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Help[Opinions] Re: Unusual or Notable ancestor names in my genealogy
in reply to a message by Dianatiger
Do you have multiple records for all of these? Some of them (Barchle, Bernadrum, Chrischona, Ehristine, Gali, Gashum, Inconnu, Jerg, Pennum, etc.) look like the sorts of errors that turn up in genealogies because people have trouble reading the handwriting in old records, or because census takers and other officials centuries ago didn't know how to spell and were careless.
You have to be careful about interpreting old records -- even from the 20th century, sometimes. One of my aunts married a man whose father's first name was Gabriel. On my aunt & uncle's marriage certificate it says his father's name was Cable -- obviously the clerk who filled the form out misheard the name and no one ever bothered to correct it.
I also had a great-aunt whose first and middle names were Alexandria Tennant, and who was usually called Tennant or Tennie in the family. There are six different names for her in various U.S. census records, the weirdest one being "Toussaint". :)
You have to be careful about interpreting old records -- even from the 20th century, sometimes. One of my aunts married a man whose father's first name was Gabriel. On my aunt & uncle's marriage certificate it says his father's name was Cable -- obviously the clerk who filled the form out misheard the name and no one ever bothered to correct it.
I also had a great-aunt whose first and middle names were Alexandria Tennant, and who was usually called Tennant or Tennie in the family. There are six different names for her in various U.S. census records, the weirdest one being "Toussaint". :)
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I got SO excited about finding a rare and unusual name in my family tree once, only to later find out it was just the word "Unknown" in a foreign language, lol.
I also discovered my great-great grandmother's maiden name spelled three different ways! It really can be tricky to discern things.
I also discovered my great-great grandmother's maiden name spelled three different ways! It really can be tricky to discern things.
Can we not just have some fun without some being like "oh my word! How could you not triple or quadruple check this name from someone born in 1562?! Most unorthodox!* *sips tea haughtily*
agree ...
Supposedly Wiliam Shakespeare himself couldn't settle on any one spelling of his own name.
And that's also how "Brain" makes it onto some mid-20th-century popularity lists. Obviously those fellas were all Brian.
At least, I hope nobody ever did name their kid Brain.
Supposedly Wiliam Shakespeare himself couldn't settle on any one spelling of his own name.
And that's also how "Brain" makes it onto some mid-20th-century popularity lists. Obviously those fellas were all Brian.
At least, I hope nobody ever did name their kid Brain.
My apologies for lacking clairvoyancy and not knowing all of the facts hundreds of years into the past in a time where standardized spellings were non-existent. 🙄🙄🙄
no need for the attitude ...
No personal criticism was intended by either me or CKE.
No personal criticism was intended by either me or CKE.
Can we not just have some fun without some being like "oh my word! How could you not triple or quadruple check this name from someone born in 1562?! Most unorthodox!* *sips tea haughtily*
Well it sure presented that way so perhaps you should reconsider your approaches
While I agree with you, I just wanted to point out that Chrischona and Jerg are indeed legit names. Jerg is an Upper German variant of Jörg which mostly survived as a surname. There are still a handful of bearers who have this as a first name, though (many of them in the German state of Baden-Württemberg). Chrischona is an old Alemannic variant of Christiana. According to legend, Saint Chrischona was one of the companions of Saint Ursula. She's somewhat of a regional saint to the city and the region surrounding the Swiss city of Basel which is why the name was predominantly found in that area (as far as I can tell, though, the name went extinct in the mid to late 1600s). That's also the reason why I asked Dianatiger if her Chrischona was by any chance from that area.
Thanks for the information!
That's a good point, there are some very strange names out there that look like they must surely be misspellings of something, but they turn out to be regional versions of obscure saints that nobody else cares about. French Canadian names are famous for this too! I have some ancestors named for the most bizarre, entirely apocryphal saints.
I'm sure there are errors but sometimes the truth is just lost to time. These are what was documented and so these are what I wrote down. Gashum was correct though. He was recent enough in the history that his name has more evidence than just the census. Likewise with Bernadrum. I never claimed to be a professional historian, only that of an individual on a research journey. Sorry if my efforts are a disappointment to you from lack in total perfection not 100% establishing the "correct" spelling of a name from 1627... 👀 I'm just saying
This message was edited 1/9/2024, 10:10 PM