The Art of Naming

The record of Kings and Queens of Scotland dates back to the year 843. Over the centuries,  there were many different houses that ruled including the House of Alpin,  the House of Dunkeld, the Canmores , the Balliols , the Bruces , and the Stewart/Stuarts. There were also points in history that Scotland, Great Britain and Ireland all fell under the same rule rather than running their countries separately. This happened in the time of the  Hanovers followed by the currently reigning Windsor house. Let's take a look back in history at the names of the rulers of Scotland in specific. I chose Scotland and this time period because of the variety of interesting names of their rulers. Now, this isn't going to be a history lesson. I won't pretend to be well versed in European History. This is strictly about the interesting names. House of Alpin: 843-858 Kenneth MacAlpin ( Cináed) 858-862 Donald I 862-877 Constantine I 877-878 Aedh 878-889 Eochaid 889-900

How long have there been rulers in England ? At least on record, we can trace their names pretty far back. For a while, the kingdoms were separate and set up differently than today. Currently, Queen Elizabeth II reigns over Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Scotland, Ireland and Wales have all had their own rulers over time before becoming united as they are now. For this article, we will look strictly at the rulers of England. There will be posts in the future looking strictly at the names of the rulers of Wales and Scotland, but for now, let's focus on England. There have been many ruling Houses overtime and those rulers have had some interesting names. I didn't include some of the really early rulers since their names are unlikely to be used today and there are so many of them. We'll look at some of the more traditional names that are still in use such as William, Henry and John. I won't pretend to be a historian. This won't be a history lesson. We are

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

The Girl's Name of the Week is a beautiful choice that often gets overlooked: Antonia. Antonia is the feminine form of the Roman family name "Antonius" from which the male names Antony, Anthony, Antonio, etc also come. All of these names unfortunately do not have a known meaning . In the 17th century, names like this were confused for having origins from the Greek word "Anthos" which means "flower" and resulted in the letter "h" being adding to names like Anthony. Some websites will claim meanings for these names, but none have been proven to be true. I have seen meanings listed for Antonia such as "priceless," "beautiful," or "praiseworthy." If you wish to use one of these meanings for your daughter, that is fine with me, just remember they haven't been proven as the true meaning based on the root name Antonius, which has an unknown meaning. Antonia and its variant forms such as Antoinette and An