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ArchivesRe: Awahtok (m) and Equrk (f)
in reply to a message by familymystery
These names sound Native American or even Eskimo to me.
This text (http://www.societe-de-lecture.ch/pages/bibvirt_eurotxt3.html), situated in 1860, mentions a young Eskimo called Awahtok.
Did the parents have American friends with Native roots? Or maybe they found the name in a novel or something, if exoticism was fashionable at the time (that could explain the Italian names)...
Tell me, is it possible to christen a child with a non Christian name? If no, that would mean that there's a Saint Awahtok & a Saint Equrk... very strange!
Do tell me if you find anything, I'm curious now!
~~ Claire ~~
This text (http://www.societe-de-lecture.ch/pages/bibvirt_eurotxt3.html), situated in 1860, mentions a young Eskimo called Awahtok.
Did the parents have American friends with Native roots? Or maybe they found the name in a novel or something, if exoticism was fashionable at the time (that could explain the Italian names)...
Tell me, is it possible to christen a child with a non Christian name? If no, that would mean that there's a Saint Awahtok & a Saint Equrk... very strange!
Do tell me if you find anything, I'm curious now!
~~ Claire ~~
1
Replies
hello
just after i posted i also found the link you included - awahtok almost definitely from here, you are right! no mention of equrk though.
it's quite unexpected as the family were very poor and mostly illiterate - (marriage certificates signed with crosses rather than signatures &c). but obviously someone could read, and liked reading stories about polar exploration!
i think you can christen a child with a non-christian name, especially since even the most traditional christian names are hebrew and greek and roman and all the rest of it, so i guess they had to start somewhere... i say 'christening' literally rather than 'naming' as we got these names from church records, as i say, the 'given names' they went by were english ones e.g. arthur.
thanks for your help!
emma
just after i posted i also found the link you included - awahtok almost definitely from here, you are right! no mention of equrk though.
it's quite unexpected as the family were very poor and mostly illiterate - (marriage certificates signed with crosses rather than signatures &c). but obviously someone could read, and liked reading stories about polar exploration!
i think you can christen a child with a non-christian name, especially since even the most traditional christian names are hebrew and greek and roman and all the rest of it, so i guess they had to start somewhere... i say 'christening' literally rather than 'naming' as we got these names from church records, as i say, the 'given names' they went by were english ones e.g. arthur.
thanks for your help!
emma
1