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ArchivesRe: Name info please
in reply to a message by Donna
There was, and maybe still is, a synthetic fibre called Orlon which could be spun rather like wool and used for jerseys and I think soft furnishings. No idea where the Or bit came from, but the -lon clearly echoes nylon (which was named after New York and London ...).
I'd go the Orlando route if I were you!
I'd go the Orlando route if I were you!
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Replies
A good check these days on the internet is to google for the name with genealogy (i.e. search for orlon with genealogy). You will within a few minutes discover that (1) Orlon has been used as a last name, (2) Orlon is a place name (e.g. variant of place name Arlen; and that it exists at least in Poland and in France), and (4) The name seems to have been used as a first name in the 19th century in England and the United States. (I may be wrong on some of these: I just quickly scanned the results, did not actually read carefully.)
Connection with the fiber is unlikely given this. To make an educated guess about whether the last name could have become the first name, you will have to try to figure out (1) the (geographical and cultural) distribution of the last name in sight of the movements and cultural connections of the people in the early nineteenth century and (2) the distribution of the given name and (3) whether the earliest indications of the use as a first name are more recent than the typical use as a last name.
As to the origin as a last name, a similar analysis can make a good guess as to whether the place name could have given us the last name. Searching the meaning of place names is a bit more difficult.
In any case, a direct connection with Orlando also seems unlikely.
Connection with the fiber is unlikely given this. To make an educated guess about whether the last name could have become the first name, you will have to try to figure out (1) the (geographical and cultural) distribution of the last name in sight of the movements and cultural connections of the people in the early nineteenth century and (2) the distribution of the given name and (3) whether the earliest indications of the use as a first name are more recent than the typical use as a last name.
As to the origin as a last name, a similar analysis can make a good guess as to whether the place name could have given us the last name. Searching the meaning of place names is a bit more difficult.
In any case, a direct connection with Orlando also seems unlikely.
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Vesselin
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