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

[Ormond]

 Still don't know why my previous thread was archived after only 70 posts, so I guess I'll just have to start a new one.

Here is a link to Tuesday's column. I got an email from Adam Ant's publicist thanking me for it.

http://www.omaha.com/living/cleveland-evans-from-first-man-to-sexiest-man-alive-adam/article_e1122672-ad67-5acc-8403-ae1ab92f474d.html

And here is the link to the one two wdeeeks before that, on using the names of the seasons as baby names:

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-roots-of-summer-stretch-back-to-antiquity/article_153699f8-b96b-52bf-b3e7-d8172660e3c8.html

Edited May 7 by Ormond

[Yagathai]

Always fun to read.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Cleveland rocks!

Also, as a fan of ASoIaF, how awesome would it be to have a friend named Winter? "Hey, hold the door, Winter is coming!"

God, that would never get old for me.

[Ormond]

Here's the link to yesterday's column:

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-amanda-had-her-heydey-in-s/article_fbb72df1-878a-5814-ba9a-18e12ae0c00f.html

In the 3rd to the last paragraph, what I originally wrote was "and Boston’s hit took Amanda by surprise and made her realize her greatest one year baby name total (41,876) in 1987.", making use of an actual phrase from Boston's song, but that got edited out somehow. Perhaps the editor didn't get the reference.

[Ormond]

Here is the link to  today's column:

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-peter-and-pete-compete-with-popular-names/article_4da7c901-8627-59d1-ba0a-27c3e5d70ef8.html

Edited August 2, 2016 by Ormond

[Maltaran]

47 minutes ago, Ormond said:

Here is the link to  today's column:

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-amanda-had-her-heydey-in-s/article_fbb72df1-878a-5814-ba9a-18e12ae0c00f.html

That looks like the same link as the previous week.

[Ormond]

3 hours ago, Maltaran said:

That looks like the same link as the previous week.

Very sorry. that should be fixed now.

[Ormond]

Here is the link to today's column. Sometimes there's a celebrity having a birthday who almost compels one to write about her.

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-madonna-as-a-name-is-never-in-vogue/article_0f3ceee5-a5f3-5b4d-bf41-77d060c79cc1.html

[Baitac]

I always like and appreciate your columns. I've been conducting ancestry searches. My husband, I found out, has a great-grandfather whose name was L.G. All official documents show him as L. G. Was this common in the 1800's? Initials only that don't stand for anything but sound good together? I find it to be very interesting.

[The Marquis de Leech]

On 11/07/2016 at 7:57 PM, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Cleveland rocks!

Also, as a fan of ASoIaF, how awesome would it be to have a friend named Winter? "Hey, hold the door, Winter is coming!"

God, that would never get old for me.

Actually, it'd make me snigger (everyone keeps talking about Winter's orgasms) - but then I have a dirty mind.  

[Ormond]

18 hours ago, Baitac said:

I always like and appreciate your columns. I've been conducting ancestry searches. My husband, I found out, has a great-grandfather whose name was L.G. All official documents show him as L. G. Was this common in the 1800's? Initials only that don't stand for anything but sound good together? I find it to be very interesting.

Well, it was much more common in some places than others -- and certainly would have been much more common in the last few decades of the 19th century than it was in the first part of the century. "Initials only" was especially common in Texas but did occasionally occur in much of the South and West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

[Baitac]

7 hours ago, Ormond said:

Well, it was much more common in some places than others -- and certainly would have been much more common in the last few decades of the 19th century than it was in the first part of the century. "Initials only" was especially common in Texas but did occasionally occur in much of the South and West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

L.G. was born in Ontario and emigrated to Oregon. Thank you for your answer! Anything goes when it comes to names.

[Ormond]

Here's the link to my latest column. I tried to post this a few days ago and for some reason the copy function wouldn't work. 

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-cameron-journeys-from-the-highlands-to-hollywood/article_ee3ecb4a-d0fb-5ed2-beb4-9c2d85748d75.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

[Ormond]

Sorry I've been so busy I couldn't post this before today. As an American I've always felt a bit confused by the existence of Bridget Cromwell ever since I learned about her -- wondering how on earth Oliver Cromwell came to give his daughter a name I've always thought of as the quintessential Irish Catholic name. I was fascinated to learn that, like Patrick, the Irish actually considered Bridget "too sacred" to give real girls back then, and it only became popular with them, ironically, when their English rulers forbade other Gaelic names.    

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-from-ancient-irish-roots-to-ren-e-zellweger-s/article_1e612d66-358a-5702-9587-a90d7588179e.html

[Ormond]

Here's today's column. There were of course many other Samuels and Sams I could have mentioned if there had been room. In regard to the ASOIAF Sam, I discovered in my research for this column that "Samwell" is a rare English surname which does indicate an ancestor named Samuel.

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-raise-a-pint-to-sam-his-historical-ties/article_94ace598-2727-535b-9a66-e4aef876f9f8.html

[Ormond]

Here's today's column. I will admit to really liking this name myself:

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-from-a-medieval-queen-to-a-first-lady-eleanors/article_b58fb5ad-5243-5438-9319-fc6208095604.html

[Gertrude]

Hey, this is one of my favorites too. My great aunt was named Eleanor and I always admired her. She was strong and independent as a young woman in the early 1900s. Got a college degree and moved to DC on her own in the 20s, which apparently my g-grandmother had fits about. So yeah, I always associate the name with strong and bold women. I'm kind of sad that the origin of the name is lost.

[Baitac]

On 9/15/2016 at 8:28 PM, Ormond said:

Sorry I've been so busy I couldn't post this before today. As an American I've always felt a bit confused by the existence of Bridget Cromwell ever since I learned about her -- wondering how on earth Oliver Cromwell came to give his daughter a name I've always thought of as the quintessential Irish Catholic name. I was fascinated to learn that, like Patrick, the Irish actually considered Bridget "too sacred" to give real girls back then, and it only became popular with them, ironically, when their English rulers forbade other Gaelic names.    

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-from-ancient-irish-roots-to-ren-e-zellweger-s/article_1e612d66-358a-5702-9587-a90d7588179e.html

In August I visited an 11th century monastery in Spain. The hotel historian pointed to a millennial oak. Like you said, the structure was built on a former Gaelic sacred site. Asturias and Galicia (Gales) were initially Gaelic. A castro was a Gaelic settlement. The last name Castro pertains to such locations. 

[Ormond]

Here's today's column. As with any extremely common traditional name, there was a lot more I could have said I didn't have space for. Sorry, Robert Frost and Robert Baratheon.

http://www.omaha.com/living/evans-from-royal-roberts-to-baby-boomer-bobs/article_db7c14a9-3b93-5cbd-8e43-c702a2ff8422.html

[Angalin]

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?

eta: I love the name Eleanor and am glad it's back! Seeing The Lion in Winter on Saturday afternoon tv when I was young left me in awe of both queen and Kate Hepburn.

Ormond, have you ever written about the name Mark and its variants? I searched the newspaper's site but couldn't find anything.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Angalin