Re: Meaning of

On 11/02/2012 22:28, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:11:50 +0000, Jenny M Benson
<nemonews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 11/02/2012 10:37, Kiwi in Aus wrote:
male nota or notus in Baptism registers for Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex,
c 1700-1800, I am assuming it means no husband as it appears with only a
woman's name

I think it indicates a woman "of ill-repute."

Google translates both as "well known". I suspect possibly tending
toward amateur rather than professional lack of repute otherwise IME
less euphemism is used.

I'm fascinated! Have you found "professionals'" children in your searches? What did the records say?

With a couple of possible exceptions (one bigamist, and one that might be the same as mentioned in court records), my ancestors seem to have been largely in the poor-but-honest category. Well, unless there's some code on the BMD certs or church records that I missed!

John
--
Maintainer of the s.g.b FAQs, at http://www.genealogy-britain.org.uk/
Currently researching LEE and BEDFORD families from Islington
.