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ArchivesHistorical Revival of Old English Names in the USA?
I'm writing to ask if anyone can tell me anything more of something I've noticed regarding an apparent revival of Old English given names in America, in the Nineteenth Century, and perhaps a little earlier.
We are all familiar with Elmer (Aethelmaer) Fudd, on both sides of the Atlantic, but why was such a name taken? I'm told that in this particular case there was a surname of two Revolutionary War brothers that provided the model, but there do seem to be other similar names turning up at the same time.
Alvin, for instance, from Aelfwine, or Alden/Alwyn (Ealdwine), and various others that don't immediately come to mind.
Was this a conscious practice, reviving the old pre-Norman names, or was it just a bundle of coincidences in the early Nineteenth Century?
We are all familiar with Elmer (Aethelmaer) Fudd, on both sides of the Atlantic, but why was such a name taken? I'm told that in this particular case there was a surname of two Revolutionary War brothers that provided the model, but there do seem to be other similar names turning up at the same time.
Alvin, for instance, from Aelfwine, or Alden/Alwyn (Ealdwine), and various others that don't immediately come to mind.
Was this a conscious practice, reviving the old pre-Norman names, or was it just a bundle of coincidences in the early Nineteenth Century?
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