Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Emily Dickinson Names

Hello, readers!

I just finished reading a fantastic biography of Emily Dickinson, one of my favorite poets. The book is My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson, by Alfred Habegger. Though it's quite a long read at 800 pages (which includes notes, appendices, etc), I highly recommend it. It's got every detail related to Dickinson's life, as well as substantial comparisons to other Dickinson biographies. The other great thing about it - there were a lot of amazing names!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Early nineteenth-century New England was full of all kinds of names - rare Biblical, virtuous Puritan, classic English. As I was reading, I kept a list of all of the great names I came across; some are friends and family of Dickinson, some are other figures around her life and time. There may be a few fictional - character names were excellent in 1800's novels! A few have notes attached if I felt the name was super rare or unique, or had cool data.

Let's begin!

Asahel Nettleton - Asahel means "created by God"

Osmyn Baker

Theophilus Packard

Betsey Fay Norcross

Claudius Herrick

Jemima Montague

Zebina Montague - Very little data available

Perley Gunn

Thankful Dickinson - One of the most common Puritan virtue names in the seventeenth century

Kingsley Underwood

Seneca Holland

Appleton Dickinson

Lucretia Dickinson

Gertrude Graves

Sabra Howe - Sabra means "prickly pear"

Orril Munn

Erasmus Norcross

Lamira Jones

Eudocia Carter Converse

Theodora Ward

Abiah Root - Abiah means "God is my father" - this could be a nice alternative to Abigail

Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps

Samuel Learned

Brainard Harrington - Brainard means "courageous raven"... not highly recommended, though

Edward Payson Crowell

John Long Graves

Elbridge Gridley Bowdoin

George Frisbie Whicher

Hiram Adolphus Hawkins

Phydelia Kellogg - Possibly means "faithful," though it's rarely been recorded

Fanny Boltwood

Abby Sweetser

Ebenezer Snell

Eliel Gilbert

Sophia Van Vranken

Phinehas Cooke

Rufus Choate

Ithamar Conkey - Incredibly rare Biblical name, one of the sons of Aaron

Eudocia Flynt

Fidelia Hayward Cooke

Frazar Stearns

Régis Gignoux

Cerinthia Inghram - Very little data available

Orvis F Bigelow

Ellery Strickland

Mariette Jameson

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