'Twas Ever Thus: Fanciful Flapper Names

 

 

The article below, published on Friday 16 April 1926 in the Diss Express, is a typical look at "crazy" baby names. Nowadays, such articles often add "celebrity" in the title as well, but very little in the tone of the article has changed. 

Freak Christian Names   Of the fifty or sixty Christian names in common use in this country more than a half are reputed to have some religious, meaning. Yet nowadays, although baptism is a religious ceremony, names are bestowed without any regard for their meanings.    Not long ago a Leeds publican with the three Christian names, Baron Roth Child, bequeathed legacies to a brother who had been christened General Roberts, and sister named Princess Beatrice.    Sanger, of circus fame, who was christened Lord George, found his name very useful in business, but whether the numerous children who ten years ago were given such Christian names Kitchener, Jellicoe, and Anzac, will be grateful to their parents is doubtful.    A William Smith, who was known as the “Sausage King Smithfield,” settled the problem of finding names for his three sons calling them William No. 1, William No. 2, and William No. 3 respectively.    There is a well-known story of boy who, on stating that his name was Shadrach Nebuchadnezzar Zoots, was asked who gave him such names. His vehement reply that he didn’t know, but that if he ever found out somebody would be sorry for it, must have been echoed by many unfortunate bearers of freak names.    Some years ago a correspondent of “The Daily Chronicle” vouched the authenticity of the following Christian names: “Shadrach Swaddling Pontius Pilate”; “Mahershalalhasbaz”; “Nimrod”; “Hyena”; and “Charles Caractus Ostorius Maximilian Gustavus Adolphus.”    A rag-and-bone merchant of Norwich whose name by a coincidence was Bone,” became the proud father of a daughter, and in his exuberance he gave her the name “Shelomith Bathsheba Adora.” There are children who suffer because their parents at baptism perpetuated upon the defenceless babies the names of respected aunts Tabitha, Matilda, Georgiana, or Jemima, or of revered uncles Obadiah, Zachary, or Algernon.    The strangest set of Christian names was surely that reputed to be possessed by the daughter of a laundryman named Pepper! She was said have been christened alphabetically: Ann Bertha Cecilia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez June Kate Louisa Maud Norah Ophelia Patricia Quince Rebecca Starkey Teresa Ulysses Venus Winifred Xenophon Yeni Zeus! Diss Express 16 April 1926

The Diss Express is a Norfolk newspaper so many of the reputed cases are in and around Norfolk and its county city Norwich.

It is worth noting that Norfolk was (and still is in many parts) very rural and spread out with a once largely illiterate farming communities who mostly had church sermons to use for name inspiration. Norfolk has more medieval churches and pubs than any other British county -- An interesting combination! There was a famous phrase that Norwich had a Church for every week of the year and a pub for every day of the year. The likes of Bathsheba, Shadrach, Mathusela etc were not without historic precedence since the 16th century in Norfolk.