Topic: Can you solve this riddle?

[Stupot]

He made the coffee at like 3am way before sunrise. Now that he can see the colour of his bike he knows the sun is up, and his coffee has been sitting there since 3.

[Mandle]

He made the coffee at like 3am way before sunrise. Now that he can see the colour of his bike he knows the sun is up, and his coffee has been sitting there since 3.

Exactly! (Blue is a very hard colour to see at night.)

[Kweepa]

But someone could have snuck in and microwaved his coffee while he was unconscious.

[Mandle]

(Just invented this riddle and a bit proud of it)

Judith married Stephen and they named their firstborn Mary.

Freida married Mark and they named their firstborn Vern.

Michelle married Thomas and they named their firstborn Edith.

Alice married William and they named their firstborn Mathew.

If a couple had a firstborn child and named it Nancy then what might the names of the parents be?

(Please only answer with the names and not your reasoning for choosing them)

[morganw]

Is there more than one correct answer?

[Creamy]

Don't know about the answer, but I noticed this in the first sentence:

Judith married Stephen and they named their firstborn Mary.
=Just married

[Mandle]

Is there more than one correct answer?

I'll just leave the wording of the riddle to speak for itself. 

Don't know about the answer, but I noticed this in the first sentence:

Judith married Stephen and they named their firstborn Mary.
=Just married

Nice find! But a coincidence I'm afraid.

[Stupot]

Damn Creamy, nice catch. Even if it is a red herring.

[Stupot]

Candy and Clarence.

[Mandle]

Nope.

[Klatuu]

Anastasia & Sylvester

[milkanannan]

Could be Clarence and Ellen

or

Patrick and Jenny

or

Jerry and Jessica

or

Rumplestiltskin and Peggy

Have I got it? 

[Kweepa]

Aha!
Ada married Steve...
Oh, Klatuu got it already.

[Mandle]

YES!!! We have two correct replies!

Klatuu was first, followed by Kweepa! (Maybe it's their similar-looking names?)

CONGRATS TO BOTH on figuring out a pretty difficult riddle! I wasn't even sure if it was reasonably solvable until they did it!

Now that others know what the answer(s) is/are, the next challenge is to figure out why.

Please continue to refrain from posting the method to get the correct answer(s).

Just post "AHA! I got it!" or something similar if you work it out.

I will notify Klatuu a bit later on and allow them to reveal the method (in hide tab).

[Mandle]

Okay, a small hint:

Spoiler: ShowHide

 ll
 ll
 ll
 V

[Mandle]

Okay, a bigger hint:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Look at the names of both parents and the child vertically and look for a pattern in each.

[Stupot]

I'm still none the wiser.

[Mandle]

I'm still none the wiser.

MAJOR HINT

Spoiler: ShowHide

There's a pattern to be found in each name's first letters.

[dayowlron]

I am still stumped as well

[Mandle]

I am still stumped as well

SUPER-DUPER GIVEAWAY HINT

Spoiler: ShowHide

Reading vertically the first letters of the mothers', father's and children's names are:

Mothers: J F M A
Fathers: S M T W
Children: M V E M

Each of these patterns fits with the first letters of three different patterns of things.

For example, if one of the patterns were numbers' names then the names would start with O T T F (One, Two, Three, Four)

Once this is known, it's just a matter of recognizing what the three different patterns of things are.