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Usage of Locket/Lockett?
Someone posted about reviving the name Locket on the opinions board. Does anyone know when this name was at all in use? I'm supposing it's just for the English word locket, and could be either masculine or feminine. Does anyone have any more information or history on it?Thank you :)http://www.behindthename.com/pnl/70608 *interesting-meaning names

This message was edited 4/9/2011, 3:37 PM

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Lockett has always been very rare as a given name, but almost any English surname will show up on rare occasions as a given name in the 19th century USA. In a quick check of US census records on Ancestry Library, I was able to find a man named Lockett McGarity who showed up in three successive censuses (1860, 1870, 1880) so it seems clear at least that one person went by Lockett as his given name.
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Lockett / Locket as an English surname is unrelated to the piece of jewellery for keeping locks of hair in, and comes from a diminutive for Luke: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/lockett
It hasn't traditionally been used as a first name.
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Thank you so much! The website was very informative :)
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There's the children's rhyme:Lucy Locket lost her pocket
Kitty Fisher found it;
There was not a penny in it
But a ribbon round it.Lucy Locket was a character in the Beggar's Opera, but both there and in the rhyme it looks more like a nickname than a name. No reason not to use it, I suppose, but it would be an original usage, not a revival.
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According to the Social Security Administration website, "Locket is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 131 years" (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/). There is also an expanded database with every name that was used at least five times during the year. I checked every five years from 1880 to 2005 and the name Locket does not appear. So, if Locket was ever used as a first name in the United States, it was less than five times each year.I also checked the Office for National Statistics (England & Wales). "Historic Baby Names Ranks" has the top 100 names for every ten years from 1904-1994. Locket is not on any of those lists. (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282)
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Thanks for trying :)
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