chisue, Owen is a Welsh (also English) version of a name with many forms. In Ireland, it's Eoin. That's related to Ian, also related to John, and on and on.

Less than 1 percent of you is an ancestor from so long ago so arguably you "inherited" little from that person. I think you'll also find that women's rights in Northern Europe advanced much earlier than in any part of Britain.

Wales was not part of Britain for a long time. Those women got an early grip. (You can attribute my 'uppity-ness' to something else if you like.)

I've thought that Scots immigrants had some advantage in America due to the early laws requiring compulsory public education for young children. Even lower class Scots were litereate. (You could be fined for keeping a child out of school -- your own child or one you employed.) Taxes paid for this. It wasn't altruistic; the canny Scots wanted a better educated pool of employees.

This is a fascinating thread for me as I love talking about names anyway and these are just so unique. thank you for all your contributions and I hope this thread continues.

I am 2nd generation American, so further back than grandparents the names were basically Yiddish derivation of Hebrew biblical names.

"Owen and Rowena are Welsh names."

chisue, I always thought my dad's name, Owen Morgan, was of Welsh origin.

chisue, a quick search disclosed that after the Norman conquest in 1066, the powers in place annexed lands to the west including parts of what would later be known as parts of Wales. Formally, I found this

" The accepted date is 1536, when Henry VIII proclaimed himself Prince of Wales, giving him complete legal sovereignty. Wales had already been de facto under the control of England for around 300 years, "

Even in the last 150 years, the UK has lagged pretty far behind many of the countries of Continental Europe in granting rights to women. Carry on as you wish.

A relative back there somewhere was named Montrose. I don't know if it's that unusual but I'd never heard it before. I rather like it.

Just checked and education in Scotland only became compulsory for all in 1872. The upper orders it was compulsory from the 1400s. Many of the defeated in the Jacobite Rebellion, 1745, were sent here after it was over to serve out their sentence. Most were not of the landowning class.

Yeonasky that was my DFIL name too. I think it is an old german or Russian name for John

Johannes is a name in current use in many countries. The letter J is pronounced like English's Y in many languages.

There are many names in my family that are interesting or unusual

I have my grandparents, Joseph and Josephe I have Aunts Albertine, Philistine , Celestine,

I have my grandfather (Le)Du, which means The black who married by grandmother (Le)Guen which means the white. There are so many other name “things”.

Philistine, did she live up to her name ;-)

Zalco, my Tante Fine was a very sweet soul. Maybe too softhearted. Always loving.

I think you seem to be very kind (and very wise from what I gather here) and I have no clue why some names were chosen. My own father was given no middle name, which was very unusual. Most had two. At least.

My great great grandmother was named Artymency. She named her youngest daughter Pearl Button. Her nephews included Clel, Uda, Larence, and Isbern. Uda's wife was Elona and Larence had a daughter named Zylpha Arline.

I guess I do have some crazy names in my ancestry

One of my sisters is named Floetta. She hates it, I don't blame her.

My ex husbands given name was Cyprian, he was called Skip.

In my case my grandfather was Danish. It was not a usual name in my mother's family line. Andreas was the name that was passed down from father to son before that. It is pronounced Ondrayas. After Johannes nobody passed first names down anymore. I was the only family member who received a part of a name from the past. My father's side of the family had German and Old Norse names.

I always enjoy death notices where just about everyone has a nickname. You wonder why anyone bothered to choose a formal name for the birth certificate. My own parents dithered so long about my name that I am Baby Girl on my original birth certificate (like adopted infants, whose given and surnames are changed by court decree).

Three brothers in my family were Donald, Byron, and Philip. They were called Bob, Bill and Banky. (To be fair, Philip died at age 7; he'd probably given up the blanket.)

I love reading about all the names. Mine aren't too unusual. My Dad was Amos with the middle name Booth. Booth was the surname of his British Grandmother and her father was Amos as well. My Mom was born in Scotland so her name is Marjory but she was always called Madge. My friends always got a kick out of my Mom and Dad's names. My Mom's family mostly followed the Scottish naming pattern except for my Mom because my Gradmother did not like her Mother In Law and was not going to name my Mother after her so she was named after an Aunt of my Grandfather. The females all had family surnames as middle names such as Wilson, McLaughlin, Kennedy, Hill, Woodburn. My Aunt was Elsie shortened from Elizabeth, of course to us as kids Elsie was a funny name because of Elsie the cow

Just read through & didn't see my grandparents names: Absolam & Armatha...Ab & Mattie...my dad's side. Capel & Lydia on Mom's side. English, Welsh & Irish. Don't believe any of them were named for someone.

