Odd Names

You have to wonder what goes through the minds of new parents when they decide on the name of their new offspring. Occasionally, some ridiculous names given out. Think about poor Humperdink Fangboner, who grew up to be a lumber dealer in Sandusky, Ohio. Of course, his wife Fanny Fangboner didn't have it much easier.

Then we find Mr. and Mrs. John Senior of New York City, who named their son after his father. The baby thereby became John Senior, Jr. Then there is Mrs. Belcher Wack Wack. She wasn't born with that name, however. It seems that Miss Belcher married Mr. Wack, thereby becoming Mrs. Wack. Following her husband's death, she married her husband's brother but kept her maiden name and her first married name as middle names, as many women do. Therefore, she became Mrs. Belcher Wack Wack.

The Odd Names page on F2.org has many more such listings. Some of them are so outlandish that you might question their authenticity. The site claims that these are all real names, but I have my doubts. Some of these names sound like they came out of a W. C. Fields movie (see footnote). There are no source citations listed, so I will leave the validity to your judgment.

To see some of the strangest names that you will ever see, look at http://f2.org/humour/language/oddnames.html.

Now, just who is in your family tree?

NOTE: If you have never read the credits at the end of a W. C. Fields movie from the 1930s, you have really missed half the humor of the movie. Larson E. Whipsnade, Egbert Souse (pronounced 'soo-ZAY'), Eustace McGargle, Charles Bogle, Otis Criblecoblis, Mahatma Kane Jeeves and other names often appear as actors, writers, and other assorted roles. All are pseudonyms for W. C. himself.

W. C. Fields' name at birth was William Claude Dukenfield.

Comments

[Paula Kelley Ward]

Miss Minnie Tramp (now deceased), lived in LaGrange, Texas, the location of the infamous Chicken Ranch, which became well-known due to the movie, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

Miss Minnie Tramp was a real person and an alumna of Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. I was the systems manager (now retired) for the Alumni/Development Information System there for 23 years.

A new Alumni Director in 1983 thought I had made up the name when he saw an envelope addressed to her.

I wish I could find the list I kept of all of the unique names in that database. If I can, I'll certainly report them to you.

And by the way, my grandmother's name was Minnie Peters.

[Dan Lynch]

Given that Jay Leno's first guest is of no interest, I couldn't resist checking some of these out. Many of these surnames generate ZERO results in a general, all-records search on Ancestry. There were a couple, however, that did surprise me.

There is a divorce record from Lakeland, Florida (April 1957) for Verbal Funderburk and spouse Verlon B. Funderburk. Had to be really careful typing that one!!

There's a family originally from South Carolina that I've helped with their research, they were known as the Alphabet Family because the parents used the first and middle names of their 11 children to spell the alphabet. For those who are counting, the family legend also says that they had a dog and cat named WX and YZ, respectively. I'll post the details of this on www.CelebrityCensus.com since it is a fun story (and documented as truth).

DanL

[Boeufdaisy]

My favorite relative's name is "Coffin Thing", whose father was Benjamin Thing and whose mother was Parnell Coffin.

But "Preserved Fish" is a close second.

[Donna Ewins]

Preserved Fish has long been one of my favorites. He came from a very prominent (and religious) New York family. A close second for me is a distant cousin who was stuck with the given names of Leafy Sue and a student named Minnie Smouse at the school where I once taught.

[Richard Crockett]

Back in Ohio at my old school district there was a girl who had the name "Female," pronounced as a three syllable word: fe-MALL-e. The parent was once asked why that name and the reply was along the lines of, "I had no choice. The name was already on her birth certificate." What an amazing world we live in, LOL!

[donald mcedward]

There was a family named THING that my father used ol tell about they named their daughter Opelia and the son Harry. I thought he made it up until I read an obituary of the family. Then there was an editor with Wall Street Journal, Vermont Connecticut Royster, whose many siblings all had two names and all were named after States.

