“1639, April. Bill of complaint relative to the sale of the manor of Keyston, Hunts, by Edward Maria Wingfield.”—C. S. P., 1639.
Maria had long been common in Italy, France, and Spain, as a second name, and still is, whether for a boy or girl, the child being thereby specially committed to the protection of the Virgin. The earliest instances in England, however, were directly given in honour of two royal godmothers, who happened to be Mary in one case, and Henrietta Maria in the other. Hence the seeming transference of the foreign second name Maria to our own shores. Thus introduced, Maria began to circulate in society generally as an allowed second name:
“1610, July 10. Baptized Charles Maria, sonne of Charles Chute, Esquire.”—St. Dunstan-in-the-West.
“1640, ——. Died Gulielma Maria Posthuma Springett.”—Tablet, Ringmer, Lewes, Sussex.
This last was a bold procedure, three names being an unheard-of event. But the sponsor might reply that he was only placing together the two recognized second names, Maria and Posthuma. Later on, Maria is again found in the same family. In the year 1672, William Penn, the Quaker, married Gulielma Maria, daughter of Sir William Springett.
Posthuma (as in the above instance), or Posthumus, is still more remarkable. The idea of styling a child by this name, thus connecting its birth with the father’s antecedent death, seems to have touched a sympathetic chord, and the practice began widely to prevail. The first example I have seen stands as a single name. Thus, in the Canterbury Cathedral register, is recorded:
“1572, Feb. 10. Christened Posthumus, the sonne of Robert Pownoll.”
The following is the father’s entry of burial:
“1571, June 8. Buried Robert Pownoll.”
This is the earliest instance I have seen. Very soon it was deemed right to make it a second name: