Naming resources

Alumni mag namespotting

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Alumni magazines are one of my very favorite guilty pleasure, and when I received one of my alma mater’s last night, I put it in my very-necessary-things-to-do pile and dove right in after the boys were in bed.

Though I usually turn right to 1990 or so, to the people most likely to list their kiddos’ names, I decided to start from the beginning (in this case, 1932), and found a lot of names of interest, names that I thought looked more like preschool rosters of today, or at least of much younger people (it was originally an all-girls’ college, I don’t remember when it switched to co-ed but the first male alumnus mentioned in this issue was Class of ’77).

I used alternate characters in the names that I thought might be particularly identifying:

Ila (’36)
Phoebe (’43)
Libby (’44)
Genevieve (’44)
Claire (’47, ’56)
Isabelle (’47)
Evelyn (’48, ’54)
Katey (’48)
Leah (’49)
Catherine (’50)
Margot (’50, ’56)
Margaret (’51)
Charlotte (’51, ’55)
Gabr!elle (’53) (twin of G3rda!) (alternate character for privacy)
Natalie (’53)
Josephine (’53)
Adelaide (’54)
Jessica (’56)
Emily (’56)
Evie (’59), Evy (’59)
Mollie (’62), Molly (’64, ’75, ’79) (I wonder how many, if any, of these were born Mary?)
R0rry (’65)
Cor!nne (’67)
Penelope (’68, ’72)
K@rra (’78)
G3mma (’79)
M@ura (’79)

Some really interesting nicknames:

D0tsy (Dorothy?), and D0tsie (Z!lpha)
Fuzzy (Fl0ra)
T3x (B3tty)
Jo (J0an)
J0d0 (J0sephine)
M!bs (M@ryAnn3)
M!ckey (Myr@n)
B@mbi (Marl3n3)
Ch!ck (M@ry)
R0xie (Car0lyn)
Andy (Aur3l)
C0rky (C0r!nne)
N0ni (N0r33n)

And interesting given names:

Fl0ra x2 and a Fl0ranna (I’ve heard Flora recently as of interest to today’s namers)
D0e
Fa!th H0pe (first name/middle name or double first name, as far as I can tell)
Myr@n (a different woman named Myrna was on the same page, which makes more sense to me — maybe Myr@n was a typo?)
Aur3l
Vall!e
Charl0n
Tha!s

Interesting men’s names, or gender unknown (’98 and more recent):

R3mc0 (m)
J0n0 (m)
F!tzhugh (m)
Crest0n (gender unknown)

Interesting children’s names of the older- to mid- generations:

L!nden (daughter of ’67 alumna)
Av!s (daughter of ’71)
Pack3r (son of ’75)
Th0r (son of ’79)
Cab3l (son of ’81, brother of Tyl3r and Isab3ll3)
Z!ggy (daughter of ’81)
Ol!ve (daughter of ’86)

Grandchildren of olders or children of younger generations that jumped out at me:

R0rke (b) (grandson of ’67)
Ma!z!e, Lucy, and L!la (cousins, grandchildren of ’71)
Warr3n (grandson of ’78)
T0b!n (son of ’90)
Ya3l (daughter of ’90)
V!enna (daughter of ’93)
Ele@n0r and Cl@ra (daughters of ’98)
S3nna (daughter of ’99)
Penel0pe (daughter of ’08)

Were you surprised by any of these? Do you have any insight about some of the more unusual ones? Do you also (please say yes) scour your alumni mag(s)/those of others for baby names??

Leprechaun names

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Our reader (and my mum) irishnannie has her own blog connected with her book, Finney Hides the Pot o’ Gold (the first in the The Adventures of Finney the Leprechaun series), and not only is it thoroughly Catholic (it’s written in Finney’s voice, speaking to children, teaching them about God and how much He loves us and other truths of our faith), but it’s also all in rhyme! (Which is just amazing to non-poet me, and so fun to read out loud. My boys love hearing about Finney’s shenanigans.)

Anyway, today’s post is called “Namin’s” and it’s all about Finney’s family’s names! He’s got quite a few relatives and all with gorgeous Irishy Irish names. Pronunciations are explained too, which is always the kicker with those kinds of names. I think you’ll enjoy reading about Finney and his family!

Fun name generator

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Have you guys seen this? “Find out what your name would be if you were born today” and every decade back to the 1890s. Abby called it addicting, and it kinda is — I did it for me and each of my boys, really interesting results! (I’d be Allison today.)

On my bookshelf: Polish First Names

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Well okay, I don’t technically own this one — it’s on loan from a friend — but I’ve been loving it: Polish First Names by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab.

Its claim to fame so far has been its bolstering of my argument that there are two acceptable pronunciations of Xavier, as it lists the Polish version as Ksawery. To quote that entry a bit more, because I love it: “A well-liked name in Poland, often given as Francis Xavier. Franciszek Ksawery Malinowski (1808-1881) was a notable priest and linguist from the Pozan region.”

That’s the thing I love about the ethnic name books — the ones that have a bit of commentary for each entry — I learn other things about the country, the culture, the language, the faith. I learned from the intro that,

“Polish names are derived from two major time periods: from ancient times until the acceptance of Christianity in 966 A.D., and from 966 A.D. to the present. The former includes native names categorized as Old Polish or Slavic in origin … The second group of names dates from Poland’s acceptance of Christianity in 966 A.D. until the present. During this time, the Church required individuals to receive baptismal names with Christian significance. At baptism, when they were “born again,” early Christians assumed new personal names — invariably the names of exemplary people and saints who had gone before them. Popular Polish names such as Krzysztof and Magdalena can be traced back to the Old and New Testaments … the name was always a Catholic one, derived from the Old or New Testament or from the lives of the saints.”

I thought the bit about the Old Testament names being included in the general group of “Catholic names” was interesting, considering our conversation from the other day.

And, surprise surprise!, I love all the nicknames. The intro states that, “Christian name diminutives often became the ‘pet names’ or ‘nicknames’ used within the family and by close friends as terms of endearment. Some of the ancient Polish spellings would make for unique names themselves.” Some of my favorites from the book include Krysia from Krystyna (Christina), Gosia for Malgorzata (Margaret) (the L has the diagonal line through it), and Klimko for Klemens (Clement).

I found several of the other entries fascinating, like the one for Petronela: “Feminine form of Petroniusz (Petronius) … An old-fashioned name, commonly found among older generation women and nuns.” Isn’t that fascinating? I had to look it up on Behind the Name, to find out why nuns would be interested in this name. I suspected it might be a form of Peter, but what I found was much more interesting: “This was the name of an obscure 1st-century Roman saint, later believed to be a daughter of Saint Peter.” Had any of you ever heard of St. Peter’s possible daughter St. Petronilla? Isn’t it interesting that Poland grabbed onto it? It would take some more digging to find out why — and my hubs is making dinner for me for Mother’s Day Eve right now ❤ so I can’t look it up right now — but, again, it’s one of the things I love about name books. A little tidbit like that can take me on a research trail that I thoroughly enjoy, and I find out such interesting things along the way. All because of the names.

So! If you’re interested in Polish given names and/or Polish nicknames and/or the history and origin behind the traditional names, I think you’ll like this book.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas in your lives!

Find out what other books and web sites I recommend on my Resources and recommendations page.

 

“Resources and recommendations” tab

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I’ve long thought of listing for you my favorite books and other resources I like and use in my naming posts, conversations, and consultations. A reader recently specifically asked me for such a list, and I finally figured out the Amazon Affiliates thing, and so: voila! The new “Resources and recommendations” tab.

It’s not totally done yet, and I’m always on the lookout for good name books, so be sure to check it from time to time if you’re like me and like to read name books on bad days, rainy days, Tuesdays, beachy days … I got you covered. (And if you have recs for me, I’d love to hear them!)

BNW blog

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There were a couple of fun topics posted on the Baby Name Wizard blog recently that I thought you’d all be interested in:

Cool Victorian Nicknames Beyond Mollie and Sadie — there are some really cute ones on this list. One of my favorite ideas mentioned is Effie as a nick for Josephine or Stephanie.

Acronames: The Sneaky-Clever Baby Name Alternative — “Acronames”! It refers to nicknames or given names made from, as in the former, the first letters of a person’s full name (eg., John Ellis Bush=Jeb) or, as in the latter, the first initials of several people (eg., a little boy named Jase after his grandparents Jerome, Anita, Stewart, and Eileen). I personally love this kind of thinking. One of the commenters said she knows a little one named Isabelle Verity and goes by the nickname Ivy (from her initials I.V.!) — I love that!! That is some brilliant naming right there.

Countdown to the New Royal Baby Name: Hitting the Bullseye — I have immense respect for Laura (The Baby Name Wizard)’s opinion about names, but I like my ideas better than hers.

A couple Irishy things

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I watched this video the other day and just died: Americans Try to Pronounce Traditional Irish Names. So true, so funny.

And I meant to post this on St. Paddy’s Day and forgot: Selected entries from “Some Common Words Derived From Christian Names” (in Withycombe):

Biddy: nickname for an Irish-woman, from the prevalence of the name Brigid in Ireland; hence old biddy, an old woman. Also used for calling chickens.

mick(e)y: temper, possibly, like Paddy, from the supposed short temper of the Irish, with whom this is a common name.

Paddy: nickname for Irishman (cf. Biddy).

paddy(whack): a rage, fit of temper. (From the supposed irascibility of the Irish.)

Did you know Martin was papal? And a papal mystery solved …

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I’ve looked through the list of popes a handful of times, but I never once noticed Pope Martin! There have been at least five of them! (I only saw references to I and V so there might have been more …)*

Pope St. Martin I seems to be the most famous — he “suffered exile and humiliation for his defense of orthodoxy in a dispute over the relationship between Christ’s human and divine natures” — and his feast day is April 13. I can’t remember now how I stumbled upon this info today, but I like it. (Incidentally, he was named successor to Pope Theodore I — also a name I didn’t remember as being papal!) (Oh I remember how I came across it — he was pope during the First Lateran Council, when he defined the three-pronged dogma of Mary’s virginity — “before, during, and after Jesus’ birth”) (“during” of course referring to the miraculous nature of his birth as “light passes through glass without harming the glass” and Mary remained “intact,” which we talked more about here).

I’ve always liked the name Martin (St. Martin de Porres is a favorite of mine), but knowing that it’s papal makes it extra sparkly to me!

*ETA: Okay I looked up a listing of the popes and found “A complete list of every single pope in the last 2000 years, in chronological order. Links to a biographical essay on each” on New Advent. I did a quick search for “Martin,” to see how many there are, and found … three: Martin I, Martin IV, and Martin V. What happened to II and III? Strangely, when I googled “Pope Martin II,” I discovered that Pope Marinus I was also known as Pope Martin II, and Pope Marinus II was also known as Pope Martin III. Not to fear — Encyclopedia Britannica explains:

“Martin (II),  nonexistent pope. In the 13th century the papal chancery misread the names of the two popes Marinus as Martin, and as a result of this error Simon de Brie in 1281 assumed the name of Pope Martin IV instead of Martin II. The enumeration has not been corrected, and thus there exist no Martin II and Martin III.”

And now we all know a little more Church history. 😉

I could do lots of posts on interesting papal names, and I will! In the meantime — which are your favorites?