Tangerine nn Tangi

LaLaLaLavaChChChChicken · 2025-06-01T03:02:32+00:00

Doing some family research and have come across the name Tangerine, with the nn of Tangi, for a girl. What very unusual names have you got in your family tree?

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TheBewleySisters · 12/06/2025 15:57

@BarbaraVineFanRobertina Colina (always addressed by both names apparently), was indeed Scottish.

BarbaraVineFan · 12/06/2025 15:44

Was Robertina Scottish, @TheBewleySisters? I believe it’s common to give names like Jamesina in some parts of Scotland.

Needmorelego · 12/06/2025 13:47

TheBewleySisters · 12/06/2025 13:37

No Roberts or Colins as grandfathers. My mother's vague recollection that she was named after two "young men" who were friends of the family and who used to visit often.

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That's actually quite sweet that she was named after people.

TheBewleySisters · 12/06/2025 13:37

Needmorelego · 12/06/2025 13:21

Were her parents hoping for a boy to name after her grandfathers Robert and Colin?
I quite like Robertina.
Not sure about Colina.

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No Roberts or Colins as grandfathers. My mother's vague recollection that she was named after two "young men" who were friends of the family and who used to visit often.

Needmorelego · 12/06/2025 13:21

TheBewleySisters · 12/06/2025 13:06

I have a great-aunt in my tree who was called Robertina Colina. My mother, whose aunt this lady was, said it was pronounced Rober-teena Col-eena.

Were her parents hoping for a boy to name after her grandfathers Robert and Colin?
I quite like Robertina.
Not sure about Colina.

TheBewleySisters · 12/06/2025 13:06

I have a great-aunt in my tree who was called Robertina Colina. My mother, whose aunt this lady was, said it was pronounced Rober-teena Col-eena.

ToadRage · 12/06/2025 11:28

I have since found out that my Auntie Bubbles real name was Mabel and she was called Auntie Bubbles cos she had tight curly hair which apparently looked like bubbles. On the subject of nicknames, when i was little i struggled to say Jennifer so my Mum's sister has been Auntie Ya-ya for the last 38 years.

Pallisers · 12/06/2025 02:34

I just love this thread!!!

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LaLaLaLavaChChChChicken · 12/06/2025 02:25

More whacky names from my family tree.

In amongst some standard children’s names of William, Joseph, Thomas, Emma, Elizabeth I have uncovered these names as siblings to the standard names children:

Squire
Farse
Tasso

😯

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Saz12 · 05/06/2025 21:10

Part of my family were Welsh, so loads of the names sound unusual to my ears, but are probably completely everyday in Wales.

merryhouse · 05/06/2025 17:33

ProfYaffle · 04/06/2025 17:00

What part of the country were the Woolstons in? It's the same name as a suburb of Warrington.

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well, mine was in the East Midlands (same county as where his surname is, actually ) and I think a couple in the West Midlands. There's a Wolston near Coventry, and Woolston near Southampton.

Catsinaflat · 04/06/2025 17:12

I had a relative called Titanic - known as Tan.

ProfYaffle · 04/06/2025 17:00

merryhouse · 01/06/2025 15:15

We have a Mahala too. And Euphemia.

Angelina, had a noticeable surname and married a man with my noticeable surname. That's one we can be pretty sure of, unlike Ann Powell and John Davies in a Marches village - the following year there was an Ann Powell and John Davies in the next village over

Two on the very fringes called Cinderella (mother/daughter).

My 4g-grandmother's second husband was one of a line called Woolston (surname began with W too).

Ambrose and Orlando, repeated in several different combinations, though I haven't worked out how they fit with us yet (other end of the county and with a letter missing - my 4g-grandfather just appeared in banns one day and I can't find his birth).

What part of the country were the Woolstons in? It's the same name as a suburb of Warrington.

ProfYaffle · 04/06/2025 16:59

I have a Valentine who was born on 14th Feb. He was a 19th Century coal miner in the north so that must have gone down well

CrimsonVioletTeal · 04/06/2025 16:41

There's a girl named Easter in my family tree. She wasn't born at Easter. It might have been a spelling mistake on her birth certificate, or she might have disliked it and changed it, because as an adult she was Esther.

Choppedcoriander · 03/06/2025 12:29

Growlling · 01/06/2025 04:05

My Nan was called Henrietta, which isn’t as unusual as Tangerine but you never hear of it these days. My grandpa was Percy.

I know two Henriettas! Both in their mid-20s.

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LaLaLaLavaChChChChicken · 03/06/2025 01:04

@HappyNewTaxYear I think you’re right, it was Adelheid.

Soma great names. I remember meeting a Queenie through my Grandma. Thought it was a great name!

We also had a relative whose nickname was “Bubbles”. School aged me thought that was an amazing name.

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HappyNewTaxYear · 02/06/2025 21:50

ThePussy · 02/06/2025 21:20

I have a great great aunt called Dulcibella. It was a good job I’d had my kids before I found out. Another great great aunt called Snowie. It was a nickname as she had white blonde hair. Her real name was Adelheid.

That was the fictional Heidi’s real name wasn’t it, Adelheid?

Latenightreader · 02/06/2025 21:37

I have a Keziah (4x great grandmother), a Kerenhapuch (step connection - she called her children Ann and John), a Curtis, and a string of men called Lilly with no clue where it came from - presumably a surname somewhere!

I have a couple of Queenies, but both were nicknames for very standard names. I've been surprised how common Rosina was in the early 20th century. A lovely name which doesn't seem to have made a comeback.

HappyHappyy · 02/06/2025 21:28

Granny was Queenie. Suited her perfectly x

ThePussy · 02/06/2025 21:20

I have a great great aunt called Dulcibella. It was a good job I’d had my kids before I found out. Another great great aunt called Snowie. It was a nickname as she had white blonde hair. Her real name was Adelheid.

TheeNotoriousPIG · 02/06/2025 19:29

There was a chap a few generations called Farewell, courtesy of his dying mother's last word.

Funnily enough, he disappeared without warning as an adult, and nobody ever found out where he went!

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LaLaLaLavaChChChChicken · 02/06/2025 00:50

@ARichtGoodDram Absolutely! I have googled Tangerine as a first name and quite a few came up, so it is still in use today.
I wonder if there was a reason for choosing Tangerine for my relative. The family were sailors so perhaps they knew the fruit, or a connection to Tangiers.

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ARichtGoodDram · 01/06/2025 23:23

I guess Tangerine is not that far off Clementine and that was and is still popular.

One of the things I love about family tree stuff is learning things like this - what makes Clémentine a name and tangerine not. It fascinates me how words and names evolved.

(In this case Clémentine was already a name and was given to the fruit after Clement, its first grower, where as Tangerine was named after the place, Tangiers, not a person)

soundsys · 01/06/2025 22:10

QuinceTamarillo · 01/06/2025 09:21

I love Tangerine! I'd think that the short form would probably be TAN-jee. The most exciting names in my family tree are Elizabelle and Marsaili - both 19th cent Scotland.

I really wanted to call DD Marsali but DH vetoed it!