Donald McEdard

[Kenneth Lary]

My family name is Lary (pronounced like the first name Larry.) I have a cousin named Larry Lary. He has a brother named Terrence (Terry Lary.) Terry married a woman named Mary (Mary Lary.) They had two sons, Terrence Jr. (Terry Lary, Jr.) and Jeremiah (Jerry Lary.) I also had a female cousin named Terrie (Terrie Lary), but she has married now. One of my other male cousins also married a woman named Mary, so there is a second Mary Lary.

[Louise]

A woman named Rose (first name) married a man whose last name was Rose, and thus became Rose Rose. Her sister-in-law is a friend of mine.

[Jason Presley]

There was a minor league baseball player around 1909-1911 named Ten Million.

[Judy Anthony]

And there was the very real and much beloved Houston philanthropist (and daughter of a Texas Governor), Ima Hogg. It is an urban myth in Texas that she had a sister named Ura. What were her parents thinking?

In my own family tree, my favorite family names occur in the family of Comfort Starr. Two of his children were named "Truth Shall Prevail" (later known as Truthful Starr) and "No Strength" (who probably died soon after birth).

[Lauren Maehrlein]

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society had a member who was a frequent contributor to the Record back in the late 1800's whose name was Royal Paine.

[Sarah]

My husband knew a man named Harry Butt.

[wingnuttwo]

In a town 15 miles from us, we have a Doctor Sickley.
Then up in Alaska there is an Otis "Fa nort ner" I am using the phonetic spelling as I am not sure of the real spelling. I hear this from WGN radio station in Chicago with Spike O'Dell who has called him by phone several times. They claim there in not another "Fa nort ner" around, Otis being the only one.
Regards, :o) Nancy

[David G. Ball]

Years ago is was trolling through a VT census at a Family History Center and piped up that I had just found a "Royal Orange". The lady down the way topped me right away with a young lady on her census page named "Sacred Pickle".

[Robert Ackley]

I remember working at the St. Regis mill in Bucksport, many years ago, with a man named: Harry Pye. Try telling that one at a party, with a straight face!

[Bob Inman]

I worked in the same building with an older lady by the name of Eula Mudd. A guy by the name of Ed Ball came into her life. She became Eula Mudd Ball. It's the truth.

[Bobbi King]

In the old days, there were plenty of outhouses in Wyoming (perhaps there still are!) but I have documented Outhouses in my family.

[Sandi Lee Craig]

my husband grew up in Colorado and some of his best friends were "Outhouses" - only they pronounced the name "ooutt-husee"

[Bill Wolfe]

Then there was the friend of my dentist father, Dr. Farty. As kids my sister and I had great laughs when dad spoke about what a fine dentist Dr. Farty was.

Bill Wolfe
Boulder, Colorado

[Maureen]

I have two examples ... a business contact years ago was Arnold Arnold. Long since died.
I knew a girl named April with the last name Furst. Parents had a twisted sense of humor, I guess.

[DaveD]

The index to the British Births, Marriages and Deaths (online at www.freebmd.org.uk) has four girls between 1837 and 1910 whose parents gave them the name of Emma. Unfortunately the family name is Roydes. ;-)

[Shirley Stwalley]

Some names seem to be appropriate for that person. There used to be two physicians at Seattle Children's Hospital who exemplified that. One was named Dr. Doctor and the other (an anesthesiologist) was Dr. Ether. Sometimes names are destiny.

[Gloria]

I was visiting my mother in a hospital and a new grandmother, Mrs. Baum, was outside stamping her feet in frustration: her son and daughter-in-law had just decided to name their first child Adam.

[Ron Johnson]

Back in the fifties in Portland, Oregon, there was a dentist whose name was Dr. Painless.

[Lois Jamieson]

The town of Westport, Connecticut had not one, but two people named Doctor Doctor. They were married. I think they were dentists.

I used to work for a magazine that did a brisk mail-order business and a book club, and we made lists of the funniest names we found. I don't have the list but two that I remember were Ginny Martini and Biff Wigglesworth.

