Unusual But Real Names from Colonial America

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
Be-thankful
Die-well
Divine-authority
Do-good
Do-right
Do-well
Faith-my-joy
Fare-well
Fear-the-Lord
Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith
Fly-Fornication
Free-gift
Free-grace
From-above
Give-thanks
God-reward
Good-gift
Hate-bad
Hate-evil
Hate-ill
Have-mercy
Help-on-high
Hope-for
If-Christ-had-not-died-for- thee-thou-hadst-been-damned
Jesus-Christ-came- into-the-world- to-save
Job-raked-out-of-the-ashes
Joy-again
Joy-in-sorrow
Learn-wisdom
Live-well
Make-peace
More-fruit
More-trial
Much-mercy
No-merit
Praise-God
Safe-deliverance
Safe-on-high
Search-the-scriptures
Seek-wisdom
Sin-deny
Small-hope
Sorry-for-sin
Stand-fast-on-high
The-Lord-is-near
The-peace-of-God
Weep-not
What-God-will
Zeal-for-the-Lord
Zeal-of-the-Land

What a list! Thoughts?

Potentially Hyphenated Names Used for Girls in the US

There could be a number of reasons why parents would opt for a hyphenated name. Maybe they have 3 or 4 favorites that they just cannot narrow down. Maybe they'd like to honor two people in one name. Maybe they just like how it sounds. Whatever their reasons, hyphenated names do get used quite often, even here in the US, it's just that none of them have managed to get enough births per year to rank all that high.

I tried to avoid smoosh names, like -leighs and -annas and -lynnes, and only pull out the ones that are plausibly hyphenated. However, it is hard to tell since the SSA's data doesn't account for any hyphens and writes it all as one name. Perhaps the name could have been intended to be written as one, but most of these are most likely hyphenated, especially the longer ones.

There could be some that were written with spaces. For example, I doubt that Mariadejesus is one word or hyphenated, but that's how it came up in the data. Perhaps they put Maria de Jesus in the "first name box" and then something else as a middle name in addition to it. Again, the data makes it a bit difficult to know. Many of the more Spanish names on this list may not actually be hyphenated. Another is Mariadelcarmen or Maria del Carmen. Both of these names, and others like them, are probably spaced as two+ first names, but since I can't prove otherwise, I decided to include them.

I may have missed some names, but let me tell you, there ended up being way more names on this list than I anticipated:

Maria-Jose (119 births in 2014)
Ava-Marie (84 births)

Emma-Rose (64 births)
Ana-Maria (59 births)
Emma-Grace (55 births)
Ella-Mae (54 births)
Bella-Rose (42 births)
Anna-Grace (38 births)
Ellie-Mae (37 births)
Maria-Fernanda (36 births)
Anna-Sophia (33 births)
Mary-Kate (33 births)
Ella-Marie (29 births)
Mary-Elizabeth (28 births)
Ava-Grace (27 births)
Emma-Jean (27 births)
Ella-Rose (26 births)
Mary-Grace (26 births)
Ana-Paula (24 births)
Harley-Quinn (24 births)
Lily-Rose (24 births)
Mary-Lou (24 births)
Mary-Ellen (23 births)
Anna-Rose (22 births)
Dulce-Maria (22 births)
Ana-Victoria (21 births)
Ana-Sophia (19 b irths)
Bella-Marie (19 births)
Maria-Elena (19 births)
Mary-Alice (19 births)
Anna-Claire (18 births)
Hannah-Grace (17 births)
Ella-Grace (16 births)
Maria-Guadalupe (16 births)
Anna-Sofia (15 births)
Ella-Kate (15 births)
Lilly-Mae (15 births)

