When Daddy came home after serving in the Army during World War II, he and Mama rented their first little home called the Dover House. I was born there over 75 years ago. Times were hard for them back then. Someone had papered the walls with newspapers and magazines to keep out the wind. It was a cold November day in 1946 and time for me to be born. Mama sent for Grandma and Aunt Lydia to stay with her while Daddy went to get the Dr. I couldn’t wait to get here so Mama gave birth before Daddy and the Dr. got there. My grandma and Aunt Lydia delivered me.
My parents had not decided on a name for me and I remember Mama telling me that she saw a picture of Barbara Stanwyck and Lucille Ball pasted on the wall by her bed and she named me Barbara Lucille and I’ve carried that name all my life. It’s different, it’s unique, and Mama shared the story with me of how I came to have my name. Mama was an excellent storyteller and made it sound so exciting! I’m thankful for my Appalachian Heritage and that my love and my roots run deep in Appalachia.
—Barbara Lucille Parker
I find the stories behind names fascinating.
One of Granny’s names, Louzine, came from a nurse her father once had.
Charlie and granny’s mother Gazzie were working at a logging camp. He came down with appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery. His nurse who was very nice to him was named Louzine. Many years later he named his last daughter after the nurse.
Last night’s video: The Flowers Family from Cutcane – Part 1.
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My mother was an English warbride so we were all named after English royalty. The oldest sister Elizabeth, the middle sister Catherine and then the twins Victoria and James. Our mums been gone for 35 years. She had me and my brother Jim when she was 42. I can still hear her telling me “take care of Jimmy”
Thanks Tipper for bringing back this memory. I really enjoy your youtube channel and of course the twins
What a sweet surprise for me today! As I began reading about the Dover House where I was born, it sparked my interest and I thought to myself, ” Hmmm, someone else started out in a house named the Dover House too. I read on and sure enough it was my story about how I was named and had shared with you a good while back. Thanks for sharing this Tipper, it really perked me up. When we moved away and as the years went by, every weekend as we drove by that little house Mama would point out where I was born. She gave it an air of joy and distinction so therefore it was very special to me. Mama was a true born Appalachian mountain girl and was talented in story telling. Her Mama was too, and I could listen hours on end to Grandma Nix tell me tales and talk about mountain folks and history. Tipper, as I’ve told you long ago, I feel a kinship to you and I was thinking about you today and how many things I’ve learned from you. You help me to try things I’ve never tried before and I love you for it. This year I planted a gorgeous zinnia flower bed and a nasturtium garden that brought me much enjoyment and awe. You taught me how to do the homemade frozen biscuits using only White Lilly self rising flour and heavy whipping cream. I love those biscuits and the convenience of having them handy especially at breakfast. Also, your heart and my heart has known so many similar circumstances, weddings, our Mother’s sicknesses, having to learn to let go of what we can’t hold on to here while looking forward to that Glad Reunion Day, missing our precious Daddies that have passed on, our daughters and their choices, laughter and tears, all mixed emotions of our life stories. You have shared so much with me. I believe I love the Appalachian Way of Life almost as much as you do, but I can’t express it the way you do. For now I’ll just smile and send you some happy thoughts and be thankful that God put it on your heart to do the Blind Pig and the Acorn for us. You are a treasure and I love you so much my dear friend (that I haven’t met yet). If I never meet you here on earth I believe I’ll meet you in Heaven, and we will know as we are known. We can laugh and talk up a storm while the ages roll on. Stay sweet and happy. Don’t work too hard and keep on keeping on. We need you!
