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Baby names

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

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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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Panacotta · 02/12/2021 06:36

I want to find out about my family tree reading this!

How do I go about doing this?

VienneseWhirligig · 02/12/2021 07:50

@Panacotta DS joined Ancestry and added himself, then searched for his birth registration records, added his brothers and me and DH, and went from there, with details he did know (marriage dates, birth dates etc). It gives you hints, and you can decide if it seems relevant/accurate by looking at the dates and other people's trees. It can be quite addictive though. He did a DNA test which brought up his grandparents (which he was expecting), my mum's cousin, and lots of people on DH's side.

VenusClapTrap · 02/12/2021 07:50

I want to find out about my family tree reading this! How do I go about doing this?

Ancestry.co.uk

Serin · 02/12/2021 08:22

Adolphus.

Brooklyn (over 200years ago yet sounds so modern).

Serin · 02/12/2021 08:34

DH has an ancestor named "Victory at Mons
" (known as Vic) and another named "Brittania Blossom".

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 02/12/2021 08:36

Not unusual but quite sweet: twins joseph and mary christened in december.

Laureatus · 02/12/2021 09:33

@Finknottlesnewt I love this thread! We have Euphemias in our tree, it was very common in Scotland at one time (the earliest of ours is called Euphemia Herculesdaughter, as in Shetland they used the Scandinavian tradition of adding 'son' or 'daughter' to surnames until the Victorian era). My mum had a family friend in the 50s called Euphemia who they called 'Aunt Effie' and they considered naming me Euphemia after her, but settled on Elizabeth instead 🙂

JaffaCakeGal · 02/12/2021 10:12

I'm losing the plot... did someone put "shed load of Fannys" I can't find it now to quote but it made me laugh!

My great-grandad had Octavious as a middle name and his older brother was Septimus. Not sure about the other 6 (presumably )

Panacotta · 02/12/2021 22:45

[quote VienneseWhirligig]@Panacotta DS joined Ancestry and added himself, then searched for his birth registration records, added his brothers and me and DH, and went from there, with details he did know (marriage dates, birth dates etc). It gives you hints, and you can decide if it seems relevant/accurate by looking at the dates and other people's trees. It can be quite addictive though. He did a DNA test which brought up his grandparents (which he was expecting), my mum's cousin, and lots of people on DH's side.[/quote]
Thank you!

Kokeshi123 · 03/12/2021 02:30

Adelaide isn't an odd name either now or 100 years ago!
Some really amazing ones here though.
Mafeking, oh my goodness!

madisonbridges · 03/12/2021 03:19

My great uncle was killed in the first world War and he was called Orlando. Its such a romantic name and I never thought of that side of my family being like that. But I've since discovered that his sister, my great aunt, had an illegitimate baby and it was brought up by her and supported by the whole family and very much loved. It's not what I would have expected in the 1910s, early 1920s. I thought there'd be shame and covering up. I wish I'd known my great grandparents - they sound like amazing people.

Ylfa · 03/12/2021 11:53

My best discovery was 12 female siblings in turn of the 19th/20th C all named after various states including Texas which would not have gone down well here but made me smile. In the Scots-Irish line there are lots of boys called things like Oren and Esca that sound Celtic and romantic. On the maternal grandfather line there’s a Ulysses Grant Buzzard (born 1865) but they were originally called Bossert I think. I really want to be called Buzzard!

Batfinkwings · 03/12/2021 12:08

I thought I might 'win' this but I see @ElEmEnOhPee and @merryhouse also have a Cinderella in their tree!

My Cinderella is from the Romany Gypsy part of my tree. Other amazing names from that branch are:

Timberlina (girl)
Lavithan (girl)
Oshane (girl)
Wisdom (boy)
Job (boy)
Ezekial (boy)
Virtinia (girl)

I've recently found out I'm pregnant. I might go digging about in the family tree for some inspiration [grin}

BlueSkyeThinker · 03/12/2021 12:29

Part of DH's family is from the Highlands and has several Donaldinas, and Hughenas in his tree.

ParishSpinster · 03/12/2021 12:32

Oh yes, our neighbour was from Lewis and was called Torquilena.

I'm sure there was an Alexandrina in my family as well as Andrewina.

Ellmau · 03/12/2021 22:58

Easter
Walthall

EmotionallyWeird · 03/12/2021 23:03

The only really unusual one I know of was someone with the middle name Christmas (born on Christmas Day).

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