Something to keep in mind - family lore and fables, family names, origins and expectations, etc., aren't always well informed. In fact, they're often ill informed and wrong.

For the vast majority of us, our immigrant ancestors were often rural, poor and destitute, ill-educated (sometimes illiterate), and many remained that way for decades or even generations after arriving. That was why they left their homelands in the first place. For most of the centuries of US immigration, middle class and other well off families abroad had no compelling reasons to leave where they were and so they stayed put. That's why those so situated were a minority of the immigrants to the US.

For those who came, their knowledge, their understanding and recollections of their roots may not have been accurate although the world they saw and misunderstood was what was passed down to descendants. And like the childhood game of playing "telephone", key aspects were embellished, added or dropped with each retelling.

I've told this story before, but will tell it again.

My one DDIL was given no last name when she was born, but her brother and sister were. She was born in Indonesia of 100% Chinese parents. When she came to the US for college it was not a big deal, just interesting. Until she was pulled over for speeding one day. She had to call the courts to find out what her fine was. The lady at the courts said not to worry that the ticket was dropped and hung up. Shirley then called back immediately, she was worried about being deported because of it. She asked the court lady why it was dropped. The response was' "The officer forgot to put your last name on the ticket!" Well, her drivers license said Shirley No Last Name and her SS card said No Last Name Shirley!

She was so happy to marry my son and have a last name finally!

Many years ago a fellow teacher (a nun) told me about a woman who said her children were named from the bible. They were Pislam Civ (psalm civ) and Adultery (as in Thou shalt not commit)

kathy, I don't get that story. If her parents and siblings had a family name, she did too. All or nothing.

People who are ethnically Chinese have family names. Like many other Asian languages, they come first. , As an example for the Chinese dictator for so many years, Mao Zedong (aka Mao Tse-tung with different transliteration, Chairman Mao) his family name was Mao. The North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, has a family name of Kim. His father was Kim Jong Il.

The number of last names in Chinese are quite limited. Many names that are different tonalities regionally but essentially the same name can be transliterated differently - Wong, Wang, Huang, Wing, Hong, are all the same or related last names.

Could it be she didn't have given names? As with my Chinese friend Louis Wong, it's quite possible to come to the US and "adopt" a name as historically so many Chinese immigrants did but that's less common these days.

Well, I just had a super long conversation with my brother today. (It’s my birthday, no get together, just spending all day on the phone) He’s searched into the family genealogy. He’s found records going back to early 1700’s on my mom’s side and late 1500’s on my father’s.

Zalco, there is no Philistine! Apparently that was a joke that I never got!

I had brought it up in the conversation. Her name was Josephine! Lol.

Now that I feel thoroughly embarrassed 🙄....

Formidable !

Joyeux Anniversaire, Michele!

No need to feel embarrassed. How could a child know?

Merci beaucoup! I spoke to several of my cousins today. I can speak fluently and read well enough but writing is difficult.

Thank goodness they can read my English emails.

Thanks again and take care!

My grandfather's name was Ludwig. I had uncles named August, Emil and Milton, an aunt named Alvina and a cousin named Florabelle.

I wonder about the nicknames. My family didn't use them, but DH's did. My MIL was raised in SC, born in the 40s. Her parents and all of her siblings were called by names that have no bearing on their given names. They mostly kept those nicknames into adulthood.

Was this a "thing" of the times? Was it a southern thing? I don't think it was a family thing, they had extended family with all sorts of monikers.

Not a relative, but I worked with a woman named Phyllistine. We were not close so I never asked about any relation to the biblical philistines (but her family attended a Christian church, so surely they'd heard it before?). I also don't know if any of her siblings had rhyming "-steen" names. Peoples' quirks can be funny.

My father's father was Harmon Rucker; his father was Elhannon Pittman. My mother-in-law's first name was Raffeleta! I can't imagine why some people choose the names they given their innocent babies!!

Not really anything unusual about my past generations' family names. Not exactly dead common nowadays, but name popularity changes over a hundred years or so! Stella is a current family name - my mom's name, my sister's (although she goes by her middle name) and a grandniece.

