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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Amazing names from your family tree

142 replies

OrangeAndYellowAndBlue · 29/11/2021 21:45

Following a conversation at work today.

I had an (great great ?) Aunty Ceinwen. Much further back on the family tree we found a Rosina, which I thought was rather pretty.

A colleague recently discovered he had a distant cousin with the first name Macdara, which is apparently a local Irish saint, and means Son of Oak!

Any cool or unusual names from way back in your family tree?

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Justilou1 · 01/12/2021 07:23

I am forever grateful to have been born female. Firstborn males have been saddled with the name “Borrodell” either as a first or a middle name. It has been passed down for many generations with an inheritance. My brother’s share was $26 AUD. Not worth it. As my uncle and brother did not procreate, I think that the branch has withered on our side of the tree.

Finknottlesnewt · 30/11/2021 22:25

I have a great great grandma who was 'blessed' with the name Euphemia .. (thank God always known as Mia... )

VenusClapTrap · 30/11/2021 22:19

Betty Battye.

Joonio · 30/11/2021 19:35

Cuthbert. Ida. Doreen. Connie. Edgar.

Adviceneededplease1234 · 30/11/2021 19:21

I had a male relative who’s middle name was Kerrice because his mother had heard the name Cerys and didn’t know how it was spelt.

Libraryghost · 30/11/2021 19:20

Absalom.
Kezia
Loveday
Naomi
Honora

my personal favourite. .. 'Christmas' .. and yes he was born on Xmas day!

And twenty million Mary's and Hannah's of course.

Veh1970 · 30/11/2021 19:11

Altamont
Cysline
Cobey (female)

noblegreenk · 30/11/2021 19:09

Constance is name that goes way back in our family tree. It was my mum, grandmother and great grandmother's middle name, but it goes but several more generations. I gave it to my dd for her middle name as well. I really love it.

IVflytrap · 30/11/2021 19:08

Keturah, Hepzibah, Mahala, Easter, Willoughby (definitely female), Bethia, Meriel, Rosella, Florrie (full name, not a shortening)

Men: Cuthbert, Shem, Esau, Ishmael, Josiah, Water, Samson, Nelson

I suspect Easter could have been an Esther and Water a Walter, but will never know for sure.

There's also a huge number of spelling variations of common, mostly female, names (Honour, Harriot, Phillis, Catherne, Marriane)

I notice quite a few posters also have a Mahala in their family tree. It's not a name I'd heard before so it's interesting that it seems to not have been that unusual.

Veh1970 · 30/11/2021 19:05

@SallyOMalley

I have a Keren-Happuch and a Keziah.

You'd think that, with a name like Keren-Happuch and a fairly uncommon surname, this particular relative would be jumping off the ancestry records. But .... nope. She simply disappears.

My Great Great Grandmother was called Kerenhappuch! It appears to have been a relatively popular name in the Victorian era. In the Bible Kerenhappuch was one of the three beautiful daughters of Job.
Phyllis321 · 30/11/2021 18:57

DH has an ancestor called Alonzo Dingle!
I have Shakesby ancestors, which I love.

Bouledeneige · 30/11/2021 18:56

Quite a few of my Scottish relatives had Darling as a middle name - after Grace Darling who was very much a popular heroine.

merryhouse · 30/11/2021 18:53

@ElEmEnOhPee not mine I don't think. There are 107 entries in the 1837-1915 birth index, and 65 in the 1916-2007 (including several in the 60s, at least one in the 80s and a couple this century).

suckingonchillidogs · 30/11/2021 14:44

We have a Fanny Payne! Obviously didn't have the same connotations in those days..

Adviceneededplease1234 · 30/11/2021 14:40

Marmaduke and Bathsheba

CaveMum · 30/11/2021 14:39

Last names as middle names is very common in Scottish families - my grandfather's middle name was "Smith" which was his mother's maiden name.

Both of my children have a surname as one of their middle names. DH's grandfather was killed during WWII when his son (DH's dad) was just 2 years old. His mother remarried and DH's dad took his stepfather's surname so we decided to give our children the "real" surname as a middle name to ensure that it was remembered.

nicslackey · 30/11/2021 14:17

Livingstone as middle name and Love as a middle name. Both female and a male Clem.

ElEmEnOhPee · 30/11/2021 14:05

merryhouse I think I have two Cinderella in my tree too, Romany gypsy? I "think" (can't remember without looking) they're on my Cooper side (also known as the Windsor-Coopers). Matty Cooper (the royal rat catcher) being one of my ancesters. Wonder if we're related?

CaveMum · 30/11/2021 13:00

The ones that stick out in my mind from my family tree include

Querina
Greta
Rosina (at least 5 of them all in the same branch so obviously a family tradition)
Rena

ememem84 · 30/11/2021 12:58

I also wanted to name dd loveday. But DH vetoed it.

A great aunt was loveday another known as “bunny” but her real name was Elizabeth I believe

Tarahumara · 30/11/2021 12:52

My grandmother's first name was Strawbridge.

WyncyG · 30/11/2021 12:44

@Bettybantz

We have a Septimus. It seems ‘Latin numbers’ was a naming trend at one point in history. I wonder when that’s due a revival? 😂
I know of a 'Decima'! Fave name from my family tree, not that I have it in front of me to look too far back, is Jemima :)
Meceme · 30/11/2021 12:24

I have a Tiplady, my Great Great Grandfather. I think we have Traveller heritage on my fathers side.

escapingthecity · 30/11/2021 12:21

Lots of these are Old Testament names. Zillah appears in Genesis as the wife of Lamech and mother of Tubal-Cain. Keziah appears in Job, as one of his daughters, with her sister Keren-Happuch. Hephzibah was the mother of Manasseh in 2 Kings. Melchizedek was the King of Salem in Genesis and Hebrews.

veverita · 30/11/2021 12:14

We have a Tempest

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