a case in point. The enigmatically named Ann Bertha Cecilia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez Jane Kate Louisa Maud Nora Ophelia Quince Rebecca Starkey Teresa Ulysis Venus Winifred Xenophen Yetty Zeus Pepper was born on 19th December 1882 in West Derby, Liverpool.
Her parents were Arthur Pepper, a laundry man, and his wife Sarah Jane Pepper, formerly Creighton. When they came to baptise Ann, on 2nd January 1883, the vicar chose to record her as Ann Starkie Pepper, using a spelling variant of "Starkey" as shown on her birth certificate. Perhaps her parents chose to record this as the most important of her middle names. Indeed, this was the only name given to her which was also a surname, and perhaps commemorated a maternal line from further up the family tree.
Census records reveal the Pepper family in the 1891 census, having moved down to London. Arthur and Sarah did not have any further children, and had clearly decided to name their daughter creatively!
The 1891 census shows Ann as "Anne Pepper" with no indication of her middle names, and a slight variant in spelling of her first name.
But what became of young Ann, and did she use her alphabet-inspired surname in later life? Her parents died relatively young, her mother Sarah in 1899, and her father in 1908. There is no trace of Ann in census returns or English General Registration after this time, and it appears likely that she therefore left the country.
In fact, shipping records show one Nan Pepper of the right age, travelling to the US in 1906. Following her through later records in America, reveals her recorded as both Ann and Nan, and using a middle name of Starkey.
She married one Arthur Wait, and passed her surname of Pepper onto her son.
Thus, over her lifetime Ann used a number of variants of her unique birth name. She used Ann, Anne and Nan as her forenames, and Starkey and Starkie as a middle name, seemingly dropping the 23 other middle names given to her by her parents! Life must have been much easier that way, but demonstrates the difficulties which can be encountered in genealogy when dealing with such name variants.
