What's in a Name?

I'm afraid I haven't had much time to put together a very theoretical or even informative post during the past weekend-- it was very busy and a little crazy-- so instead here is a post written purely for fun: names in the microfilm. Oh yes, I have seen some absolutely ridiculous names come up while going through all of these 18th-century Court Order Books, and everyday it seems that someone else has a name that makes me wonder what their parents were thinking. In some cases they just simply weren't, and in other cases, they had no idea how we here in the 21st-century might construe their child's name.

(Photo Found Here; our post titles are purely coincidental)

First of all, there are the first-name-last-name names. So far, I have come across Owen Owens, William Williams, and Alexander Alexander. Seriously? Who on earth thought this a good idea? Interestingly enough, lots of William Williams' and Alexander Alexanders' must have been running around colonial America, because two other men by those same names built one of the earliest colonial theatres for David Douglass (pardon me for bringing in my thesis).

Then there are the anachronisms. William Wallace I noticed right off. That name conjures up images of Mel Gibson in blue face paint, and when William Wallace's last will and testament came up in the court records, I felt sure he must have yelled "FREEDOM" as he died. Except that, this wasn't the William Wallace. He just happened to have the same name. But that's not so bad-- maybe his parents were just exhibiting some Scottish pride after the '15 or the '45, depending on when they came to America. (Note: the '15 and '45 refer to two major Jacobite uprisings in 1715 and 1745, both of which the English Whig government quelled, the latter of which the government quelled and then destroyed the Highland Scottish way of life... what was left of it, anyway, after nearly all of the clans were wiped out at the Battle of Culloden.)

But what about Charles Dickens? How could his parents have known? Or-- one of my favorites-- Barnabus Bailey. Barnum and Bailey, the circus, would not exist for another hundred years or so... but now poor Barnabus Bailey's name makes me think of a ringmaster, dancing elephants, and a bearded lady. And, one of the worst, though not exactly an anachronism-- a girl named Delina Devine. That just... sounds like a stripper name. Clearly, her parents did not expect her to star in low-budget pornos or to dance on a pole-- that concept would have been extremely foreign to them-- but really? Delina Devine.

Then the Biblical names. That's not so bad, you think, we have those today. However, when two brothers named Zebulon and Reuben Harrison come up together, you just have to wonder if they had brothers named Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Napthali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Benjamin, and Joseph. And did Joseph have a really awesome coat? And what about Napthalum Gregory? Now that's an epic name!

And some people just have funny last names, which they can't help. A man with the last name of "Took" made me think of Pippin the hobbit in The Lord of the Rings, and Alexander Tadford, Jr. just sounds adorable. And poor, poor David Lairdass. At least, I think there was an "i" in the first part, but I was trying to be generous. It sure looked a lot like... well, you get it. And, while not strictly a last name, the combination of Casper Clemmons makes me smile.

But then. Then there are the parents that you just have to wonder about. The first name that made me go "Ehhh??" was Enonomous Decker. At first I thought, "Oh, the man must want to stay anonymous in this case." But then I realized that, no no, his name was Enonomous Decker. He came up several times, even, in a debt case and acknowledging a deed of bargain and sale (or something or other). You can't remain anonymous with your last name right there, nor are you allowed to anonymously be a defendant or anonymously acknowledge certain things in open court. That concept just... wasn't there. His name was Enonomous. What???

The name that really takes the cake, however, is this: Grizzle Cale. She came up in the records when she and her husband, Jacob Cale, acknowledged a deed of lease and release. Grizzle. I did a double-take. I tried to make the letters say something else. But no. Grizzle Cale. She even came up a few years later in the records, doing something or other with Jacob, and still-- Grizzle. What were her parents thinking??? I told my friend Macs about this one, and I said, "Perhaps they didn't want their child getting confused with all the other Marys and Anns and Elizabeths and Sarahs" and he said, "Well it worked, didn't it? 200 years later and here we are, still discussing their little girl."

Somehow, Grizzle Cale intrigues me more than all of the others. How did she and Jacob meet? Was it arranged or did they love each other (hey, companionate marriages were on the rise!)? Was she pretty? Shrewish? Kind? Funny? Obedient? Fiesty? Could she read or write? Who were her friends? What did she dream of?

And why did her parents choose the name Grizzle?

Just a few fun historical tidbits, here at Why History.