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Unusual or Notable ancestor names in my genealogy
As previously stated, I had intended to do another genealogy list not just of the most recent ancestors but also names I found unusual and/or just notable to include in the list. I thought some of these were some fun finds so let me know what you think. This includes basic first names as well as some combos. if anyone is curious about timeframes of any of these names I didn't add to let me know and I'll include them later.
Theodorus "Durss"
Ulalia
Adelheid
Agatha Friederica
Alice ELizabeth Lavinia
Alis
Alyse Olive
Alured "Avery"
Alyce Heleina
Ana Veronika
Andreas
Anna Elisabetha
Anna Catharina Margaretha
Anna Sabina
Anna Timothea
Anna Valentin
Annaclore (Anna Klara)
Appolina (Apalonia)
Arminda
Balthasar
Barbary
Barchle
Bartholomeus "Bartli"
Bartholomäus (Bartholomaeus)
Bartlis
Bernadrum
Berthil “Rebecca
Bethiah
Blake (1543)
Blasi / Blesin
Bernhard
Brida
Caspar
Catharina Magdalena
Chrischona
Christina Salome
Claus
Conradt
Cordt
Cordula
Cornelis
Cuntz
Cuthbert
Daisy (16th century)
Deyas Mathias
Dorcas
Dorethie
Dorothea
Ehristine
Elsbeth ‘Elsi
Emma Eva (16th century)
Estiene
Felix Ruddick
Feronica Elizabeth (Fronica)
Fijtje
FloraFlower” (17th century)
Frene IreneFanny
Fridolinus (Fridli/Fridolin)
Gali
Gasham
Gashum
Gertrudis
Gretke
Hans Caspar
Hans Christoph
Hans Rudolph
Hans Wolfgang
Hanss Ludwig
Helena Madlena
Heridias (F)
Herodias 'Horred'
Hélène
Ignatius
Inconnu
Isabella Margaret
Isobel
Israel
Jacobina
Jeremias
Jerg
Johann Matthäus
Johann Melchior
Johanna Rosina Elizabeth
Kunigund
Lancelot
Lucia
Ludovica Jehan
Ludwig Andres
Lydia Garnet
LydiaSilva
Magdelina
Margaretha Dorothea
Margerie and Margery
Marguerite Marie Anne
Maria Annali
Marianne Elizabeth Alys
Marie Carlotta
Marinus
Marx Oberle
Mathias
Mathes
MelchiorMelchor
Meshach
Myles (as in Standish, Yes! I found out I am a descendant of Myles Standish!)
Nancy Christine
Neva Maude
Noah Jasper
Nicoloaus Petrus
Olive-Marie (b 1522)
Orris
Oswald
Pennum
Petrus
Philinda
Philipa
Phillida
Prudence Michelle
Rockus Jacobsz
Sebastianus
Shadrach
Sabina Elisabetha
Sarah Maria Solome
Sibilla Ursula
Sophia Maria
Tabitha
Theodorus Johannes
Thomasine “Susan
Thomisine Thomassine Tymisinae
Ulalia Charlotte
Ulrich Zum
Urban
Ursula
Valentine
Verena
Verena “Freni”
Veronica " Verena"
Veronica “Feronica”
Vrena
Werlinus
WIlhelm
Wolfgang Ulrich
Wylliam
Zacharias
Zetta
Zsuzsi short for ZsuzsannaPlease rate my "Names I would Use" list & "Backup Favorites" list. Feel free to rate some of my other lists too if you have the time.
https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/223226/138473

Replies

It's always fun to see Shadrach and Meshach. I love Meshach.These are most interesting to me:Alured
Annaclore
Arminda
Bartlis
Brida
Cornelis
Gertrudis
Kunigund
Lancelot
Marx
Oberle
Orris
Pennum
Philinda
Herodias / Heridias
Tymisinae - this looks much cooler than Thomasine to meI saw Thalis the other day in a record, so all these rare *is names are sticking out as a historical style to me. Orris might be my favorite as a masculine form of Iris (fyi another name for it is Queen Elizabeth root) and also is preferable to Horace imo (if it's connected to that).
Also I think these are nice names:Adelheid
Appolina
Balthasar
Barbary
Caspar
Daisy
Dorothea
Dorcas
Estiene
Felix
Elizabeth
Flora "Flower"
Irene
Hans
Christoph
Rudolph
Wolfgang
Ludwig
Helena
Hélène
Ignatius
Isabella
Margaret
Isobel
Jacobina
Melchior
Johanna
Lucia
Ludovica
Jehan
Andres
Garnet

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This message was edited 1/11/2024, 2:33 AM

