Genealogy Chat

See below in a minute. Toni

Hello, The other day my Mum and I were going through our BMD indexes trying to fill in a line. In NSW Australia the indexes give the parents names so it is easier to work out reasonably accurately who your rellies are, as long as they aren't Smiths, Jones etc or all called Thomas, William Mary etc. Anyway we were looking for someones husband and did a marriage search and came up with a few possibilities and immediately collapsed laughing. After a death serach we confirmed that in all likelihood the guy was ours. The name of the newest inlaw is : (drum roll) Gysbert Bongers. That kept us amused for the rest of the afternoon. It is not a typo either Gysbert's father and son are also called Gysbert. Does anyone have a name that keeps them amused? Toni

I like this one from the 1891 England Census : Name: Ben Dover Age: 7 Estimated birth year: abt 1884 Relation: Son Gender: Male Where Born: Acton, Middlesex, England Civil parish: Acton Ecclesiastical parish: St Mary Town: Acton County/Island: Middlesex Country: England Source information: RG12/1035 Registration district: Brentford Sub registration district: Acton ED, institution, or vessel: 5 Folio: 125 Page: 32 GSU Number: 6096145

..... and I particularly like this example though I suspect somebody wasn't taking the census too seriously. You'll have to look it up as I have no intention of putting this name on this thread! He's the mate on board a sailing boat called the Thistle, so here's the Captain - look him up and see the name of the mate sailing with him. (Or don't if you're easily offended.) 1901 England Census Record Name: Robert Bell Age: 44 Estimated birth year: abt 1857 Relation: Master Household: View other family members Gender: Male Where born: Barnton Near Northwich, Cheshire, England Civil parish: Vessels Town: Carriers Dock Liverpool County/Island: Lancashire Country: England Source information: RG13/3464 Registration district: West Derby Sub-registration district: Bootle ED, institution, or vessel: Thistle (2) Folio: 137 Page: Household schedule number: 1

Alan Hubertina must be related to my Gysbert. There can't be that many people with that name. In fact there isn't over here I checked the phone book to see if the name had died out. Toni

1901 England Census Record Name: Erasmus Bugger Age: 25 Estimated birth year: abt 1876 Relation: Son Household: View other family members Gender: Male Where born: N Shields, Northamptonshire, England Civil parish: Hackney Ecclesiastical parish: St Augustine South Hackney County/Island: London Country: England Source information: RG13/232 Registration district: Hackney Sub-registration district: South-East Hackney ED, institution, or vessel: 23 Folio: 145 Page: 25 Household schedule number: 179

this birth always makes me laugh Name: Alfred Fart*ing Year of Registration: 1853 Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar District: City Of London County: London, Middlesex Volume: 1c Page: 76 (click to see others on page ( * ) ------------------ I'd ask to be given for adoption , if i had parents this cruel! Name: Merry Christmas Year of Registration: 1908 Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec District: Camberwell (1837-1919) County: London, Surrey Volume: 1d Page: 1599 (click to see others on page) ----------------------------------- likewise ( hope its a son, otherwise a daughter could grow up with a complex!) Name: Happy Mann Year of Registration: 1890 Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec District: Ipswich County: Suffolk Volume: 4a Page: 1651

'Gysbert Bongers' actually isn't such a weird name when you consider that it's Dutch (or possibly Flemish). Gysbert would be spelled Gijsbert nowadays, and shortened to Gijs (pronounced similar to Gice). And Bongers is a Dutch surname too. Try a search at www.genlias.nl. This is the Dutch BMD database (in progress, so not complete yet). You can click on the English version at the upper right of the page. You'll find plenty of people with the surname Bongers. And quite a few Gijsberts, Gijsbertas (female version of the name), and even a couple of Hubertinas (also with surname Bongers). If you're searching the genlias database it's a good idea to read the 'Search Instructions' first so you know about 'Patronymic' names and 'Prefixes' (don't enter 'de' or 'van' or 'van der' as part of the surname when using this site; you can enter them seperately by 'Prefix' if you want to). And I find it best to search for 'Begins' instead of 'Exact' (under 'Search parameter for names'). Then you can always narrow to an Exact search later if you find too many.

I have Daft Pogson in my tree (he also appears in a few others) and while looking for my g g/m under her maiden name found Marhta Shitwell,poor old soul! Glen

Glen, she sounds like a regular sort of person.

1871 England Census Record Name: An Idiot Found & Brought in by Police Age: 18 Estimated birth year: abt 1853 Household: View other family members Gender: Male Civil Parish: Farnborough County/Island: Kent Country: England Source information: RG10/878 Registration district: Bromley Sub-registration district: Chislehurst ED, institution, or vessel: Bromley Union Workhouse Locks Bottom Folio: 127 Page: 9 Household schedule number: 1 GSU Number: 823476

One for the files.........on 1841 census Brothell Dixon.................. Reg

I have a David Blower who named his daughter Fanny.But my favourite is Lomas Flude,rolls off the tongue nicely poor bloke

I found a fanny smellie on the 1881 aged 8 born earlstown lancashire and also a william smellie from mile end occupation retired tripe dresser lol. jenny

Jennie!!!!!!!????!!!!!!!! (blush) Glen

I spotted a Mary Christmas living in Suffolk on one of the census. I just checked for her on ancestry and there are 84 of them on the 1881. If you look to the right of the search box it still asks if you would like to start a tree with Mary Christmas!

There are certainly a few strange names out there. I wonder how many more we can get. Sarah I'm sorry if I offended you, I certainly didn't mean to. It is just that some names sound funny in English. I'm sure other lanuages have the same thing with English names. Paul that ship's mate must have had a hard life. LOL I'm hoping that the word didn't have the same meaning as it does nowadays. I stumbled across a few Pogsons the other day too. No good Christian names as yet though. This has given me a good laugh. Toni

Jealous..........most of mine are called Robert Hamilton... Barbara..xx

Pogson born Horncastle c1842 will bring up Daf*l. His birth ref looks ambigious,but his mothers maiden name was Daft. Pogson must be a big name in Lincolnshire,there are over 600 IGI references for the county,plus a big lump around the Huddersfield area too.. Glen

Apparently in German the suffix -ing on a placename indicates 'the family of'. There was once a Bavarian landowner named Focko, the spelling of whose name was corrupted over the centuries... so I'll leave you to work out what the village where the family of Focko lived is now called.