The Family Name

My maiden name Meaker is much more common than my married surname of Titheradge, and yet I have never come across another person with the surname spelt either Meaker or Meeker.  The nearest I have got is to see the local signs for a company called “Meaker Fencing”.

The surnames Titheridge, Titheradge, Tidridge and Tytheridge are very rare and yet on several occasions I have come across people with the name or related to the name.  Can you tell us if the same has happened to you.

The first time this happened was on our first visit to the local library way back in 1988 when we were trying to start our genealogy research.  An elderly member of Sussex Family History Society called Albert  noticed that we didn’t have a clue what we were doing and came to our aid and showed us the indexes available.  When we told him the name we were interested in he said with a big smile, “the man in the flat above me is called John Titheridge”.  A week later we received a letter from 82 year old John Titheridge giving us some scant details of his family, although he had no knowledge beyond his parents and had no contact with other family members.

A year later on our first visit to Hampshire Record Office in Winchester we ordered some parish records to look at.  The girl called out our name and when we sat down a gentleman came over and said “Did she say Titheridge?” This was genealogist Roy Daysh who was related to a Titheridge and he had researched the family name.  On the spot he presented us with a copy of our first family tree of the “Titheridges of Droxford”.

On another visit to the Hampshire Record Office a lady was making conversion and asking who I was researching.  When I said Titheradge she said “Oh!  I’ve researched the Titheridges of Itchen Ferry”.  Alas, I lost her contact details and never did benefit from sharing her information.

When I worked a Brighton Hospital one day I answered the phone and was rather startled to hear the person at the other end say “Hello this is Dr Titheridge…”

A few years ago my friend reported to me that she had been very surprised to go into a bank in West Sussex to find that the name card of the person behind the counter was “Ann Titheridge”

Last year my son went out with some people from work and their friends.  He was talking to one of the friends only to find that her grandparents were called “Titheradge”.

So has this ever happened to you?– have you come across people associated with your name in unexpected places?  If so please tell us about it.