Tracing distinctive first names and middle names

[helenM123]

I have in my tree, Aminadab Spivey! His brother's names were Barzalli, Hezekiah and Theophilus.

[Andrew Tarr]

My Marsh family seem to have liked unusual names. Joseph Haydn Marsh had a nephew of the same name, a younger brother Handel Marsh and a cousin called Ellen Mulvino Marsh, whose niece was in turn given the same moniker.

With those musical references, maybe they were related to the English composer John Marsh (1752-1828) ?

[a-l]

I came across one yesterday ( not mine) who had a middle name Christ. I haven't seen that one before.

[DavidG02]

I used to think that was my first name for a while

"Christ you're useless''

"Christ you're thick''



It may well have been an abbreviation of Christopher

(I too agree the musical names indicate a relationship to a musician or someone close to the music scene)

[orkrad]

 Hi
 We have a relative born to James and Sarah Smith  around 1817-20. His name is Poyarder Smith and he and other family members were all christened at St Margaret Lothbury  London. The only other mention I have of him is in an. 1851 census. Has anyone any idea what this name could mean ? Orkrad.

[GrahamSimons]

Unusual names might help future genealogists, too. I think we've all despaired at sorting out a couple like William and Mary Evans from somewhere in South Wales! Modern unusual names seem often to be newly-minted.
As a bit of entertainment, use Ancestry's birth index for England and Wales, choose birth date 1995 +- 10 years, leave surname blank, type in just about any three letters in "first and middle names" box, and see what comes up!

[Rosinish]

Hi
 We have a relative born to James and Sarah Smith  around 1817-20. His name is Poyarder Smith and he and other family members were all christened at St Margaret Lothbury  London. The only other mention I have of him is in an. 1851 census. Has anyone any idea what this name could mean ? Orkrad.

Hi Orkrad,

familysearch have him as Poynder.....

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01gwa/

Could this possibly be a m/s of Sarah/mother/grandmother although possible variations on the spelling 


Annie

[orkrad]

 Thanks Annie. I think there are all kinds of possibilities here!. He is listed as Poyander Smith in the church baptismal records and again in the 1851 census for England. As for the family mis spelling the name I don't think that is likely. His dad was a London lawyer who practised in a well heeled area. The family had another child they called Frederick Bissextile Smith. The bissextile part refers to the fact that he was born on February 29. I think they just liked fancy names ! I would still like to know what Poynder/Poyander/ Poyarder means .

Regards  Orkrad

[Rosinish]

Hi Orkrad,

Spellings are always being transcribed wrongly although the baptism has him how it's thought meant to be....that can differ on other docs as names were written how they sounded.

Have you found the m/surnames of his ancestors. Could even be as simple as Poinder or similar as the accents of people can make words sound different too.

Annie