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Anyone know how the name Paralee came to be on the top 1000 around the turn of the century? The only idea I can come up with is that it's a really bizarre variant of Pearlie, but it just seems too far off. I'm stumped!
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This one is a bit of a mystery. It seems to be predominantly Southern. It's probably not a variation of Pearlie, because it seems to have been in regular use before Pearl was. By Googling "Paralee" along with the word "genealogy" I was able to find several examples of women with Paralee as a first or middle name born back in the 1820's. It may have a literary origin, but I haven't been able to track it down yet. I hope someone else on this board has more information!
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It is very common around here in the south. I encounter it often in my own as well. It seems to be a combo of common phonetic elements, in a manner like African Americans. I know Verlees, Erlees, Estalees, etc. I don't know any Paralees still alive where I live, but there are some kids of Paralees around so I might could ask.
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It's certainly possible that someone just created it, but what's curious about Paralee is that it's so much older than most of the other creations you mentioned. -lee just wasn't a common ending, especially in that spelling, for names back in the 1820s.
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