Well-named Family

While researching a name for this blog, I came across a couple of families with very cool names I wanted to share, so here they are:

William Williams, a Welsh immigrant to Virginia in the 18th century settled finally in South Carolina and had a son named Frederick who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Frederick had a son named William Williams who married a woman named Martha Wells.

William and Martha were early pioneers in Kentucky and they had Elizabeth, Simpson, Frederick, Ann, Samuel, Richard, William, Mary, Abner, Daniel, and Hampton.

Frederick married Bexey Orton (whose father Johnza Orton had the name I was researching) in Illinois (Bexey had come from Indiana). They had Cordelia, Harriet, Christopher, Desdemonia, Clarinda, Franklin, Frederick, and an unnamed baby.

Samuel married and came with his wife and children to Utah: Luacine, Leonore, Lisadore, Parley, and Eliza. Since Parley is a name commonly given by Mormons in honor of an early Mormon of the time period when Samuel was living, and since he lived in Illinois about the time the Mormons were there and then fled to Utah, I'll assume that he had become a Mormon and came to Utah with the rest of the church members.

I found this family interesting because my father's Welsh ancestor also came to Illinois before moving West. On another line of his family, the Buchanans moved from Virginia to Kentucky and then Illinois, where they joined the Mormon church and moved to Utah about the same time period as Samuel Williams.

I am very curious about the name Lisadore, is it the name of a boy or a girl? Isadore is a boy's name but Lisadore feels like a girl name. But back in those days they often gave boys names that today feel like girl names. I am also curious about Bexey. Is this a form of Bessy or Betsy or a nickname for Rebecca or is it something else altogether? I've seen Desdemona but I don't think I'd seen Desdemonia before. Luacine is another name that interests me. Simpson and Hampton are two names you don't often see as first names, but they follow the trend in the 1800s of using a family surname as a first name. I think I have seen Clarinda before.

very well-named family!

UPDATE  4-9-2020

I came across one Parley Williams in the 1904 volume of Who's Who in America, born in Perry County, Illinois and living in Salt Lake City, Utah when the book was published. His name was Parley Lycurgus Williams born April 7, 1842 son of Samuel Williams and his wife Andromache (maiden name Moore). He was educated in private and public schools and at McKendree College, Illinois 1860-62. His address in Salt Lake was 177 13th East Street and his office at the Deseret News building. He was a lawyer, admitted to the bar in 1868. He was a Unitarian and a Democrat. He married Katherine Sharp in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1876. He was a member of the Utah legislature, 1894-95. He had been district attorney for Wyoming Territory in 1870-71. He was counsel for the Oregon Short Line Railroad from 1872, as well as for the Union Pacific Railroad Company and the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and director of the Malad Valley Railroad Company, St. Anthony Railroad Company, and Yellowstone Railroad Company. He was a member of the Bar Association and a delegate to the large Universal Congress Lawyers and Jurists in St. Louis in 1904. He was a Grand Master of Masons in Utah 1887-88 and belonged to the Alta Club, the University Club, and the Country Club.


My opinion, given that he was born in 1842 is that he may well have been named for Parley P. Pratt (early Mormon figure) so perhaps his parents were Mormon, but I don't know if they stayed Mormon or not. It's apparent that he did not.

2014

I've decided to introduce you, over the next year, to 2,014 names you might not know. Here are 14 to start.

Girl Names

Aase  -  Norwegian, pronounced 'oh sah'   -- it's the only time the long o sound looks like an a in my mind!
Meaning - 'god'

Berengaria was also called Berenguela

Berengaria - Spanish - name of a medieval queen. Looking for someone more admirable than Eleanor of Aquitaine? Someone who sounds like she came from a fairy tale, or lived one? Replete with all the scheming of a Shakespearean drama? Read about Berengaria. Her son, Fernando III, el Santo, reconquered some important parts of Spain from the Moors and he would never have become king if not for her. And probably not such a successful one. Her name is long and a bit unwieldy, even in Spanish, if you ask me. But 'she' was definitely cool. It seems to be a feminine form of Berengar - a Germanic name coming from roots that mean "bear" and "spear".

