Baby Named After Pullman Car

In April of 1913, a woman gave birth to a baby girl while riding a train in California. The baby was born in the drawing room of a Pullman car called the “Livonia,” so that’s what she was named.

I had no idea Pullman cars got names–how interesting is that? A 1924 Popular Mechanics article reveals that “[n]ames of countries were first employed” as the names of Pullman cars, followed by the names of towns and villages, then by “birds, flowers, lakes, rivers, and poets and statesmen of note.” For the dining cars they used the names of historical chefs and prominent hotels.

So the Pullman car “Livonia” may have been named after the European region of Livonia, or after any of the U.S. towns called Livonia (all of which were surely named with the European Livonia in mind).

Sources:

• “Baby Born in Pullman.” Los Angeles Times 27 Apr. 1913: I10.
• “How Pullman Cars Are Named.” Popular Mechanics Dec. 1924: 943.