[Kathleen Peck Probasco]

I adore two of my shirt-tail relatives: Preserved Clapp and Pearley Gates!

[Michael Provard]

From the Fremont County, Wyoming marriages, book B, 1904-1908 (Family History Library fiche no. 6075723): 30 November 1904, in Pinedale, Wyoming, Phillip J. Burch married Fannie Farter.

[Gary Myers]

One of the top scorers in Iowa girls basketball was "Fonda Dicks".
And the town I grew up in had a "Harry Furry".

[Vina Buckley]

My family records have a (female) Baer married to a (male) Butts. The marriage did not last long.

Also, Central Missouri had a Harry Butts and still has a Soda Popp.

[Vanessa Schatz]

In the course of researching my BANKS line I came across this family in Precinct 3, Lamar County, TX:
Jacob 70
Susan 50
Nick 17
Casa 15
Mary 12
Jake 9
Seventeen 7
Eeighteen 5
Ninteen 3
I truly hope they turn out to be my relatives!

[Cedric Wyndham]

My late wife had a cousin named Marilyn who chose to marry Mr Munroe. Not the parents fault, but hers.
And one of the ancestors who documented my family had the given names Mary Agnes Dorothy (note her initials).

[Dan Lynch]

I mentioned the "Alphabet Family" of South Carolina. 11 children (and 2 pets) whose first and middle names ran the alphabet in proper order from A to Z. Full detail of this story and images of several census sheets to support the story from 1900, 1910, and 1920 appear at: http://www.celebritycensus.com/alphabet_family.php

Enjoy - DanL

[dot]

I was once working in processing instant credit and the woman's name was Frances and her husband's last name was Frances. The computer would not take the name Frances Frances.

[Greg Thiel]

My wife is a nurse and she once worked with a doctor who believed that sounds should be names. So she named her two children Meow and Bowwow.

[James W. Anderson]

Strange names came in at a call center i had worked for for many years. For example, one day someone got a 'John M. Earthworm III', and the one that took the cake was 'Idylla (word for manure spelled with an extra T') and I have no idea how that one came to be given how people are repulsed by the swear-word.

[Jim Agnew]

When I was 19, I had to have my appendix removed. The Doctor performing the operation shared an office with Dr. Donald Duckles... (in Rochester, NY).

[Addie Rickey]

A number of years ago, I thought of writing about the subject of name fulfillment and put together a descriptive word: desti-nomen-ology. It encompasses the word destiny; "nomen" which also means name; and "ology" for the study of the subject. Now say that one real fast.

[David Collins]

Here a few more I have run across. I suppose, at the time, they seemed like good ideas:

Castor Bean, MA State Census, 1865

Experience Bent, MA birth records

Palace Bumstead and Wealthy Bumstead, MA death records

Deliverance Coffin, 1850 U.S. census

Winifred Collarbone, Fanny Forehead, and Mary Kneecap, English records

Mahala Squarebrigs, MA marriage records

Increase N. Tarbox, Congregational minister, Watertown, MA, 1860 U.S. census.

[Linda Vixie]

In the Colorado Springs death register there's a man named Henry Halfass. His occupation: tailor.

[Marilyn]

I wrote this one last night but for some reason it did not appear. I found Pilot Light, born 1903, in the 1930 TN census. He was not an electrician, but a farmer.

[Waynne Gomel]

The oddest name I've run across so far is Petronella Watermelon, which I came across while researching at the Family History Center a few years back.

[simone parkinson]

I went to school with a Ron Patch and when he married he named his son Berry Patch. Also remember a schoolmate of my brother's named Rainie Dayze. Poor fellas.

[Louise Booth]

My mother told us that when she was living in Toronto years ago there were 2 dentists in partnership whose names were Dr. Katchem and Dr. Krokum. I'm not sure of the spelling, but that's how she pronounced them.

I also have an ancestor whose name was Mercy Jellie, which used to send us into whoops of laughter as kids.

