Unusual First Names

[Grothenwell]

Hi Stan,

Thanks for replying. No it was the boy's forename (i thought Hope would be a girl's name). I presume now that the Ramsay was perhaps a family friend, I can't find it as a surname within the family (so far).

Yes that was the same BMD one I found, mine one does not have the same family surname and not in Liverpool either.

Cheers,

Grothenwell

[joshii5]

I bet you all thought that Allison was a girl's name - wrong!  I have four males called Allison in my tree.  Two are cousins in the same family (one of them being my great grandfather), and the others are nephew and uncle (one being the brother of gg father's bride).  Quite logical really - "son of Alice"! 

I've also got a few surnames as forenames - Sutcliffe, Wadsworth, Fairbank and Jennings.  And I came across a Beaujolais when transcribing for FreeBMD.

In more recent times (well, last century) I went out with a guy whose middle names were Shakespeare Ruskin!!

BumbleB

That makes sense and I've also seen it prevalent as a male/family name, although it has been used as a female name in the past, eg the female character of 'Alison' in Chaucer's 'The Miller's Tale' written in the late 1300s!

It is bizarre to see the 'Carol' used frequently as a male name the further back you go. Apparently it's a European version of Carl, so Carl/Carla corresponds with Carol/Carola/Caroline. The male director of the film Oliver!, as well as Pope John Paul II, were both Carols.

[Sloe Gin]

It is bizarre to see the 'Carol' used frequently as a male name the further back you go. Apparently it's a European version of Carl, so Carl/Carla corresponds with Carol/Carola/Caroline. The male director of the film Oliver!, as well as Pope John Paul II, were both Carols.

Carolus is the Latin form of Charles, so not so odd when you think about it.  Charles, Karl, Carl, Karel etc, all forms of the same name.

[kesannah]

The unusual names in my tree are Kesannah,Fanny Duff(not surname) and Slaneyann

[PFG]

The most unusual name I've come across so far is Manasseh Brumbill.  It's biblical, but I had to google it to find that out.

[Rishile]

I have just come across a female name of Fridiswide.  Has anyone heard of that?

Rishile

[stanmapstone]

St Frideswide: Oxford's patron saint
St. Frideswide - more properly Fritheswith - was born in the Southern border regions of the Kingdom of Mercia, traditionally at Oxford, http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/frideswide.html


Stan

[Rishile]

Thank you Stan.  How strange that they all came from Kent. 

Never mind - it has answered my question.

Rishile

[Mark Stevenson]

My favourite first name in my family tree is Newyear.  Guess when he was born?