h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You remember in the 80s and 90s, when everybody started to feel sorry for the kids with hippie parents? I mean, being named Starshine or Moon Unit can't be much fun. We all thought it was a unique marker of the dreadful 60s, right? Surely, this sort of nonsense had never happened before.

Bah. Nihil sub sole novis, you know.

Just think about the 1890s, when all those German families had maiden aunts named Bluecherine or Gneissenauette. Be patriotic, yes. But if you give your daughter a silly name based on a German general, expect to have to support her for the rest of her natural.

And then there were the Puritans. I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to find out what Consider Tiffany's first name was short for. I'm hoping it was 'Consider the Lilies'. That would be a nice name for one of my favourite colonial curmudgeons. He was a 'junior', so it ran in the family. Dissent did, too, apparently. After the Connecticut people locked him under house areest for 15 months during the Revolutionary War, he wrote them a letter, saying the best part about it was not having to see their ugly faces. Then he pointed out that if they drafted him, he'd go fight for the side he thought was right. Since he was a Loyalist, this was a threat.

They let him out, anyway. He was a cool guy. Tinfoil tricorne, all the way.

Now, back in the 17th Century, England abounded in weird monikers. Don't believe me?

Here is a list. Of a jury. In SUSSEX. Of course it was Sussex. Where else? Do you recognise any of your ancestors, people?

On the jury were:

Accepted Trevor
Redeemed Compton
Faint Not Hewit
Make Peace Heaton
God Reward Stuart
Standfast on High Stringer
Earth Adams
Called Lower
Kill Sin Pimple
Return Spelman
Be Faithful Joiner
Fly Debate Roberts
Fight the Good Fight of Faith White
More Fruit Fowler
Hope for Bending
Graceful Harding
Weep Not Billing
Meek Brewer


Most of the time, these names were short for something. Kill-Sin Pimple might have been the whole story. But Hope For was probably short for 'Hope for Salvation in the World to Come', or similar.

One is tempted to think that Earth adams was short for 'Earth Edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Adams.

Meanwhile, if anybody knows what Consider is short for, I'd appreciate a hint.

Before somebody points this out, my brain was disconnected from my typing fingers.

That shoulds read 'Nihil sub sole nuvUM', of course.

*novum?

Those are some weird ass fancy names, I'll give you that...

Great uncle Hope for Bending!
"Earth" is such* a cool name though... Or maybe I'm too much a kid of the hippy generations for thinking that... heck, I think MoonUnit is like a really hoopie name too so... My name is so* boring... I've some interesting nic/pet names though

To be fair, this tells us more about Puritans than it does Sussex.

But you just couldn't resist it, could you?

Consider?

Are you sure theses were all puritans? If not Make Peace Heaton might have been given a peacemaker as a christening gift.

(A peacemaker is also known as the Colt Single Action Army, SAA, Model P, M1873, Colt.45 and "The Gun That Won The West" - favored by Wyatt Earp if memory serves.)

I was 13yrs before I realised my name wasn't oiyou

I was thinking some of the names might have been one of Dmitri's wee tricks to make sure we aren't gullible Internet swallowers. I find some of them a bit hard to believe.

But the was left because he asked for a hint.

No. Those are all Puritan names. Srsly.

It must have been a runaway fad.

Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't only Sussex. But hey, it was Southern English who ended up in New England, mostly.

Fly Debate?

Fly Debate.

I think my brain is broken.

My brain was broken by "Hope For Bending". Oy...

He must be a relative of mine... (Hope For Bending) A lot of the names seem to be 'work related', as it were... or perhaps one shoudl say 'trade related'...

My first thought on a lot of them, is are they made up names; made up by the people themselves, on registering for the jurry (trying to hide their real identity?; Ensuring they don't get any fall-back from the verdict the jurry comes too?)

There are some quite astonishing Puritan names out there, and quite a few online resources with more information, eg:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/09/13/puritan_names_lists_of_bizarre_religious_nomenclature_used_by_puritans.html

I concede that Sussex was indeed a bit of a hotspot for them.

So, will you be writing the Entry, Dmitri?

Surely, you mean, will you be writing the entry, faithful pen considerate Dmitri?

That's right, Bondage 2legs.

Well... I can't complain about the accuracy of that

Once I've climbed out of the slough of US History over here, I might take that on, Icy. Or we can do one for England by you, and one for New England by me.

Here's a grat book I found last night, 'Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclautre', from 188. It's fun and witty:

http://archive.org/details/curiositiesofpur00bardrich

I had never realised that William the Conqueror changed the name landscape in England so completely.

No wonder our distant ancestors were named Unwin and such, while the medieval ones were all named boring things like Robert.

I suspect the 16th and 17th centuries were a revolt in favour of interesting names. Bring back Godgifu as a girl's name! (Just don't tell her about Lady Godiva...)

Consider

You ask about the origin of ‘Consider’ as a first name.

I’d speculate that it might come from ‘Consider her ways’ which Google tells me is from ‘Proverbs 6:6’ and the full quote is ‘Go to the ant thou sluggard, Consider her ways and be wise‘. I happen to know of it from the title of a short story ’Consider Her Ways’ by one of my favourite authors John Wyndham. It seems the sort of quote a Puritan might like.

Deke