JNO name of ancestor

[valbee]

Hi

Please could someone tell me what the name JNO is short for? I found the name in the IGI and not sure if it is a short version of John.

Thanks
Val

[Alan Welsford]

You are correct

Jno = John
Wm = William
Jas = James

etc...

Alan

[Mutley]

One of my lot used JNO for Junior when father and son, with the same names, (not John) lived together.

However, I think the abbreviation for Junior should really be JNR. I would not trust my lot to have got anything right.:)

[Alan Welsford]

Probably worth posing this link

(Its on the FreeReg site)

http://freereg.rootsweb.com/howto/realnames.htm

Alan

[*bunty*]

Thanks for that link Alan, that just told me my Jon. is indeed Jonathan as I suspected. I worked out Wm., Jas. and Chas. on my own ;).

[valbee]

Hi

Thanks to all who helped with my query. I'd sorted out Hy for Henry, Chas for Charles and Lottie for Charlotte but couldn't fathom why John would be shortened to JNO!

Val

[Guy Etchells]

Be very careful extending "abbreviated" names sometimes the name was not abbreviated but was the full name.
Also ensure to check other sources to prove the assumption of full name was correct, remember the person who wrote the contraction may not have know the correct protocol and simply used their own contractions.
Best practice is not to extend or contract anything when copying records until other sources confirm or deny the assumption.
Cheers
Guy

[*bunty*]

I understand where you are coming from Guy, but I think we are pretty safe with Hy and Jno, as it simply isn't possible that these are real names. Now, I understand Chas could be a name (although in my case it was short for Charles). I guess it is always safe to double check though ;).

[pipsqueak]

In the case of one of my relatives, the Jno stood for Jane - as in "Mary Jno". If I hadn't been 100% certain that I had the right family and hadn't known that, the Jno would have thrown me completely!

[LittleMissP]

I recently realised why I was getting confused over one section of my tree... There were two daughters of a particular couple- one called Elizabeth and the other Eliza. At first I'd assumed these were the same person and merrily put Elizabeth in all the relevant entries, it was only later on I realised that I now have to transfer Elizabeth's marriage, children, etc, etc across to Eliza.

Distinct lack of originality on the parent's behalf though in the naming! :D

But a good lesson learnt for me!

[Mutley]

For a long time I hunted for Elijah only to find he was actually a she,
Elizah, wrongly enumerated as a son. :confused:

[Jan1954]

For a long time I hunted for Elijah only to find he was actually a she,
Elizah, wrongly enumerated as a son. :confused:

I had Pharaoh enumerated as Sarah - a daughter... |shakehead

[Guy Etchells]

Basic rule for all family history research.
Never abbreviate any names or words, never extrapolate any abbreviation.

Only one person knows for sure what any abbreviation means, the person who made the abbreviation.
Cheers
Guy

[suedent]

For a long time I hunted for Elijah only to find he was actually a she,
Elizah, wrongly enumerated as a son. :confused:

My husband's gg-grandparents had Elizabeth Ann, Elisha & Eliza (twins who died as infants) and then his great-gran Eliza.

Can you just imagine what the enumerators & parish clerks made of that, especially considering how their father's strong Swedish accent must have sounded to someone from Sunderland!

[apthomas]

Funny that I used to think the same. My father's name was Jno. This was his full name (no middle name). Because he was of Lebanese descent I assumed that because his mother didn't know how to write and she was told to write his name on the birth certificate when he was born (1935) that this was how it came out. But after some research, I discovered that it was once a fairly common name particularly in Britain. There are two, I believe, signers of the American Declaration of Independence whose names are Jno. So this is not necessarily a typo nor a short for any name (I doubt that John is in need of being shortened!). But as my father used to tell others when they questioned the name....it simply meant that he was JNO -- Just Not Ordinary! And I can assure all, it couldn't have been any more fitting.

[DianaCanada]

Jno. goes back to the days of Latin use in Catholic Churches - it is abbreviation for the latinzed version of John - Johannes. And, as Jane is a feminine form of John (as is Ann, shortened from Johanna and subsequently Hannah), a Jane may very well be shortened the same way, although an "a" on the end seems more logical.
And just to add fuel to a fire somewhere - I maintain Jack is just the anglicized spelling of Jacques, which came in with the Normans, and it is not a nickname for John. Somehow James in English evolved from Jacobus, the Latin version and it's a mystery to me as it does not seem a logical "change".