Love this story. When I had my first daughter, I had pick her name out and had it already if she was to be a girl. I use yo watch yhe stories on TV. There was this woman on there and her name was (Sherina) I just loved yhat name. My doctor would tell some of his patients what they were going to have. I ask him what I was going to have and he said what do you want. I said a girl, he said what if you have a boy. I said it don’t matter as long as it’s healthy. He never would tell me. I told him it wasn’t fare. But I had Sherina and God Bless me so. I never had sisters. My mom always told me if I ever had children , they would be girls. And that’s what happened. I had 2 beautiful girls. 7 yrs later I had Eroica. Name her after a movie. She was name after a mermaid. Lol
My poor sister couldn’t say her own name, Carol, till she was five. It came out like Teh-woo since Rs and Ls are among the last sounds children learn to pronounce. I was her translator till she finally got it. My girls have simpler names, Amy and Dana. We chose baby names long before we had prospects of any. Alas, by the time baby #1 was underway, we didn’t like any of them. She ended up named after Amy Carmichael, missionary to India and rescuer of temple children. I always liked the name Dana for a girl. I went to Sunday School with a beautiful little girl named Dana who had dark hair and big dark brown eyes, as does my Dana. I am named after Debbie Reynolds, of course. I told my mom folks of her era had no imagination at all. There were never less than three Debbies in my class at school. The worst was junior high home economics where in a class of twenty one girls, ELEVEN were named some form of Debbie. My uncle Forrest was named after the doctor who delivered him at the little hospital in Fletcher, NC.
I just saw this and immediately thought of BPA members and how we go back and forth about tomato sandwiches and the brand of mayonnaise. A lot of us prefer Dukes. WYFF4 news station at Greenville, SC has an article on their website about the lady that started Duke’s mayonnaise and is doing an article on her that will air I think on Greenville TV station 4. I have been holding off on this but I ate some sandwiches last week from some home grown tomatoes that were a hybrid/cross between the Cherokee Purple and Carbon tomatoes. It is called Cherokee Carbon. The seeds can be found from online seed companies but the plants are hard to find, I finally ordered some from Gurney. They were planted late and didn’t do real well, but the tomatoes I did get were the best tasting tomatoes I have ever ate.
A lot of love and meaning goes into our names even in the Bible we can read about how names were chosen for different reasons. 🙂 I love unusual names. I often read obituaries because I enjoy discovering names I’ve never seen before. Both my first and middle names mean queen and I know my Mommy didn’t do that intentionally, but it means a lot to me. 🙂 ❤
I was named after both my grandma’s. My father’s mother’s was Rosa. My mother’s mother was Mary. My name is Rosamary.
My name always give bureaucrats fits, lol. Most people in the West don’t understand double southern names so that adds to the confusion. My mom named me TeresaSue Delight, my maiden name being Hoke. Teresa because it was a popular name in the mid fifties, Sue after my maternal grandmother, Sue McNeelan Stewart, and my middle name is Delight after my mom’s favorite niece. TeresaSue is all one name, but the S is capitalized even though it’s right in the middle. That is how it is on my birth certificate. People always want to pronounce it, tiramisu, like the Italian dessert, lol.
I have really enjoyed reading Ms Parker’s story of how she got her name and all the comments on how others got their names too. I find it interesting how and why people name their children. I was named after my mother’s mom and my aunt Phyllis who was my dad’s brother’s wife. My grandmother on my mom’s side had passed unexpectedly the year I was born, so two of her granddaughters were named after her that year. My cousin who was born several months before me was called by our grandmother’s name. I carry her name as my first name but have always been called by my middle name which was my aunt Phyllis’ middle name as well. My grandmother’s name was a very old biblical name which most people can’t pronounce correctly. I always knew if someone called that called me by my first name and couldn’t pronounce it correctly, it was always a telemarketer. Since they didn’t pronounce it correctly I’d always say, I’m sorry, no one by the name you are saying lives here. “ I use to want to change it, but my mom told me over her dead body. After my mom passed, I was asked if I was going to change my first name now that mom was no longer here to prevent me from changing it, but I said no. It’s a biblical name that describes a land of milk and honey and in Hebrew means married. Plus it saved me from not having to talk to all them telemarketers. Lol. I know one day I’ll get to meet my grandmother since my mom told me she was a faithful, dedicated believer in Jesus our Lord, read her Bible and prayed everyday. I have kept her name in honor of her. Plus I know it would make my mom happy that I have still kept the name she chose for me when she birthed me.
Please give your complete name if you desire. I can’t figure your name out. TIA.
