[Opinions] Re: Tennessee
in reply to a message by flossie
I think Tennessee works as a given name. I do prefer it for girls rather than boys, as in the name of the famous 19th century feminist Tennessee Claflin:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/claflin-tennessee-1846-1923
The names of almost all the American states have been used as given names on occasion, by the way. Vermont Connecticut Royster (1914-1996) was an editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was named after his grandfather. His great-grandfather, a North Carolina farmer, had named his sons Arkansas Delaware, Wisconsin Illinois, Oregon Minnesota, Vermont Connecticut, and Iowa Michigan; and his daughters Louisana Maryland, Virginia Carolina, and Georgia Indiana. (This family would of course have been born in the middle of the 19th century.)
https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/claflin-tennessee-1846-1923
The names of almost all the American states have been used as given names on occasion, by the way. Vermont Connecticut Royster (1914-1996) was an editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was named after his grandfather. His great-grandfather, a North Carolina farmer, had named his sons Arkansas Delaware, Wisconsin Illinois, Oregon Minnesota, Vermont Connecticut, and Iowa Michigan; and his daughters Louisana Maryland, Virginia Carolina, and Georgia Indiana. (This family would of course have been born in the middle of the 19th century.)
Replies
Thank you for all the information! Vermont has a pretty nice ring to it, in a mid-19th century kind of way.