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23 December 2010

Your grandparent's given names? →[More:]

I just realised I don't know my paternal grandfather's first name. I was also recently reminded about my maternal grandmother's unusal spelling of her given name.

Ira & Luretta
John* & Katie

*I think, but my Dad wasn't a Junior, possible different middle names.

What about yours?
post by: rainbaby at: 14:11 | 55 comments
Maternal: Aaron Ray & Darlene
Paternal: Norman (Whitey) & Marjorie
posted by youngergirl44 23 December | 14:19
Maternal: Elza & Wilma (yep, really)
Paternal: Paul & Marie, I believe. They both passed away before I was born.

Bonus: I had a great-grandmother named Dicey, which I just love for some reason.
posted by ufez 23 December | 14:21
Maternal: Donald and Ruth Fredrika
Paternal: James Joseph II and Rose(mary)

Dad's mom didn't know her full name was Rosemary (not Rose) until I was a kid and she had to get a passport or something. Anyway, everyone called her Tootie. (With a short vowel, not like the Facts of Life kid.)
posted by JoanArkham 23 December | 14:30
Maternal: Dan and Fannie
Pateral: Gustav and Anna
posted by danf 23 December | 14:36
M: Bill & Rose
P: Bert & Edith
posted by Ardiril 23 December | 14:42
Wallace and Myrtle
Margaret and Hampton

Strangely, all four of my grandparents and both my parents
went by their middle names.
posted by toastedbeagle 23 December | 14:44
Maternal: Vosso and ...Leavitt
Paternal: Macmillan and I don't know.

My mom never married so I have her name.
posted by The Whelk 23 December | 14:45
Oh wait I totally misread the question.
posted by The Whelk 23 December | 14:46
Maternal: Mary and Manoel
Paternal: Angelina and James Emmanuel
posted by ramix 23 December | 14:46
M: Meyer and Rachel. Step-grandfather: Nathan.

P: Bill and ?? Blanking at the moment (died long before I was born). I want to say Florence, but that might not be right. Argh.
posted by Melismata 23 December | 14:47
Paternal: Macmillan and I don't know.

I'm going to guess "Macmillan and Wife." XD
posted by Eideteker 23 December | 14:52
I had a Henrietta (Penny) and Joseph on mom's side, and Joyce and Nathaniel on my dad's side. I'm a "IV," so it's Nathaniels all the way down (first son of the first son of the first son, etc.). My mother also had a grandfather named Nathaniel. So yeah, it runs deep.
posted by Eideteker 23 December | 14:55
Paternal given: Lazar (anglicized to Louis) and (H)Anna(h).
Maternal given: Sussman (anglicized to Cecil) and Ann (the Ukrainian diminutive is Nucy, which was anglicized to Lucy and then extended formally to Lucienne).
posted by brujita 23 December | 15:01
Doyle and Emily
Richard (Dick) and Nancy

Doyle had a twin named Oral. Dick had a twin named Helen, IIRC.
posted by galadriel 23 December | 15:12
Jacob and Hélène
Jouke (yep) (pron. yowkah) and Baukje (pron. bowkya)
posted by jouke 23 December | 15:14
Maternal: Doyce and Jane.
Paternal: Raburn and Mary.

Raburn is actually my first name, too- I am a "III" and I go by my middle name.
posted by BoringPostcards 23 December | 15:16
I'm going to refer to you as The Forth from now on Eide
posted by The Whelk 23 December | 15:18
I only know maternal, so:

Hugh Verdon Michael Patrick (known as Verdie) and Thelma Mary Jean
posted by gaspode 23 December | 15:22
Albert Ernest & Gladys
Alfred Arthur & Gwladys Joan
posted by misteraitch 23 December | 15:30
Maternal:
Rachel Helen
William Lester

Paternal:
Margaret May
unknown, George or William were two names she mentioned, she was married many times, my father had one full sister out of seven siblings

Both mine and the mister's families use(d) their middle names a lot, although the grandparents did not.
posted by deborah 23 December | 15:39
If BP was in Texas he would be 'Trey'. Here a 'Jr' is often known by 'J.R.' I don't know of a nickname for a 'IV'.

deborah- your grandmother sounds like a trip.
posted by toastedbeagle 23 December | 15:47
Edward and Evelyn
Charles and Della
posted by occhiblu 23 December | 15:47
Maternal: John "Jack" and Alice
Paternal: Raymond and Martha
posted by gc 23 December | 16:04
Paternal: Lyman James and Helen (but everyone called her Billie)

Maternal: Lester Strong (called Duke) and Sarah Elizabeth but everyone called her Lovie.