Bella-Grace (14 births)
Mary-Bella (14 births)
Mary-Catherine (14 births)
Mary-Rose (14 births)
Olivia-Grace (14 births)
Sophia-Grace (14 births)
Sophia-Marie (14 births)
Anna-Kate (13 births)
Emily-Rose (13 births)
Lily-Belle (13 births)
Mary-Katherine (13 births)
Stella-Rose (13 births)
Amelia-Rose (12 births)
Mary-Margaret (12 births)
Olivia-Rose (12 births)
Amber-Rose (11 births)
Briar-Rose (11 births)
Emma-Kate (11 births)
Ivy-Rose (11 births)
Leah-Marie (11 births)
Sarah-Grace (11 births)
Ana-Rosa (10 births)
Autumn-Rose (10 births)
Gracie-Mae (10 births)
Isabella-Rose (10 births)
Layla-Marie (10 births)
Maria-Isabel (10 births)
Mary-Claire (10 births)
Mary-Frances (10 births)
Sadie-Mae (10 births)
Scarlett-Rose (10 births)
Sophia-Rose (10 births)

Ana-Brenda (9 births)
Angel-Marie (9 births)
Emma-Claire (9 births)
Emma-Jane (9 births)
Emma-Marie (9 births)
Faith-Marie (9 births)
Maria-Clara (9 births)
Maria-Luisa (9 births)
Zoey-Jane (9 births)
Ana-Isabel (8 births)
Anna-Lucia (8 births)
Bella-Rae (8 births)
Daisy-Mae (8 births)
Emma-Sofia (8 births)
Evelyn-Rose (8 births)
Isabella-Marie (8 births)
Jada-Marie (8 births)
Layla-Rose (8 births)
Lily-Grace (8 births)
Luz-Marie (8 births)
Sadie-Ann (8 births)
Aaliyah-Rose (7 births)
Annabel-Lee (7 births)
Annie-Mae (7 births)
Ellie-May (7 births)
Eva-Rose (7 births)
Gianna-Marie (7 births)
Jayla-Rose (7 births)
Jessa-Mae (7 births)
Lillie-Mae (7 births)
Mary-Angel (7 births)
Mary-Carmen (7 births)
Mary-Clare (7 births)
Mary-Cruz (7 births)
Mary-jo (7 births)
Rosa-Isela (7 births)
Sarah-Jane (7 births)
Sofia-Grace (7 births)

Aaliyah-Marie (6 births)
Abigail-Grace (6 births)
Abigail-Marie (6 births)
Abigail-Rose (6 births)
Allie-Mae (6 births)
Anna-Paula (6 births)
Ava-Jane (6 births)
Ava-Nicole (6 births)
Bria-Marie (6 births)
Callie-Ann (6 births)
Carrie-Anne (6 births)
Charlee-Ann (6 births)
Chloe-Marie (6 births)
Elizabeth-Ann (6 births)
Ella-Jane (6 births)
Ellie-Rose (6 births)
Emma-Mae (6 births)
Emmie-Lou (6 births)
Eva-Mae (6 births)
Harley-Ann (6 births)
Jean-Marie (6 births)
Kiley-Ann (6 births)
Kyleigh-Ann (6 births)
Laila-Rose (6 births)
Layla-Grace (6 births)
Maria-Camila (6 births)
Maria-Cecilia (6 births)
Maria-Eduarda (6 births)
Maria-Luiza (6 births)
Maria-Victoria (6 births)
Mary-Jean (6 births)
Mary-Jose (6 births)
Melody-Rose (6 births)
Natalie-Rose (6 births)
Penelope-Rose (6 births)
Serenity-Rose (6 births)
Sofia-Rose (6 births)
Stella-Mae (6 births)
Taylor-Rae (6 births)

