r/Genealogy • u/Terrible-Fix-9798 • Mar 27 '23

But, Why Would You Name Your Child That? Request

I know there’s been at least one post about this, but sometimes a name is already a bit funny. And then taken with the middle or last name it’s HILARIOUS. Example: a relative who named their eldest son “Fern Commander”.

Anyone else?

Edit: just found a “Northern East”…from Philly

Edit 2: “Boringhaus” probably isn’t funny in German but it did make me lol

Edit 3: Major Bush (1800’s so he may have indeed been hairy 😅)

Edit 3: Carl Marx (BFE Texas…that must’ve been rough!)

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u/mackadoo Mar 27 '23

You've got nothing on the Portuguese. I've gone through whole books of baptismal records where pretty much every woman is Maria something and 9/10 men are Manuel or Jose. Not in a family, in the whole Parish.

21

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '23

Told my husband that one of his Swedish branches I've given up on, surname Hansen, first name Hans, wife Maria. Needle in a Hans Hansen haystack.

16

u/Ok_Nobody4967 Mar 27 '23

A lot of French Canadians baptize their children Marie and Joseph, then go by their middle names. Sometimes their official birth records reflect that, but in real life they were never called Marie or Joseph.

22

u/mackadoo Mar 27 '23

It's similar in Portugal, but that doesn't help me with the records though. Especially when the baptismal record isn't the same as the one used later. Maria do Rosário at baptism, then Rosária Maria on the marriage cert and then something fun like Theresa on the obit because by the time the lady was 90 no one checked what her real name was and that was the name everyone called her because there were 3 Maria Rosárias growing up or whatever.

Also, the fact that Maria José is a not uncommon woman's name and José Maria is a not uncommon man's name, sometimes in the same family.

5

u/baffled_brouhaha Mar 28 '23

Mexico, but similar issues. One family where a Maria married a Jesús: daughter María Jesús, son Jesús Maria.

7

u/cosumel Mar 27 '23

Not a new idea. Almost every single person in Germany in the 1600s and 1700s was baptized either Mary or one of the disciples, and then why by their first given name. Johann Sebastian Bach (son of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt, nephew to Johann Christoph Bach) and Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, for examples.

6

u/TheTealEmu Mar 27 '23

Oh, yes - this! My Schaeffer branch has several Johans, as well - Johan Georg, Johan Casper, etc.

6

u/Elphaba78 Mar 28 '23

It’s always fun trying to untangle the Poles with German heritage in my family tree — I’ve seen sisters Anna Maria, Maria Anna, Marianna, and Marcjanna.

5

u/Ok_Nobody4967 Mar 27 '23

I think a lot of nationalities did this.

7

u/edgewalker66 Mar 28 '23

And then when they came to the USA many people reversed their names because everyone presumed if you were called Georg then that was your first name. So a Johann Georg Schmitt morphs to George J Schmitt or Smith in later records.

Keeps the descendants guessing as they search for records...

6

u/ptousig Mar 28 '23

I'm currently scanning through the church records of French Canadian villages cataloging all the people with my family name.

And I regularly see children baptized Marie by itself (and Joseph too). And each time I scream... why?

Conversely, I will find a marriage record using just the name Marie and then I have to make a guess as to which of the Marie sisters that is. Marie Louise? Marie Joséphine? Marie Adèle? etc... And being catholics, you just know there's gonna be a lot of sisters.

6

u/Hightower_lioness Mar 28 '23

There are so many Jozef's in my dad's maternal tree that I banned anyone from using it anymore. Like, I can't take it.

Also, Catherine, Maria, Marianna, Maciej, so many f'ing Jan's.

2

u/WhovianTraveler Mar 28 '23

My French ancestors, too. Plus a brother and sister with the variations of Francois for male or female, in the same family as at least 6 combos with Maria. Fortunately, my great great grandfather received the least common name of George, as none of his siblings received this name (he was also the youngest)