Both sets had potent upper-East-Coast preppie accents; think of Charles Winchester from M.A.S.H.
posted by lonefrontranger 23 December | 16:05
Mahala and Joe.

Jeanette and Ralph.

Never met my grandfathers; both died when my parents were young. Joe was great, but Ralph was a real bastard who apparently lost his temper and killed my Dad's pet dog with a hammer. I guess it's a push.
posted by fleacircus 23 December | 16:13
Paternal: Irwin & Laura
Maternal: Charles & Dena

My son's middle name is Charles after my grandpa. He was a tall, dignified, quiet man who loved small practical jokes, but never in a mean way. Whenever one of us kids had a loose tooth, he'd implore us to let him tie a string around the tooth and the other end around a door knob, and then he'd slam the door to pull it out. We never took him up on it but the idea made everyone, especially Grandpa Chuck, laugh and laugh.

posted by Kangaroo 23 December | 16:29
Maternal: Daniel and Sylvia (born Claire Sylvia)
Paternal: Isadore (Izzy) and Jane

Izzy and Jane were both immigrants and their names were likely anglicized from something else.
posted by amro 23 December | 16:35
Maternal: Vincent & Mavis Agnes
Paternal: Lawrence & Katherine

Katherine is 85 and still going strong. I'm pretty sure it's the soap opera drama of my aunts and uncles (with whom I am no longer in contact) that keeps her going.
posted by gomichild 23 December | 17:14
Maternal: Maria and Alfredo
Paternal: Maria and ???
Never met the paternals.
posted by msali 23 December | 17:24
Robert Phillips and Florence (who went by Flossie) Elaine on my father's side, Eugene Christopher and Verla Nadine on my mother's. All still alive and active, with three out of the four over the age of ninety. I hope I'm as lucky.

...of course thanks to this thread I have spent the past two hours immersed in family genealogy.
posted by notquitemaryann 23 December | 17:30
Paternal: Carrie and That Sonofabitch. That Sonofabitch abandoned his wife and seven (!) kids and lit out for Texas, never to be seen nor heard from again. I've never heard anyone from dad's side of the family say his name aloud. Grudges: we harbors them.

Maternal: Maude and George. George was an alcoholic cop, a Klansman, a wife-beater, and a misanthrope of almost cartoonish proportions. He was named after George Washington. His brothers, my great-uncles, were named Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and Robert E. Lee. What can you do, right? Cain't pick yer fambly.

I only knew Carrie, my dad's mom, and Georgie, my mom's dad. And they both died before I was ten, so I wasn't very close to either one.

The person I think of as my grandmother was actually a co-worker of my mom's, an older woman whose own children lived far away and were, I think, childless. I spent many happy childhood hours under the benevolent and watchful eye of Nanny Berman, who fed me noodle kugel and gave me Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars for Hanukah.
posted by BitterOldPunk 23 December | 17:58
Karl Dexter (Dexter) and Mary Lucy (Mary Lu); Harold (Bud) and Anne.
posted by Madamina 23 December | 18:20
Paternal: Leonard (Len) and I don't know - my father walked away from his family when I was about 4 and I have had next to no contact with that side of the family.

Maternal: Edgar Donald Norman (Norm) and Nancy May. My son's middle name is Norman in honour of the man who was the closest thing to a father I had.
posted by dg 23 December | 18:45
Maternal: Vaughan Austin and Florence May! (I called her Flo Flo in the last few years of her life)

Paternal: Kenneth Walter and Kate (I don't know any more details of her name)

Kenneth Walter was the senior to my dad's jr...and my great grandfather was Richard Walter. I got a mix of the three of 'em!
posted by richat 23 December | 18:46
I'm going to refer to you as The Forth from now on Eide

http://thefourth.net/

http://twitter.com/keepupwitthe4th

This is a well-established pattern. =)

(And may The Fourth be with you.)
posted by Eideteker 23 December | 18:53
P: Marguerite and Francis William - I don't know whether he went by Francis or Frank or what. My dad was Jr. and called Frank, my older brother is III and called Bill.
M: Alice and Norman
posted by mygothlaundry 23 December | 19:04
This is awesome guys! That Sonofabitch. Heh.

Full disclosure, I did my Mom's obits today. I was a late baby, and my grandparents were born in the 1800s. It cracks me up that John & Katie (Katy?) sound so contemporary.

My grandfathers were German and my grandmothers were Irish, but my Mom was adopted. I didn't know my grandfathers, and only knew Katie in a home, where she usually wasn't herself. Her crazy Riley blood runs strong through us all, for the worse. Luretta was a lovely MeeMaw to a little girl, and if you had asked me before yesterday, I would have typed her name as Loretta. Mom (Margaret, known as Peggy) drafted her own obit (it wasn't a surprise), and I was like, oh . . .yeah, right.