Shadrach was a father and Meshach was his son, unfortunately there was no Abednego thereafter lol

This message was edited 1/11/2024, 6:52 AM

What a treasure trove! These are my favorites:Ulalia [prefer Eulalia]
Agatha Friederica [prefer Frederica]
Arminda
Balthasar
Bartholomeus "Bartli"
Caspar
Cordula
Cornelis
Cuthbert
Daisy
Dorcas
Dorothea
Gertrudis
Ignatius
Inconnu -- this means "unknown"
Jacobina
Johann Melchior
Lancelot
Lucia
Margery
Marianne Elizabeth Alys
Marie Carlotta
Neva Maude
Oswald
Phillida [prefer Phyllida]
Prudence Michelle
Shadrach
Sibilla Ursula
Thomasine “Susan”
Ursula
Valentine
Verena “Freni”
Zetta
Zsuzsi short for Zsuzsanna
Thank you for the information!
Aha! Another person fooled by "Unknown" in another language. I'm glad I wasn't the only one.
Do you have multiple records for all of these? Some of them (Barchle, Bernadrum, Chrischona, Ehristine, Gali, Gashum, Inconnu, Jerg, Pennum, etc.) look like the sorts of errors that turn up in genealogies because people have trouble reading the handwriting in old records, or because census takers and other officials centuries ago didn't know how to spell and were careless.You have to be careful about interpreting old records -- even from the 20th century, sometimes. One of my aunts married a man whose father's first name was Gabriel. On my aunt & uncle's marriage certificate it says his father's name was Cable -- obviously the clerk who filled the form out misheard the name and no one ever bothered to correct it.I also had a great-aunt whose first and middle names were Alexandria Tennant, and who was usually called Tennant or Tennie in the family. There are six different names for her in various U.S. census records, the weirdest one being "Toussaint". :)
I got SO excited about finding a rare and unusual name in my family tree once, only to later find out it was just the word "Unknown" in a foreign language, lol. I also discovered my great-great grandmother's maiden name spelled three different ways! It really can be tricky to discern things.
Can we not just have some fun without some being like "oh my word! How could you not triple or quadruple check this name from someone born in 1562?! Most unorthodox!* *sips tea haughtily*
agree ...Supposedly Wiliam Shakespeare himself couldn't settle on any one spelling of his own name.And that's also how "Brain" makes it onto some mid-20th-century popularity lists. Obviously those fellas were all Brian.
At least, I hope nobody ever did name their kid Brain.
My apologies for lacking clairvoyancy and not knowing all of the facts hundreds of years into the past in a time where standardized spellings were non-existent. 🙄🙄🙄
no need for the attitude ...No personal criticism was intended by either me or CKE.
Can we not just have some fun without some being like "oh my word! How could you not triple or quadruple check this name from someone born in 1562?! Most unorthodox!* *sips tea haughtily*
Well it sure presented that way so perhaps you should reconsider your approaches
While I agree with you, I just wanted to point out that Chrischona and Jerg are indeed legit names. Jerg is an Upper German variant of Jörg which mostly survived as a surname. There are still a handful of bearers who have this as a first name, though (many of them in the German state of Baden-Württemberg). Chrischona is an old Alemannic variant of Christiana. According to legend, Saint Chrischona was one of the companions of Saint Ursula. She's somewhat of a regional saint to the city and the region surrounding the Swiss city of Basel which is why the name was predominantly found in that area (as far as I can tell, though, the name went extinct in the mid to late 1600s). That's also the reason why I asked Dianatiger if her Chrischona was by any chance from that area.
Thanks for the information!
That's a good point, there are some very strange names out there that look like they must surely be misspellings of something, but they turn out to be regional versions of obscure saints that nobody else cares about. French Canadian names are famous for this too! I have some ancestors named for the most bizarre, entirely apocryphal saints.
I'm sure there are errors but sometimes the truth is just lost to time. These are what was documented and so these are what I wrote down. Gashum was correct though. He was recent enough in the history that his name has more evidence than just the census. Likewise with Bernadrum. I never claimed to be a professional historian, only that of an individual on a research journey. Sorry if my efforts are a disappointment to you from lack in total perfection not 100% establishing the "correct" spelling of a name from 1627... 👀 I'm just saying

This message was edited 1/9/2024, 10:10 PM

Just out of interest: was your Chrischona born in the city of Basel?
Chrischona Louise Schwitzer
B:1550 in Langenbruch, Bezirk Liestal, Basel-Country, Suisse
Thank you! So she fits the time and place perfectly ;)
You're welcome
Wow, that's funny.
Good to see you posting here again, Frollein!