Unusual first names (African, American, skin, blood)

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

Interesting list! Did you find some of these on census records? If so, I wonder if "Ellawese" was really "Eloise", and the census taker just wrote down what he thought he heard?? Or perhaps the parents heard "Eloise", liked and used it, but were unfamiliar with the usual spelling so wrote it phonetically. No idea if "Jennawese" might be the result of creative hearing/spelling or an actual made-up name to go with Ellawese/Eloise. Maybe "Genoiese"? Is that a name? Or a description of a native of Geneva/Genoa?

Yes, it's important to remember that names from censuses in particular may be wildly inaccurate.

And of course, it's also important to remember that some foreign names might seem unusual to us but in their native land, may have been quite normal and common. I have a Norwegian branch in which these names regularly pop up:

Aase
Else
Leeg
Svennung or Sveinung (forms of Svein but these particular spellings are accurate)
Ole
Orm
Ranni
Abelone/Apelone

A lot of them can't be found on name databases like Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings so to the world, they are unusual, but browsing the Norwegian parish records, they were not uncommon in Norway at the time.

This is a good list of common Scandinavian names most people may not be familiar with: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/w...an_Given_Names

[CTGirlNoMore]

My grandmother's name was Mafalda. She went by her middle name of Laura, though.

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by CTGirlNoMore

My grandmother's name was Mafalda. She went by her middle name of Laura, though.

Was she Italian or Portuguese? This is apparently just a variant form of Matilda.

[CTGirlNoMore]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

Was she Italian or Portuguese? This is apparently just a variant form of Matilda.

Italian

[cmptrwlt]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

Yes, it's important to remember that names from censuses in particular may be wildly inaccurate.

And of course, it's also important to remember that some foreign names might seem unusual to us but in their native land, may have been quite normal and common. I have a Norwegian branch in which these names regularly pop up:

Aase
Else
Leeg
Svennung or Sveinung (forms of Svein but these particular spellings are accurate)
Ole
Orm
Ranni
Abelone/Apelone

A lot of them can't be found on name databases like Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings so to the world, they are unusual, but browsing the Norwegian parish records, they were not uncommon in Norway at the time.

This is a good list of common Scandinavian names most people may not be familiar with: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/w...an_Given_Names

Leeg, Orm, Ranni and Apelone are very uncommon these days (0-3 got either names in Norway as of 2012).

As of 2012:

• Aase: 4,375 women - or the more common, Ã…se: 10,914 women. Both names were popular around 1930.
• Else: 12,949 women. It reached its peak around 1930.
• Sveinung: 1,757 men
• Svennung: only 4 men

Top five girl names 2011:

1. Emma
2. Nora
3. Sara
4. Sofie
5. Linnea (originates from Sweden)

Top five boy names 2011:

1. Emil
2. Lucas
3. Mathias
4. William
5. Magnus

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

Leeg, Orm, Ranni and Apelone are very uncommon these days (0-3 got either names in Norway as of 2012).

That's why I said: "but browsing the Norwegian parish records, they were not uncommon in Norway at the time."

[cmptrwlt]

I cannot find any data on Leeg. It was not a common Norwegian name - even 150 years ago. The same goes for Orm. Guttorm, a derivation of Orm, was quite common 100 years ago. Gorm, an another derivation, is/was not that common but is still in use.

Randi is/was way more common than Ranni.

It seems like Apelone was quite common 250 years ago.

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

I cannot find any data on Leeg. It was not a common Norwegian name - even 150 years ago. The same goes for Orm. Guttorm, a derivation of Orm, was quite common 100 years ago. Gorm, an another derivation, is/was not that common but is still in use.

For starters, I never said they were extremely common names. I said they were not uncommon which just means it's not like they were unheard of. Secondly, I'm talking about more than 100 or 150 years ago. All my Norwegian ancestors emigrated pre-1850 and all my information on names is coming from browsing hundreds of parish records from the late 18th and early 19th century. I could not give you exact numbers because I'm not exactly counting and keeping track. But when you're manually looking through each entry for your ancestor's names, you wind up noticing the other names you're reading too and Leeg and Orm have been among them so I have become familiarized to them now whereas I'd never heard of them before.

Randi is/was way more common than Ranni.

Great. I'm not saying they were the most popular names in the country - just that they were not unheard of. My point was merely that just because it's unfamiliar in our own culture doesn't necessarily means it was highly unusual in the individual's country of origin.

[topher5150]

My great-great-great(?) grandpa who came over from the Netherlands was named Lubbert

[Mathguy]

Saw this one recently......Jeromeasaurus.