Tracing distinctive first names and middle names

[Rosinish]

I have a 1st cousin with (7 removes)  named.....
Greenwell Jude b 1778 named after his mother Alice Greenwell.

I have a 3 x g grandaunt named....
Philadelphia Duff b 1801 (Edinburgh)

I have no info. except her parents Alexander & Elizabeth Paterson (mother's m/s Anderson)

It would be great to know where the name came from 

Annie

[pinefamily]

Philadelphia was a city mentioned in the Bible, meaning "brotherly love" in Greek. Perhaps your ancestors were pious, Annie.

[pinefamily]

On my wife's side, there is a Timewell Bentham, who was a grocer in Kent. I have seen connections between the Timewell family, and the Gregory family, who also connect with the Bentham's. There are also some Naval connections. Haven't pinpointed it yet though.

[Rosinish]

Philadelphia was a city mentioned in the Bible, meaning "brotherly love" in Greek. Perhaps your ancestors were pious, Annie.

Pious 

I wouldn't think so, her siblings have everyday names, Alexander (2), Elizabeth, Jean, Margaret, Rachel, Janet (variation of Jean) & William 

Annie

[Andrew Tarr]

Septimus was helpful - he encouraged me to look for an older brother who I didn't know about before.

A prominent Jones family in Victorian Liverpool named their last two daughters Octavia and Nina ... 

[pinefamily]

Hopefully there were the requisite number of older siblings......

[MagicMirror]

I have a 3 x g grandaunt named....
Philadelphia Duff b 1801 (Edinburgh)

I have no info. except her parents Alexander & Elizabeth Paterson (mother's m/s Anderson)

It would be great to know where the name came from 

Annie

I have a 4g grandmother named Delphy. She was christened Adelphia and after a lot of digging I discovered her father's oldest sister was Philadelphia.  I was able convince myself that one of her daughters really did get on a wagon train to Utah in 1853 because said daughter named her own daughter Delphia. I have the impression that none of these people were literate hence the variations.

[aghadowey]

My grandmother's sister and quite a few female cousins were named after boats connected to the family- including one given the middle name of Reliance (1903 America Cup winner) but in tracing the history of the yacht trying to confirm that her father was involved in the design I discovered that she was born before the name was officially chosen so looks like there's some basis in family story.
Their aunt had the fairly unusual name of Lurana which has been passed down in later generations.

Also Orinda used as a family name further back for several generations until it suddenly vanishes but the unusual name has helped connect lost branches of the family tree.

[Millmoor]

I have several Chancellor Grahams, Attewell (also Ottewell) Postles and Farrer (one record shows it as Pharaoh) Wards in my tree. With such unusual names it is interesting to just do a general search without any dates or locations or indeed just search under the first name. This can produce connections which you might not have otherwise found.

William