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Names: My newspaper column: now featuring The Old Man and the most famous spouse of witch


Ormond
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3 minutes ago, Angalin said:

Thanks for the updated thread, Ormond! :)

I have a follow-up question to Baita's genealogical query, which maybe other people can help me with too. Ages ago I created a family tree on Geni and the site sends me notices of possible matches between my family tree and others, often based on names and similar dates/places. Sometimes the names will be a little different: is that more likely to happen because of inconsistent records or from family use of nicknames?

One of the things I have noticed in the records is the changing spelling of names.  When I look at US Census reports that are hand written, all by the census taker, it is easy to see how this happens.  My maternal great grandfather's last name is Reade, or Reed, or Read, or Reid, depending on what year's records you look at.  Children's names change to nicknames or middle names (Frances Grace becomes Gracie 10 yrs later). Drove me nuts at first.

But this also lead to following the wrong line for a couple of generations: Cousins who lived in the same county, both named William Fields, had boys the same year, both named Alexander, but one was Alexander Pope Fields, and one had no middle name listed. I had the wrong one for quite some time.

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well, you have to remember that census takers back in the 19th century were NOT chosen because they had good penmanship or because they were good spellers -- it was a political patronage job. Also, you can't rely on the index alone but should check the original record.

Certainly sometimes names change from one census to another because the person involved had changed in the form of their name they preferred to be called by. But simple mistakes by census takers are probably just as common.

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Thank you for the link. Great as usual. My favorite Robert is Rob Roy MacGregor as my husband's last name is derived from his clan. Also now I know where the Spanish name Rigoberto comes from. I don't think it's a particularly attractive name. Oddly, you still see it in PR.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's today's column. The information on Donald is 95% cut and pasted from the column I wrote on that name 5 years ago when it happened to fall on Trump's birthday! Sorry I didn't have room to mention Hilary Swank or other famous Hilarys born during the name's US heyday in the 1980s.

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-regardless-of-who-wins-don-t-expect-a-lot/article_3b03b3b8-03b5-5d61-9346-7f40009c1b59.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

As usual, I liked article a lot. We have a son named James who we call Jamie. I think there's also a connection between James and Iago. James, son of Zibedee, is said to be buried in Sant' Iago de Compostela, Spain. I visited Santiago in August. The Cathedral is beautiful. Iago has become Diego in Spanish. I always think of poor Desdemona when I hear the name Iago. :) 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's today's column. Sorry I didn't have space to explain another part of Agnes's medieval popularity was its association with the Latin word "agnus" or "lamb" and the important place of that in Christian iconography. Also that I think the Gossip Girl character may have been inspired by the model turned actress Agnes Bruckner -- born in California in 1985, her parents were immigrants from Hungary and Russia and so may not have realized what an "ugly elderly" image Agnes had for Americans back then.

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-headstrong-martyr-propelled-agnes/article_dc9c0e74-78ef-59e5-be5c-3ca4c27e6ab1.html

 

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Very sad how so many women were martyred because they refused to marry men  chosen by their parents. Maybe they saw themselves as married to Christ, like Saint Catherine of Siena. Others may have just been feminists. Anyway, when I think of Saint Agnes, I think of hospitals. Kind of like Saint Elsewhere, not the newest, nor the most popular, but the most enduring. 

I don't particularly like the name Agnes as it is pronounced in English, but I really like how it's pronounced in French, Agnès. 

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12 hours ago, Baitac said:

 

I don't particularly like the name Agnes as it is pronounced in English, but I really like how it's pronounced in French, Agnès. 

Me too - the French version is beautiful - same with Agatha, which has similar (but worse) connotations in English for me.

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10 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Me too - the French version is beautiful - same with Agatha, which has similar (but worse) connotations in English for me.

Did I ever tell you I bought a dress like yours at the con, from the same vendor? I love it but now I don't think I could wear it. 

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Ormond: related to Agnes' popularity in Scotland (currently low, it's still seen as old-fashioned, but it may be due for a revival) - do you know that a popular Scottish nickname for women called 'Agnes' was/is 'Senga'?

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6 hours ago, mormont said:

Ormond: related to Agnes' popularity in Scotland (currently low, it's still seen as old-fashioned, but it may be due for a revival) - do you know that a popular Scottish nickname for women called 'Agnes' was/is 'Senga'?

Oh, yes, and I know there are women in Scotland whose name on their birth certificate is Senga. Though there may be a Gaelic origin for Senga, many think its use in modern Scotland owes a lot to its being a backspelling of Agnes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the link to today's column.  It seems that with Jamie, Agnes, and Callum I have coincidentally been writing a lot about names with Scottish connections lately.  It's nice to have the photo from the film, but technically I think in that scene Fassbender is playing Callum Lynch's ancestor Aguilar, not Callum himself.

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-assassin-s-creed-movie-may-help-the-name-callum/article_87d1f472-2054-52fa-8904-9b157188d4c2.html

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the link to today's column:

http://www.omaha.com/living/cleveland-evans-genevieve-again-revving-for-favor/article_d6cc741a-61f5-5bfe-992e-9f66cd4487f7.html

An apology to those who know French: I had the proper accent mark in what I wrote when I was referring to specifically French or French Canadian women, but the editing somehow left that out. 

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14 hours ago, Ormond said:

Here's the link to today's column:

http://www.omaha.com/living/cleveland-evans-genevieve-again-revving-for-favor/article_d6cc741a-61f5-5bfe-992e-9f66cd4487f7.html

An apology to those who know French: I had the proper accent mark in what I wrote when I was referring to specifically French or French Canadian women, but the editing somehow left that out. 

Have you ever written something about your given name? I'd like to know all about it,

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is today's column, the annual one about The American Name Society's Names of the Year vote. I suppose that if Drumpf had won the overall title instead of just Personal Name of the Year that there was a slight chance we might have gotten a tweet from a certain soon-to-be-President about it. 

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-bittersweet-distinction-for-once-proud-name-aleppo/article_8a002469-3c11-54c9-bc21-27d9f2553e4c.html

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