Holidays as Sources for Personal Names
The utilization of computers in genealogy will enable you to alphabetize and do some unscientific, albeit fascinating, analyses of both the surnames and personal names on your family tree.
Surnames are wonderful clues to the origin of families in the old countries and their ethnic backgrounds, and it is from personal names that many of our surnames are derived. Names like George, Thomas and Charles are used as surnames as well as personal names.
The personal names that our ancestors bestowed upon their children can be an engaging study in social history or at least provide you with family tree trivia.
At one time in England it was popular to christen children with names referring to the day of their birth: Christmas, Easter, Noel, Whitsun, Pentecost, Epiphany, Loveday, Theophania or Tiffany were all used. This custom, with some Americanized features, is still observed. You’ll find daughters, especially, named for a holiday, a month or a season: Noel, Holly, April, December, January, June, May and Spring are examples.
Tiffany is one of today’s popular names for baby girls, but few parents may be aware of its ancient origins. It comes from the Greek word Theophania, another name for the Epiphany--”the manifestation of God.” Theophania became “Tifaine” in Old French. In French folklore, Tifaine was thought to be the name of the mother of the Magi. The name was given to girls born at the season of Epiphany and is found in England from about 1200. It gave rise to the surnames of Tiffany, Tiffeny, Tiffen and Tiffin. Now it is again being used as a personal name.
If you look closely at your ancestors’ personal names and that of their siblings, you will probably uncover some familial quirks of naming patterns in your pedigree.
A Texas genealogist relates the story of how his great-grandfather named three sons Virgil, Thurman and Virgil Thurman, which provided this descendant with a grandfather Virgil, and great-uncles named Thurman and Virgil Thurman. How did the family keep them straight?
“They called Virgil Thurman V. T.,” he explained.
It was not uncommon in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries for our English ancestors to give more than one living child in the same family the same name. Often you will find brothers named John.
Can you imagine the genealogical nightmare that awaits you if you discover a will that bequests to “Isabel and Isabel, my daughters,” or “to Bessie, my daughter, and Elizabeth, my daughter?” About the only way to distinguish these persons is to discover their diminutives, or pet names.
Pet names (or nicknames) are how folks have distinguished family members for centuries. From the one-time common name of Bartholomew came the pet names of Bat, Bate, Batty, Bartle, Barelot, Bartelet, Batcock, Batkin and Tolly--none of which are common in America today. However, Bart is still a favorite.
One of my great-grandmothers named three daughters Cora, Nora and Dora and the fourth Nancy. That puzzles me. Why was Nancy not named Flora?
Most of the men in all my lines carried forth the names of their fathers, grandfathers and uncles. However, it is obvious that, after a man produced 20 children, he may have run out of relatives to name them for--and his wife (or wives) were too tired to be creative in the naming department. At least that’s what I think may have happened to one ancestor, who named his younger sons George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone and Thomas Benton.