by Somebody random (guest)
12/4/2020, 3:44 PM
Thanks for the info!
I’ve searched, but the only thing that Neanus comes close to is Neanius, which is another name of a Greek martyr named Holy Great Martyr Prokopios.
Neanius apparently means "young man" in Ancient Greek (νεᾱνίᾱς).
It would be a bit strange for an African-American man living in a Protestant country to be named after an Orthodox martyr, but that’s the only thing I could find. Early America and England were quite fascinated with Ancient Greece and Rome, though, and often gave their children names that were based off of Ancient Greek or Latin words. Names like Amice, Arabella, Idonea, Mirabelle, Ora, and Sidony are examples of such names.
Maybe Neanus was coined from "νεᾱνίᾱς"?
Sorry that I couldn’t find any solid evidence of the name, but hopefully I was of some help.
If you want, you can read more about the martyr Prokopios/Neanius here: http://www.sprint.net.au/~corners/Jul03/StProkopios.htm