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ArchivesRe: the name Emorancy
in reply to a message by elbowin
I totally agree about Emma - my sense is that Emma just looked familiar as a female name and the spelling was tweaked to meet people's expectations. There can't be an etymological link.
As for the BVM's granny ... ! I can't imagine the sturdily Protestant - indeed, Calvinist! - Dutch settlers in South Africa paying any attention to any story about the holy family that they couldn't find in the pages of their Bibles. And why a respectable village lady would give her daughter a Latin name, however suitable its meaning would become, three generations later, when the Romans were the invading conquerors is quite beyond me. Oh well. Perhaps Emerentia was used by Dutch Catholics, for the reason you suggest, and stayed in use among Protestants because they liked it!
As for the BVM's granny ... ! I can't imagine the sturdily Protestant - indeed, Calvinist! - Dutch settlers in South Africa paying any attention to any story about the holy family that they couldn't find in the pages of their Bibles. And why a respectable village lady would give her daughter a Latin name, however suitable its meaning would become, three generations later, when the Romans were the invading conquerors is quite beyond me. Oh well. Perhaps Emerentia was used by Dutch Catholics, for the reason you suggest, and stayed in use among Protestants because they liked it!
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