A genealogy column in the Pioneer Times stated that our ancestors followed certain general rules in naming their children. These rules provided clues for anyone seeking family. In general, the first son was named for the father’s father and the second son was named for his father. The first daughter was named for her maternal grandmother.
When I arrived as firstborn, my maternal grandmother’s name had been taken by my mother’s eldest sister. My mother, then, may have welcomed a chance to be creative, as she wrote poetry. She took three letters from my father’s middle name, Byron, and added the last two letters from her name, Ina, to get Byrna, and pronounced it like Myrna, a movie star’s name. Ina had been named after Ina Claire, an earlier film star.
I figure I lucked out. What if she had tried my father’s first name, Oscar? But she clearly preferred the second name, perhaps being reminded of Lord Byron.
My first brother was, true to form, named for his father’s father, Leonard, but his middle name, Emerson, was replaced with Edgar for Ina’s older brother, who lived in Fort Fairfield. (When his wife named their daughter Charlene, he added Ina as her middle name and she has always been called Ina.)
The second son, the younger of my two brothers, was, sure enough, named for his father, making him Jr. I was 8, and Leonard 6, when he was born. We were all adamant that he not be called Jr. because of another Jr. we knew who had many problems. Ina planned for him to be called Byron when he started school, but her plan was doomed early on. Porter was called OB by everyone but us, so his namesake was a little OB, what else? He kept the Jr. long after Porter died in 1955, to avoid any confusion.
The Family Discoverer’s column was quite fascinating, as is discovering that my family seemed to follow the rules.
Porter had been married 20 years and had five children with Emily Inez Robinson. Apparently, they were one of the couples, the columnist wrote, who “balked at the idea of naming children after family members and struck into new, unfamiliar territory.” Their firstborn was named Nathaniel after a good friend, and his middle name was Oscar, after his father. The next, Halbert, went by Hallie. Then Laureston’s middle name was Robinson, according to his mother, but Porter wanted Craig after a good friend. Larry, as Laureston came to be called, named his older boy Craig and his younger one Carl Oscar. The eldest was Emily Victoria and the younger daughter was Valerie. (Larry had a first wife, Marjorie, and their only child was Robin.) Emily and Porter’s only girl was Saidee, for a good friend, and the youngest was Quentin Roosevelt.
The headline for that genealogy column was, “Is there a story behind your name?” I trust I have answered the question — and then some.
Byrna Porter Weir was born and grew up in Houlton, where her parents were portrait photographers. She now lives in Rochester, N.Y.
