Weird Family Names

General Name Discussion
1

We all seem to have [name]James[/name] and [name]Ann[/name] back in our familes somewhere… but what are some of the weird or unusual names you have heard were related to you?

Mine are:
[name]Claude[/name] (my dad’s actual first name until he switched to his middle due to teasing. Poor kid… and his siblings were [name]Jeff[/name], [name]Kathy[/name], [name]Danny[/name], and [name]Larra[/name]!)
Hascal (my grandfather’s middle… [name]Larry[/name] Hascal!)
[name]Orrin[/name] (my grandmother’s grandfather… I would maybe use this!)
[name]Pansy[/name] (my mother’s birthmother’s aunt… her sisters were [name]Daisy[/name], [name]Rose[/name] and [name]Iris[/name])

What are yours?

2

I have Notie (prn: No-tee) no idea where that came from. And several named [name]Phyllis[/name], I cannot imagine having that name…

3

Ingebor. Sup, Norwegians?

4

Avena? no idea where this came from same with…
[name]Azura[/name]
Arrillia
[name]Lunette[/name]
[name]Missouri[/name]

[name]Benoni[/name]
[name]Parrish[/name]
[name]Tilla[/name] and his son [name]Tilly[/name]

5

[name]Ignatius[/name]. He went by his middle name, [name]Palmer[/name].

6

I have been tracing my family tree for years, maybe partially because of my love of names :slight_smile: I’m a first time poster and this subject is perfect for me :slight_smile:

Here are a few I found:

[name]Achsah[/name] - female distant cousin born c. 1800
Acle [name]Almus[/name] - male distant cousin born 1894
Adath Irel - female distant cousin born 1919…I’m going to leave off the distant cousin part since that’s probably what they all are :slight_smile:
Alexandrian Morrell male born 1891
[name]Almeta[/name] - female
Alney [name]Roscoe[/name] - male
Ambeleene - female
[name]Amiel[/name] - male
Annanais Powaten - male
Articilia - female
Artilissa - female
[name]Arvy[/name] - male
Arzie - female
[name]Assunta[/name] - female
Atta - female
Aulcie - female
[name]Azariah[/name] - male
Azell - male

And those are just the A’s :slight_smile: … my favorite unusual family name off the top of my head… Greenberry [name]Marion[/name]… He was my 3rd great grand uncle… and one of two Greenberry’s in my family tree.

7

Wow, lisajenise! Those are all pretty crazy, though some of them are great and usable! Greenberry would probably be my favorite, too. I would love to do family tree research. I just have to get my grandmother’s notes!

Btw, welcome to Nameberry and happy first post to you! :slight_smile:

8

I have a [name]Granville[/name] [name]Cecil[/name] and an [name]Olga[/name] [name]Crescentia[/name]

9

[name]Lillis[/name], [name]Percy[/name], [name]Philomena[/name], Arvander, [name]Julius[/name], [name]Margot[/name] (love!), Kevilline, and Chino all feature in my family tree!

10

The one I’ve been thinking about lately is [name]Drury[/name]. My dad showed me his family tree app a couple weeks ago (lol, he has an app for EVERYTHING, and he’s crazy-excited-like-a-little-kid about them all!), just so I could look at the names, and I saw there were several Drurys! I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting!” My mom and sisters were like, “[name]ASHLEY[/name], [name]DON[/name]'T [name]DO[/name] ITTTTTTTTTTTTTT!” lol. I think they think I want to use every name I mention liking. haha.

There’s a [name]Cora[/name] [name]Minerva[/name] that’s a great-great grandma of mine or something. I always thought that was pretty. And somewhere on my dad’s side there was a [name]George[/name] [name]Abraham[/name] [name]Garfield[/name] something or other. His parents must have been the most patriotic I’ve ever come across, lol.

I just took a closer look at my family tree, and I’m stinkin’ amazed. It’s filled with these classic, timeless, stunning [name]German[/name] names and I weirdly found so many of my favorites there… [name]Avery[/name] (boy), [name]Noah[/name], [name]August[/name], [name]Olive[/name]/[name]Olivia[/name] (spelled [name]Alivia[/name], but still), [name]Henry[/name], [name]Oscar[/name], [name]Clara[/name], [name]Emeline[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], [name]Daniel[/name], [name]Samuel[/name], [name]Silas[/name], [name]Magdalena[/name] (SO many!), [name]Lydia[/name], [name]Eliza[/name], [name]Grace[/name] (full name [name]Grace[/name] [name]Elinor[/name]–so in love!), [name]Jonas[/name], [name]Elias[/name], [name]Lena[/name], [name]Lila[/name], [name]Else[/name] (said [name]Elsa[/name]), [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Ezra[/name], etc. Found so many combos I love, too. My favorites being [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Phoebe[/name], [name]Viola[/name] [name]Matilda[/name], and [name]Henry[/name] [name]Willoughby[/name]… seems like something most Berries would love, haha.

Also found a sibset: [name]Hettie[/name], [name]Harry[/name], [name]Lottie[/name], [name]Lizzie[/name], and [name]Joseph[/name]… all of them struck me as so matchy except for [name]Joseph[/name]! Also found two brothers, [name]Rutherford[/name] [name]Hayes[/name] and [name]Ulysses[/name] [name]Grant[/name], lol. Apparently, I come from a fan of huge patriots.

