The Baby Name Wizard

Brilliant. Fascinating. Your blog is the best best best for us baby name junkies. Wish you would post more often. Would love to hear more about Victorian names. Specifically ...pronunciation! I recently watched the Forsyte Saga and was stunned when Irene was pronounced I-Reen-ee. Is this the classical greek pronunciation, or a Victorian interpretation of the greek? What was up with those Greek Revival names? What were the most popular, and what were the outliers? Thanks!

i can not stand people who make up names. I have met more people whos name starts with T' ( as in T'Ashley ) that i have Annas in my life

Another Victorian naming practice that drives me crazy as I research family history is their habit of naming children one thing and calling them something else. My family has a Samuel called Addison, a David called Everett, a Joseph called Clifford. I'd love more information on why this practice took hold. It had to be pretty confusing for these people while they were alive...

Ah, but I don't think this custom is unique to the Victorian era. My grandfather was named Henning but went by Larry. My uncle is Henning but went by Bill. No one in my family thought twice when I married a Ken who goes by Tom!

My great-great-grandmother and one of my great-aunts were both named Permelia! They also had siblings named Icie and Alpha. I'd love to see some statistics on the predominance of certain middle names... I grew up in the rural Midwest and the vast majority of girls I knew had either Marie, Ann, or Lynn as a middle name.

That's like looking at my family tree! Unfortunately I'm named after my great-aunt Zellar...But there's a Toy, a Lockie, a Dellar and a Queen all in the branches of my family tree. That's fantastic.

Those are great! I've been researching my family tree, and those names are familiar. I wish they'd been a little less free with the Johns and James and Marys because it would make my research easier!

I just stumbled across this blog while searching for Victorian names for fictional characters. I'm a total name junkie, and I can see I'm going to have to visit here on a regular basis! Love the post about bizarre Victorian names, and it's fascinating to see comments from people who have those names in their family tree. The only weird Victorian name I know of in my family history is Bazzle (spelled just like that), and that's not even that weird.

Sounds like things haven't changed much... 1890s' Tennessees and Floridas are today's Dakotas and Montanas. I wonder when I'll meet someone named Connecticut or Delaware.

I don't know if I could think of a weirder name than Bazzle.

Ha. That comment about Bazzle cracked me up.But at least in Britain, Jen's right, it's not that weird, as that's how Basil is pronounced (whereas in the US, we'd say Bay-sil).

"Orange" in 1900 would have been a bold political statement: the word is associated with Protestant rivaly against Catholicism and particularly British control of Ireland. Google for "Orange Day" or "William of Orange". Not the playful name it would seem today.

Someone asked about the Greek and Roman Revival names over the 19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Rome was huge in England. Pompei and Herculaneum had been dug up, and Roman ruins had been discovered in Bath. A design craze ensued in everything from women's hair and fashion to furniture. Then in the Napoleonic wars, Lord Eglin brought back sculptures from the Parthenon (still "stolen" and housed at the British Museum), and everyone decided that Greek design was more pure, elegant, sophisticated, etc. You do see many, many Greek and Latin names -- but I don't know how closely it's all related.

I am a blogger - constantly deleting and recreating it - its almost like I get to keep picking new names for myself (would be a great analogy) anyway my current blog begins with my name - the origin and then my second post goes on to say how my name has affected me and how I have attempted to stop the flow of blood when my children grow up. I wanted to email you personally because I wanted permission to put a link on my site to your blog. You may email me at thegoddionysus@yahoo.com - for my name Denise. I do look forward to your reply.

I have a Missouri Bell in my family tree. Bell is middle, not last, name.I started visiting this site when I was having a baby in the spring and though she's several months old now, I still visit every week. Love it!

I love made up names!! At one time the common names we know by heart today like John and Diane where once "just made up". When I was writing stories I "created" (I just never found it in a book & it was before we were online) a female name: Annalicia, I believe that is how I spelled it. Pronounced: ann-ah-LEE-see-AH.Awesome article!

I wonder if names like Dellar, Ellar, and Anner weren't the result of illiteracy plus regional pronunciations. The late 19th c. saw an increase in literacy rates, but a lot of people still couldn't read. If you lived somewhere like some parts of the American south or Britain, you could have more easily assumed that Anna is Anner, etc.

" That's like looking at my family tree! Unfortunately I'm named after my great-aunt Zellar...But there's a Toy, a Lockie, a Dellar..."Hmmm...reminds me of a Dr. Suess book I have read many times to my children..."There's a Wocket in my Pocket!" I believe there are both a Dellar and a Zellar in the cellar (along with several other rhyme-y friends).

Expecting a first grandchild in November and appalled at the trend to weird names. Just found your postings yesterday and find them quite interesting. Commenting here as my grandmother (born 1868) was "Birdie" until she chose to be called "Dorothy" (Gift of God) on joining the Church of Christ!And all along I just thought they hadn't got round to naming her properly!

Thanks for such a great blog. I too have noticed that in the late 1800's there was no shortage of terrible names. According to the family Bible, I am a descendant of a grandmother names Missouri, and another named Ola Viola. Growing up in the 80's, when everyone in my classroom was named Heather, Jennifer, or Amanda, I'm turned off by popular names. My husband has always wanted a daughter named Breezy. We've agreed on Briseis, but what goes with that? Not much I'd gather.

We don't even need to be together, we are never apart. You are my soul mate, my best friend, my inspiration, my love.We don't even need to be together, we are never apart. You are my soul mate, my best friend, my inspiration, my love.We don't even need to be together, we are never apart. You are my soul mate, my best friend, my inspiration, my love.We don't even need to be together, we are never apart. You are my soul mate, my best friend, my inspiration, my love.

I thought this was a pretty cool little story. I myself was looking for a girls name for my baby who is due July 1, 2007. When I first heard this name I was watching the movie Troy and all this time I thought it was Mersies looking up the name on the Troy website I found that I was wrong the name was Briseis a beautiful name but loving the way Merseis sounds Im going to name my baby girl Mersies a name that goes perfect with her last name. What funny ways that one might come up with a name. Thank you for sharing your story on line.

does anyone know if the name Opie stands alone or is short for something? That was 1940's bandleader Opie Cates born 1852. My family tree also has weird names. My husband's grandfather was named Vera Lee born after the Civil War and I have a female second cousin named Vera. I wonder if Vera was like Robin of today. Non gender. My father had a cousin named Pleasant.

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