Meaning of "Case" as a middle name?

Question

I found a baptismal record (Church of England, 1765) which was transcribed (I believe in the 1940s) as given names "John Case" and his parents were unmarried (neither with surname Case). I noticed that for most illegitimate children in the same set of records, baptised by the same clergy, "Case" was added after the child's given name(s). My first though was that the original parish document (which I haven't seen) might have used "Base" as a short form of "Base born", but the notation is consistently transcribed over several pages and years. Also, at least one record where the parents were married Case was added and another where the mother's surname was Case. Any ideas?

ETA: Looks like "Case" was a transcription error of "Base". I found several examples in other parish records were "base" and "base born" look like "Case" and "Case born". when the B is in lowercase it can look like an uppercase C. Especially obvious when comparing two records on the same page in the Wiltshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812:
* Mary Base Born, bap. 26 Mar 1723, of Frances Sommerset
* John Case Born, bap. 31 Mar 1723, of Anne Robinson

Comments

Probably a red herring, but... The grammatical sense of "case" (like "nominative case") comes from the Latin for "to fall", and the Latin usage comes from the Greek for same, by translation. So if every, um, case of "Case" were illegitimate, I'd wonder if it was a reference to the fallen state of the mother.

(There are basically two senses of "case": "an instance" and "a box". The grammatical usage is grouped with the first one, while the surname is generally derived from the second: metonymic, for a maker of some form of box.)

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The surname of Caseborn was of the locational group of surnames meaning 'one who came from Casebourne Wood' in Hythe, County Kent. 

Those of us who are Case descendants would tell you that the two “basic” speculations as to the name origin are possible but oversimplified. If you look to other languages there are the different root meanings in Welsh, Norse, Irish, etc. Settling on one definitively is impossible unless you are unconcerned with the possibility of confirmation bias in the decision.

Case may be derivative of Casse, Causse, & Caze which are locations in south France and there are records of persons in 13th Century on both sides of the channel with those surnames with de or de la between given & surname, e.g. William Case; Guillame de Casse.

It is also likely that all of the above are permutations of the Danish/Norse family of Kaas. They would have been involved in the migration and settlement through Normandy, Burgundy and into Gascony. The prevalence of DNA haplogroup I-M253 lends credence to this theory as it is found concentrated in Denmark & Sweden with notable pockets in Western Coastal England and New York & Connecticut in the U.S.

As for Case vs. Base, I would have to see the documents and quantities of the usage before deciding if it is a coincidental mistake repeated or an intention notation. Given the thousands of records, virtually illegible originals and diverse phonetic spelling influenced by accent, I would assume a record error as more likely.

Answer 1

Can you give us a link to the transcription, please?  We may be able to get to the image and help.

Comments

The transcriptions are found in a paid membership required database - The Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador (FHSNL) Vital Stats Pre-1892 Births Database. However, copies of 1940s images are available in FamilySearch (Link to the instance of John Case, of John Glover and Margaret Dower: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9T-J4BL ). The original parish records are from Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (St. John's, Newfoundland), Volume 26C. The records should be accessible, in person only, at the The Rooms (Provincial Archives). The various "Case" entries occur from 1753 to 1777, baptised by Edward Layman.

ETA: I found similar instances on Ancestry.com

In Worcestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1600-1812 > Kings Norton > Register of Bishop Transcripts > 1701-1813 :

* Mary Case Eutnes, bap. 3 Aug 1750, daughter of Hester Eutnes
* Thos Case Hemen, bap. 3 Jun 1750, son of Margrett Hemen
* Mary Case Grifin. bap. 2 Sep 1750 , daughter of Mary Grifin

and in the Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 :

* "The Case Born Child of Martha Plantain Plantain", bap. 17 Apr 1743, Maldon, All Saints and St Peter, Essex, England.

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For what it's worth, there's another instance of the phrase "case born child" from Maryland in 1765, at this link:

he saith he never heard the said Eleanor Butler had a case born child.

A transcription error of "c" for "b" doesn't seem very likely: the handwritten letters are usually quite different.