The name Loveday

Elea over at British Baby Names discovered a bunch of people (mostly females) named Loveday on the 1911 England and Wales Census.

Where does the name Loveday come from?

In some cases, it comes from a surname. In others, it comes from an actual event called a “Loveday” which, in medieval times, was a day set aside for people involved in a quarrel to meet and attempt to resolve their differences via arbitration. “The Love-day sometimes gave its title at the font to children born or baptized upon it.”

P.S. Did you know that Leofday was mentioned in the Domesday Book?

Source: Smith, George and William Makepeace Thackeray. “Oddities of Personal Nomenclature.” Cornhill Magazine Jan.-June 1882: 213-224.

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