Props to the gone ones.
posted by rainbaby 23 December | 19:04
If BP was in Texas he would be 'Trey'. Here a 'Jr' is often known by 'J.R.' I don't know of a nickname for a 'IV'.


Heh. I'd never heard of that (being an Okie) until a friend of mine from Baylor got engaged to a "Trey". I think I heard his proper name once or twice, but I'll be damned if I could tell you what it is, in spite of hanging out with him a dozen or so times.

FWIW, I teased her about naming her son (if she had one) "Ivey".
posted by ufez 23 December | 19:04
Howard and Martha on Dad's side. Howard worked for the Rural Electrification Program back in the 30s and 40s. Mom's side: John who went by his middle name, Reece, and Dorothy. My son's middle name is also Reece. Reece was a railroader who lost his leg in a horrific accident where a car uncoupled and dragged him half a mile. He was a deacon in his church. She was a schoolteacher, the daughter of English immigrants from Northumberland. Interestingly, a married couple bearing her parents names arrived via Ellis Island in the early days of the twentieth century. They were, however, not my grandparents, who arrived via Canada.
posted by tortillathehun 23 December | 19:11
maternal: Thomas and Eleanor
paternal: James and Irma
posted by netbros 23 December | 19:30
It was John, apparently my family did first sons John with different middle names. My oldest brother is John Michael, always has gone by Michael. My dad was Jack or Jake to differentiate from his father.

My paternal grandfather's middle plus last names returns google results for a well known Netherlands cyclist.
posted by rainbaby 23 December | 19:30
Er, Swiss. Not Netherlands.
posted by rainbaby 23 December | 19:31
Alva and Magdalene
Sonny and Martha

Magdalene has her 81st birthday in a couple of days. She still sews and does alterations for people for extra money; she's got plenty otherwise but prefers not to touch it. And maybe she likes having something to do, and having people stop in at her house all the time.
posted by dilettante 23 December | 21:46
Maternal: Dick and Betty Jo
Paternal: Arthur and Helen

Interesting note: a common name for girls in my maternal family is Civilla, which is a fairly unique spelling. I have never seen a "Civilla" who wasn't a relative.

My paternal grandmother's middle name is Philomène (my family is French Canadian). She hates it.

I have a great Uncle Roscoe on both sides of my family.
posted by evilcupcakes 23 December | 22:09
Larry and Gertrude
Joseph and Minna
posted by rmless2 23 December | 22:55
PS: All of my grandparents are dead and have been for many years. My grandmothers died the same week. Rachel was 70 and Margaret was 90.

toastedbeagle: Margaret was a trip. Like I said, married many times. Didn't learn to drive until her 60s. Worked as a short order cook to get my father and his siblings from Indiana to California. They'd stop in a place for a while to build up some cash and as soon as she had enough off they'd go to the next stop. She wasn't very nice in a lot of ways. My youngest brother was born with a bilateral hairlip and cleft palate. She called him a monster and there was no way she was going to acknowledge him as a family member. My father, in one of the few good things he did, said if my younger brother wasn't part of her family, none of us were including him (my father). It took a while but she came around.
posted by deborah 24 December | 01:42
P: Lelia Josephine & Ralph Henry
M: Walter and Evelyn
posted by Specklet 24 December | 02:19
maternal: Stellene and Ralph
Both had family nicknames that we generally used. Neither wanted me to call them any version of Grandma or Grandpa.

paternal: Elizabeth (Betty) and Herman
He went by Nick as a shortened version of his last name.

Both of my granddads died when I was 6. Those ladies, however, lived long interesting lives.
posted by lilywing13 24 December | 04:49
Warren and Mabel
Fred and Jean
posted by Orange Swan 24 December | 09:46
M: ? and Margaret (he died when my mother was 6)
P: Everett and Margaret

Both grandmothers (and one great-grandmother) were named Margaret, and it is my middle name. My favorite family name is a woman's name that appears several times on my mom's side: Azalea. It's spelled like the flowering plant but said "Azuh-lee."
posted by workerant 24 December | 10:54
Virginia Amelia and Robert Charles
Dorothy and Julius Augustus III

posted by julen 24 December | 11:55
Virginia Amelia and Robert Charles
Dorothy and Julius Augustus III

posted by julen 24 December | 11:55
Paternal: John & Mildred (went by Jake & Mid)
Maternal: Robert & Priscilla
posted by rhapsodie 24 December | 13:05
Bessie and Harold
Alan and Helen
posted by theora55 24 December | 14:02
Late, but:

Maternal: Donie and Rufus
Paternal: Corie and Robert
posted by JanetLand 24 December | 14:25
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