Have you ever dug into your genealogy for name inspiration?
Well I was looking into my genealogy, and I found some great names! They were mostly born in Victorian [name_f]England[/name_f] (some a little earlier than that)
I thought maybe you guys would be as interested in these names as I am! Most of the others were [name_m]George[/name_m], [name_m]William[/name_m], [name_m]Joseph[/name_m], [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_f]Annie[/name_f] & [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
Girls:
[name_f]Mai[/name_f] [name_f]Edith[/name_f]
Elizh (This is what she was christened as, not just a shortening for the census. Possible misspelling of [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] which was common in my family)
[name_f]Anney[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] (Named after her mother [name_f]Annie[/name_f])
[name_f]Hephzibah[/name_f]
[name_f]Selina[/name_f]
Phobe (another misspelling, there were a few women named [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] in my family)
[name_f]Keziah[/name_f]
[name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Rose[/name_f] & [name_f]Ada[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] ([name_f]Ada[/name_f] was another common name for my family but I love it)
[name_f]Priscilla[/name_f]
[name_f]Maud[/name_f]
It’s interesting to see [name_f]Mai[/name_f] used here, because I’ve seen a lot of comments on how it’s “chavvy” in [name_f]England[/name_f] now, but it’s also the [name_m]French[/name_m] word for the month of [name_f]May[/name_f] (and I believe it’s Welsh too??), so I guess it’s really no different than [name_f]May[/name_f]!
My family tree didn’t have many misspellings but my favourite was definitely [name_f]Rhoda[/name_f] Bull - she was born around 1878, and somehow, her parents overlooked/missed the fact that her name was a phrase!
We also have my great grandmother and her siblings; [name_u]Ruby[/name_u], [name_f]Nina[/name_f], [name_u]Carson[/name_u], [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f], [name_m]Thurlow[/name_m], [name_m]Earl[/name_m], [name_u]Percy[/name_u] and [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]!
Otherwise my family was pretty standard, though I did have a great-great-great grandmother named [name_f]Stella[/name_f] (this was her birth name too) who was born in 1850, which was interesting as I hadn’t heard much in terms of usage for [name_f]Stella[/name_f] as a standalone before 1920!
[name_f]Mai[/name_f] was born in 1867, so I don’t think she was a chav! It can also be a Vietnamese name, but I think it was from the [name_m]French[/name_m] month name.
[name_f]Rhoda[/name_f] Bull is amazing! Victorian names are really great! Oddly enough I had absolutely zero ancestors named [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] during her reign.
Your great great grandparents had great taste! Very ahead of the times!
“[name_m]Septimus[/name_m] & [name_f]Hephzibah[/name_f]” . . . this combo is so wrong but so fitting at the same time.
I don’t think that I can trace my ancestry that far. The best-weirdest names In my family are on my father’s side. His maternal grandpa Saturio and grandma [name_f]Crisanta[/name_f]. They had kids with normal names, except for my great aunt [name_f]Urania[/name_f]… her legal name is too boring, but her father naver called her by it so the [name_f]Urania[/name_f] it stuck, it suits her. In my mom’s side I apparently had a great great aunt Lastenia.
[name_m]Septimus[/name_m] and [name_f]Hephzibah[/name_f] — that’s awesome!
Favorites from my tree include [name_f]Pamelia[/name_f] (to my knowledge, my family is not Spanish) and Samiramus. I’m guessing the latter is a variation of [name_f]Semiramis[/name_f], who was both an Assyrian legend and a real Assyrian queen.
Samiramus named her daughter [name_f]Minerva[/name_f], and then came several women named [name_f]Clio[/name_f] — clearly we have a mythology thing going on!
My great-grandmother Heulwen, which is Welsh (as are we), although she was nicknamed [name_f]Eila[/name_f] to most of us (pronounced like [name_f]Isla[/name_f] [Eye-la])
My cousin Tyfenn, a [name_m]Breton[/name_m] name, as her mother is from [name_f]Brittany[/name_f], [name_f]France[/name_f]. This is pronounced Teef-enn. Her middle name is actually [name_f]Eila[/name_f] after our great-grandmother.
