Talk:Sigismund Payne Best

Name

His birth record gives his name simply as 'Sigismund Best' (reg. Cheltenham, Glos. 1887); he appears in the 1901 census as 'Sigismund Best' alongside his father 'George Best' and other family members, none of whom are listed as bearing the name 'Payne'. His father's 1907 probate record lists him as 'BEST, George Payne'. By the time of Sigismund Best's marriages he was using the name 'Payne'; the record of his 1908 marriage to Dorothy Stallwood Adams gives his name as 'BEST, Sigismund Payne'; the 1921 Netherlands record for his marriage to Maria Margaretha van Rees lists his full name as 'Sigismund Payne Best' (father George Payne Best), and his 1975 marriage to Bridget A. Dancy or Lind lists him both as 'Best, Sigismund P.' and 'Payne Best, Sigismund'. This indicates that- given he does not appear to have been given the name at birth- over time Best adopted the name 'Payne' initially as a middle name, then as part of a compound surname.

The situation reflects what Debrett's Correct Form (1976, p. 7) explains regarding compound surnames: 'There is a distinction between a surname and a family name. In England the latter is often added to the surname to show the identity of a particular family or branch. For example, should the surname be Smith, and in one branch most or all children are christened Abel, they are known collectively as the 'Abel Smiths'. Due to the fluid system of names in England it often happens that some members of this family adopt the family name as an additional surname, with the result that their children no longer have this name included as their final christian name... in England and elsewhere those with a common surname, such as Smith or Brown, often acquire an additional name. This sometimes arises by tacking on a second christian name, especially if derived from a surname, accelerated by the practice of using this second christian name in the signature, e.g. John Berkeley Brown is known by the christian name of Berkeley, and he signs 'J. Berkeley Brown'. People therefore call him and his wife Mr and Mrs Berkeley Brown, instead of Mr and Mrs Brown as they do for his brother Mr George Brown. In course of time his children become known by the double name of Berkeley-Brown.'