But there are some unusual names with the current generations. We have a Jasper, a Zephyr, a Delia, a Christos, a Riley, a Pilar, a Hana Ouida, a Jack Panther and a Maggie Mae. And the last two are not nicknames but official birth certificate registered names.

Elmer, they are 100% Chinese, but she and her siblings were born and raised in Indonesia. Her parents and one Grandmother are still living. Will ask her if she knows the reason. Also, she and her siblings do not know how to speak Chinese. Just like my Grandmother Armoza never taught her kids French!

My father is Adrianus Augustinus My sister has the feminine version of his name: Adriana Augustina

kathy g, there has long been a diaspora of people of Chinese ethnicity throughout Southeast Asia. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, yada yada. They're referred to as "Overseas Chinese".

They speak Chinese and follow Chinese customs with limited assimilation into the local culture. Overseas Chinese have gravitated toward retail shop-keeping and business occupations in places like Indonesia and Malaysia and many have become quite wealthy. For which they are somewhat resented for their success by locals.

I've known just short of a dozen Chinese from Indonesia and Malaysia, they're numerous in my area and working for high tech companies. Just like people from the mother country, all had two or three word names, the first being the family name. Maybe for some reason your daughter in law's family is different but I can't imagine why. It would be interesting to know. Or, it may be another case of an immigrant's misunderstanding of the intersection of customs between the home country and the US.

Please share what you learn.

Many Indonesians have only one name. How add for an ethnically Chinese person to have adopted that practice.

Debby, I hoped and hoped to have a daughter, whom I would have named Adriana.

Many years ago I met a woman in Guatemala named Yonita. It was an unusual name for there, too. She told me that her father had named her but she never knew the origin of her name until he was gone, when she met one of his friends. Her father had been a professional musician who traveled to Cuba. The friend was shocked when he heard Yonita's name. It turned out that the original Yonita had been, let's say, a professionally friendly woman who was well known by the men in the band. I'm guessing Yonita's mother didn't know the origin of the name either.

True, Zalco, but the ethnic Chinese folks from there I've known didn't have one name a la the Indonesian style.

Judidupi, That is very interesting. A real surprise for her.

Elmer, will up date after I talk to DDIL again. 😊

I do genealogy research for others through our historical society. We are primarily Scotch-Irish and German in this area. I have seen a good many of the names that have been mentioned. There are certainly some very unusual ones by today’s standards. Of course there are many that we have seen only once. Some of my favorites are:

Strange

Manlove

Snow White ( first and middle)

Clotworthy

Queen Victoria ( first and middle)

We have a marriage listing for Olive Melick who married Jeremiah Pickles

My granddaughter is named Vada after a ggggrandmother, I have since seen it numerous times from way back.

My grandmother was Jesta. I have never seen it anywhere else in the family.

It was quite common for a boy to be given his mother’s maiden name as his middle name. It really helps when beginning genealogy research.

Many years ago I worked at a convalescent hospital, in admissions. Neither of these two are relatives, just names that brought music to my mind every time I heard or said them. And I doubt that they were unusual for their culture. The woman's name was Cipriana Somarriba. The man's name was Yuichi Shiroyama.

One elderly relative of ours is named Olivine (long O). Another is Doretta. They are both in their mid-90's. I haven't run into either of those elsewhere.

Elmer, I agree with you. My comment should have said it was **odd** for an ethnically Chinese Indonesian to have adopted the single name practice. Autocorrect, not quite correct as a rule.

My grandfather was Bonaparte Napoleon Layfette George Washington. He was one of 19 siblings. He was the youngest and everyone called him "Bo". Had no idea he had such a long name until someone published our family history.

oh my! do you know any of the other 18 siblings' names?

Yes, simple one names , with one exception his name was Benjamin Frankllin George Washington, guess what they called him,John. All the others were common names. They must have loved George Washington.

Good question nickel-kg.

LOL so funny, hallngarden! Did they think they were running out of children, that they had to fit them all in on just those two? It makes for a good story!

so happy that one of my cousins wrote a book with our family history. All the siblings and their wives are buried in the same cemetery. We spent one day years ago , looking at the headstones.

Hallngarden, that is funny/cute. Mom was one of 12 siblings and none of them had a middle name. I used to tease her that Grandma was afraid she'd run out of names before menopause arrived, so she didn't want to waste one on a middle name.