Somewhere on this side of the family there are twin brothers called Dillwyn & Collwyn (pronounced with the Welsh letter ll)
On the other side of my family, I have a cousin called [name_f]Angharad[/name_f] - in [name_m]Wales[/name_m] this is pretty popular, there were three in her school year alone. It’s actually pronounced how it’s spelt. Ang-harad.
I was actually really surprised because I found a [name_m]Jock[/name_m] and a [name_f]Celia[/name_f] in our family tree, haha. Those were my favorites.We also have a [name_f]Maud[/name_f], [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], [name_f]Susannah[/name_f], [name_u]Evan[/name_u], [name_m]Percival[/name_m], [name_f]Sylvia[/name_f], [name_f]Iris[/name_f] and a [name_u]Percy[/name_u]. I don’t know if I’d use any of those but they’re interesting.
I was just looking at my family history today. Some of the names I love are:
Rosmarie
[name_u]June[/name_u] [name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_f]Molly[/name_f] [name_f]Mae[/name_f]
[name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Eva[/name_f] Magaretha
[name_f]Delilah[/name_f]
[name_f]Raziah[/name_f] ([name_f]Rosie[/name_f])
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Polly[/name_f] (2)
Aldura [name_m]Sumner[/name_m]
My great-grandma and her siblings:
[name_f]Cecylia[/name_f], [name_f]Wanda[/name_f], [name_f]Waleria[/name_f], [name_m]Julian[/name_m].
I really like this set
[name_m]Enok[/name_m]. My great grandfather and he told my mum that she had to name her first son after him, bet my brother is glad she went with [name_m]Ben[/name_m]!
There was also a couple of [name_f]Bertha[/name_f]'s.
Apart from that it was [name_f]Maisie[/name_f], [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_u]Joan[/name_u], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_m]Ralph[/name_m], [name_m]David[/name_m], etc.
I’m sure there are many other, more bizarre named but none that I know of.
Most of mine are [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]John[/name_m], [name_f]Sarah[/name_f], etc - but there are some outliers. I’ve traced back pretty far in some cases.
Agnietje
[name_f]Artemisia[/name_f]
Dionysia (medieval form of [name_f]Denise[/name_f]/feminization of [name_m]Dionysus[/name_m])
Gwenllian
[name_f]Lydia[/name_f]
[name_f]Matilda[/name_f]
[name_f]Penelope[/name_f]
[name_f]Temperance[/name_f]
[name_f]Unity[/name_f]
[name_f]Ursula[/name_f]
[name_f]Winifred[/name_f]
[name_m]Arthur[/name_m]
[name_m]Clement[/name_m]
Cordel
[name_m]Ebenezer[/name_m]
[name_m]Giles[/name_m]
[name_m]Lazarus[/name_m]
Lodewyck
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] (so many of them)
[name_m]Pierre[/name_m]
[name_m]Thaddeus[/name_m]
[name_u]Valentine[/name_u]
In my family tree from the late 1800s I found a Phareby Ferribee Raspberry. Yes, it’s real. I know naming was weird in that time period but why? Then there was a grandkid she had named Raspberry [name_u]Byrd[/name_u]. They used the maiden name as one of the kids first names. It’s wacky, but I kinda have a slight fondness to it because I loved [name_f]Strawberry[/name_f] Shortcake and Raspberry Torte is a character.
In my family tree [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] was commonly used as a male middle name very often. And a male even has it as a first name, [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] [name_u]Byrd[/name_u]. I always thought it was a girl name.
There is also a [name_u]Bird[/name_u] Ball. not sure the middle name but wow! Wacky! He was my great uncle or great great uncle? But my mom got to know him for a little bit, so it’s not like he was that old.
A quirky but honestly cute name combo is [name_f]Effie[/name_f] [name_f]Leona[/name_f]. Nothing I’d use on a real kid but it’s cute! She was my great grandmother.
Some very weird middle names from 1700s and 1800s
Puncher (yes it’s real)
Kiziah
Valois
Hasseltine
Atif
Horsemanden
It can also be a Vietnamese name, but I think it was from the [name_m]French[/name_m] month name.