What a sweet story today! I have always been interested in names. I had a great granddaddy named George Washington Raynor. I can’t imagine what he must have gone through as a child. Then George was used for several more family members, Robey George, George Michael, George Rayford, George Eric. When my grandmama had her second son, he was named Charles Edward, then her sister named her son the same thing and that happened with my aunt naming her daughter, Patsy Lynn, then her cousin took that name for her daughter also. My father-in-law was named Polie. I asked him where that name came from. He said he thought from a mule trader and never found out if it was the man’s name or a mule. It was pronounced “poley.” Again, can’t imagine what he went through growing up. In later years some folks that didn’t know him called him, Polly and he was so humble he didn’t say anything. He was a wonderful man, but he was always “Pa” to us.
Poley is often a nickname for the name Napoleon.
My momma named me Ann because she told me all the Anns she had known in life had been sweet. She didn’t give me a middle name because she said she knew when I got married my maiden name would become my middle name. Not an exciting story of how I got my name but always made me smile to think about her reasoning.
The day I was born my mother was deciding between five names. A soap opera was on her television that afternoon and you guessed it, I was named after one of the characters on the show, Deatra. That was in 1961 and I have only met one other individual with a granddaughter by that spelling and pronunciation of my name. Of course, I could never find any personalized items unless special ordered but I love my name, so glad mom was watching that soap. Lol.
I was given the first name James because 4 generations of boys had that name. However I was always called by my middle name Gary and often don’t answer if someone calls me James. I have never been able to convince a medical office to use anything other than James.
My grandmother was named Jack.. It seems that they didn’t get around to naming her for a while. Her uncle Jack was helping care for her and when he was carrying her around and someone would ask “What is the baby’s name” he would say, “Tell them Jack”. Jack is what is on her birth certificate, although it was issued years later.
Each on my children and grandchildren all had either, the first or middle name from an older family member. My daughter’s middle name “Marie” came from her mother and my deceased older sister. The boys names were part of their granddaddy’s name. I tell them to live their lives like the men did they were named after and you will be well thought of good God fearing men.
My mother’s nurse named me. I was the last of 6 children, born in a rural clinic. My mother was so certain I would be a boy she never chose a girls name for me. She’d planned to name me James & call me Jimmy so the nurse named me Jenny Lynn. I think my mom really didn’t care so it stuck. I like it.
My true name is Jimmy Randall but I have always went by the nickname of Randy. Without considering the confusion it would cause, we named our son James Randall and call him James. He laughs when he gets letters for Medicare, AARP or other similar letters. I sign everything remotely legal by my true name, the only bill I have that has Randy on it is my landline phone. No one I care to talk to knows me by any other name
My Mama named me Rita Faye. A few moments later, Daddy arrived with a name for me…Amanda Grace (for my respective Grandmothers.) He was too late. It was already on my birth certificate. When my Mama told me about this, I was so relieved because I thought she’d said Amazing Grace. LOL!
To be named after another held in high esteem is a great honor in Appalachia and I would guess elsewhere too. I think it’s like putting a quality one admires onto the child! We all need someone to admire I believe! Louzine was a fine nurse and your mother has nursed a’ many herself-so fitting! And Barbara Lucille is a fine name too. I’m named after daddy’s sister who never had younguns. Oh well, call me whoever- just don’t forget to call me when supper is on the table!!! Lol Gods blessings to you all this fine day HE put together for us to enjoy.
I like the old Southern convention of at least male children having as a middle name the mother’s family name. I have probably posted this before but in one of the ‘little blue book’ biographies I read in grade school about U S Grant he was not christened that. He was christened “Hiram Ulysses” Grant. He did not like it and on the eve of going off to school he was packing a trunk with his initials spelled out with brass nails “HUG”. He decided – so it said – to change his own name then and there by using his middle (manly?) name and his mother’s family name; thus ” Ulysses Simpson” Grant aka U S Grant aka “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. My name is a composite of my Dad’s middle name and my step-grandpa’s last name. Nobody in the family, as far as I know, got my grandma’s maiden name “Carter”. I wish I had thought of it, or Mom’s family name ” Holloway”, as a choice for our son’s middle name.
