Names

It’s not a forename or nickname I have ever heard of in Ireland (I live in Co. Antrim). There’s no-one anywhere in Ireland with that name in the 1901 census (out of 4.5 million people).

There's no one else anywhere at anytime I can find! There are some people who appear to have it as a surname but not Christian name so it's unique as far as I can tell. I discovered it doing my family tree and having DNA genealogy test 

Some Protestants and Presbyterians in particular have a habit of using a surname as a forename, or middle name. Sometimes the name chosen was the mother’s maiden name, other times it was someone the family respected eg the local Minister or school teacher. (There were quite a number of children named Churchill after Winston Churchill, you get the idea I am sure). So you do get some surprising first names from that but, that said, I have never come across this particular name. 

Here’s a Campbell Ramsay in Co. Antrim as an example of a surname used as a forename:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Beardiville/Ballyhome/130731/

What denomination was your ancestor?

Hi thank for taking time to reply.  He was Roman Catholic and born in Ireland. He moved to Renfrewshire aged 31. The other thing I'm finding of interest is how in both my parents backgrounds there are surnames which are the same eg my mothers maiden name was woods and there's lots of woods in my dads tree not related to my mum or McGinn's again on both sides. However one side predominantly is Irish and the other Scottish but the majority ended up in the central belt of Scotland before dispersing throughout the west. It's been fascinating stuff this genealogy. I've even had to go take pictures to send to my fathers half brothers grandchildren of First World War memorial of their grandfathers name on the memorial and they're halfway across the world in Canada !