Just not enough children named Cuthbert anymore...

I wonder if she really was a Modest Outlaw...

My mother used to say that a child's name should be something that they grow into, and will serve them as an adult.

I would get this talk each day when she read the obituaries.

"It says that Murial Cooper died, age seventy."  Then, Mom would take that name and swirl it around in her mouth like a wine connoisseur at a world championship judging it by flossing their taste buds for every nuance.  "Murial. Muir-ee-al. Not enough children named Murial these days..."

Or it could be a call from her later "Flossie McKey died.  She was a hundred years old.  So you would expect a name like Flossie.  Popular during the McKinley era.  Not enough girls named Flossie."

Later when I was older and reading the obituaries myself each day, I still come across a name or two and out bubbles my mother's from my voice box when I utter the name and how its gone from our daily lexicon of familiarities.  "Lois Smith.  Not enough girls named Lois anymore," and when I skip to the sports page, every now and then an oldie but baddy will pop up eliciting a "Marvin? Who the hell names the kid Marvin, today?"

The problem is, parents name their children with cutesy names that fit children when they are wee small, not as adults.   This is how we ended up with boys named "Declan" and girls named "Troika".

My first "Troika" meeting happened at an event a neighbor was throwing.  The baby was adorable, with lovely baby fat that you just wanted to nibble on in the way that adults want to gobble up a baby.  Her mothers were bursting with pride.  "What did you name her?"

"Troika," they said.  "It's a name of strength, that honors her spirit, her body, and her mind.  She will be a force to be reckoned with."

I smiled.  In my head, I could imagine a life for Troika filled with endless questions about her "uncommon name."

And a middle name?

"We went with Rachel after Beth's mother who died a couple years ago."

Rachel is a beautiful name.  But trust me, Troika will be "Rachel" by the time she hits eight, twenty-four max if she becomes a TV Anchor.

Every era has a phase when it comes to naming babies.  Remember in the 1980s when there was an outbreak of baby girls named Ashley and boys named Christopher?  And then in 1990s, it was Brittany and Mathew?  In the 2000s it was Madison and Jacob.

These trends are nothing new.  In the 1600s it was just as bad with fads and such.  There was even a period in the 1600s and 1700s when children were given first names that sound to our ears like something from a hippy commune.  "Friend" for boys and "Thankful" in the 1600s for girls were far more popular than "Moon Unit" and "Apple" were in the 1960s and 1990s.

As a genealogist, I see these all the time.   It is especially vexing when the child dies young and it was before the advent of organized birth records because either the sex of the child is evident, or its anyone's guess.

I mean take baby "Shirly" Moore, born in Kentucky in 1801.  You look at that name and it sounds like someone your mother or grandmother would know.  Shirly could even be in the Bridge Club, right?

But baby "Shirly" died at age six months.  There is no birth record. Just a bible entry.  We don't even know where baby Shirly is buried.

So what sex is Shirly?

You read that right.  What sex?

Is Shirly a girl?  Or is Shirly a boy?

Shirly could be one or the other.  We don't know.  All we have is "Thomas and Ann Moore's" family bible which records the birth and death dates for "Shirly".

And was Shirly's name surely spelled Shirly?  Or is it Shirley, like it's printed in the book written in the 1970s by the person who was, in canon law terms Shirly's fifth great grand nephew, one Beverly Simpkins.  Yes, a man named Beverly. And yes, Beverly's granddaughter describes her "Grandpappy" as "Beverly, the Hillbilly".

(She thinks its funny. She's also paying me $100/hour to look all this up, so if she wants to laugh, let her.)

One Millenial, who is clueless asked me "Why do you have to assign a sex to these people.  Maybe they were gender fluid..."

Unlikely.  Look, you have to assign a sex to figure out how to start an organized search to rule in your hypothesis or, rule it out.  if you just go willy-nilly at the records, you'll never find anything.

So let's play this little game, shall we? It's one I play whenever we go further back than 1900.  Its called "Is it a He'in or a She'in?"  The way this gets played, I'll give you ten "Western" names that are pretty gender fixed, but way out of date.  You have to assign the most likely gender.  The names won't be ones you hear today but were common in the 17th and 18th centuries.  You have a 50% chance at getting them right.  Don't cheat.  I can spot a cheater a mile away.   (But you can whip this out and show it to your friends and defy their ability to get them all correct.)

1. Mehetable
2. Zohra
3. Lettus
4. Seekpeace
5. Francis (pronounced Frank-is)
6. Pleasance
7. Mayhew
8. Fairfax
9. Eudoia M
10. Syntyche

BONUS

Mathe in New England


ANSWERS:

1) Mehetable - Female.  Taken from the bible.  Its translation means "God rejoices."

2) Zohra - Female.  Taken from Islamic culture, up through the Middle East into Europe, it can mean "Beautiful

3) Lettus - Female.  Later Lettice (Le-teece)

4) Seekpeace - Male.

5)  Francis - Female.  Yes, I know that Francis is a man's name, but "Frankis" morphed into Frances.

6) Pleasance - Female.  My 10th great grandmother was a woman named Pleasance Ely*.

7) Mayhew - Male.  A forerunner of Mathew.

8) Fairfax - Male.  One would think that "Fair" would apply to a girl, fair of face, so to think.  But no.  Fairfax was a name given to males.

9) Eudoia - Female.  I know, you are thinking "Endora", but no.  Eudoia is a new testament thing.

10) Syntyche - Female.  A buddy of Eudoia.

BONUS

If you have made it thus far, the bonus name is "Mathe".  Not Maive.  And no, not Maude, either.  "Mathe" can either be a form of "Mary" or it can be - especially in New England a form of MARTHA.  Martha?  Now, sound it out: Ma-the, Ma-the, now say "Ma" and "the" fast together.  ma - THE, Martha.

Now if you will excuse me, but I have to wrap a gift for the new baby next door.  They named him "Viscount".

I honestly just can't.  You know?