Amelia-Grace (5 births)
Ana-Cristina (5 births)
Ana-Isabella (5 births)
Ana-Rose (5 births)
Anna-Jean (5 births)
Anna-Joy (5 births)
Anna-May (5 births)
Anna-Rae (5 births)
Anna-Victoria (5 births)
Ariana-Marie (5 births)
Athena-Marie (5 births)
Aubrey-Rose (5 births)
Ava-Claire (5 births)
Ava-Elizabeth (5 births)
Ava-Sophia (5 births)
Avery-Marie (5 births)
Ayla-Mae (5 births)
Brooklyn-Rose (5 births)
Carrie-Ann (5 births)
Charlie-Mae (5 births)
Delilah-Rose (5 births)
Eliana-Grace (5 births)
Elizabeth-Grace (5 births)
Eliza-Jane (5 births)
Ellie-Kate (5 births)
Elly-Mae (5 births)
Emma-Beth (5 births)
Emma-Kay (5 births)
Eva-Maria (5 births)
Gianna-Rose (5 births)
Hazel-Marie (5 births)
Ivy-Marie (5 births)
Jade-Marie (5 births)
Julia-Rose (5 births)
Kayla-Marie (5 births)
Lena-Marie (5 births)
Lily-Marie (5 births)
Luna-Marie (5 births)
Luz-Mary (5 births)
Madison-Rose (5 births)
Mara-Jade (5 births)
Maria-Belen (5 births)
Maria-Emilia (5 births)
Maria-Paula (5 births)
Mary-Helen (5 births)
Mary-Jayne (5 births)
Mary-June (5 births)
Mia-Marie (5 births)
Mia-Nicole (5 births)
Mira-Jane (5 births)
Molly-Ann (5 births)
Sara-Grace (5 births)
Savannah-Grace (5 births)
Savannah-Jo (5 births)
Savannah-Lynn (5 births)
Sophie-Ann (5 births)
Violet-Rose (5 births)
Winter-Rose (5 births)
Zoey-Marie (5 births)


What a list! What do you think about hyphenated names? Would you ever use one? Which of these catches your eye the most?  Don't forget to check out the list of hyphenated boy names too!

Potentially Hyphenated Names Used for Boys in the US

Have you ever met someone with a double-barreled first name? Two first names strung together by a hyphen? It happens often enough to be a thing, but yet it is still somewhat rare depending on where you live.

There could be a number of reasons why parents would opt for a hyphenated name. Perhaps they couldn't narrow down their favorites and decided to use them all. Perhaps they'd like to honor two people in one name. Or maybe they just like how the two names sound together. Hyphenated names do get used often, even here in the US, however none of them have managed to get enough births per year to rank all that high. The majority of the names on this list have less than 20 births per year.

Since the SSA's data doesn't account for any hyphens and writes it all as one name, it is impossible to know how these names are truly intended to be written. Perhaps the name was meant to be written as one, or maybe the child received two first names rather than a first and a middle.

There could be some that were written with spaces. For example, it is unlikely that Juandedios or Angeldejesus are one word or hyphenated, but that's how it came up in the data. These are probably listed as Juan de Dios and Angel de Jesus in the "first name box".

Again, the data isn't clear. These could be one name. These could be hyphenated. Or these could be spaced as two+ first-names.  Also, I probably missed quite a few of the more foreign ones, but I included a few of them below that seemed most intuitive. Here is what I compiled:

John-Paul  (164 births)

