According to the Social Security Administration’s list of baby names dating back to the late 1800s, my son’s name “William” has been in the top 20 ever since. It is not alone, especially among boys’ names. “James” boasts even more stable popularity. For girls, I’m sure any millennial woman gathered around a campfire could tell you about Jennifer’s 30-year reign.
But now it appears that less traditional names are overtaking many of the classic names from centuries ago. A quick look at the SSA list reveals that “Maverick” is a much more popular name than “Nicholas.” “Nova” is 100 places ahead of “Mary.” And it turns out we 21st century parents aren’t the first to give our babies unusual names. Consider, for example, the Quakers of the 17th century.
Historian Dr. Amy Boynton discusses the unusual names of 17th century Quakers, Puritans, and Evangelicals on her TikTok account (@history_with_amy). Often these names were warnings, intended to encourage the child to live up to the name.
“Some of these names actually survive to this day, such as Felicity and Prudence,” she explains.
But I haven’t seen any other names for a long time, and it’s not surprising. Boynton references the work of fellow historian Dr. Isabella Rosner, who specializes in textile history. Her doctoral thesis is on Quaker textiles.
“In the course of her research, she discovered many surprising Quaker names,” Boynton explains.
Let’s start with the basic “charity” and the less popular but not extinct “comfort”. Also, there seems to be a resurgence today among Quakers of the tendency for surnames to serve as names.
But some really… Well, let me know if you want to choose this for your baby…
- constant (not) Constance;constant)
- Corn (bonus if your last name is Flake or Muffin)
- Ermine (may be especially suitable for babies with weasel faces…)
- experience
- fountain
- Hallelujah
- Hester is familiar to fans… scarlet letter And it might not seem all that strange, except for the fact that this particular Hester’s last name is Chester. So… Hester Chester.
- humble
- Jesus Christ (Go big or go home, I guess)
- love and love day
- wonderful
- obedience
- Old (it’s true that it’s a choice for the baby, but in an era where infant mortality is high, I think it’s a wish, so it feels a little bittersweet)
- Prevent (…prevent what?)
- return and returned
- Revolution (Rihanna and Rocky, I just saying I think Revolution goes well with RZA and Riot. Promise me you’ll think about it. )
- sentence
- Silence (obviously this is wishful thinking for parents of newborns)
- Squire (I’m not going to lie, I think it’s funny to incorporate titles into your child’s name. It’s like naming your child “Dr.” or “Senator.”)
- Temperance
- thanks and thank you
“Clearly the Puritans and Quakers of the 17th century were a strange kind of people,” Boynton concluded. “But I think it’s a great subject and it’s very interesting that we were able to find these in the archives.”
Obviously, we love talking about baby names. I think names like Hester (little old names keep getting bigger and bigger!), Temperance, and Love might have a future, but I’m a little doubtful we’ll see Old or Sentence any time soon…though I’m not discounting any particular celebrity.
Personally, when it comes to weird 17th century names, I don’t think anyone came up with them better than the Barebones. Let’s start with the dangerous last names. But it can be hard to wrap your head around it when you spend time marveling at some of their first names. “Praise God Barebones”, “Fear God”, “Cursed” (I think we all know who the black sheep of the family is…), Jesus Christ came into this world to save, and of course, if Christ did not die for you, you were cursed. In the last barebones he changed it to Nicolas Barbon. Smart move, Nick.
