October 21, 2014
Last week, we posed this question to our GenealogyBank friends on Facebook: “What’s the funniest name or surname you’ve ever come across?”
Well, your responses were wonderful: 98 of you have commented so far sharing your funniest name finds! We enjoyed some laughs reading these names so much that we decided to compile them into one list to give everyone a chuckle. Some of these people’s names seem too outlandish or funny to be real—but, time and again, you appended messages swearing that this is “really, truly” a name you’ve encountered in your family history research.
Here is that list of funny names—and thank you all, readers, for sharing these crazy names with us. The parents of these people clearly had a sense of humor! If anyone reading this has more funny names to contribute, please join in on the fun by posting them in the comments section below or on Facebook. (Keep the names family-friendly, please.)
And we couldn’t leave without contributing one hilarious name we encountered while doing research in this 1799 Massachusetts newspaper. Joseph Maxfeld ran an ad announcing the dissolution of his partnership—with a man named Preserved Fish!
Here’s the list of odd and funny names you shared:
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My father, went to grade school, with Irma…and her sister Ima. Their last name, was Hoar.
One of my favorite first names that I have come across was “Cashdollar.” I also had an ancestor who changed his name from Desolate Baker to Henry Loveall. The last name was quite fitting as he became a preacher and kept getting thrown out of his parishes for having affairs with his parishioners’ wives. He probably should have changed his first name to Philander while he was at it.
Barkhead
I’ve been finding interesting names by the bushel basket lately, one cemetery there were a couple of Slots, so now even the graveyard has gambling; and just to let you know, there were a few Slobs in that same cemetery! Since we are creeping up on Halloween, they also had a “Monster” just for local color!
I am related to Thank Ye the Lord, as well. There is a southern gospel singer named Candy Hemphill. Her married name is Candy Christmas.
We had 3 generations of Bloomy Fair. Every time my sister complains about her name – I tell her to be happy we didnt have 4 generations of Bloomy Fair!