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Hello everyone,
When the 2012 presidential election was going on a few weeks ago, I read an article in which an elderly American woman (90+ years of age) by the name of Phignora was mentioned. She seemed to be of either African-American descent or Hispanic-American descent and had an English surname (which is also her maiden name, as I came across an obituary for her late older brother, who had the same surname - plus their parents' names are also mentioned in that obituary). You can easily find her via Google by her first name only.
To me, this is quite an unusual first name - and it's even more unusual to see a name like this on an elderly lady. Does anyone here happen to know what it could possibly mean? Perhaps it is related to Italian or Latin pignora: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pignora ?
Also, an obvious spelling variant of Phignora would be Fignora. I have found at least one bearer of this name via Google (also an American).
That's all information that I can provide about the name. I would be interested to know if anyone has got any further information about this name - thank you in advance! :D
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins
When the 2012 presidential election was going on a few weeks ago, I read an article in which an elderly American woman (90+ years of age) by the name of Phignora was mentioned. She seemed to be of either African-American descent or Hispanic-American descent and had an English surname (which is also her maiden name, as I came across an obituary for her late older brother, who had the same surname - plus their parents' names are also mentioned in that obituary). You can easily find her via Google by her first name only.
To me, this is quite an unusual first name - and it's even more unusual to see a name like this on an elderly lady. Does anyone here happen to know what it could possibly mean? Perhaps it is related to Italian or Latin pignora: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pignora ?
Also, an obvious spelling variant of Phignora would be Fignora. I have found at least one bearer of this name via Google (also an American).
That's all information that I can provide about the name. I would be interested to know if anyone has got any further information about this name - thank you in advance! :D
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins
This message was edited 11/25/2012, 2:28 PM
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Replies
There are only two people named Fignora and none named Phignora in the indexes to US census records on Ancestry Library. One of the two is a man in Puerto Rico and looking at the original census record shows that's probably a mistake for the Spanish surname Figueroa.
The other person in the 1900 and 1910 censuses is a Black girl named Fignora King living in Texas.
This is just a guess, but when you Google "Fignora" you get several references to what turns out to be the Italian title "Signora" written in old-style script where the capital "S" looks like an "F" to most modern people. So there is an outside chance the Fignora was originally a mistake when someone saw Signora written in that script and thought it as a name starting with "F" instead of the title. Then Phignora would just have developed as a spelling variation of Fignora.
Here's a link to an example of "Signora" written in this old typeface that makes it look like "Fignora":
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/negri/facsimile/0041.pdf
The other person in the 1900 and 1910 censuses is a Black girl named Fignora King living in Texas.
This is just a guess, but when you Google "Fignora" you get several references to what turns out to be the Italian title "Signora" written in old-style script where the capital "S" looks like an "F" to most modern people. So there is an outside chance the Fignora was originally a mistake when someone saw Signora written in that script and thought it as a name starting with "F" instead of the title. Then Phignora would just have developed as a spelling variation of Fignora.
Here's a link to an example of "Signora" written in this old typeface that makes it look like "Fignora":
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/negri/facsimile/0041.pdf
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Thank you for your explanation, Cleveland Kent Evans! I personally think the 'Signora' possibility seems most likely, because it wouldn't have been the first time for this kind of mistake to have happened in the United States. Most Americans aren't that familiar with foreign customs or words (and certainly not in the early 20th century - hence the many registration mistakes at Ellis Island), so I can certainly envision that particular scenario. :)
Anyway, thank you again and enjoy the rest of your day! :D
Anyway, thank you again and enjoy the rest of your day! :D
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