Whats the most common and most unusual first name you've found in your tree?
By Wizzywig
@Wizzywig (7847)
April 2, 2010 9:25am CST
Do you have first names that have been passed down from generation to generation so that you have a lot of ancestors with the same name?
I have lots of Samuels in one branch, a couple of strings of Johns; Williams & James. There doesn't seem to be the same consistency with female names.
The most unusual I have found thus far are 'Malina Catherina' and a lady called Lettuce.
2 people like this
4 responses
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
2 Apr 10
I found Malina Catherine and Lettuce rather unusual names. I have a lot of Joseph's in my family tree including my father, my grandpa and my brother. It seems that most Maltese name their children after saints so Joseph and Mary is a very common name. Jesus is not a common name, no one dares to name his child like that. Though I believe that there are lots of Mary's bearing children out of wedlock :)
@Wizzywig (7847)
•
2 Apr 10
Hahaha! I have a few Marys and Elizabeths in my tree and one or two Josephs but the Samuels seem to just go on and on. Some of my ancestors chose to swap their names around from their birth certificates and use their middle name instead - which doesn't help with tracing them.
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
5 Apr 10
Thanks for the penicl...It is pretty confusing, such as in the case having two joseph in the family my father and my brother.... imagine the confusion on Valentines day when my brother started to receive a lot of cards....
@coffeegurl (1467)
• United States
3 Apr 10
i'll bet dollars to donuts that Lettuce was a head turner in her salad days...we had a Francis who was named that because she was born in France.
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
2 Apr 10
Not so many, though my mom was a Mabel Jane after her grandmother and her sister was Theressa Alice after the other grandmother. Not too many duplicates and not too many really uncommon names either.
@Hate2Iron (15730)
• Canada
9 Sep 15
I think the oddest name... at least that I came across is Scholastic and then there was a run of Josephines. On my husband's side there were a ton of Alberts. That side of the family drove me crazy when I was trying to sort them out. The pretties I think was Sheridan... which happened to be my cousin. I didn't even know that was her name until we received an invite to her wedding. She always went by Sherry! Who knew lol!!
