When researching my family I have found a number of Puritan names, eg Goodgift, Faintnot, Rejoyce etc. Today, I came across an e-text of an out of copyright book Highways & Byways in Sussex, by E.V. Lucas and it had such lovely names in it that I thought I would include the section here. Do they belong to anybody?
"Some of the oddest of the composite pietistic names that broke out over England during the Puritan revolution are to be found in Sussex registers. In 1632, Master Performe-thy-vowes Seers of Maresfield married Thomasine Edwards. His full name was too much for the village, and four years later is found an entry recording the burial of "Vowes Seers" pure and simple. The searcher of parish registers from whose articles in the _Sussex Daily News_ I have already quoted, has also found that Heathfield had many Puritan names, among them "Replenished," which was given to the daughter of Robert Pryor in 1600. There was also a Heathfield damsel known as "More-Fruits." Mr. Lower prints the following names from a Sussex jury list in the seventeenth century: Redeemed Compton of Battel, Stand-fast-on-high Stringer of Crowhurst, Weep-not Billing of Lewes, Called Lower of Warbleton, Elected Mitchell of Heathfield, Renewed Wisberry of Hailsham, Fly-fornication Richardson of Waldron, The-Peace-of-God Knight of Burwash, Fight-the-good-fight-of-Faith White of Ewhurst, and Kill-sin Pemble of Withyham. Also a Master More-Fruits Fowler of East Hoathly, for it seems that in such names there was no sex.
Among the curious Sussex surnames found by the student of the county
archives who is quoted above are the following:--
Pitchfork Sweetname Lies
Devil Slybody Hogsflesh
Leper Fidge Backfield
Handshut Beatup Breathing
Juglery Rougehead Whiskey
Hollowbone Punch Wildgoose
Stillborne Padge Ann.
Wonderful aren't they?
