Old-Fashioned Maine/NE Names? (Brunswick, Vassalboro: house, farms, deal)

[fortunata]

I like Persis, and it turns out that a local family who've lived in Cape Porpoise for a couple hundred years or more had a great-great-great aunt by that name too.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Emily, Hannah, Abigail. Those are from our Revolutionary war period and are the wives names of some of our Patriots.

Hannah and Emily seem to be pretty popular around here.


I like all the old names that do not seem to be in use anymore; Hope, Maude, Nancy, Stella, Beatrice, Bridget (okay, so this one is still popular among the Irish), Sadie, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mabel, Marion...to name a few.

[genmomto5]

Thanks for the reminder. I am late returning Thy Friend Obediah to the library.

Hepsibah is my middle name... I don't recommend it.

Other family names Comfort, Pardon, Amarinta, Novella. I always liked Constance and Serenity for old fashioned girls names.

[genmomto5]

Originally Posted by People-of-the-North

My great, great, great grandfather [mother's side] was named "Pardon."

Born in 1827, he was a rock-solid sort of man; a road is named for him in Rhode Island.

I wonder if his friends called him "Pard" ?

That's great. I wrote my reply before I read yours. Way back in our family Pardon and Comfort were brothers.

[toadling81]

And the next time I have a boy cat, I'm naming him Jasper!!!

Congrats on the pregnancy and have fun picking the name out! What's your due date?

The due date is July 21st - we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet, but are hoping for a girl! We're just having a hard time with girl names.
I like Eleanor, Sadie, Matilda, Emmeline...I have been meaning to look into my tomes of genealogy research because I know there are some good names there. I do remember the name Mehetabel (nickname: Hetty) popping up 10 or more times on my dad's Puritan side, and have just shown that to my husband. He just loved it! I remember when I first started doing my genealogy as a teenager and finding that name, and was fascinated with it.
I had a great-g-g-g-grandmother named Cornelia, whose father was Alvin Orion, and son was William Wallace. Amongst the Puritan names is a Comfort Soule (her last name). That's pretty neat. I'm also seeing a number of Lydias, Jabez, Freeloves.
My g-g-grandmother was Mattie, and her sister was Emma. My great-aunt was named Sabra, a name I love! She was born in New Brunswick, and died this morning actually, at home in Rhode Island.

Originally Posted by elston

My great grand aunt (who lived in Maine in 1860's) was named "Cordelia" and my grand daughter is named after her. I love the name.....it is strong and distinctive. Cordelia was the name of King Leer's daughter in the Shakespearean play. Cordelia can be shortened to "Delia" or take on a name of affection as Dealee or even "Cor" which has a suggestion of mi corizon or sweet heart.

Cordelia's daughter's name was "Emiline" , which was another old New England name. The other daughter was "Florence".

I like Cordelia better than Cornelia, and just adore Emmeline and its various spellings. I like Dianthe also, and had a list of Greek names that I liked, including Ianthe, Ariadne, and the like, but we just want an old fashioned name in the more recent past to honor.
Speaking of which, I bet some of us are related! Any folks with ties to Rhode Island, Rehoboth, MA area? I have ties up the hooha from around there!

[toadling81]

Originally Posted by pc-not

My 92 year old mom is Mildred. Her 94 year old sister is Reva. My grandmothers were Ethel and Edna. Their sisters were Stella and Florence. Not exiting names, but I'm glad my parents did not bend to family pressure when I was born. My dad was a junior, and my grandparents wanted me to named the "third". So glad my folks decided on William. I know, plain old Bill. I would have been a different person going through life as "Harry III."

You're right! My husband's mom named him after her dog, Mikey. I thought it was hilarious until we lost a cat this summer, and I seriously considered her name, Phoebe. But a friend of mine is expecting also and has settled on that name, and my hubbie won't let me name our baby after a pet!

[ProdigalLobster]

Dorothy, Elizabeth, Lucinda, Ella, Minnie, Myrtle, Gladys, Grace, Agnes, Velma, Flora, Rachel, Rebecca or Rebekah, Madora, Jestina, Arletta, Emma, Florance.

If you want to go way back, you can look at census or church records. Ship manifests are also a great source. Here's a limited selection of names from the Mayflower manifest: RootsWeb: GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Re: Mayflower Manifest

Congrats!!!

[toadling81]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

Congrats toadling. My grandfather and his brothers (1865on thru 1890 or so) had uncommon names. How 'bout Edgison, Wellington, or Adoniram Judson. I'm trying to talk my daughter into some of those. Not working. LOL But, I had grandmothers named Edith Victoria and Marie Celestine (Quebecois). Now those aren't hard to talk her into.

Our son's middle name is Edison, but I like the edgy twist on your version. Wellington sounds awesome! Maybe as a middle name for Obadiah? How come boys always get the cool names?

[chaosX5]

ooooooooooooooooh Girl Names!!!! I love Lillian Grace (mermaid's) and Constance, if I would have had a girl I really liked Elizabeth Rachel, but I don't think that would be historically what your looking for. I never got to use any girl names I ran out of boy names at #4, which was a bit of a problem when boy #5 came along Old fashioned names do seem to be "in" now so many of the names mentioned are coming around again. I have a friend with a daughter named Mathilda. I do like Jasper, Henry and William......(just in case it's a boy)

[mainerwoman]

I like Silas for a boy, Good old fashioned New England name. My 2 girls have family names, Olivia Pearl and Elizabeth Marie. Pearl was my Nana's name and I just loved her so much that calling my 1st born that was perfect. Elizabeth is my Nana's sister's name and Marie is my dh's MEME's name. If we have a boy (ever), we like Wyette James. Or another girl would be Elspbeth Ruth. I like the idea of family names. So many children come from dis-connected families that continueing names from generations ago gives them a feeling of belonging to something more then just their families.