Other interesting names I found:
Shadrack (like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego?)
[name]Frantz[/name]
[name]Theobald[/name]
Cosmos (lol)
[name]Kermit[/name] (the Frog?)
Alfretta
[name]Florence[/name] [name]Hazel[/name] (love [name]Hazel[/name]!)
Zoranda (also went by Zadora?)
Seludy (a bunch of them!)
Casst (what the?!)
Sebilla (much prefer [name]Sybil[/name] or [name]Sybella[/name]…)
[name]Ammon[/name]
Delana
[name]Anna[/name] [name]Clara[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] (just in love with this… so stunningly beautiful)
[name]Moses[/name]
[name]Naoma[/name] (instead of [name]Naomi[/name]?!)
[name]Lafayette[/name] [name]Franklin[/name] (makes me smile… I always loved [name]Lafayette[/name] in the American Revolution…)
Elshe (no clue how to say this, even)
Gaitha [name]Mozelle[/name] (Huh?!)
[name]Cornelia[/name] Emerjane (Emerjane is just weird. My grandma said she had some relative named Emeryjane, too…)
[name]Mary[/name] Freelove (Freelove I think is funny… [name]LOVE[/name] Lovejoy and Loveday, though…)
Armah
Balthaser (and a [name]Balthazar[/name])
Trissila (MN for a [name]Maria[/name])
[name]Elta[/name]
Lavantia [name]Elmira[/name] (the epitome of ugly grandma name, if you ask me!)
[name]Octavious[/name]

And, drumroll… the absolute best weird family name I found, haha:

Hilorious!

It cracks me up. Poor guy must have hated his name, lol.

11

Hilorious??

That’s HILARIOUS!!! Hahaha sorry, I had to!

Still, there are so many gems!

12

My great grandmother was [name]Allison[/name] (where I got my name). Her two sisters were [name]Lizzy[/name] (just [name]Lizzy[/name], apparently), and [name]Corisande[/name]. I love [name]Corisande[/name]! Also, one of my great grandfather was [name]Harold[/name] [name]Garnet[/name]. [name]Harold[/name]…meh. But I love [name]Garnet[/name], probably more for a girl, though.

13

I also have a Greenberry in my family tree. Plus [name]Squire[/name], [name]Colly[/name] (don’t know if this is pronounced like “[name]Collie[/name]” or “Coalie”), [name]Asa[/name], and [name]Clifford[/name] - just to name a few.

14

[name]Almina[/name] - my grandmother’s middle name
Elthelred - My grandfather’s middle name

I know there are more, but I don’t remember them. I like [name]Claude[/name] though! But as a middle name more. [name]Larra[/name]'s pretty.

15

Most of my ancestors have boring common names, except for [name]Cornelius[/name], my Irish GG-Grandfather, and Juozas, my Lithuanian G-Grandfather. Juozas is the Lithuanian version of [name]Joseph[/name] though, so it’s probably not weird over there.

16

I know! I am sort of liking [name]Claude[/name]… but I could never do that to my child after knowing what my dd went through. Kids were mean back in the late 60’s. He got called dirt claude everyday. I think [name]Larra[/name] is pretty, too! But I wasn’t counting her as a weird name. I just listed the siblings to highlight how weird my dad’s name was… like why would my grandparents put [name]Claude[/name] right in the middle of some of the most normal , popular names? [name]Kathy[/name], [name]Jeff[/name], [name]Claude[/name], [name]Danny[/name] and [name]Larra[/name].

17

One that pops up on my tree a few times is [name]Tyre[/name]. I always thought “what’s a guy named [name]Tyre[/name] doing in the 1800s?” because I thought it was pronounced “ty-ree.” Come to find out [name]Tyre[/name] originated as a short form of McIntyre and was pronounced more like “tire” or “ty-ra.” Other interesting finds:

[name]Zilpha[/name]
[name]Farrar[/name]
Boland Stark
[name]Talitha[/name]
Nealtha
[name]Green[/name] [name]Berry[/name] (I’ve got this one too!)
Lucinthia/Lucynthia
Menoah
Inerree
[name]Lafayette[/name]
[name]Zilla[/name] [name]Ann[/name]/Zillia [name]Ann[/name]/Zilly [name]Ann[/name]/Zillian (can’t find a consistent spelling)
[name]Harmon[/name]
Marcenia
Therath
Hachaliah/Hachariah
[name]Sinai[/name]
Parthema
[name]Isham[/name]
[name]Justinian[/name]
Irby
[name]Lemuel[/name]

18

Malpas! My grandfather had it, my uncle had it and now my brother has it ([name]Thomas[/name] [name]Arthur[/name] Malpas) - pretty weird huh.

We also have [name]Barclay[/name], which I think is less ‘weird’ although not standard. I would definitely choose [name]Barclay[/name] over Malpas. I am a second generation [name]Alice[/name]-[name]Rose[/name] which I quite like. Other family name is [name]Thomas[/name] which I quite like so might choose that.