Genealogy Chat

Interested in John B and William B whose army records are filed together. Both born Dublin, enlisted at different successive times (John B in 1879 and 1900, William B in 1914) at the same place, dates of birth the same, maiden names of wife (unusual), and list of numerous children the same. Even have the same tattoos!
Service records suggest they are the same man.
Names of William B's children in 1911 census same as in army records.
How could this use of two different first names come about?
David

I have an ancestor from Ireland whose Christian name was Patrick. He emigrated with his family to New Jersey, U.S.A and changed his name to William. It is definitely the same man; like your case, the date of birth, wife's maiden name, children's names etc are all identical.
Maybe they didn't like their original names! Perhaps he thought Patrick was too Irish :-S

Thanks for your replies.
I thought the surname was not relevant. Not 'Irish' but began with B.
Another idea I had was that William may have been the father's name so William (son) may have used 'John' to distinguish himself from his father ?????
Or did he first enlist (aged 19) against the wishes of his parents and tried to disguise his action by using a different first name ????
David

David...The most probable reason was the one you noted above.."to distinguish himself from his father"...He may have been born John William/William John but you would need to check his Birth/Marriage Cert. to see what his father was called.