Hi,

This is a long shot as I am trying to see if an unusual name is a help to me. My maternal grandfather, Arthur Brown (1863-1917) and his wife Christiana Frances Corrin married in 1889, In 1890 they had a son christened Arthur Merrence Brown, who was taken to a professional photographer in the autumn to have a portrait to send to the maternal grandparents Henry & Mary-Ann Corrin who were in Chicago. Sadly the studio was cold and the little boy caught pnaumonia and died. He is the 3 mo old child burried as Arthur at German 2 Nov 1890, but his middle name was MERRENCE.

In 1907, Arthur Brown's father John M Brown, as he is recorded on the memorial in Andreas was buried. The family bible reveals that his middle name was actually MEARNS, which is a place and family name in Scotland. However the burial records give his name mistalenly as
MERRENCE.

I have looked for Merrence as a name, and it seems extremely rare to say the least. Does anyone have any suggestions. John M's father was James Brown who was born c1781, his parents probably being Thomas Brown, a wine merchant of Jedburgh and Mary Rutherfurd. That is probable but not yet proven. If anyone does have anything to prove that it will be a bonus.

My guess is that Mearns, if pronounced with a rolling Scots accent, could well sound like "Merrense", so it may be that Merrence is an attempt to render the name as it was pronounced.

Robert