THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604200004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A13 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: GEORGE HEBERT
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
For anyone who sifts through old records of births, deaths, wills and the like - while trying to figure out a line of descent - the repetition of standard, frequently heard first names down through several generations is a common frustration.
The ``Jr.'' and ``Sr.'' designations, or some other routine method of indicating who came first, or the use of differing middle names may help in deciding which George was which, or which Mary or Thomas or Jane or John. But not consistently.
However, there is a flip side to this coin, something among bygone first names that is more apt to intrigue than to confuse. I'm talking about first names that are just the opposite of frequent and familiar - at least to present-day people, like my wife and me, who may be poking through the old books and papers.
Some time ago, we started our own collection of just such out-of-the-ordinary namings, not only among possible or presumed ancestors but from listings or mentions of other individuals encountered.
True enough, some names that appear extraordinary now (my eyes pick up ``Adalphus'' and ``Statira'' from our list), even striking me as ingenious, one-of-a-kind coinages, may not have been so rare in their time. Some that strike the modern ear as out-of-the-blue inventions have a biblical ring or may have been plucked from an unfamiliar roster of mythological names, or from a cultural or family tradition with which today's searcher may just not be acquainted.
At any rate, below are some of the eye-and-ear-catchers we have come across in the past year or so.
A few are just ordinary words that have made a remarkable transition (gaining a capital letter in the process). These are similar to some names that many of us have already encountered: like the ``Charity'' (female) so liberally sprinkled through certain family trees, and the ``Cotton'' and ``Increase'' (males) of the noted Mather family in early New England. Our own cullings in this category include ``Pleasant'' (a man in early North Carolina), ``Yet-once'' (a Colonial woman in Connecticut) and ``Silence'' (another Connecticut woman).
Even farther off the beaten path are such additional North Carolina findings as women named Zilphia, Annis, Kezia, Edywick, Ermenta, Zephania, Zinah, Euphrasia, Nicey, Jinsey and Barsena; and men called Azariah and Azahel.
More from Connecticut: Apphia (female) and Abial (male). From New York state, we came up with Palsipsana (f), Clamana (f) and Sempronius (m). From Virginia: Zerobable (m) - also spelled Zorobabel (one of the many Eastern Shore members of the Ames family and possibly a long-ago kinsman of mine). From New Jersey: Meribah (f), and Damaris (m). From Illinois: Sophronia (f) and Eulisa (f).
From various places around the East and Midwest, gender not noted at time of discovery, but perhaps guessable in some instances: Czardus, Quartus, Martilla, Arba, Polemia, Lebeus, Philetus, Elzora, Slatina and Almarion.
And then there was an individual who came to light in our genealogical browsing in Canada last year. I've left him till last, wondering if his name really belongs in an enumeration of the unusual:
Familywise, he was a Wilson, an early relation of my wife. And his name was ``Usual.'' MEMO: Mr. Hebert, a former editor, lives in Norfolk.
by CNB