What's in a name?

[litlover12]

Quite by accident, I found out my great-great-grandmother's name today. My mom was looking through some old pictures and things she wanted to send to my grandma, and there was a family book some of our cousins had put together, and she was in there. I've looked through that book before, so I must have seen her there sometime in the past, but I don't remember -- maybe I was concentrating more on the relatives that I did know. Anyway, her name was Natalina -- isn't that pretty? A lot of my female ancestors had very pretty Italian names: Natalina, Lucia, Nicolina. The former two eventually Americanized them to Natalie and Lucy, respectively. I think those versions are pretty too, though.

One of the most interesting name changes in our family: My great-grandmother (Natalina's daughter) was Antonia, and Antonia's husband was Luciano, but when they came here they changed their names . . . to Louis and Antoinette. Just a random choice, or did they fancy being named after French royalty? (Or was someone who helped process them at Ellis Island perhaps a fan of French royalty?) I wish I knew!

I should get into geneaology someday, though it seems like a time-consuming and sometimes expensive endeavor. I absolutely love finding out little tidbits like this about people who died long before I was born!

Comments

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Oh! How pretty! Even the americanisations are pretty here. Italian names are lovely. I'm one quarter Italian, and the lovely names on that side are almost completely unrelated - Loretta, Barbara, Marian - and an intention to name my mother Jean-Marie (imagine! Italian mother plus German father and my Grandma was fascinated by a French ballet dancer - legend has it). Legend further has it that whomever was in charge of the birth certificate put a space in there and she was Jean Marie - and my Grandmother was too spacey after the birth to correct it. Grandpa called her Jeanie, to everyone's dismay...

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Whole books could be written about interesting trends in American names, don't you think? (Probably some have been written, and I just haven't seen them.) My Italian great-grandparents came over here gave almost all of their children American names, and those children gave almost all of their children American names . . . and then you get to my generation, and my parents pick Italian and French for me (Gina Renee). It wasn't any sort of an ethnic statement, though; they just liked the way the names sounded!

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

The sound of a name is really what it's all about, isn't it? I quite like my given name, I think the combination of first and middle is both (fairly) unique and musical (Melanie Therese). Though, again, legend has it that (OK, legend confirmed because I actually did find this name book in a library once) my mother was informed by a name book that Melanie was another name for Persephone. ?...? Yeah, not so much as it turns out...instead I'm the dark clothed reaper - no, really...the idea of the goddess of spring and summer turned on its head and returned to its roots in hades.

Names are really very interesting, and a study should be done on the trending. I do hope someone eventually chooses to analyze it past reporting the top names each year so parents can browse through to either use or avoid them. As you say, perhaps they have, though now it's getting really interesting - what with people making up names willy nilly.

It wasn't bad enough that girls were slowly but surely stealing away all the good boys names - oh no! Now we're overtaking non-proper nouns as well! I'm looking at you, Gwyneth - Blythe is ashamed of you, and so am I.

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

Genealogy is so fascinating! From my mother's side of the family, I'm mostly German with a snippet of Irish and Cherokee. My great-grandparents were the children of German immigrants, and my great-great-grandmother was an American who married a German. From her side comes the Irish and Cherokee. With my father, his side is so rooted in Arkansas that it has become the only source of their heritage.

[neemarita.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting when you find odd or pretty or just plain weird names!

I don't think my family has anything interesting. My grandfather's grandmother's name was Elspeth. His Irish mom's name was Mary Josephine, which I think is gorgeous. Mostly the men are James, John, and Robert.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I had a great-aunt named Josephine! But then she ended up changing it to Sister Mary Anunciata. :-)

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love finding out little tidbits like this about people who died long before I was born!

Amen to that! And I have to add, changing a couple's names to Louis and Antoinette sounds like something straight from a story. So sweet, yet fascinating. :)

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting! And such lovely names. If only going into geneaology was easy!

[modmerseygirl.livejournal.com]

Yay! How intriguing! :) I love finding out about family history, too. Ancestry.com has been an amazing tool, for sure.