Named after first wife

I have seen examples of this before but not documented it.

I was looking at a Jessie Guthrie born about 1852. Father William Guthrie and mother Jane McKerrow.

She was baptised as Janet Morrison Guthrie in Ochiltree on 28 June 1851. (Jessie is a variant of Janet.)

She was married in Maybole in 1872 as Jessie Morrison Guthrie. Her first husband died within a few months of marriage and she married again in 1874 as Jessie McKerrow Guthrie. The parents are the same on both certificates.

Looking more closely at William Guthrie; his first wife was Janet Morrison so she was named after the first wife.  This seems a bit strange to us nowadays. I need to see if I can find the other examples of this I've seen.

Jessie must have decided to use her mother's name as her middle name in 1874.  Her death certificate has Morrison again as her middle name.

MOODIE/GUTHRIE

JANET MORRISON

82

1933

610/A 32

Old Cumnock

Link to Jessie Guthrie on the Cumnock Connections tree


Here's another example: Ann Moodie Henderson b 1871 in Kilmarnock