The History of the Name Calvert
The Christian name Calvert first appeared in the family in 1815 as the only Christian name of the 10th child of Joseph[*13215]. We can assume that the name had little significance for Joseph as this child, Calvert[*13215A], was his sixth by his second marriage. It is such an unusual Christian name however that it was possibly the surname of a friend, (possibly Nicolson Calvert M.P.for Hertford was known to Joseph Toulmin) or of a relative of his second wife, Maria Sampson, who was Calvert’s mother. All other Calverts appear in later generations.
The next child to be christened Calvert was Calvert[*13215A]’s first son, Calvert[*13215A2], born 1842. The name was not given as a second or third Christian name to any of his three other children, two of whom were girls. This could either be because Calvert [*13215A] saw the name as a masculine name or because he did not feel strongly enough about the name to give it to more than one of his offspring.
The next appearance of the name was when it was given to William Calvert Toulmin in 1846. William[*1321546] was the son of Francis[*132154], the older half-brother of Calvert[*13215A].(Co-incidentally William’s sister Louisa married Calvert[*13215A2] but of course this has no bearing on William’s name.)
When Calvert[*13215A2] and Louisa had two daughters, but as yet no son, his cousin Fanny Woodham Barton, née Toulmin[*1321596], daughter of Calvert[*13215A]’s brother Augustus[*132159], had a son who was named James Calvert[*13215962]. He is presumed to have been born about 1872. Louisa then had a boy, Percy Calvert[*13215A23], born in 1875. This is the first of Calvert[*13215A2]’s children to bear the name.
All the rest of the known offspring of Calvert[*13215A2] were born to Marie Florentine Minna Gross, and every one was named either Calvert or Calverta according to gender. Calverta Marie Minna[*13215A25] and Edward Calvert[*13215A26] were born before the marriage in 1898,in 1896 and 1897 respectively, but nevertheless were given the father’s first name.
It appears that Calvert[*13215A2] had come to regard Calvert as an indispensable part of the family name, but we do not know why. However, if he had intended it to be attached to the surname, he would presumably not have called the girls Calverta. On the other hand, he did place Calvert(a) adjacent to the surname in all except the two who were given it as the prime Christian name. He named them as follows:
Calverta Marie Minna[*13215A25]
Edward Calvert [*13215A26]
Calvert Tertius[*13215A27]
Victor Calvert [*13215A28],
Frederick Livingstone Calvert [*13215A29],
Emily Malvina Calverta[*13215A2A],
Alberta Helena Calverta[*13215A2B],
Johanna Octavia Dorothea Calverta[*13215A2C]
Bruce Montague Keay Calvert [*13215A2D],
It is interesting to note that Calvert Tertius was called by his second name by the family in England, and only used Calvert (or "Cal") later in life when he lived in Australia.
Perhaps this history offers an explanation as to why one of Calvert [*13215A2]’s sons, Victor Calvert [*13215A28], decided to attach Calvert- to his surname when he married Beatrice Florence Bloomfield in 1927. However his first son Victor was registered at birth as Toulmin, but his second son Bruce was registered at birth as Calvert-Toulmin. As a consequence the surname became Calvert-Toulmin for all Bruce’s descendants. Victor believed his name to be Calvert-Toulmin but discovered it was just Toulmin sometime after his marriage to Betty Saunders, (The caption under the wedding photograph on the front page of the Peterborough Citizen and Advertiser, Friday, September 22nd, 1950, gives his name as Victor F. Calvert-Toulmin) Subsequently his children were registered as Toulmin.