Latin in records · card M

mater

Mater is Latin for "mother"; in a register the name after mater is often the mother's maiden name.

Mater means mother. In printed register forms it heads the column for the mother's name, and in narrative entries the mother is often named after the father with her own surname, giving you her maiden name.

That makes Latin baptism records one of the best places to find a woman's maiden name. Write it down exactly, and note if the priest used her husband's surname instead.

As seen in a recordColumn headings in a printed Latin baptism register
Pater: Jacobus Weber. Mater: Elisabetha nata Klein
How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "mater." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/latin/mater. Last checked 2026-10-01.

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