Interesting Puritan Baby Names

So, the other day I was doing some reading on Puritan baby names, and I came across a few that were rather shocking. While most people had classic biblical names such as [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] or [name_m]John[/name_m], many also had names that veered into the downright bizarre. I thought I’d share some of the more interesting choices with you.

  • Kill-sin (Last name Pimple)
  • [name_f]Fear[/name_f]-God
  • Notwithstanding
  • [name_m]Job[/name_m]-raked-out-of-the-ashes (?)
  • Has-descendants
  • Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith
  • [name_m]Wrestling[/name_m] (??)
  • Humiliation
  • Die-well
  • Farewell
  • Anger
  • If-[name_m]Jesus[/name_m]-[name_m]Christ[/name_m]-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned (this was a middle name, his first was [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m])
  • Abuse-not
  • Abstinence
  • Helpless
  • Sorry-for-sin
  • NoMerit
  • Forsaken
  • Handmaid
  • Fly-debate (???)
  • More-triale
  • Fly-fornication (:grimacing:)
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Abstinence and Abuse-Not are…ummm…I’m struggling to find the right word

All of these though are just…wow

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Lol yeah. I can’t even fathom how they could decide to name their children these.

Remember seeing [name_m]Judas[/name_m]-not-the-traitor-[name_m]Judas[/name_m]-Iscariot-the-other-one once. Cracks me up

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That is absolutely hysterical :joy::rofl:

Omg :flushed: :joy:

Somehow the worst one is just the last name being Pimple lol

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these are just astonishing! Some others i’ve seen are:

Silence
Dust
[name_f]Joy[/name_f]-in-Sorrow
More-Fruit
and
Continent [name_u]Walker[/name_u]

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Continent [name_u]Walker[/name_u] would at least be an excuse to live up to your name :woman_shrugging:t2:

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This reminds me of a book series I read by [name_u]Courtney[/name_u] [name_u]Milan[/name_u] where three brothers and their sister were all given bible verses as names instead of real names (they went by [name_u]Ash[/name_u], Smite, [name_f]Hope[/name_f], and [name_m]Mark[/name_m] though) but their actual names were long Puritan-esque things like this. I always found these types of names very interesting. For what most people view as a “stuffy” group of people they sure did get adventurous with their naming. But it also makes me curious as to what those people actually went by. I cannot see someone using Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith as their everyday name :joy: but maybe they went by [name_f]Faith[/name_f] or Fight? Very interesting and thought provoking post. Thanks for sharing!

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In my family, we had [name_f]Thankful[/name_f].

In the short series on Amazon, there was a Puritan man named Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer. It was a mouthful to say the least, and there was no shorter name for him.

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Right? [name_f]Imagine[/name_f] being like, “Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith, come eat your dinner!” “[name_m]Job[/name_m]-raked-out-of-the-ashes, did you brush your teeth?” What a mouthful.

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I hadn’t actually looked it up before, but Thankful had a brother named Deodate. All the rest of the siblings were considered normal by today’s standards (although Bethia does stand out a bit as not heard often these days).

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I can’t decide which is my favourite: Notwithstanding or [name_m]Wrestling[/name_m].

For some reason they’re the funniest to me because they don’t even sound religious. I wouldn’t expect their siblings to be [name_f]Fear[/name_f]-God or Abstinence, i’d expect Runnyeggyolk and Toothbrush.

That’s what I thought, too. They’re just so random!

I mean… I guess you get a daily reminder not to sin?

They’re pretty awesome in a slightly bonkers kinda way.

Gosh! Loaded names indeed!

Whilst researching my family tree I came across a [name_m]Wrestling[/name_m] Breswter who was on the Mayflower voyages from the UK to the Americas. Apparently, the name ‘[name_m]Wrestling[/name_m]’ was to signify ‘wrestling with the devil’.
He had a brother named [name_u]Love[/name_u] too.

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What if Has-Descendants ended up a bachelor for life…

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Parchments nailed to [name_f]Ye[/name_f] Olde Nameberry tree be like…
“[name_m]Can[/name_m] I get to NN [name_m]Damian[/name_m] from if [name_m]Jesus[/name_m]-[name_m]Christ[/name_m]-had-not-died for-thee-thou-hast-been-damned? Also can anyone suggest any more eleven syllable names?”

:rofl:

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