Just for fun- your family's old fashioned and unusual names

[DawnM]

Did your grandparents or great-grandparents have old fashioned or unusual names?

I am digging up names from my family (ok, I am finding them on Find a Grave mostly, so digging up may be the wrong term!  LOL)

I have more, but here are a few:

Wilmer

Agnes

Lucintha

Bernard

Percival

Gerald

Clotee

Melvina

Adellon

I also just discovered that my dad's dad's dad and wife and two children who died young, are buried just 3 hours from my mother.   I had no idea they had ever even lived in that state.   And I didn't know they had two your boys who died before their first birthdays.  One died within days of being born, the other died a month shy of his first birthday.  That must have been so difficult.

#CovidExtraTime

[Scarlett]

Percy

 Bertie

Missy

Artie

[Wheres Toto]

Charles

Arthur

Lillian

My family currently has Dorothy, Victoria, George, old fashioned and unusual these days,

[fairfarmhand]

Lucile Zada. That was my grandmother. Found out she had a child as a single lady, and my grandparents raised him as their own. He didn't find out about his parentage until he reached adulthood.

Alvin McGhee was my granddad.

 

She also nursed in a TB hospital. She ended up getting TB and was a patient there.

Edited April 3, 2020 by fairfarmhand

[Carrie12345]

My mom told us that my grandfather used to joke about having wanted to name her Petronella. My genealogy research uncovered a Petronella in his family tree, so maybe it wasn’t actually a joke!

Most of my ancestors names are still extremely traditional, and repeated over and over again.  It makes tracing things a real pain.

My sister is named Amy.  My mom loved the named from Little Women, but the year my sister was born everyone on the face of the earth named their child Amy.  When I came along my mom was determined never to let that happen again so the went digging through the family tree and came up with Dorinda.  I also found it interesting that the original Ann Dorinda (circa early 1800’s) was married to a man named Major.

others...

Athur

Monroe

Olin

 

[Laura Corin]

Husband's family in Texas:

Eulah

Beulah

Orion

Marion (male name)

Edited April 3, 2020 by Laura Corin

[HS Mom in NC]

Morris
Maisie
Alfred
Myrtle
 

[Noreen Claire]

Children in my family include Theodore, Victoria, and Lydia. The older generations included Walter, Gertrude, Pearl, Theodore, and Lydia.

[historically accurate]

Women's names:

Irma 

Viola

Permelia

Fannie

Hazel

Hilda

Freelove and Patience were mother and daughter (my g-g-g-grandmother and my g-g grandmother).

 

Men's names:

Claris (g-g-grandfather), Clarence (father), and Clare (grandfather) - Claris is on my mom's side/Clarence & Clare on my dad's

Andrew Jackson is a great-great grandfather of mine - you don't see too many kids named after a former president these days. He was born in 1851.

 

Not old fashioned but one of my favorite family names is my great-grandfather's: Bennett Earlscourt. His mom loved the "racy" romances of the day, and so she had to use a similar name. He went by Court. 

[Splash1]

Linabelle

Eugene

Gaston

Crawford

Otway

Henley

Bessie

Geneva

Eugenia

Geraldine

Virginia

Most of the other family members are more classic type names Ruth, Louise, Kathryn, Clinton, Raymond, Theodore, Laura, Mary, Doris, John  lots and lots of John

 

 

 

[fairfarmhand]

Also forgot to include

Elbert

Lemuel

Orlin and 

Jewel

Makes all the James' from my Granddad's side sound pretty nice.

[wintermom]

Eugenie

Bertha

Elmer

Alfred

I personally think my sister and I got even stranger first names, though. 😉  And my sister also got Bertha as a middle name, poor kid.

[DawnM]

My son has a 16 year old friend named Alfred! 🤣

[DawnM]

My Grandfather's first wife's name was Pearl.  She died in her 30s.

[wintermom]

4 minutes ago, DawnM said:

My son has a 16 year old friend named Alfred! 🤣

I've met someone my age named Alfred. He shortened it to Alf. It's a good viking name!

[RootAnn]

39 minutes ago, Splash1 said:

Virginia

Is this old fashioned? We have one of those in the current generation.

Lots of relatives named Louis or Louise (both sides) plus a couple of Eugenes. Is Eugene uncommon nowadays?

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

My mom told us that my grandfather used to joke about having wanted to name her Petronella. My genealogy research uncovered a Petronella in his family tree, so maybe it wasn’t actually a joke!

Most of my ancestors names are still extremely traditional, and repeated over and over again.  It makes tracing things a real pain.

One side of my family is like that too.  

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

Lucile Zada. That was my grandmother. Found out she had a child as a single lady, and my grandparents raised him as their own. He didn't find out about his parentage until he reached adulthood.

Alvin McGhee was my granddad.

 

She also nursed in a TB hospital. She ended up getting TB and was a patient there.

