Wow. That IS odd. I don't think I ever realized that "orange" was a given name at any point!

Interesting!

Got some wacky names--from a modern perspective, anyway--if you go back my family tree any distance. A guy named Comfort Joy. Coupla guys named Pleasant.

Huh. And googling my gran'pa's full name turns up familytreemaker.geneology.com; looks like someone in the extended family has done some research and plugged it in there. How nifty! Judging by what goes forward, rather than back, I guess it was descendants of one of my gran'pa's siblings.

Interesting, wonder why he was named that.

First thought is that it might be a reference to the Orange Order or Protestantism in general.

But if oranges were a luxury item at the time, it might have been an aspirational name like Pearl, Ruby, Armani, Versace.

I first ran across "Orange" as a first name when I had a temp job doing market research as a teen. If you can be named "Olive," why not "Orange?"

What a great find!
This reminds of the urban legend about the twins, Orange Jello & Lemon Jello.

My best guess is that, since "Orange" is a surname, that it was a family name and this man wound up with it as a given name. It was common practice in the nineteenth century to give babies their mother's maiden name or another family surname as a first name.

I also keep wondering if Orange S. Swan had a nickname, or if he ever got a beat down from anyone for his name.