Here are some names that are in my family tree. Go ahead and take 'em, they're all due to be big hits on the baby name parade again. I dare you ;)
For the gents:
Makepeace
Ebenezer
Almanzo
Ezekiel
Hilliard (this one was my Grandfather's. It goes waaay back)
Eckford
For the ladies:
Freelove (no, I'm not kidding, this was a biggie before the Revolution)
Mehitabel
Jezebel
Lydia
Charity, Patience, Prudence, Temperance, Faith, Hope, Chastity and Honor
and #1 on the colonial hit list for the fairer sex: Elisabeth
aka Beth, Betty, Bitsy, Betsy, Eliza, Liza, and Lisa
The most popular name for men around here, prior to the 19th century, appears to be William or James. The most popular for women, besides Lydia and Elisabeth (already mentioned) might be Hannah, Anna or Anne, or Katherine.
Names that are noticeably absent would be Mary, John, Matthew, Mark, or Luke. There were some, but these are Puritan names we're talking about, and they wouldn't want to appear 'papish' (Catholic). When Puritans went to the Bible they went waaaay back and obscure.
So, what do you think? It's time to give the good old Puritanical names a chance, don't you think? The 19th century has had it's day, with all it's Emmas, Lucies, and whatnot. Time to bring about the old school list. ;)
Wow what an interesting list! Makes me want to put together my own list from my half Puritan, half Swedish family tree...
ReplyDeleteThey're great names, but would you USE one :) I had a great, great, grandfather named Eckford but I'm in no hurry to slap that one on a poor child.
ReplyDeleteI adore Makepeace and Mehitabel. I think I'd even use Makepeace as a middle name. And I once had a teacher called Loveday, which my romantic six-year-old imagination thought was the most wonderful name EVER.
ReplyDeleteAlas, my family like really quite normal, ordinary names. No great-great-auntie Freelove for me.
Hey, thanks for your comment on my last post. We didn't have my husband's morphology measured since we're having him do a regular semen analysis in a couple of weeks (it will be 3 months since his last one). We didn't want to pay the extra $$$ this time around since we're doing one soon, and we were so dang cocky this time and thought everything would be great. Of course now we have to pay $$$ to have his crappy results verified.
ReplyDeleteP.S. My grandma's name is Toots. Awesome, right?
P.P.S. Let me know if you want help setting up your 'reply-to' email address, that way people can just respond to your comments via email.
I love Makepeace and Freelove. Such subtle names!
ReplyDeleteNo but seriously, I do like this list. At least there were no J'cobiany's/Frundaily's or Marquices' in your family (or whatever stupid modern names people come up with these days)