My daddy’s name was his grandmother’s last name, his mother’s last name and then his father’s last name of course so three family names slapped together. Lots of Scottish family pride I guess. Lol
Family tradition says that my Pa’s mother named all 9 of us siblings. She had named my Pa after a great late 19th Century preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon using his entire name. Pa was called “Spurgeon” his whole 70 years. I’ve never seen nor heard of another who used it as his given name.
My oldest brother, Bill, got Spurgeon as a middle name but never used it. William was my mother’s dad’s name. My second oldest brother was given his Pa’s first name, Charles, and his mother’s maiden name, Baker. So, they must be a typical Southern-named offspring. My third oldest brother, Frank, was given his grandpa Hutchins’ first name (which was actually Franklin) and my grandma Hutchins’ family name, Tabor.
The other 5 of us got historical family names plus ‘accidental’ names. For example, one of by twin brothers got his middle name from the surname of the doctor, Fox, who delivered him (at home). His twin James got his middle name, Alfred, from his great-grandpa Hutchins who died while serving the CSA. One of the 2 sisters between me and the twins got my mother’s mother’s middle name, Catherine, while the other got ‘Mary’ from grandma Hutchins and JoAn from, well I don’t know. I got my first name, Robert, from my Pa’s oldest brother. Legend has it that this came from General Robert E. Lee, but who knows? I got my middle name, Haddon, from my Pa who got it from grandma’s favorite preacher.
How’s that for Southern traditions for naming babies?
When it finally came my time to name a daughter, we chose Mary (after grandma and host of other ancestors), Frances (after my wife’s best friend), and Elisabeth (a traditional family name but with the use of the “s” instead of “z”). Both my Pa and Ma had 3 given names; so I carried on the tradition by giving 3 to my daughter.
We’ll I’m guess I’m one for the books. My mommy said I was such a pretty baby with a head full of black hair she just couldn’t think of a name. Granny Snodderly, who lived down the road from us, said she looks like a Brenda Sue. Here’s the kicker..I was THREE months old before I was named!
We named our duaghter Lydia and son Nathaniel for no other reason than that those old fashioned names were not common in the 1980s. But when Lydia was born my wife’s mother presented us with “Lydia’s trunk”, a wedding trunk from the 1830s that one of her ancestors received and grandma had been given as the one person who cared about “family history”. Then, a few years later I started doing some family history. I discovered that the name Nathaniel appears for seven generations back beginning with Nathaniel Reynolds, a Revolutionary War veteran who participated in the first Naval engagement of the war at Machias, joined the Continental Army, transferred to the Continental Navy as soon as it was created, then captained several privateer attacking British supply lines. His wife was named Lydia. She died while being held as a hostage in a Halifax prison. You can’t make these things up. The Laughing Gods paper the walls.
Some people are named FOR a person of note,
some are named AFTER the same,
but if that is to be the case,
how did I get my name?
Perhaps Eddy Arnold? Remember him? Is he my namesake? I’ll never know!
I was born on a Wednesday in 1961 and my mother was worn out after being in labor (with doctors trying to stop it) since Sunday. They tried to stop her labor because I was almost 2 months early. She had been sick with Rheumatic fever throughout her pregnancy and the whole ordeal was difficult for her. She said they hadn’t even discussed girl’s names because I had 2 older sisters and my daddy was convinced I would be a boy. She says the nurses had been so kind to her and when one asked about what I was to be called, my mother said “You name her.” The nurse had recently watched Gone With the Wind and she named me Melanie.
My mother wanted to name me Ruby Nell. My sister was a big fan of Shirley Temple, a child actress. She told Mom, “why don’t we name her Shirley?” Mom and Dad decided that was a good name for me.
