oddnamesinhistory

[oddnamesinhistory]

Ladd McConkey

2001- , American football player

#21st century #Americans #athletes

[oddnamesinhistory]

Osama VinLaden Jiménez López

2002- , Peruvian footballer

#athletes #21st century #peruvians

[oddnamesinhistory]

Weird how it can feel like there’s such a thing as “old-timey names”. Where did they go? Is there a modern-day Mx. Jadyn Younghusband or a Lexeigh-Oliveigha Wildgoose?

Another selection of some of the better names I've come across in Regency era newspapers recently.

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I want a citation to totally believe it, but on the other hand I went to look it up and apparently there is currently an up-and-coming French Rugby star named Faraj Fartass. (Hungarian names are usually in the Eastern order instead of Western, so that was probably a guy named Volfangus of the Fartass family, btw)

#21st century #french people #athletes

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Described as standing over eight feet tall, Maximinus Thrax was an unexpected emperor who experienced a tumultuous rule. Amid the Crisis of the Third Century, his tenure holds significant importance in Roman history, profoundly shaping the empire's political and social landscape. As a soldier-emperor of non-senatorial origin, Thrax represented a departure from the established norms of imperial succession, challenging the traditional power dynamics within Roman society. The culmination of Thrax's rule in a violent and dramatic downfall underscored the fragility of imperial authority and the dangers of unchecked ambition. His reign serves as a cautionary tale, highlighting the inherent challenges of governance in a vast and diverse empire.

[oddnamesinhistory]

Wood Belcher

Senior VP, CBRE Commercial Real Estate Management Group

#20th century #americans #business people

[oddnamesinhistory]

Wrexie Leonard

1867-1937, American astronomer best known for her work assisting Percival Lowell in his work researching Mars and Venus. As far as I can tell "Wrexie" wasn't short for anything.

#americans #19th century #scientists #women

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DeFred Goo Folts

1896-1980, American businessman and educator. His grandson DeFred Goo Folts III continues the name and prominent place in the investment management industry.

#Americans #businesspeople #19th century

[oddnamesinhistory]

Bunyon Snipes Womble

1882-1976, American lawyer

#americans #lawyers #19th century

[oddnamesinhistory]

The illustrious Crapster family of Pennsylvania, including their most prominent member Basil Crapster

#families #Americans

[oddnamesinhistory]

Jeanne-Justine Fouqueau de Pussy

1786-1863, French author for girls and teens. The journals are public domain, but I can’t find any translated versions; googling “Journal of Girls de Pussy” is, uh, not turning up relevant results, so here’s a screenshot of her entire Wikipedia article.

#french people #18th century #authors

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Dr. Zoltan Ovary

1907-2005, Hungarian immunologist

#scientists #Hungarians #20th century

[oddnamesinhistory]

Wardell Pomeroy

1913-2001, American sexologist that co-authored a lot of Alfred Kinsey's seminal texts on the subject

#americans #scientists #20th century

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It gets less funny when you find out a guy that “wanted to screw up the Social Security system” was an assistant to Henry Kissinger in the late 60s and worked his way up through Nixon’s administration then Reagan’s to finally being Bush’s Secretary of State in 1992

#yep it’s a real guy #20th century #americans #politicians

[oddnamesinhistory]

H. Ledyard Towle

1890-1973, American painter turned “color consultant” and director of a Pittsburgh design firm

Sun face on a background of colorful cubes. Styling with color. 1939. Paint catalog, back cover detail.

Internet Archive

#Americans #19th century #artists #business people

[oddnamesinhistory]

I’ve been collecting them for a while so just browse this blog by century and/or country. Weirdest place I know to find them is to just skim any list of 19th Century American politicians; being born into a culture obsessed with opportunity and valuing independence and grandiosity seemed to give people some fascinating ideas for names

Hi I was wondering if you know of any good resources to get good vintage names that aren’t typical and boring (Fred, Edward, Alfred etc)?

Some of the names in the Santa letters are certainly peculiar and it made me wonder what kind of names those “vintage baby names” lists are leaving out 😜

Thanks! And happy new year 🎊

One place to get a good general overview of what names were like in a certain era is the Social Security Administration's lists of popular names that go back to the 1880s. The further down the lists you go the less common they get. However these are still all names that had at least a few hundred occurrences, so you're not going to have any Gloyds etc..

I personally always try to find names from primary sources (newspapers, census, vital records, etc.) as you're more likely to come across unusual names that don't make the top 200 lists.

Also keep in mind that name popularity varied greatly by location. Just because there were a bunch of Juanitas in Tulsa in 1930 doesn't mean there were that many in Boston.

Honestly if anyone is working on a specific project and needs names from a certain location/era (i.e. you're writing a novel that takes place in London in 1627) feel free to message me and I'd be happy to work with you to compile a list from primary sources. I love this stuff and will use any valid excuse to spend an evening digging through 17th century baptismal records.

[oddnamesinhistory]

Vesto Slipher

1875-1969, American astronomer that discovered red-shifting, providing some of the first evidence for the Universe expanding

#americans #19th century #scientists