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I keep running into Mahlon. Male. I can't even think how to properly pronounce it. Mah' lon? May' lon? Strange name. Found it on both sides around 1850.
And nothing beats my great grandpappy. He was one of four children that we know of -- George, Susan and Barbara were his siblings names. But his must have been a heck of a labor.
His name was Annanius Jeremiah.
And around the mid 1890's Shannon was a popular name for boys around the places I keep looking for relatives.
For girls -- I haven't run into too many odd names there. I do have a Comfort and a Celestia. A Lavinia, too.
Last edited by Tallysmom; 11-27-2009 at 09:44 PM..
My Gr Gran was Saphronia Laura Cooper...sound southern enough...LOL. She was born in Loachapoka, AL in 1871. Her daughter, my Gran was Zula Mae, she was named after an Aunt.
Most of my names are plain to the point of being a problem. On my Fathers line every other generation has a John Reed starting with my father. I can only get back to the John Reed born 1784 in PA.
I found a few odd names for the females in my family tree. They are, Drucilla, Laminda, Lavina, Lotta and Cistena. The only odd name I have come across for males is Mathias otherwise the guys all have common names, which like another poster mentioned has made searching for ancestors problematic.
My familie trees abound with names that I think are unusual, and almost all of them are found amongst families with very plain English sounding surnames.
I have lots of peculiar looking Dutch names in colonial NJ and NY, but the great majority of these are really just the Dutch versions of very common Christian names.
Two unusual Dutch male names in my family are Epke and Weart/Weirt. I have only found the first in my own family.
Male Names: Some of these sound like family names, and it was not unusual to carry on a surname from the female line, which would otherwise be lost, as a given name. However, I have not found matching surnames among the famiies of the guys below. Most of these are 19th century Canada.
Carman, Baden, Shuter, Gursham, Ogle, Noadiah, Zenis, Ami, Zimri (the previous three from the same family surnamed Curtis), Sylocater, Seo, Humphrus Goorley, Alva, Alpheus, Menzo, Jotham, Maloom, Daro, Driano, Mency, Almon, Elon, Galusha.
Female Names: Some of these are quite beautiful, a few are real clunkers. All are 19th century Canada.
My favorites - Orissa, Calista (sisters, the first a grt grdmother)
Perdita (her last name was Farrell, sounds like a character in a Victorian novel)
Ordelia, Arletta, Audra, Eldrena, Zula (my favorite grand aunt), Sabra (not Jewish), Marit, Arzelia/Arzella, Arla, Sophonia/Sophrona (in vogue briefly), Iladell, Lulula, Metta, Lillice, Orstellia, Ilya, Mahala (in fashion briefly), Huldah (a clunker IMO), Alvira, Awilda, Thressa (not a misspelling), Orpha, Naoma, Alzina, Lodica, Assanath, Almidia
I keep running into Mahlon. Male. I can't even think how to properly pronounce it. Mah' lon? May' lon? Strange name. Found it on both sides around 1850.
Whoa, I have that one, too! Mine was born 28 Oct 1848 in VT.
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, Benajah, Gerlach, Orval, Teal, Simcoe, Antipas, Eleazar, Honer, Jazaniah, Mahlon**, Pliny, Merritt, Nahum, Elihu, Micaiah, Tomes, Azel, Israel, Manassah, Williford, Benoni, Ciceoro...and some virtue names: Thankful and Fearnot.