Names are so important. After all we have them all our lives whether we like them or not. Our oldest grandchild has my middle name of Kaye, for no other reason than she’s named after me, and that makes me happy. Another one of our granddaughters, who is five years old, decided she already had a sister and wanted a baby brother—and prayed for one. She prayed every night and talked about it all the time. She told her parents if he was a boy to name him Joseph, but if the baby was a girl to name her Mary. She was very insistent, as she felt like it was because of her prayers he was coming into this world. Well, she got her baby brother, and his middle name is Joseph. On the day he was born, quite to my surprise, she told me she may ask God for another brother—I told her maybe she should run her prayers about more babies by her parents first! Lol
Thank you so very, very much, Tipper, for all your posts, even with the heavy load you are carrying right now. I read them every day. They help me keep focused on what really matters. My prayers continue to go out for you and your family, especially Granny. God bless you all.
Pam in Virginia
My Sister was named after a Girl my Daddy went to school with when He was young. Said He Always liked the name..So they named Her Loraine… I never knew or asked How I got My Name until way later years and They told me I was Named after a Sister to the Loraine, so I was named Elaine.. when 7 yrs. Later We Were Blessed with a Baby Brother, All they would pick out were Girl Names. On the way to the Hospital Mom told Dad she thought they Should think of a Boys name, just in case..Dad told Her why It will be another Girl. After a little more talking they picked out a name for a Boy, and that night they & Us 2 girls were Blessed with an Almost 10 lb. Baby Boy they named Kevin Lane.
Named my second child, a girl, after her grandmothers, with a twist. Christine became Christina and Margaret became Marie’. She is happy with it even 50+ years later.
God bless Granny Wilson
My father’s first and middle names were Harold Farrell. His grandfather was an Irish immigrant during the potato famine, and Farrell was one of his clan names in Ireland. My dad’s family settled in West Virginia, and I’ve often wondered if there were other Farrells in that state. Great story from Barbara Lucille by the way. Many thanks and prayers for Granny.
My maternal grandfather was named Ulis Ferrell Stewart. The Stewart’s were settled in Tennessee.
TeresaSue, my maiden name was Stewart. My grandfathers name was Doss Stewart, his dad’s name was Arch Stewart. Our Stewart clan settled in Tennessee also. Who knows we may be related.
I love to hear how people get their name. Mine was a combination of my mama and daddy. Laura was also my Mama’s name and Lee was my Daddy’s middle name. So, I got Laura Lee. Not many girls are named after their mom. We even worked at the same place for a while and I was Junior and she was Senior. Our middle initials were the same too, only her middle name was Louise.
Coming from the South, it was normal to go by first and middle names. So, Laura Lee will always be what I go by.
I was named after three of my great grandmothers, all three of them were named Elizabeth, they shortened mine to Betty, I wish they had named me Elizabeth but I’ve had Betty for 84 years, guess I’ll keep it by now.
Blessings to all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTjo0PIeXQw
My brother crossed over in March this year and he named me after a grade school teacher he had a crush on, Deborah. He always let out a big hearty laugh and told me I should be thankful because he could have named me Tonya.
Such a sweet story. I bet there was as much love in the house as in some mansions that are occupied in this world today. I am Blessed that I don’t think my Grandparents nor my Mother, Lydia, ever lived in a home that they had to worry about wind coming thru walls. God Bless ’em. I have wondered how Granny and Granny Gazzie got their names. They are unusual but catchy. See you on the porch later on today…can’t wait. Hugs and love to you guys and many Prayers for Granny.
Glenda, I remember in my maternal grandparents home of being able to see the ground under their home through the cracks in the floor. Their old home was probably built in the late 18 hundreds and was never underpinned and only had a floor built with planks that had dried and had cracks between them I often heard it said about these old homes that you could feed the chickens through the cracks in the floor. I have heard my Daddy say when he was a child and living in sharecropper houses, he had woke up with snow on his bed that had blown through the cracks in these homes. In my maternal grandparents home there were two coal heaters, on the the coldest days I have seen these heaters including the stove pipes turn red from being so hot, you would try to sit close to them, the side of you closest to the heater would be cooking and the other side toward the wall would be freezing. Like you, I often think of the love and closeness these families had for one another, in these mansions of today, everyone is too busy working trying to pay for them to have time to be close to one another.