Unusual Given Names

[jprxmkt]

My grandson has a classmate whose name is Espn. Apparently his parents are true sports fans.

Do they say each letter or run it together as a word?

[indygal]

It's pronounced Espen.

[Catwoman]

I'll just add to the list:  Tazewell, Iden, Cordial, Corda, Vienna, Canada, Alphious, Dema, Comfort, Hardaman, Leander, Hunter, Lusha, Aetna, Ventner, Pella, Tarice, Ardena, Anice, Rufus, Sirilda, Harwood, Semir, Alfa, Marvelle, Lessa, Lovie, Lovisa, Leovicy, Perley, Alena, Slater, Arminta, Malchus, Arlow, Burleigh, Philena, Hannibal, Permenas, Greenberry, Nenia, Ransom, Milo, Ercell, Warwick, Americus, Fidelia, Arista, Villis, Rodema, Wilkie, Clavy, Chois, Elderick, Lionel, Fremont, Syntha, Prentice, Zerelda, Elby, Kizzie, Philetus, Darius, Finley, Dessie, Allwyn, Norval, Cordelia, and Temperance.

Good heavens...what are these??? Strange town names in Kansas?

[Ding-Dong]

Beleive it or not  , but these are given names that are engraved in stone (tombstones) in the Grace Lawn cemetery!

[Burnt Hills]

I have been in genealogy and land research since 1989, east coast and east of the Mississippi and incl IA, MO & NE. .

  I think one of the saddest bizarre names I ever saw that has stuck with me, and I always wondered WHAT was behind it, in a MO county birth index was c1920s:

FORMICA DINETTE JOHNSON

[Ole Granny]

That is a good one.  I found Finely Stretchberry  (Not a relative) while searching genealogy.  It has always stuck in my mind as unusal.  Gee, I think my mother had a formica dinette in her kitchen .

[Burnt Hills]

back in the mid1990s before the Internet.....  I traveled all over the USA to get to the courthouses and land deeds and indexes and sub-basements full of moldy damp leather ledgers and libraries and city directories etc.. and all those newspapers on microfilm I guess I just can't ever forget are the secret goldmines..

I love the early Colonial period: wives: Solace, Comfort, Mindwell, etc.

 but I had the most bizarre experiences with first names in MO, they had SUCH a run of initials as ''names''  around Columbia ...      RG {Argie} OC {Ocie}, DC {Deecee} boys... XE {Exie, a girl} etc. ...... like the mothers liked the sound the initials made.    no one was left alive to explain WHY.      but every combo of ABCs you could sound off!!   at first  I thought it was just the census taker but no, that WAS their names on everything.   !!

I had to look up a NICHOLS family too, and I was astounded.  I was about to burn out the xerox machine in exasperation.   I told Paul he'd have to help with the NICHOLS cos I just ran out of DIMES. 

[pam]

My granma Smith used to tell us about some girls she grew up with last name Hogg, their dad named them Ima and Ura  She was from Polk Co. Missouri. Can you imagine?

[Burnt Hills]

POLK CO MO, hmm.. isn't that Cane Hill and Fair Play?!   or was that BOLIVAR??   anyway, somewhere there;  I don't have my files handy, but I was doing a lot of family in POLK CO MO.  see, SMALL WORLD.   

[flo]

She grew up in Halfway.  That's a town half way between Boliver and Buffalo.  Her maiden name was Samples.