I like
Montgomery (and
Thomas) best of the masculine names. Orby is alright; I like it about as much as
Kirby and better than Opie (which happened for boys; I guess from
Opal).
Phoebe,
Grace, and
Ann are nice as a sibset.
BtN says Highland is possibly related to Hyland (variant of Whelan, meaning descendant of
Faolán) or "heilen" meaning heal/cure and Heiland, an archaic
German name:
https://www.behindthename.com/name/heiland/submitted
Orby (a past spelling having been Orreby) is a place in Lincolnshire. A potential meaning I saw is "Orri's village/farmstead" -
https://www.behindthename.com/name/orri/submitted, so "black grouse settlement"?
Sir
George Orby Wombwell (what a surname! imagine if that was used as a first name too) born in 1832 comes up in a google search for it (his maternal grandfather was named
Thomas Orby
Hunter, an 18th century MP:
Thomas Orby
Hunter's mother's family were the Orby baronets in Lincolnshire though their title became extinct in 1725, plus his father was a governor of New
York, New Jersey, and Jamaica as well as a lieutenant governor of
Virginia in the early 1700s; his sons all had Orby as a middle name though most died young, and he had several daughters; his son
Charles Orby
Hunter b.1750s had a son named
Thomas and potentially had an illegitimate son named
George Orby
Hunter (who was a translator of Lord
Byron into French)...
It reminds me of Orbison - two different explanations I saw for the origin of that are "a known Lancanshire corruption of Osbaldiston (or Osbaldeston)" and "likely derived from Latin 'orbus' meaning deprived/bereft/orphaned". It also reminds me of Overbey if said like "o'erby" (potentially related to Overbury or Øfribýr).
Closest name to Orby I saw on BtN: the submitted section says Orba was a medieval English spelling of
Orpah (so theoretically Orby could be related to that or 'erp/orp/earp/orpe' meaning swarthy I guess).
This message was edited 3/23/2025, 10:43 AM