[Audrae Turner Mathis]

My husband's gg aunt was named Birdie Pidgeon. She married Mr. Feathers becoming Birdie Pidgeon Feathers!

The Lear family of Lear Jet fame named one of their daughters Chanda Lear.

In Oklahoma there were a set of identical twin girls...Ima Pigg and Ura Pigg.

[Anita Rhoulhac]

I worked with two psychologists in the Fort Lauderdale area about 10 years ago who were partners, their names were Dr. Finger (male) and Dr. Fingeret ( a woman)

[Noel Duerden]

The name is not so odd, but the 1930 census for Missouri, District 20, Marshall, Saline Co, lists Santa Claus as father and his wife is Mabel. They have five sons and one daughter. Info originally reported in the Ancestry Daily News by John McNeill. Maybe Santa spent his summers in Missouri.

[Jerry Frank]

The most unusual surname I have encountered during my research occurs in the village of Kochanow, located between L~odz and Rawa Mazowieckie in Poland. The village in the early 1800s consisted of 99% Germanic Lutherans who were obligated to register at the Gl~uchow Catholic Church prior to 1826. The surname is POPEFRANKENSTEIN. The name is clearly written and appears in several different records.

[Bob]

Boeufdaisy mentioned Preserved Fish as being a favorite. I also have a Preserved Fish in my family line. They named a daughter Grizzle and passed on the name Preserved Fish jr.
From what I understand, both Preserved and Grizzle were names of honor at the time.

[Rebekah]

I went to school with a couple girls in Texas named Nugget Gold and Crystal Coffee

[Robert Protzmann]

What about Preserved Fish, from the large New English FISH family, which led to numerous NY politicians of the name Hamilton FISH.

[Ann H Britton]

John Train has written a series of "True Remarkable Occurrences", etc. Most of his books are carefully documented. I'm surprised if this book is not documented, but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt!
A friend's brother had the given name of Captain. Unfortunately, he he became career Army. He legally changed his name to just his initials!

And Edward Lear (as in Lear Jet) named his daughter Shanda Lear.

Is there anyone who didn't go to school with a Rose Bush?

Not to slight the famous Texas woman Ima Hogg and her sister Ura.

[Dick Eastman]

---> A friend's brother had the given name of Captain. Unfortunately, he he became career Army

When I served in the Air Force, I knew Sergeant Sergent (slight spelling difference), Airman Airman and 1st Lieutenant Kidd. We were hoping that Lt. Kidd would be promoted to captain so that he would be... (insert drum roll here)... Captain Kidd!

---Is there anyone who didn't go to school with a Rose Bush?

You knew Rose??? (smile) I didn't go to school with her but she was my next door neighbor when I was growing up.

- Dick Eastman

[Sara R]

I found a Mormonette in the 1870 Census. That name made me giggle all day. What is odd is that the father had been excommunicated for apostasy some years previous, and the family had moved from Utah to California. But apparently they still felt Mormon enough to give their child such a unique name.

[J Thomas]

Update on 2 names:

I'm from the same are of Iowa that Fonda Dicks was from and I believe that Fonda Dicks married someone named with the last name of Cox. She didn't improve her situation much there.

I also worked for an insurance company that had a policy for Soda Popp's parents. Soda, and his sister Lolly Popp were beneficiaries.

True stories.

[J. Murphey]

Funniest names of doctors I've come across: In Slaton, TX, for years a Dr. Payne was the only doctor in that town. In the 1980s, there was a Dr. Heine (yes, pronounced "Hi-ney") who was a gynocologist in Lubbock.

[Jan Milic]

While teaching at a university in Kansas, I had a student whose married name was Alice Fallis. A friend of mine teaching in Oklahoma, while reading his roster, read a name as WalKINski and was corrected by the (Indian) student, whose name was Walkingsky.

[Allen Black]

There's a chiropractor in Cincinnati, Ohio...Dr. Will Tickle

[Dorothy]

My father knew a man named Golden Rule, a salesman in Chicago in the 1940's