I didn't get where I am today by being confused however I'm getting close to it.
As I may have already said there were two limbs of my Baltzer family in Whitechapel in the mid 1800’s, my great grandfather Heinrich Wilheim (H1) and his cousin Heinrich (H2).
The father of Heinrich (H2) was Heinrich (H3).
Towards the end of the 1860’s my great grandparents moved to Stamford in Lincolnshire and great grandfather Heinrich Wilheim (H1) became Henry William, presumably in an attempt to seamlessly slip into English rural society (although I suspect the surname would have been a bit of a giveaway!)
In 1868 their first child was born and he was named, yes you guessed it, Henry William (H4).
Meanwhile, back in Whitechapel, Heinrich (H3) had a son and he too named him Henry (H5).
In 1871 my great grandparents and young Henry (H4) moved to Ipswich and at the turn of the century great uncle Henry (H4) had a son, Henry William (H6)
Things went quiet on the Henry front for a few years but predictably, in 1937, Henry William (H6) had a son whom he, of course, named Henry William (H7).
So, if my great grandfather had gone the whole hog when he anglicised his name and my father had followed the family naming convention for his first born, I could be going through life as one Henry William Smith haunted by this dreadful attempt at a pop song.
