New Post
Search
HelpRe: Puritan name drop!
in reply to a message by sprout
I really don't think the actual Puritans named daughters Happy.
They also didn't use Hope, Faith, and Charity as much as most modern people suppose, partly because they were the names of saints and so used regularly by non-Puritans back in the 17th century. Faith and Hope were as common in Anglican Virginia in colonial times as they were in Puritan Massachusetts.
Mercy was actually the most common virtue name in colonial New England, and it's one of my personal favorites.
Among the few virtue names used for boys were Consider, Welcome, and Cordial, which I rather like.
In the 1850 United States Census, more than 100 women each had the names Comfort, Delight, Peace, Prudence, Reliance, Relief, Silence, Temperance and Wealthy. Very rare virtue names included Lowly, Exercise, Repentance and Trial. Sixty-eight women were named Virtue itself.
I know a woman now in her 50s named Delight. I rather like that one, and think Peace, Reliance, Temperance, and Virtue would also be good names for present day babies. Theoretically I could like Comfort, but unfortunately at present it's sort of ruined by the term "comfort women" for Koreans and others who were forced into being sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II.
They also didn't use Hope, Faith, and Charity as much as most modern people suppose, partly because they were the names of saints and so used regularly by non-Puritans back in the 17th century. Faith and Hope were as common in Anglican Virginia in colonial times as they were in Puritan Massachusetts.
Mercy was actually the most common virtue name in colonial New England, and it's one of my personal favorites.
Among the few virtue names used for boys were Consider, Welcome, and Cordial, which I rather like.
In the 1850 United States Census, more than 100 women each had the names Comfort, Delight, Peace, Prudence, Reliance, Relief, Silence, Temperance and Wealthy. Very rare virtue names included Lowly, Exercise, Repentance and Trial. Sixty-eight women were named Virtue itself.
I know a woman now in her 50s named Delight. I rather like that one, and think Peace, Reliance, Temperance, and Virtue would also be good names for present day babies. Theoretically I could like Comfort, but unfortunately at present it's sort of ruined by the term "comfort women" for Koreans and others who were forced into being sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II.
Archived Thread - replies disabled
3
Replies
Oh, I do like Mercy!
2