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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: pixieleigh on Friday 05 August 05 10:02 BST (UK)
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hello all.
have found "Jonas" as a first name in my family.
any one have any clues???
i have a few benjamins letitia's and lettys and an amoretta, abigail and annette.
they were all born around 1790-1810 ish.
any comments?
are they "normal names" for the time or strange. they just differ to the standard john james mary elizabeth
any comments much appreciated,
sarah Ketley
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Hi Sarah
Well, not a particularly common first name, and one which declines in popularity as the century progresses...
1861 (England) - 4555
1871 (England) - 4320
1881 (England) - 4227
1891 (England) - 3420
1901 (England) - 3054
cheers :)
Paul
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Hi Sarah, :)
Bible names such as Jonas and Benjamin were very common. In my tree I have
Lot, Uriah, Emanuel and Elias.
The girls name are fairly common too with the exception of Amoretta " Little Love".
That's a beautiful name.
Regards
Darcy
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thanks
was it a "normal" christian name...?
it seems strange, that it should appear in with a farming family called KETLEY thats all.
is it an English name do you think???
sarah ketley
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thanks Darcy,
benjamins i have lots of (just rad your post)
i guess they are Christian names. Ammoretta really threw me though!
maybe they reeealy like their bible. ;D
sarah
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I've got one of those Bible families too. I should have mentioned I also have an Abraham and a Hephzebah - Hebrew for "she is my delight."
I managed to, unknowingly, carry on the tradition as both my sons have Bible names.
Regards
Darcy
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cool...
i'm hoping to cary down some of my families names as well, it great doing all this research and finding out where your family names came from. thats one of the most interesting things.
back to bible families. that must be the answer because it is just one family of "strange" names. benjamin goes down several generations though.
any further ideas on the "amoretta though???
sarah
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Names like Jonas and other biblical names became popular in the village of my ancestors with the rise in non-conformism in the late C18th early C19th.
Regards
Valda
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really...
thats intersting, this family was that time. 1760- 1830"s
sarah
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Hi pixieleigh,
Yes I've found a Jonas,in my family as well,not only was he Jonas but his son was called Jonah, and he had a nephew Jonas, must surely have liked the name.
can't compete with the female names mainly Pheobe,Isabella and Mary Ann.
Mary-Ann
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Hi again Sarah,
Amoretta is a Latin name. There are only a few on the censuses and the majority of them seem to be from Cornwall.
Regards
Darcy
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Hi pixieleigh
I have one Jonas, born 1846, christened in the local C of E church, so not presumeably not non-conformist although other branches of the family were. It doesn't seem to have been too common because he's variously listed in records as Jonas, Jonah and James (all the other family members are right and his dates are consistant so I'm sure they are all the same person).
I've come across my most unusual name just this week - Abednego, born 1812. Anyone else got one of these? It's biblical again and was the name of one of Daniel's companions.
In my father's family in Wales, the tradition was to give an Old Testament name as the first name and the name the child was to known by as the second, so my Dad has gone through life with Moses as his first name. It gets him remembered whenever he has to give his full name!
Monica
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In the 1901 census there are forty-three people called Abednego and two people called Amoretta.
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Hello,
Abednego is a bible name as well isn't it? one of three? i can't remember the story, too long ago.
sarah
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I have a soul named "Hailstone" in my tree. I'm glad to say that he is on a sideways branch, but even so............ ::)
Rick :)
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No Jonas, but one couple had a penchent for biblical names - Aaron, Noah, Simon, Seth, Rebecca, Reuben and Moses were used before Henry came along. Makes them easy to spot in censuses though!
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Sarah,
your question took me back to my Sunday School days. ;D
It's Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego and just as a matter of interest the 1861 census has:
Shadrack 286
Meshack 68
Abednego 62
Regards
Darcy
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thanks Darcy,
i knew what the names were and how to say the names, just couldn't remember how to spell them at all!!! a familiar story with me. i remember a rhyme with a line...
"shadrack, meshack and abednego for tea..."
or something like that.
sarah
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Sarah I have 3 people by the name of Jonas in my family, all from Norfolk.
I also have the name Grice from Norfolk.
Teresa
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Hi Teresa,
i have lots of relations in Norfolk mostly Child/childs but i also have a couple of GRICES.
if you want me to check your names against mine, send me a personal message with some of your info you have and i can have a look. you never know....
i don't have many but sometimes you get lucky.
happy hunting.
sarah