[limeyrr]

My grandmother was Mary Elizabeth but she was called "Polly" for the whole of her 96 years.

I hear where your coming from. It's almost like the child rebels against the name their given and chooses their own. My grandfather was named Cyril Claude, doesn't surprise me he went be the name of Bob for his whole life.

[DianaCanada]

I am aware that Jack is used as a nickname for John but I don't think it was that way originally - and I am referring to 1000 years ago when the Normans brought many new names into England - some Biblical and some not, in many ways supplanting the Anglo-Saxon names. To the Anglo-Saxon ears, the sound Jack would have been more natural than the French Jacques. Over time Jack disappeared as a common name and seems to have been revived late in the Victorian era (along with a lot of other names that had been out of widespread use for centuries - Alfred, Arthur, Reginald, Maud, Edith, etc.) It seems very likely Jack was mistakenly associated with John. It really isn't a shortening, as they are both 1 syllable. The absence of a common surname like Jameson or Jimson in England but the very common name of Jackson points to Jack being the English form of Jacques. Surnames were commonly formed in the 12th century, and many of the popular boy's names were by then influenced by the Normans (often via the Bible) and although some Anglo-Saxon names survived, they were outnumbered as given names.

[Chris Doran]

I'm currently keying some registers where John is routinely spelled Jhon. There are Jhoannas too, but Jane is spelled without the aitch. I haven't looked forward to see when they stop doing this -- I'm only 3/4 way through the 14th century!

[strawberrymivvy]

Then of course there's Sally for Sarah, Molly for Mary, Lily for Elizabeth...

And in my own bizarre family I have all of the above (siblings) plus in the same family an Albert who was always known as Joe, a Frederick who was Rick (that at least I can understand) and a Maurice who was Dick! Sarah/Sally was also known as Lal, but I've never heard that anywhere else and assume it's a "babyfied" version of Sally

[DianaCanada]

Mark Antony Lower in A Dictionary of Surnames attributes Jack's origin to James/Jacques. I just see no reason by Jack would have evolved from John - doesn't sound like it, and John doesn't need shortening. It does, however, sound like Jacques.
A mysterious consonant drift - Polly for Mary, Patty/Patsy for Martha, and Peggy for Margaret - some experts maintain the "m" and "p" were closer in pronunciation hundreds of years ago than they are now, in English (or old English), anyway.

[kiwipom]

Hi

Please could someone tell me what the name JNO is short for? I found the name in the IGI and not sure if it is a short version of John.

Thanks
Val

I have always considered Jno as an abbreviation for Jonathon and a tool whereby the scribe was able write when uncertain whether if he should scribe John or Jonathon.
Certainly my ancestors in both East Yorkshire and Bedford were often recorded as Jno when they were correctly Jonathon.

My Somerset ancestors baptised John were almost without exception always called Jack.

Just MHO
Tony (sorry Anthony)

[deeree]

I also have a Polly in the family, notanotherminer, do you think Polly is a diminutive of Mary or Elizabeth?

[LittleMissP]

My understanding is that Polly is a pet form of Mary Ann.

[Jeuel]

Polly is a pet form of Mary, as is Molly. But I was led up the garden path by being told my grandmother had an Aunt Polly M. I couldn't find her for yonks. Turns out her name was Emily (Polly Em) but she was called Polly Em because she kept a parrot!

I have an Uncle Jim whose name was not James but Jabez. So you can't always go on recognised abbreviations as a guide to the correct name.

[Del 80]

Hi, I spent ages looking for my g.mother in Ireland, we were always told her name was Josie, so I looked for Josephine, eventually found her, or rather someone else did, under her real name JOHANNA, I also had a great aunt Mary Anne, always known as POLLY. Regards Del.

[Saishus]

I recently realised why I was getting confused over one section of my tree... There were two daughters of a particular couple- one called Elizabeth and the other Eliza. At first I'd assumed these were the same person and merrily put Elizabeth in all the relevant entries, it was only later on I realised that I now have to transfer Elizabeth's marriage, children, etc, etc across to Eliza.

I have the same thing! Looking up my Pemble ancestry and there's Jno with sisters Eliza and Elizabeth.

[emilyzapata]

its weird but i also think that it stands for john... :)
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