Abdul-Aziz (97 births)
John-Luke (46 births)
John-Michael (35 births)
Abdul-Malik (31 births)
John-David (27 births)
King-James (20 births)
Jesse-James (19 births)
Muhammad-Ali (16 births)
John-Thomas (15 births)
Abdul-Kareem (14 births)
John-Anthony (13 births)
John-Henry (13 births)
John-Patrick (13 births)
King-David (13 births)
John-Carlo (12 births)
John-Carlos (12 births)
Jon-Paul (12 births)
Marc-Anthony (12 births)
Mark-Anthony (11 births)
Michael-Anthony (10 births)
Abdul-Karim (9 births)
Ethan-James (9 births)
Jay-Mason (9 births)
John-Mark (9 births)
John-Robert (9 births)
Jon-Luke (9 births)
Sir-Charles (9 births)
Jay-Anthony (8 births)
John-Daniel (8 births)
John-William (8 births)
Jon-Carlo (8 births)
Jon-Carlos (8 births)
Sean-Patrick (8 births)
Aiden-James (8 births)
James-Michael (7 births)
Joe-Anthony (7 births)
John-Ryan (7 births)
Jon-Michael (7 births)
Joshua-James (7 births)
King-Michael (7 births)
King-Solomon (7 births)
Liam-Gabriel (7 births)
Liam-James (7 births)
Liam-Matthew (7 births)
Liam-Michael (7 births)
Chris-Angel (6 births)
Elijah-James (6 births)
James-Ryan (6 births)
John-Joseph (6 births)
King-Charles (6 births)
King-Elijah (6 births)
Michael-Gabriel (6 births)
Sean-Michael (6 births)
Tyler-James (6 births)
Andrew-James (5 births)
Billy-Joe (5 births)
Carter-James (5 births)
Christian-James (5 births)
Christopher-John (5 births)
David-James (5 births)
Jacob-Anthony (5 births)
James-Dean (5 births)
James-Patrick (5 births)
John-Gabriel (5 births)
John-Wesley (5 births)
Jon-David (5 births)
King-Anthony (5 births)
King-Joseph (5 births)
Lee-Andrew (5 births)
Liam-Alexander (5 births)
Matthew-James (5 births)
Noah-Gabriel (5 births)
Paul-Anthony (5 births)
Prince-Charles (5 births)
Ryan-Paul (5 births)
Sir-William (5 births)

Latin Combination names (Spanish, Italian, even French):
These could be one name. These could be hyphenated. Or these could be spaced as two first names. It is hard to tell from the data. How do you imagine the following names would be written?

Gianluca (158 births)
Miguel-Angel (110 births)
Juan-Carlos (89 births)
Juan-Pablo (87 births)
Jose-Luis (86 births)
Jean-Carlos (75 births)
Michelangelo (74 births)
Jeancarlo (48 births)
Michaelangelo (42 births)
Jose-Manuel (35 births)
Luis-Angel (35 births)
Giancarlos (34 births)
Jose-Angel (33 births)
Juan-Diego (28 births)
Juan-Jose (28 births)
Gianmarco (26 births)
Jose-Maria (23 births)
Jose-Miguel (22 births)
Gianfranco (21 births)
Jean-Paul (21 births)
Jose-Antonio (21 births)
Jean-Pierre (18 births)
Juan-Manuel (16 births)
Marco-Antonio (16 births)
Juan-Antonio (14 births)
Gianlucas (11 births)
Jose-Carlos (10 births)
Jose-Juan (10 births)
Juan de Dios (10 births)
Angel-Gabriel (9 births)
Gianlucca (9 births)
Juan-Angel (9 births)
Juan-Daniel (9 births)
Juan-David (8 births)
Luis-Antonio (8 births)
Gianluigi (7 births)
Jiancarlo (7 births)
Jose-Julian (7 births)
Juan-Luis (7 births)
Luis-Fernando (7 births)
Angel de Jesus (6 births)
Carlos-Daniel (6 births)
Jorge-Luis (6 births)
Jose de Jesus (6 births)
Juan-Andres (6 births)
Luis-Daniel (6 births)
Luis-Enrique (6 births)
Luis-Mario (6 births)
Don-Juan (5 births)
Giankarlo (5 births)
Gianmichael (5 births)
Jose-Daniel (5 births)
Luis-Carlos (5 births)
Luis-Manuel (5 births)
Victor-Hugo (5 births)
Victor-Manuel (5 births)

I suspect that many of these are double first names rather than actually hyphenated, but since we can't know for sure, they have been included here.  Which do you like? Are there any that you think do not flow well together?

Stay tuned for the list of potentially hyphenated girls' names. It is SO much longer than this list!