The Art of Naming

Ah yes, the Puritans. They were around when America was just gaining an origin story. People tend to have Colonial America on their mind around Thanksgiving time. They like to discuss the Puritans and the Pilgrims, so why not take another look at some of the interesting names they used to use. The Art of Naming has covered Colonial Names several times. Not only the virtuous names like Hope, Grace and Faith, but also the more uncommon choices like Charity, Prudence, Prosper and Resolved . We also looked at names drawn from the bible like Lydia and Levi since these were common then and now. Today, we're going to look at a list of names that most people would agree are unusual and rather unpractical for use today.  There's no need to explain these since they're quite straight forward, but yes, these were actually given to people as names back in the day.  Are there any that strike you as a guilty pleasure? Abuse-not Acts-Apostles Aid-on-high Be-courteous Be-strong

Around this time of year, America tends to reflect on our interesting origins as a country. One of the most popular tales revolves around the early settlers who arrived on the east coast in the 1600s.  The fourth Thursday in November is Thanksgiving, a national holiday that commemorates the thanksgiving that the Pilgrims held for barely surviving their first winter in 1621. Tomorrow, this holiday will be observed by many. The Puritans were a quirky group of English Protestants who settled mostly in the Boston area. There were about 10 Massachusetts Bay Puritan settlers to every 1 Pilgrim from Plymouth but they ended up merging together around 1691. While these two groups were initially very different, they and their descendants together form the popular image of America's early settlers that most people think about on Thanksgiving. Let's take a moment to look back at some of the unusual names that popped up in Colonial America. Most of the common names were traditional o

After looking at all of the 4+ syllable boy names available, I wanted to pick one that was legitimately 4 syllables on its own as opposed to a name that earned 4 syllables by adding an -o to the end of a name that is usually 3-syllables. With this criteria, it was actually rather tough to find a good one that hasn't already been featured. I settled on the biblical Jeremiah. Jeremiah comes from the Hebrew name יִרְמְיָהוּ ( Yirmiyahu ) meaning "Yahweh has uplifted". In the bible, he was one of the major prophets in the Old Testament who wrote the Book of Jeremiah as well as the Book of Lamentations. He lived in the 6th century BC during the time of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. In England, the Protestant Reformation brought about the usage of a lot of names that were later carried to Colonial America with the pilgrims. Jeremiah was one of those names. However, the shorter variation Jeremy was sometimes used since the 13th century in England. Over

Recently, I was looking over the post I made last year regarding Colonial names . Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I'd cover colonial names a bit more. Colonial names are full of history and laced with virtues and biblical associations. Sometimes these names are even comprised of long phrases . You probably won't see many boys named Comfort or girls named Modesty today, and something like The-Peace-of-God or Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith probably won't work well for official documents. This led me to wonder what the most usable, wearable names that were favored in early America might be. With much thought, scrutiny and consideration, I narrowed it down to my top 5 boy names and top 5 girl names that date back to the colonial era but can still sound fresh and usable today. Girls: Charlotte The lovely Charlotte is the French, feminine form of the name Charles which is typically listed as meaning "free man".  Modern parents love this n

I just could not decide which 3-letter boys' name to highlight this week so I picked a few that I liked and took the question public! I put up a poll and 53 of you voted for the next featured name! The winner was Asa with 13 votes. So let's learn a little more about the boys' name Asa, pronounced AY-suh. According to BehindTheName, Asa is a Hebrew name meaning "doctor". However, Nameberry says the meaning of Asa is "born in the morning". BabyNames agrees with both meanings, listing Asa's meaning as "physician" and including a note that in Japanese, Asa means "Born at Dawn". This led me to look a bit further. According to Wikipedia,  there are several different meanings for this name in different cultures around the world so take your pick!: Hebrew: Healer and/or physician Yoruba Nigerian: Hawk or little hawk Igbo Nigerian: Beautiful Japanese: Morning Indonesian: Hope Portuguese: Wing Biblically, it was wor

Purple Primroses I got this week's featured name from the list of Colonial names that I posted on Tuesday! It was apparently used back then but it sure is rare now! There are many "Rose" names out there. Beyond just Rose, there are Rosa, Rosalie, Rosamund, Roseanne, Roselyn, Rosemary, Rosetta, Rosemarie, etc. I have never been a huge fan of any of these. And then I found Primrose.  It switches the "rose" to the end of the name and is an entirely different flower altogether than a rose, which I like! I'm one of those odd girls that do not like roses just because everyone else does. The primrose is very lovely, though, and comes in many colors!  (Don't let the name fool you! The Primrose flower comes from the family Primulaceae and is not closely related to the rose family Rosaceae.) This name was originally used as a Scottish surname but it ultimately derives from the Latin "prima rosa" which means "first rose". And as it

The Freake Limner (American Colonial Era Painter, active 1670-c 1680) Mrs Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary 1674 British Colonial America was a very important time in our history. They are the ones that started it all with a sense of freedom and independence. The ones who made the voyage over were discovering a whole new land and developing their own rules in their own new towns. They also had some interesting names, some of which you don't hear often today, and others that might just be cool enough to actually use again. These names were popular in colonial times, taken straight from the 18th century! Some of these overlap with the Biblical names list, and they seem to be much different than the names popular in England during the Victorian era. If you're looking for some cool, historical choices, perhaps you'll find a name that you like here! Boys:                              Abel Abiel Abijah Abimael Abner Abraham Absalom Adonijah Ajax Alden Amias

Virtue names are usually accredited to the Puritans for their earliest, most-frequent usage. However, names that had powerful and important meanings were also popular with Ancient Greeks and Romans. Around 1590, the Puritan movement developed as a sect of the Church of England. They began using the names of saints and martyrs instead of virtue names by order of the Catholic Church. Then the Puritans fled to America to escape religious persecution. It was then that they freely used their virtue names, as well as phrase names and scriptural names such as "Fight the good fight of Faith" as a name. While these long phrase names didn't catch on, many of the virtue names did and are still in use today. Here is a list of both popular and not-so-popular virtue names for boys and girls: Girls:  Amity Charity Clarity Clemency Comfort Constance Faith Felicity Fidelity Grace Honor Hope Joy Mercy Merritt Modesty Patience Prudence Remember Sage Serenity Since