Tracing distinctive first names and middle names

[MrsWheelie_1979]

In my husbands line (Holborow), there are several generations, male and female who have the name Wrexell / Wrexall / Wraxal and many variations of the spelling, as either their first or middle name. I have been told it relates to a town. So far I have not found anything to confirm this. If anyone has anything to share on this, please let me know.
Cheers
MrsWheelie

[ScouseBoy]

Could it be Wrexham in North Wales, do you think?

[clairec666]

Another one to throw into the mix, of special interest to people with Essex ancestors....

On Familysearch I came across the marriage in Steeple, Essex between Hannah Laver and Little Wakering. "Uh-oh", I thought, "somebody's transcribed the name of the parish instead of the name of the groom." (Little Wakering is a nearby village). Looked at the image. He is actually called Little Wakering.

Brother called Big Wakering? 

More likely Great Wakering, another nearby village.

I'm curious about this guy now, especially what he named his children (Little Little Wakering?) but I can't find any trace of him. Maybe it was just a nickname...

[Andrew Tarr]

In my husbands line (Holborow), there are several generations, male and female who have the name Wrexell / Wrexall / Wraxal and many variations of the spelling, as either their first or middle name. I have been told it relates to a town. So far I have not found anything to confirm this. If anyone has anything to share on this, please let me know.

You have several choices.  My 1936 gazetteer offers 3 Wraxalls (one in Dorset, two in Somerset) and a pair of Wraxhalls in Wiltshire.  There is also a Wroxall in Warwickshire and another on the Isle of Wight.  Allowing for other mutations there may be more ... 

[relatedtoturnips]

I have an ancestor who has Griffin as a Christian name from 1719. Very interesting indeed!

According to this description, which is for a surname - but I doubt the meaning is any different if used as a Christian name.

"c. 1200 (as a surname), from Old French grifon "a bird of prey," also "fabulous bird of Greek mythology" (with head and wings of an eagle, body and hind quarters of a lion, believed to inhabit Scythia and guard its gold), named for its hooked beak, from Late Latin gryphus, misspelling of grypus, variant of gryps (genitive grypos) "griffin," from Greek gryps (genitive grypos) "a griffin or dragon," literally "curved, hook-nosed" (opposed to simos).

    Klein suggests a Semitic source, "through the medium of the Hittites," and cites Hebrew kerubh "a winged angel," Akkadian karibu, epithet of the bull-colossus (see cherub). The same or an identical word was used in mid-19c. Louisiana to mean "mulatto" (especially one one-quarter or two-fifths white) and in British India from 1793 to mean "newly arrived European," probably via notion of "strange hybrid animal."

[MrsWheelie_1979]

Thanks
ScouseBoy
Could it be Wrexham in North Wales, do you think?
 Andrew Tarr
You have several choices.  My 1936 gazetteer offers 3 Wraxalls (one in Dorset, two in Somerset) and a pair of Wraxhalls in Wiltshire.  There is also a Wroxall in Warwickshire and another on the Isle of Wight.  Allowing for other mutations there may be more

I will add this to my family information. Something may come along to confirm the origins. I don't know a lot about the counties, regions in England, so I will have a look at a map and see if any of the places you mention look like they might fit.
Cheers

[Andrew Tarr]

I will add this to my family information. Something may come along to confirm the origins. I don't know a lot about the counties, regions in England, so I will have a look at a map and see if any of the places you mention look like they might fit.

The most northerly Wroxall is in the midlands - all the rest are south of the London-Bristol line (the M4).  As a middle name it is probably an inherited surname, which would itself probably show that an earlier owner migrated from one of those villages - a long time back.

[MrsWheelie_1979]

Thanks Andrew.
I presumed it was a surname at some stage. I haven't yet found the generation that this might have occurred. I will keep looking though.
Cheers

[andrewalston]

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.

Mother's and grandmother's maiden names used as middle names abound. Even my cousin was given one.

So too do surnames used as first names. I have a "Bullough Bullough", not to be confused with my ggg grandmother, who in 1861 was enumerated as "Bellow Bullough"! Her real first name was "Arabella", but she used just the last two syllables.