What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet... William Shakespeare
"Me" - a name, I call myself! Oscar Hammerstein
This past week a new Royal Baby was born. As always, you have to wait a few days before you know the name of the baby, so...I had first names on my mind, if you will. At the same time, I was researching the family history of Richard's mother who passed away a few months ago. Joan's family is firmly rooted in Sussex in England. I have traced them back for 12 generations. Two of the first names were so unusual that I have to tell you about them...one is "Fearnot" and the other one is "Faintnot". Obviously, these words are taken from the Bible and turning them into names at one time was not that unusual. I found the most wonderful post about these kind of Puritan names, you may read it just here. (The writer has a list of these names and Fearnot is on the list!)
The most extraordinary thing about the man Fearnot...he named HIS son Fearnot and the second Fearnot named his son the very same. I noticed it stopped after that 3rd generation! Still, it is amazing to notice these kind of things as you are looking over the long list of names of people who have lived in the past. And there is a long army of people who went into your being here! It is truly an astounding number when you research it... (My sister and niece have spent a good amount of time looking up our family history, I seem to have an English heart for a good reason, a great number of names are from England.)
Also...looking a bit further, Faintnot also named his son Faintnot and the 2nd Faintnot named HIS son the same! It seemed that the first Fearnot's grandson and the first Faintnot's granddaughter married. Do you wonder if they told each other their grandfather's first names not long after they met and if they had a good laugh?
Note: Faintnot (the first one) born in 1594 and Faintnot (also the first one) was born in 1591. I hope they met!
Now, although Fearnot and Faintnot are not on my family tree, they are on my husband's and I hope that it is proper that even though these men are not related to me directly, I will take comfort from those strong names...
Fear NOT and Faint NOT...I will try my best to remember that.
It just occurred to me that these wonderful names ARE related to my son so I hope he will read this post!
Do you have any names like this on your family tree? Do tell!
Speaking of names, we could easily call this chocolate bar a
"Stroppy" instead of a "Snickers" but would it still taste as sweet?
strop·py. adjective. The definition of stroppy is a British slang term used to describe someone who is hard to deal with, or who is easily offended.
P.S. Another name that I found... Performthyevows. (Perform thy vows.) Had to tell you!
Freeman was my father-in-law. Going back a few generations in my family tree had some unusual names. Even more recent names might seem strange to a generation younger than I am.
ReplyDeleteThose words from the Bible turned into names really surprised me. Since my name is really just a letter from the alphabet, I might appreciate names more than most people!
DeleteHi Kay - those are two wonderful names aren't they ... loved reading about this ... such fun. I'm glad you're enjoying the research back in time ... and lovely seeing Arlington Bluebell wood - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I only saw the bluebells blooming just that ONE time but I will never, ever forget it. Just so lovely! :-)
DeleteThe Puritans were infamous for those kinds of names, weren't they. "Deborah" was also a popular Puritan girls name because it was Bible-based. The only ancestor of mine that I know of with a spectacular Biblical name was my 3x great-grandfather, Eleazar. "Eleazar" was a High Priest of Israel, son of Aaron, nephew of Moses. Some other old-timey relatives had given names that reflected Canada's colonial Anglophilia, like "Baden-Powell" and "Minto" (the Earl of Minto was then Governor-General of Canada). A female relative of mine was named "Vimy" to honour the WW1 Battle of Vimy Ridge which was won in the year of her birth.
ReplyDeleteI love the name of Vimy, that is very special.
DeleteI seem to remember the name Deborah figuring in some of the Salem Witch Trails...I just looked it up. This blogger had a Deborah on her family tree- check it out!
http://econbrowser.com/archives/2007/10/the_salem_witch
Those are excellent Biblical names, they are part of your extended family through marriage. The names of ancestors that i've found are not nearly so interesting.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of Johns and Marys too!
DeleteThose names sound very allegorical, don't they? Like characters in A Pilgrim's Progress.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time for an Albert or Arthur in the royal family. Or a Richard! :)
Yes, just like in A Pilgrim's Progress!
DeleteThere should be more Richards in the world!
Names are important and finding out names that goes back 12 generations is amazing. I have a family tree but do not have all the names of my ancestors back that far. I may have one or two but nothing like your Fainhtnot's. No that candy bar would not be a snickers under any other name. Ha !
ReplyDeleteKeep digging up names from the past and you never know what you will find!
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DeleteI always loved the name of a character in the novel Christy - she was called Fairlight.
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember hearing about someone named return Jonathan because his father was gone when he was born....A very interesting post, Kay!
Thank you, Kristi! Fairlight, that is a lovely name.
DeleteReturn Jonathan, that is sweet but sad at the same time.
I should have written "Return Jonathan".
ReplyDeleteSo English! Lol. My husband is part English, Scottish, and Irish. His parents immigrated from Canada.
ReplyDeleteI might be related to David then! English, Scottish and Irish, but mostly English on both sides of the family!
DeleteHmmm... Those are certainly interesting names. We met two women from England during our Europe trip. Both their names were Jane. I thought that was rather fun. Maybe after Jane Austen?
ReplyDeleteI always think of Jane with Tarzan! And I also think of the book, Jane Eyre which is one of the few books of fiction that I love!
Delete"Stroppy" here means cantankerous or cranky.
ReplyDeleteFearnot....'tis best to fear not. Faintnot...'tis best to not faint,too. Unusual names...I've not heard them used before your post,Kay. :)
I thought that is what stroppy meant also but I looked it up and that is what it said, so I put it on my post. If we used the word here, it would apply to a lot of people! LOL!
DeleteI had never heard of those names either, that is why I have them here!
Changing the subject to lemons...I wrote a further note on your previous post. Also I intend making a lemon butter cake next week...quite a large one - four times the recipe, topped with lemon cream cheese-butter icing...to give to the local Aged Care home for the residents there...in honour of Mother's Day.
DeleteThat cake sounds delicious and it is such a nice thing to do! :-)
DeleteMy paternal grandmother and all of her siblings had unusual names that she said her mother found in a book. Her middle name was Jacolia.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I wonder if that name comes from Jecoliah, which is from the Bible?
DeleteWhat a fun post, Kay! It's so interesting to hear about family names, and Fearnot and Faintnot were quite the names. I don't know of any such names in my background. We had distant cousins on Mom's side of the family whose last name was "Outhouse." Some long ago immigration official anglicized their names. I hope I live a lot longer, because genealogical research is on my list of things to do. Have a good one!
ReplyDeleteHey Louise! And FEARNOT, I am sure that I have even stranger names in my family tree! LOL!
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