What's in a (Baby) Name? The Boy Edition Part 2

On with my baby name project. Meanings for the popular boy names are as follows...

The Brits have 10 of the 20(ish) most popular boy names in Greenwich 1881-1913, so here we go

English
William- strong-willed warrior
Frank- free or truthful
Robert- bright fame
Edward- wealthy guardian
Harry- diminutive of Harold- army ruler (also dem. or Henry- see German)
Walter- (also) army ruler
Albert- noble & bright
Fred- peace ruler
Clarence- British title
Lewis- famed warrior

Shocking that there are so many war/ military references.

Next the Germans weigh in...
Charles- freeman
Henry- ruler of the home
Willie- diminutive of William- strong-willed warrior (Why not English?)
Louis- famed warrior (same as English spelling)

Hebrew
John- God is gracious
James- supplanter (What! I looked it up- one who wrongfully seizes & holds the place of another- Hmm)
Joseph- God will increase

Greek
George- farmer
Thomas- twin

Scottish
Donald- world leader
Kenneth- handsome

Latin
Paul- small

Welsh
Arthur- bear

Aside from the meaning of James, nothing was overly surprising. I'll compile the odd ones and have them up soon.

Thanks as always to http://www.babynames.com/

What's in a (baby name? Part 3

As promised, some uncommon & odd girl names from the Town & Village of Greenwich birth records...

To start off, let's go with Latin. Quite a few uncommon ones here.
Generous- of noble birth
Flossie- flowering- diminutive of Florence
Mertie- evergreen sacred to Venus as a symbol of love- diminutive of Myrtle
Lucina- light- variant of Luncinda/Lucy

Retta- speaker- variant of Rhetta



Leitha Cronin- Witches Basketball- 1930

 Betris- bringer of joy- variant of Beatriz/Beatrix/Beatrice

The Greeks weigh in-
Ione- person of Ionia
Leitha- forgetfulness- variant of Letha/Lethia

Hebrew...
Jerusha- inheritance
Rena- joy
Wanita*-God is gracious or pale skinned- variant of Juanita

Habla Espanol?
Verda- truth
Wanita*-God is gracious or pale skinned- variant of Juanita

On to the Scotts-
Iona- from the island of Iona
Melvina- gentle lady

American- What? Really?
Leola- lioness- variant of Leona/Leala
Enola- possibly "alone" spelled backward- modern

Scandinavian
Anneke- gracious, merciful- diminutive of Ann

That leaves me with a few to scratch your head over-
Alveretta, Oviretta, Orvelia, Bellzora & Delsie.

Alveretta is probably an attempt to name the poor girl after her father, who's name was Albert (Why not Alberta?). The parents could have changed the "b" to a "v" themselves, or the person recording the name was confused & wrote what they thought they heard.

Oviretta & Orvelia were also, probably attempts at keeping names going in the family. Or maybe a lack of (or too much) imagination. I dislike both of these. Give the girls their own names!

Bellzora, if you take it apart can mean "beautiful dawn". Zora is Slavic meaning dawn & Bell/Belle/Bella means beautiful. I like Zora, but the whole thing is kind of a mouthful.

Delsie? I'm stumped. It's pretty though.


*I'm thinking I should give it to the Hebrews. The language has been around a lot longer than Spanish. Plus, the Jews probably brought the name with them when they migrated to the Iberian peninsula.

Thanks again to http://www.babynames.com/
& for the more unusual suspects- http://www.thinkbabynames.com/