I kinda like Lucile Zada.  

[Tenaj]

Trollis (my paternal grandmother)

Byron (my maternal grandfather).  This one may not be as unusual.  He hated his name and always said he would pay us NOT to use it on any offspring 🙂

[*Jessica*]

My g-g-grandmothers on opposite sides of my family tree were Armilda and Oralee.  

[Ellie]

We have multiple men named "Zorbable." o_0

Mr. Ellie's father had sisters named Hertha, Versal, and Arvilla. Mr. Ellie's father was the baby, born in 1899, and then was adopted (long sad story); so of course Mr. Ellie never knew any of them. I've done a little sleuthing on Ancestry to see if I can find out the family's country of origin, because those names seem so ethnic 🙂 but so far, I have only found them in Missouri (they moved to Washington state, where Mr. Ellie's father was born. Interestingly, Mr. Ellie's mother was also born in Missouri, but they met in San Diego.).

[I talk to the trees]

I can’t recall right now how many generations back, but in my family tree are 

Jubal 

Emmazetta

Lumpkin.

[stephanier.1765]

My father's name is Elmer and my granddaughter is Theadosia.

[gardenmom5]

this includes aunts and uncles, all lived in the 1900.   (I have some really different ones in the 1700s)

avnes

wreatha

alta

bernice

cleo

emiline

virginia

eula

elva

wilda

ruth

henry

gertrude

oscar

winifred

gretchen

 

 

 

[Condessa]

Courtland

Solamena

Johann Nepomuckenus (apparently John of Nepomuk was a patron saint of the Czech Republic?)

Redden and Reddick Allred (twins)

Agnes and Angus (twins from dh's family)

[hippiemamato3]

9 minutes ago, I talk to the trees said:

I can’t recall right now how many generations back, but in my family tree are 

Jubal 

Emmazetta

Lumpkin.

 

"Lumpkin" wins. We call our French Bulldog Lumpkin (as a nickname)

[Matryoshka]

My grandfather was named Orme (pronounced OR-mee). My dad's two sisters are Wanda and Doretta, although the latter goes by her more normal middle name and would never admit to that. Heck, my dad's real name is Vencil, though his mom forgot what she named him at one point and swapped the e and i - you can see the change  in the baby book she wrote.  He started going by Vince in middle school and like his sister does not fess up to the weirdness.

On my German side I've got Erna, Elsa, Bertha, Herbert, Helmut, Fritz, and Waltraut.

[Scarlett]

30 minutes ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

 My maternal side has Zada, it’s a family name. Do you know the origins of it?

The females had names like Jewel, Ruby, Pearl, Opal. Usually with a short middle name- Pearly May, Ruby Fay. Para-Lee was another popular one.

The men were Cecil, Marvin, Dude( I love that one!) and several with Bird as a middle, like Ira Bird.

My father’s side seemed more city type names-  Francis, Walter, Lila, Lucille, Margaret , Herbert, Theodore

This is a bit off topic, but I’m reading a book about FDR and was really surprised to see multiple Americans in his circle named Adolf. I keep meaning to google how popular a name it was at the turn of the century in America.

 

I found a Para Lee in my MIL's family tree.  First time I had ever heard of it.

 

[Loowit]

Ola Mae

Verna

Wilford

Bernita

Eunice

Kennon

Harold

Ethel

Gaye

Faye

[DesertBlossom]

Effie

Ermel

Alford

These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

1 hour ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

Ha! I live with an Elbert. It was his grandpa’s name.

My father had a brother named Elbert

[mom2scouts]

We have Oni (pronounced ON ee), Hazel, Delbert, Terrell, Edna, Dorothy, Dexter, Ethard, Thelma, Eller, Delcie, Albert, and Opal.

ETA: I forgot a grandpa named Rufus.

Edited April 3, 2020 by mom2scouts

[Storygirl]

Olive
India
Goldie
Treva
Florene

Burl
Quentin
Murphy
Odain

DH's family had
Uncle Ose
Aunt Bob and Uncle Shorty
Edna Earl (went by Earl)
 

[chiguirre]

My great grandmother's name was Brunaslava. For the win!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Kermit

Forrest

[Familia]

Theodore, Virginia, Alice, Gertrude, Elmer, Lucille, Clarence, Luella, Harold, Eleanor, Alfred, Margaret (although, I know a lot of little Maggie's), Adeline, Louise, and Goldie.  May they all rest in peace!

Edited April 3, 2020 by Familia

[SKL]

Greats - Ignatz, and I don't know the rest of them for sure.

Grands - Ethel, Ruth, and boring guy names.

My dad's middle name is Mainsley.  His friend's middle name is Marion.

[fairfarmhand]

2 hours ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

 My maternal side has Zada, it’s a family name. Do you know the origins of it?