Callirhoe - Greek,  meaning "beautifully flowing", it was the name of a naiad (my favorite kind of nymph!), a daughter of the river god Achelous. There is a hot springs with curative powers near the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, also associated with Callirhoe. Pronunciation is 'kah lear oh ee". Callirhoe is also the name of an ancient Greek novel, the oldest novel there is a copy of still in existence. And it sounds like the ultimate adventure/romance novel. I think it is next on my list of books to read! Callirhoe also is the name of a species of plant, with pretty delicate flowers. I think of how they blow in the wind and that this beautiful, fluid motion must have inspired the scientific designation, given the ancient meaning and associations of the name.

Dellitt - for anyone new to my blog -  usually a surname, my grandmother and I have both had it as first names. My theory on its origin is that it relates to being from the city Delle in Alsace, France. I'll let you know when I can prove it more, but here's my argument so far. I know my Dellitt ancestors came here from France. I know that Germans would add certain endings to a surname to indicate if a woman was married to or the daughter of someone (Wingerter could become Wingerterton  - showing that it was a woman or the unmarried daughter of a man with the last name of Dellitt). I know that the origin of Dulles and Dallas as surnames relates to the name Delles which means someone from the city Delle in France - happens to be in Alsace. A partially German-speaking part of France that has at times, NOT been part of France.

Pronunciation - 'dell it'   short e, short i, like Dell computers and the word it. It's not complicated but it's more rare for someone to know to say that instead of something else. So I guess it is complicated.

Eponine - French. If you have read Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, or seen the play or one of the many movie versions, then you already know the name. Eponine is my favorite character in this story. It comes from the old language of Gaul (which is where France is now) and the name in that language was Epponina. Epona was a Celtic horse goddess. I have heard Eponine pronounced 'ep oh neen', but correct me if I'm wrong on that!

Fallon - Celtic, meaning 'descendant of Fallamhan' which comes from 'follamhnus' which seems to mean 'leader'.

Gwenllian - Welsh, pronunciation, 'gwen hthlee un' (yes, complicated pronunciation is why many Welsh names are not popular here nowadays). Also the name of several medieval princesses. One such princess, after her father was killed and the English king assumed control, was imprisoned in a convent far from Wales (England, I think) where she lived the rest of her life, til age 52, never knowing she was a princess, heir to the throne in her home country. (she was taken to the convent when she was just 2 years old).

Boys

Hamish - a Scottish name that is anglicized from the name Sheumais which is a version of the Scottish name Seumas which comes from the English and Hebrew James which originates from the Hebrew name Jacob which means "supplanter" or "holder of the heel" or possibly "Yahweh may protect"  (Yahweh is the name written for the Hebrew god). I discovered that I've been pronouncing this name wrong! Its correct pronunciation is 'hay mish', which makes perfect sense since it is a form of James.

Iago - Spanish - form of the name James and Jacob. Pronounced 'ee ah go'. Famous villain in Shakespeare's Othello.

Janos- Hungarian form of John, which means "gift". Pronounced 'yah nosh'. I have also seen Janosh - pronounced 'jah nosh'. I suppose it's a form of Janos but I'm not sure where the different pronunciation comes from. Seems the spelling is to just make it easy on folks, as Janos' pronunciation is not easy to guess.


Kal'el- name given to Superman by his parents on Krypton. Not sure where the creators of Superman got the idea for the name, but 'el' in Hebrew means 'god' and 'ka' in ancient Egypt referred to one's soul. So perhaps it could be translated as meaning 'soul of god' or 'the soul is god' or even 'god is the soul'.

Lycurgus - Latin form of the Greek name Lykourgos which means "deed of a wolf"  - from 'lycou' 'of a wolf' and 'ergon' 'deed or work'. He was a mythological king who the gods drove mad due to his impiety. I think it's an odd name, with a really awesome meaning. I want to figure out a way to make this name cool. ....

Manfred-Germanic meaning "man of peace" or "strong peace" or "much peace".

Nicanor- Greek, comes from the word 'nike' which means 'victory' - Nike was the goddess of victory.