How do you deal with a mistake in the birth name?

Question

My arrière-arrière-grand-mère Marie Cantin was christened, according to her baptismal record, "Marie Charles born this day to...Pierre Cantin, farmer, and Marie Charles Bisson." Her godmother was listed as "Marie Charles Bilodeau."

I know from verified records that her mother's name was Marie Charlotte (called Charlotte), and her godmother's name was also Marie Charlotte (also called Charlotte). So I assume the intent was to christen Marie as Marie Charlotte as well. But the priest wrote what he did.

What do you do in a situation like this?

Answer 1

In the past, it was very common to baptize girls Marie Charles

https://www.prdh-igd.com/Gratuit/fr/PRDH/Liste/acte?p=marie&rp2=ET&p2=charles&r=False&sx=f&amin=1800&amax=1820&rl=1&t=b&pg=1

• Proper First Name: Marie Charles
• Preferred Name: Marie

Comments

I see. I hadn't realized "Marie Charles" was popular for a while. There are no others on my tree. So, I'll accept the record as written. Since ever after she was just "Marie," there's no way to know more. Thank you!

Answer 2

As you have verified records showing the mother and godmother as Charlotte then use that name. Put your reasoning under Notes.

Cheers, Rich

Answer 3

Marie Charles is an alternate form of Marie Charlotte.  Charlotte being feminine diminutive form of Charles,   masculine equivalent being Charlot.

It happens a lot, some names are more prone to alteration than others, for instance Élisabeth often gets listed as Isabelle (or less often Isabeau).  It's considered the same name with same root.  Which is why we have the nickname field for such.

Answer 4

Many first names used to be unisex a few generations ago. This is not a mistake. Nowadays, there are a few French unisex surnames that remain common, like Claude and Dominique. Some are becoming uncommon, but are still generally known, like Pierre.

You should treat Marie-Charles as a variant of Marie-Charlotte. The use of Charles as a female first name simply has become obsolete over time. However, you might be interested in knowing that the use of old first names is becoming popular again in Canada. It is not excluded that there could one day be a resurgence of this custom of using a broad variety of names as unisex first names.

Comments

Some times it is done for spite. At the Baptism of one of our relatives, the Godmother was not in a good mood. When the Priest asked "what is the name of this child" the godmother responded "Susan Celina Helen Triphina". Though her life she was known as Nell.

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Among the thousands of people in my ancestry, I've seen names like Jean Marie, and I know that some names go both ways, such as Claude. But I had never seen Charles used for a girl except in this record, and since her mother and godmother's names were written incorrectly, I wondered whether the baby's name was incorrect too. I reverted to Marie Charles (no hyphen back then), but since she never used that name again, I'll never be totally sure if it's right or not. We have to rely on the spelling ability of the priest or whoever wrote the record.

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Véronique, some women didn't like their names, and were not shy of using another name for themselves.  Some went through several over the years.    No law against it then.