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Awesome, unusual or just plain weird ancestor names...

68 replies

umpteennamechanges · 26/08/2018 22:47

I've just been researching family history for me and DH and have come across these awesome / weird names...anyone else have any to share?

  • Cave
  • Radalphus
  • Oldcot
  • Septimus
  • Ephraim / Levi / Job / Reuben (not that unusual but unexpectedly religious)
  • Zebulon (!)

All men's names. Seems that women's names were not as out there but we do have a number of 'Penninahs' which I haven't heard before.

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Sessy19 · 27/08/2018 06:08

I love historical names, particularly for boys. I find it so much harder to be ‘original’ with boys’ names than girls’.

There are some really cool names there- Radalphus?! Awesome!! 😊 And I love the name Ephraim.

AtticaRose · 27/08/2018 07:49

I saw Radalphus on a gravestone the other day as a Latin form of Ralph - is that what it is?

In the same church, saw lots of men called Calver, and a woman called Patience, and two women called Ela.

MargaretDribble · 27/08/2018 07:52

I know a woman in RL called Patience. No nominative determinism there!

sakuramiyagi · 27/08/2018 07:56

Best one we found whilst working on our family tree was my 8th Great Grandmother, Unity.

TangelasVine · 27/08/2018 08:04

Cool names!
There a lot of little Reubens around here so appears to be making a come back.
I know a Septimus but v old and he was the 7th born

Nothing too unusual in my family tree, mainly names you'd still hear. There was a Mercia and a Lester.

maZebraltov · 27/08/2018 08:08

You inspired me to fire up my family history software. I give you:
Girls: Tryphena, Silence, Sibylla, Roena, Retta, Queria, Maudlin, Lurecia, Finetta, Huldah, Celestia, Bathya, Apphia

Boys: Nahemiah, Maskill, Jerathmael, Jeptha, Hartwell, Epapheas, Enodias, Elihu, Dmytro

A lot of those date from 1700s. They are just some in my B-surname list. Not Joking. A billion and one "made-up" spellings.

IggyAce · 27/08/2018 08:10

The only one that stands out in my family tree Thurza Livinia.

GraceMarks · 27/08/2018 09:06

I had a great aunt Lavinia, a name which I tried without success to push on my friend who had a little girl last year. Other than that, everyone in my family tree has disappointingly sensible names like Amy and Joseph. My grandfather's middle name was Gilliam for some reason though!

RedDwarves · 27/08/2018 10:09

I had a William Shakespeare (Surname) in my family in the 1700s.

Obviously aspirational.

OhHolyFuck · 27/08/2018 10:16

I said this in the last ancestors name thread but somewhere way back in mine there is a 'Hymen' (female)

IVflytrap · 27/08/2018 11:29

Some of these are brilliant. Jerathmael? Radalphus? Cave?? Lavinia is cool. I like Thirza.

I have an ancestor called Napoleon, who was definitely English and born in the 1830s, so not sure what that was all about, considering the Napoleonic wars a couple of decades earlier. I imagine it would have been like being named Adolf in Britain in the 1960s.

Less interesting, but I also have Esau, Samson, Jeremiah and Josiah for the men and Hepzibah and Keturah for the women. (I actually quite like some of these).

MrsBonnie · 27/08/2018 14:18

Septimus and his brother Alderman
Mother and daughter both called Liberty

And my personal favourite, Annie Lovely Burgess 😄

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 27/08/2018 17:56

Clothilde
Mariah

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 27/08/2018 17:59

There’s a Levi a few generations back but everyone else in my family seem to have been called Donald.

Yorkshiremum17 · 27/08/2018 18:02

Not in my family, but I came across the male name Zephania recently and think that is awesome! Good job my baby naming days are over!

Biscuitsneeded · 27/08/2018 18:03

Three sisters called Jemima, Kezia and Keren-Happuch in a family that was otherwise all Marias and Florences. Thought it must be a mistake until I found out that that Jemima, Kezia and Keren-Happuch were the three daughters of Job. I like the first two names; not sure the third would usable nowadays!

flippychick · 27/08/2018 18:06

When researching our family tree I discovered a Cinderella.

Catsandbootsandbootsandcats · 27/08/2018 18:09

Lancelot was the most exciting in mine amongst the George's and Williams and Alberts. I need to look further back, kind of got to a dead end and stopped.

IlPorcupinoNilSodomyEst · 27/08/2018 18:15

I love Hepzibah or Eppie for short ... Silas Marner for the Leaving Cert many years ago.

MollyMallyMindy · 27/08/2018 18:16

There were a couple Rosettas, both born shortly after the stone was discovered.

Prometheus · 27/08/2018 18:17

I researched our family tree a few years ago. Liverpool family, generations of very poor, working class dock workers. All called good English, Christian names (John, James, William etc) except for one great, great, great uncle born much later than his siblings and called Felicio. No idea why, we have no Italian blood in the family (or so we had assumed!)

FairfaxAikman · 27/08/2018 18:19

In my family Wright and Duff are fairly common surnames

FairfaxAikman · 27/08/2018 18:20
  • names
olderthanyouthink · 27/08/2018 18:31

I really like Etta as a nickname but struggling to find a full name I like for it, got a couple more ideas here, thanks.

Zebulon sounds v. sci-fi Grin

girlandboy · 27/08/2018 18:35

I found an Esmaralda and several boys baptised Jabez

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