Week 3 - Nickname

The only nickname that I can recall among my ancestors was my great-uncle "Buzz" Pennington. I'd never heard his given name and when I started researching my family tree, I thought I'd found a long lost relative named Elmer Eddie. My grandparents were all either Grandma <insert last name here> and Grandpa <insert last name here>. My parents were the first who were given nicknames by the grandkids - they became Mimi and Pawpaw. Within the current generation of grandparents, my sister is "Bobo", my brother is "BumBum", my husband is "PapPaw". We have friends who are "Grumpy", "Honey", "Mumzy" and "Ninier" to their broods. When my oldest grandson was around two, and visiting my un-childproofed home, he headed to an electrical outlet with a screwdriver in his hand. I yelled out a cross between, "Move!" and "No!" which came out - MOE! He froze, turned around, and laughed as only a two-year-old can. I have been Moe ever since. My husband and my own children call me Moe exclusively, except for my youngest daughter who I do something she deems out of line. Then it's "MOTHER!"

I have always known that my great-grandmother's name was Malora Jane. Where or when this information came to me was long before I began researching my family tree. I knew it just as well as I knew my parents and grandparents' given names. My sister, on the other hand, will adamantly refute this. According to her (and she has enlisted the support of a cousin), our great-grandmother's name was simply "Lora". Both my sister and this cousin knew Malora/Lora personally, so there is no evidence presented to them that they would believe. I simply cannot get them to listen to my side and I feel stupid even bringing it up, but the fact it has become such a bone of contention between us is reason enough for me to write about it. I will let you draw your own conclusion, and I beg your forgiveness in advance for dragging you into this ridculous battle of wills.

Malora Jane Ayers

There are numerous documents in defense of my sister's claim. The Great State of Oklahoma shows Lora as our great-grandmother's first name on her death certificate. Her own daughter, Myrtle, provided this information. Myrtle surely knew her own mother's name, right? When my own mother died, I gave the information for her death certificate, and there was no question I knew her name. Legal documents from a civil suit brought against the estate of my great-grandfather listed his wife as Lora. Even the Social Security Administration shows her name as Lora on her initial application, as well as the Social Security Death Index. These are all official documents, at both the state and federal levels. Certainly, they cannot all be in error.

The Hydro Review, a local newspaper in the area where Malora lived, has countless articles and mentions of her throughout the, almost fifty years, of residence. Each time, her name is Lora. All the way back to 1890, in Habersham County, Georgia when she married my great-grandfather, her name was denoted as Lora J. Ayers. In each census from 1900 through 1940, she is enumerated as Lora, Lora J., or Lora Jane. It is apparent she did not like the name Malora and chose to shorten as soon as she could.

Nonetheless, her name at birth was Malora Jane. So, how do I know this?

In many families, names are sometimes passed down. To me, this is one of the greatest ways to honor and remember those who have gone before us. I have generation upon generation of my family where the name "Henrietta" has been given to descendants in multiple lines of one branch. Although I didn't know Malora Jane (she died before I was born), from what I hear, she was very kind and loving. This may well be the reason that her youngest son named his daughter after her.

Malora Jane was also the name of my first cousin, once removed. This Malora went by Jane or Janie her entire life. She didn't care for the name Malora any more than my great-grandmother - and she told me so. Throughout my life, however, I knew her and her full name. There has never been a doubt to how she came to have it.

Malora Jane II

Whatever name you use during your lifetime may or may not be the one you were given at birth. Whoever gives the information your death certificate may only provide what they believe to be true, regardless of whether it is. Birth certificates, while not required when Malora Jane was born, are considered a primary source. With few exceptions, one of your parents gave the recorder the name they chose for you. There is no doubt that this is the name you were born with. But still, in practically all written record, Lora was the only name ever used for my great-grandmother...except one.

The census is captured every ten years. In the years from 1900 through 1940, Lora or her husband probably gave the census taker any information he recorded. The only other census year where my great-grandmother was listed was in the 1880 census from Center Hill, Habersham County, Georgia. This information was most likely provided by one of her parents. Much like a birth certificate, they gave the name they had bestowed on her at birth. Line 28 of page 39 - Malora, female, age 6.

Malora? Or Lora? You be the judge...