Why not use the name "McCarty?"

[Wayne Land]

If Billy The Kid's real father's name was McCarty as many believe, why would he not be proud of the name and use it. Once he was away from William Antrim and his mother had died, why use the name Bonney? Even if that was Katherine's maiden name, it seems he would have been more inclined to use his real parents' name of McCarty.

I believe the explanation Brushy gave makes sense. The real last name was Roberts but he estranged from his real father. He had no emotional connection to the name McCarty sense he never knew his "uncle" McCarty and his aunt Katherine was no longer using the name either. The bottom line for me is, he didn't want to use the real last name of Roberts because he had no more feelings for his real father and in fact was hiding from him. And there was no other last name that had any real meaning for him.

I'd love to hear some other opinions on this.

[mwb]

Brushy's story is plausible, but did he ever explain how he got Bonney? That seems to be out of the clear blue. Another explaination for not using McCarty, though, could be that he simply didn't want to be identified as Henry McCarty. People use alias' when they are on the run and don't want to be identified, so that would make sense, too. I probably wouldn't want to use my real name if I was on the run and people were looking for me. I had heard someplace that the H. in William H. Bonney was for Henry.

[Wayne Land]

Well it certainly would seem logical that the H. in William H. Bonney stood for Henry. But I don't believe during the childhood years when he was using the name Henry McCarty that the William was ever mentioned.

According to Brushy, the birth name was William Henry Roberts. His half "aunt" Catherine McCarty called him by the middle name "Henry" and her own last name as she was attempting to hide him from his real father. However, he did return to Texas and stay with his real father for a time but ended up getting beaten by him and took out on his own. While basically running from his dad, he met Belle Starr who dubbed him "Bonney". Many believe the name Bonney was Catherine's maiden name but I believe that is purely speculation. In fact, I suspect, (speculate) that Catherine's maiden name probably was "McCarty". I've also read about a theory that Billy took the name "Bonney" from reading dime novels about a female pirate by that name.

Unfortunately, we just don't have a lot of facts to go on. My position is that Brushy's version of how the name came about is just as plausible as any other and more than some.

[mckinley412]

(copy and pasted from www.aboutbillythekid.com/antrim_family.htm Because there were two “Billys” in the household, it may be around this time that Catherine started calling her oldest son, by his middle name “Henry.” Childhood friends in Silver City, claimed Billy the Kid’ s real name was William, but to keep him from getting mixed up with his stepfather, his mother was calling him by his middle name. His childhood friends would also added that the Kid never liked being referred to by his middle name and was known by his pals as both Billy and Henry.) Also I believe Brushy explained it in Jesse James the Outlaw by Walker, not sure. Also I just read Philip Rash, author of “Trailing Billy the Kid” said, “I was told in Silver City in the 1950s that everybody knew Billy was an illegitimate child. Antrim’s family told me he became very upset when anyone mentioned his wife and promptly changed the subject. I am convinced there is some scandal in her past.” Sounds like maybe everyone knew he was an orphan or runaway staying with his aunt to me.