The females had names like Jewel, Ruby, Pearl, Opal. Usually with a short middle name- Pearly May, Ruby Fay. Para-Lee was another popular one.

The men were Cecil, Marvin, Dude( I love that one!) and several with Bird as a middle, like Ira Bird.

My father’s side seemed more city type names-  Francis, Walter, Lila, Lucille, Margaret , Herbert, Theodore

This is a bit off topic, but I’m reading a book about FDR and was really surprised to see multiple Americans in his circle named Adolf. I keep meaning to google how popular a name it was at the turn of the century in America.

 

My grandmother's family was from a small town in rural Alabama. Her parents were first cousins, so both sides of that family have similar origins. (Britain)

[CindyH in NC]

My husbands' great grandfather was named Mordecia.  That side of his family passed on names a lot, but this one seems to have been a one time thing.  It really sounds terrible with our last name.  

[hippiemamato3]

Orville - there are a bunch of them in our family (mostly used as middle names in recent generation)

[Ellie]

My maternal grandfather had a brother named Lancelot Rufus. As an adult, he went by Lance R. 🙂

[Guest]

Naming trends do come and go, though. My middle name is Lillian, after my grandmother and  great aunt. Growing up, I hated that middle name, because it was such a grandma name. But now it is fashionable again, though more Lily than Lillian. I like Lillian now! I have not used it much because I use my maiden name for middle. 

Lots of old names are totally workable for kids now. My gma was named Elsie and I can totally see that name on the roster at a preschool now. 

Some of the names I have liked less:

Alberta

Irma

Elmer

Wayne

 

[LucyStoner]

Family lore is that my dad wanted TO NAME ME Drucilla but my mom and my aunt Drucilla weren't having it.  

There is someone in every generation of my family named Vincent and called Vince.  Pretty unusual name for a teenager these days, but one of my cousin's used the name for her son.  Which I understand as everyone's favorite uncle is our uncle Vince.   I like the name a lot.  

My father's paternal grandmother was named Arminta.  

My mother's grandmother was Ilene and Ilene had a twin named Alene.  They had sisters named Lura, Behula, Ura, Alta and Ida.  I knew Ilene and Alene as a child but Lura, Behula, Ura, Alta and Ida all died just after or just before I was born.  

My paternal grandmother was Beatrice and my niece has that as a middle name.  If I had two daughters, the first would be named for my mother (Theresa) but the second would probably have been named Beatrice and called Bea.   My grandmother's two sister's were Teresa and Marion.  My maternal grandmother (Ilene's daughter) was Ethyl.  

My paternal grandfather was John, which is totally mundane BUT excepting for one sister named Isabelle his siblings all had very old fashioned names.  Alva, Drucilla, Ruby, Willie and Buster (not a nickname).  One of my dad's sisters is also Drucilla as referenced in the first part of this post but she has chosen to go by her middle name since grade school.  John's grandfather was named Lawson and Lawson's father was Hugh.  

My dad's maternal grandparents were Edna and John but his great aunts and uncles on that side include Ada, Lottie, Ivan, Percy, Bessie and Calvin.  

 

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by LucyStoner

[SounderChick]

Most of our family names are boring William, Paul, James, Charles, Joan, Elizabeth, Helen the only exception was Euphemia.  

Maybe that's why the lastest generation has Lorelei, Saoirse, Torreston.

Edited April 3, 2020 by rebcoola

[mykidsrmyjoy]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

My grandmother's family was from a small town in rural Alabama. Her parents were first cousins, so both sides of that family have similar origins. (Britain)

Maybe we’re related. 😊 My great great grandparents were first cousins from a small town in Alabama. 
 

Some memorable names in my family tree:

Cephas

Lerona

Narcissa

Pinkney Parrish

Cornelius

Worth

Cleo and Leo (Twins)

Collie Peyton

Talbot

Kirby

Lola

[ElizabethB]

Bertha and Ulysses.  My brother used to joke that that was what he would name future children.  (He picked a normal name.)

[historically accurate]

55 minutes ago, LucyStoner said:

 

My mother's grandmother was Ilene and Ilene had a twin named Alene.  They had sisters named Lura, Behula, Ura, Alta and Ida.  I knew Ilene and Alene as a child but Lura, Behula, Ura, Alta and Ida all died just after or just before I was born.  

 

My youngest's middle name is Aleene (pronounced uh-lean), which is my MIL's middle name.

[KungFuPanda]

Robena

Dorcus

Bummer

Bernerd (pronounced "ber-nerd" and constantly 'corrected' for him)

and waaaaay back . . . a Coffee. 🙂

[ikslo]

Winifred
Allaire
Eleanor
Beatrice
and way back...Oxenbridge

 

ETA:
Evelyn
Opal
Eugene
Lillian

ETA2: And I have an Uncle Bob - but doesn't everyone?

Edited April 3, 2020 by ikslo