Icie, Ocie and Dicey: Family history a treasure-trove of unique namesv

The list of the most popular baby names for 2010 has been released and it is safe to say there will be more than a few children whose monikers will make them constant targets on the playground.

I’m always interested in these name lists and recent birth announcements to see what people are naming their kids, often with much disappointment and sympathy for the next generation. I truly feel for these children unintentionally bearing down punishment from their parents in the form of strange naming creations and convoluted “unique” spellings intended to showcase how “special” the child is. For some of these children, they won’t be feeling “unique” but rather annoyed from having to explain spellings or pronunciations of their names over and over again to teachers, acquaintances and future employers throughout the rest of their lives.

Being victim to a differently spelled name myself, I can sympathize with anyone who is constantly correcting people on the correct way to his or her their name. I was dubbed “Kathryn,” which I couldn’t complain much about since it was supposedly a family name. Of course, no amount of family history can take back having to repeat the phrase “It’s Katy with a Y” a million times throughout my entire childhood.

I always had to repeat the spelling to people at least twice and occasionally, my school, doctor’s office and even bank would send letters with my name misspelled, When I would complain about why I couldn’t have just had a “normal” name, my mother would remind me I was the bearer of a special family name.

It wasn’t until I was 17 that we found out my esteemed great-great-grandmother was in fact more traditionally named Martha Catherine. Yes, my own name is misspelled.

For the longest time, I thought I was the most abnormally named person in my entire family. Then I began doing research into the family history and discovered I am just another in a long line of awkwardly named people.

For starters, my great-grandmother apparently hated her name as well. She was dubbed Viola Melvina, though relatives said she always insisted on being called “Vi” due to her dislike of her given name.

Mamaw Vi’s own mother, known primarily in family stories as Granny Jones, was named Nancy Lieutishia. However, she went by the less hard to pronounce “Tish.” Granny Jones’ middle name has made family research that much harder since there are more accepted spellings of Lieutishia than there are for Muammar Gaddafi. It seems Census makers just wrote down however they thought the name should be spelled and went on their merry way.

On the male side, I was always interested in the origin of my great-great-grandfather’s name, Wiley Anze, especially since he grew up in Hatfield-McCoy territory.

As my research deepened, I was glad my mother had chosen a more traditional family name for me rather than other family names.

Females in our family have been christened a range of names including Alpha, Sophronia, Eglintine, Joka, Tinsey, Mehitable, Deanie, Permelia, Kissiah, Jonet, Artametha, Canzada, Amazie, Zerelda, Jennet, Faryetta, Diellen, Hiley, Dinela, Duejates, Tumsie, Mahala, Mourning, Comfort, Thursie, Ivo and one named Taswell who went by the nickname Topsy. There was even a trio of sisters named Icie, Ocie and Dicey.

The men haven’t been left out either, bearing interesting titles such as Atwell, Becknell, Cincinnatius, Gattley, Cicero, Latte, Burrel, Erestus, Fountain, Gasaway, Toleife, Hasil, Drury, Pleasant, Nimrod, Thankful, Tarelton, Yost, Fielden, Ludwell, Menzo, Ohanis, Drury and Mardocheus.

With our family history including several Civil War and Revolutionary War veterans, it is no surprise there are quite a few patriotic names. We have relatives who were coined Benjamin Franklin, Francis Marion, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, two named Thomas Jefferson, three George Washingtons, and no less than five ancestors bearing the name of James Madison. There is even one relative given the forename Elections since he was born on Election Day in 1806.

There was even one religiously inclined couple who named their son Martin Luther and another who named their son John Baptist. Mary Magdalene and Mary Virginity are two religiously inclined names for girls I have come across as well.

Being that my family is predominantly Southern, there are also a whole host of interesting double-names. Girls including Electa Adina, Clerinda Climintine, Lavada Lee, Luvinia Columbia, Delania Lonie, Dorrie Belle and Sarah Luganie have been born into the family. Boys are not immune to interesting double names either, with male relatives including Ozias Marion, Ratha Woodrow, Lilburn Milton and Lewellyn Batte.

Though middle names are often allowed to be strange, there are a few on the family tree that interested me. Our family is big on middle names coming from somewhere else within the family and I have found male middle names such as Terwinney, Wittie, Rathmal, Fannin, Easterly, Ransom, Rual and Waymon. Girls also have unique middle names, like Luvenia, Loriaza and Unicy.

Doing the family research and finding out I am not the most oddly named relative has given me consolation. Finding an abundance of Catherines, Katherines, Katharines and other spellings of the name has given me some comfort as well in my own “special” spelling.

And whenever I am at the bank, on the phone with the power company or leaving a message for someone and they ask how to spell my name, I will smile and gladly give it to them. After all, I could have been born a Permelia, Artametha, Duejates or Mehitable.

Kate Coil is a reporter at the Daily Telegraph. Contact her at kcoil@bdtonline.com.

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