Truth is stranger than logic!
I’ve always been fascinated by the name Daniel of St Thomas Jenifer, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I always ass-u-me-d that the of was an indicator of nobility, like French de or German von or Irish o or Scottish mac.
I further ass-u-me-d there was a parish in England named after Thomas Jenifer, who must have been a saint. Both assumptions were plausible. Surnames were relatively recent in 1700, and parishes were often the official towns.
Finally looked it up. All wrong!
Jenifer was simply the surname. Daniel-of-St-Thomas was a favorite first name in the family, for reasons unknown to historians.
Even weirder, Daniel-of-St-Thomas had a brother named just plain Daniel. Just plain Daniel continued the weird tradition, naming his two sons Daniel-of-St-Thomas and just plain Daniel.
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Later: Using the same first name with different second parts is common in Catholic cultures. Mary Catherine and Mary Anne, or Jean-Luc and Jean-Paul. Within the family they just use the second name. What would the Jenifers do? If just plain Daniel was called Danny, would Daniel-Of-St-Thomas be called Uvvy?
