Relatively Speaking is a throwback to another time in the world of genealogy. These are anecdotal stories to inspire those who search for their ancestors. Although, many of these stories are from before the world of computers and certainly the age of the internet, I believe that all of us have benefited from serendipity in our research.
Middle Name Syndrome
I am both a Gypsiologist and a Genealogist. I ??ª?drive??ª? on finding middle names. The symbols used in place of a middle name in documents, are well-known to me: NMN for ??ª?no middle name,??ª? and NI for ??ª?none indicated,??ª? etc. But I was startled to learn in my Gypsiology search that the English Gypsy, Tyso Boswell actually had been given for his middle name, the name No-NAME.
This is the documented story of how he came to be christened Tyso No-Name Boswell: His mother had decided upon the name Tyso Jehovah Boswell, for her newborn baby, but the minister told her he could not christen the child with middle name Jehovah, and he told her why. The mother replied, ??ª?Then he shall have no other name than Tyso No-Name Boswell!??ª? And that is exactly the full name as given the baby.
