New Post
Search
HelpRe: Odd Names
in reply to a message by Canielle
I'm sorry but most of these aren't true. Most of them are incorrect readings of census takers' poor writing: Toilet was Violet, Scary was Jeany, Evil was Evie, Freezer was likely 'Fred R.', and Okay was the initials 'O.K.' (a phrase which likely hadn't reached England at this time to make it an awkward name). Raspberry has some precedent as a first name. Lettice IS a real name, without debate (Lettice is the medieval English form of Letitia, and is pronounced 'la-tees,' not like the vegetable). Minty is short for Aramintha. Never seems to be a bad spelling of an Indian name, and Baboon is probably a poor transcription of another non-English name - an issue very, *very* common in old censuses. Happy is just a weird virtue name.
The only real ones on the list are Princess Cheese and Bovril.
Funny enough, though, there is a very strange company named Freezer Breezer apparently.
The only real ones on the list are Princess Cheese and Bovril.
Funny enough, though, there is a very strange company named Freezer Breezer apparently.
This message was edited 9/22/2023, 7:13 PM
3
Replies
It was not as uncommon as it is today for boys to have girls' names.
1
I can see Violet being once a gender neutral name, personally. I don't like it for masculine use, but I can see it and I wouldn't mind baby boy Violets to be born in 50 years time
2
It this list is indeed from census records, one should point out that census takers did sometimes make mistakes in recording gender as well as in spelling names.
3