Unusual first names - were they any help?

[Milliepede]

I found a Herodia on 1841 census who was a sister of my great great grandfather.  She later turns into Rhoddy or the less unusual Rhoda.

She had a little boy called Shelley which I thought was most unusual.  I first thought it was after the poet but seeing as they were "mark with an X" doubt they would have been reading and enjoying his work.

I then realised not far away is a village called Shelley so wonder if he was called after that but I suppose the poet is more likely?

Anyway do these names help us today?  I thought a name like Herodia surely couldn't have been plucked from the air and there must have been a previous one but not found it yet!

[Treetotal]

I have never heard of it before...I wonder if it had anything to do with "Herod" ...the female version? 
Carol

[Milliepede]

It was transcribed if I remember right as "Hervelia" which didn't help  but did read Herodia and yes you are right it was Herod related!

[StanleysChesterton]

My great grandmother and her sister both had very unusual/distinctive names.... which were then spelt in a variety of ways, making searches wide and not tight.

BOTH of them moved 10 miles to the nearest town and both dropped their first names and were married using only their middle names - so you'd need to be close to this tree to have discovered that.. others who searched for them might have them down as "disappeared".

[coombs]

In Suffolk and Essex it seems to be more of a trend to name children after the maiden surname of the mother, or a family surname, such as there is a Newman Jacques in my family tree. Mmn Newman.

I have a Bush Stock in my Essex tree. Never been able to find the marriage of the parents Thomas and Ann but Bush could be a clue.

[Redroger]

I thought Hephzibah would be helpful in my mother's tree; however; 15 instances of the name in 2 generations soon finished that idea. However, in my father's tree an Osmund b1599 in Teffont Wilts; has to be the same guy who appeared in Blandford Forum 1641, specially with the unusual surname, Luffman.

[locksmith]

I have never heard of it before...I wonder if it had anything to do with "Herod" ...the female version? 
Carol

Herodia, probably derived from Herodias who, according to the Gospels told her daughter Salome to ask Herod for the head of John the Baptist.

Simon

[andrewalston]

One branch of my family used "Valentine" as a favourite name, and all the people with the combination of that and the not-uncommon surname have proved to be related.

On the other hand, most of my lot seem to have been fixated on the most common given names. The village where many of them lived seemed to have been stuffed full of girls called Ellen, and they ensured that the following generation was provided for.

[coombs]

Less common names seem to have about a trillion variants though, always a catch.