Name News

From the 1905 Arkansas legislative composite photograph.   The Strangest Names In American Political History begins a nearl

Portrait from "Nebraskans: 1904-1914".     One can only wonder how a space-age sounding name like Novia Zembia was viewed in 19t

Portrait courtesy of "The Descendants of Samuel Osgood".      Following three profiles on oddly named political figures fro

A father in Saudi Arabia has named his daughter after his country as the international row escalates

The unwieldy name Westmoreland was a one-hit wonder on the charts in 1917: 1918: unlisted 1917: 6 baby boys named Westmoreland [debut] 1916: unlisted Why? Because that’s the year Westmoreland…

  Long prominent in the business and political life of Auburn, Maine, Winchester Greenwood Lowell sports a name that immediately conjures up images of an affluent, high-society gentleman of prominent standing.

A native of Virginia, Greenville Osborn McAlexander rose to prominence in Republican Party circles in Roanoke County, being a Special Revenue Agent, candidate for the state house of delegates and member of the state senate. 

Today's triple profile focuses on the political doings of three men with the unusual first name "Appleton". The first of these men, Appleton Howe Torrey, was a lifelong resident of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, and over a life that extended nearly a full century he grew to become one of that town's favorite sons, serving at various times as town clerk, assessor, overseer, selectman and state representative.

The state of Idaho takes center stage in the following write-up on Trowbridge Clark Egleston, a resident of both Ohio and New York who found his political and business fortunes in the American northwest.

"A two term U.S. Representative from Kentucky, Landaff Watson Andrews' unusual first name is truly unique amongst the hallowed halls of Congress, and in addition to his terms in that body served as a member of the Kentucky State House of Representatives and Senate, and would later serve a six year term as circuit court judge."

"This multi- part posting highlights the lives of three men who were bestowed the peculiar first name "Ai", which can certainly be considered as a candidate for shortest first name in history."

From the Washington Evening Star, June 20, 1924.   Diplomat Cornwall Hart Loomis holds the sad distinction of being th

James A. Bill (1817-1900) of Lyme, Connecticut, served in the Connecticut state senate in 1852 and 1853 and in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1849 and 1867. He also happened to be a ra…

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 18 — The popularity of a personality is one factor influencing parents when naming their babies for registration at the National Registration Department (NRD). Not surprisingly then, names like Tun and Mahathir are among the popular ones recorded by the NRD, with 4,72

To express their love, appreciation and respect for the UAE, the duo have named their new born baby "Emarat". Learning about this decision in the background of political turmoil, a UAE water company has announced a landmark decision to gift the new-born Baby Emarat free lifetime supply of water

O blog dos nomes portugueses de A a Z. Nomes portugueses e Nomes brasileiros. Significados. Nomes antigos e modernos, rankings, debates!

As we say goodbye to 2015 and hello to the new year it's time to devote 2015's final posting to a man who has duly earned the title of  "Strangest Name of the Year".

Noted as being a "champion of civil rights laws and women's legislation", Genoa Sebastian Washington was a leading legal figure in Chicago, Illinois, serving as a vice president of the Cook County Bar Association

"With a name that's truly one-of-a kind, Mr. Morris was for over fourteen years one of a great many "faceless" politicians that I've found, and despite many attempts at trying to locate a portrait of him, Morris continually stymied me out of a picture. As luck would have it however, late yesterday a portrait of Mr. Morris was located (quite accidentally in fact) via Absolom Mattox's "Athens Home Coming Reunion", a 1904 work centering on the history of Morris' adopted home city of Athens, Ohio. "

"It isn't often that one stumbles across a man whose name combines a nationality, a city in England, an alternate word for happy and the funny last name "Tarbox", but that is exactly the case of obscure Massachusetts legislator French Oxford Joy Tarbox, a distinguished figure in the city of Somerville."

"A distinguished figure in Maine law circles for over forty years, Elvington Palmer Spinney (recorded by most sources as "E.P. Spinney") was well known attorney in the village of North Berwick whose law practice extended into parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts."