52 Ancestors Week 3: Namesake

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 3's theme is "Namesake." Are you named for one of your ancestors? Do you have an ancestor who was named for someone else (either in the family or a well-known person)? This is the week to tell their story!

At least Indie had fond memories of that dog!

    In June of 2019, I wrote a blog wondering how Vincenzo became James. I'm still no closer to figuring out how that happened. My best guess is that somehow people just decided "Vincenzo" sounded like James and ran with it. There's no earth-shattering mystery to solve and no deep secret that needed to be unraveled. It is what it is. I also delved a little bit into my mom's side where I talked about how the name "Eugene" was a name that was passed down over the years. It was a brief blurb. But, let's expand on that shall we? Oh, we shall! We'll also talk about another namesake I found on my mom's side.

Eugene Hamel

    As far as I can tell, Eugene Hamel was the first in the family to have the name. He was my 2x great-grandfather and he was born in 1864 to Léon Hamel and Rose Flavie Dussault. Eugene was one of the first in the family to come to America from St. Alban, Canada. He and his wife, Celanise Lefebvre had many children including my great-grandfather and a brother named Eugene.

    The Eugene love didn't stop there! My grandfather's middle name was Eugene and that later became the middle name for one of my uncles and a cousin. What is it about Eugene that people liked?

    The name, according to the always accurate source known as "The Internet", says that the name comes from the Greek "eugenēs" and means "noble" or "well-born". That's interesting because the Hamels came from farming stock up in Canada. Why would they go with something meaning "noble". Perhaps they just liked the name. That happens. Someone clearly liked the name and it stuck. In this case it stuck around for centuries! It's not a bad name by any stretch. But, I don't think it's going to last much longer.

    All good things must come to an end, I suppose. I wonder if there's a double meaning to the name, now. I don't HAVE to take it literally. Perhaps it means he had a noble air around him? I dunno. Look at the guy in the pic. He had a cigar in one hand, a grin and a wife next to him saying "Oh, God. What is he going to do next?!" The answer? Anything he wants!

     Elsewhere on my mother's side we have Jacques Legault. Being part French-Canadian this was no surprise. Jacques translates to Jack in French and it seems that name has been passed down through time as well. This Jacques was born in 1796 and as you can see he had a TON of kids. Yes, they're all confirmed thanks to PDRH and other records in Quebec. He had three wives and two namesakes.

The first Jacques died young. The second one was named after him in a similar way to how my grandmother was named after an older sister who also died young. Same thing happened to Alfred Hamel. Anyway, the second one was my 3x great-grandfather and he also had a son named Jacques who died in 1893 in Haverhill. He married a woman named Georgini and had a son named Jacques. After that, things get hazy. Were there more Jacques? I have no clue.

    One thing I do know is that namesakes definitely can help in your research. In the blog, I've been going forward through time to as close to the present as I can get given what I know. If you're starting in the present day and you go back in time, a namesake may yield the key to an ancestor or two. This is especially true in Italian genealogy. Check out the naming pattern for example:

The first male is named after his paternal grandfather.

The second male is named after his maternal grandfather.

The first female is named after her paternal grandmother.

The second female is named after her maternal grandmother.

    Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. You're going to find random names wherever you go. So, it's a good idea to think of the possibilities. You yourself could be named after an ancestor who lived hundreds of years ago. Or you could just be a reference to "Indiana Jones". It's fun to think about. Where did our names come from? What did they mean? 

    Namesakes can help identify ancestors. It's pretty simple. If you have a unique name, then you might be easier to research for some genealogist hundreds of years from now. Wow. Imagine all the people growing up with the name "Daenerys" right now....

See ya next time!