Many commenters are appalled that a family would name their children Adolph Hitler Campbell, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell [Note: Did they mean "Himmler"?]. Of course, in these great United States, you are perfectly free to name your child anything you like, and other people are perfectly free to call you a fool for doing so. Maybe not exactly what Madison had in mind, but something similar.
It seems like a good time to link back to a few of my previous posts on Americans' long history of bestowing curious names on their children:
- Melverina Elverina Peppercorn and Her Brother, Alexander the Great
- Urban Legend Names in the Historical Record
- 18th-Century Connecticutian or Muppet?
- Bad Names for Puritans: Antipas and Jezebel
- Wigglesworth Switser, Epaphras Shrimpton, Belcher Noyes, and Other Boston Babies, 1700-1710
1 comment:
That's great — I love those continent names! I wonder why they named their daughters Roxanna and Mary, though. I would have expected Athens and Constantinople.
I imagine that, being from New Hampshire, the global Shattucks are probably related to the Pepperell Shattucks.
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