Just for fun - Bizarre, unusual and interesting name findings

jane · Senior Member

RE: Just for fun - Bizarre, unusual and interesting name findings

jane · Senior Member

Some names may indicate a child's position in the family. Here are some examples:

1 Primus (for boys) and Prima (for girls); also there is a birth registration for First Son Jones (b.1840)
2 Secundus and Secunda
3 Tertius and Tertia
4 Quartus and Quarta; also Fourth George C. Kitchener" (b.1871)
5 Quintus and Quinta, e.g. Dorothy Quinta Banks (b.1892/3)
6 Sextus and Sexta; also Sixer Landymore (b.1849/50)
7 Septimus and Septima; also Number Seven Fell (b.1879) and perhaps also the name Sevena
8 Octavius and Octavia
9 Nonus and Nona
10 Decimus and Decima; also Tenth Cowling (b.1880)
11 Undecimus and Undecima, e.g. Undecima Morris (b.1848/9); also Eleventh Elizabeth Webb (b.1872)
12 Duodecimus Worrall (b.1841) and Duodecima Hughes (b.1908), Twelvetta Hayhurst (b.1899)
13 Tridecima Harris (b.1889)
14 Edith Decima Quarta Lance (b.1862)

20 Lydia Viginti Odden (m. 1871)

23 Viginti Tertius Thompson (m. 1888)

and finally there was . . .

Lastly Durham Lord (birth and death registered 1870)

jane · Senior Member

A few more from FreeBMD:

Lucky Day (birth registered Q1 1859)
Quiet Allwright (married in 1866)
Last Knight (died in infancy, 1873)
Sweet Hart (died in 1837)

Some names suggesting unwelcome additions to the family?:

Sarah Mistake Lyne (b.1842)
Another Reeve (death registered Q1 1839)
Martha Enough Baynes (b.1869), but 'Enough' seems to come up a number of times in the same families so may have some other significance)

and perhaps the saddest one of all: poor Harry Nobody died, aged 4, in 1905.

Shane Bywaters · Guru

How about, in Apr-May-Jun 1969 in Poplar Middlesex we find a Raymond J Judge marrying a Kathleen Jury.

Then in Apr-May-Jun 1946 in Wycombe we find a Allen W Head married an Elsie H Hatt - I'm sure they were the perfect fit for one another - oww!

Thanks,
Shane

jane · Senior Member

Some foundlings' names:

William Vine (23 year old lead smelter in St Austell, 1861) gave his birthplace as 'Found under a vine tree' in Cornwall.
In the Hull workhouse on the 1861 census was a 9 month old boy who had been 'found in High Street, Hull'. His name was Henry High Street.
The 1901 census shows a Bertie John Beach, aged 10. In the birthplace column it says he was found on the beach at Southend.

(I found these by searching on Ancestry for anyone whose birthplace included the word 'found')

Jane

jane · Senior Member

Well done on finding those good Christmassy ones, Shane! The nearest I can get to Happy New Year is to wish you all a
"Hope Field January" (born 1892, Marylebone district)

'Happy' was sometimes used as an abbreviation for the Old Testament name Kerenhappuch, so there are some lovely combinations beginning with Happy. I think my favourite is Happy Button. You can find lots of others on FreeBMD.

One I found while searching parish registers in the Bristol area was Faithful Fudge.

More later when I have found the notebook where I've written down some surprising names from censuses.

Jane

Shane Bywaters · Guru

Well Jane, as requested, following your 'Mr Urban Cheese' find, herewith is your light-hearted and fun 'names' thread.

I can kick you off with a sesonal one.

There were quite a few births of this name registered between 1837-1915, a few less between 1915-2005, the latest one I found was in 1968, registered in Barnsley.. what the name?

Mary Christmas!

Secondly, also another seasonal one, this time registered in Romsey, Oct-Nov-Dec 1866, we find one 'Winter Day'

Wonderful - any advances?

Thanks,
Shane