Another backwards baby name: Adnil

From a 110-year-old issue of Notes and Queries:

The most curious Christian name I ever came across was Adnil, given to a girl born in Aberdeen. Her mother’s name was Linda. At the time of her birth the child’s parents were not on very good terms, and the father, in a moment of freakishness, inverted the mother’s name with the above result. The child died in early childhood.
J.

I’m going to try to use “moment of freakishness” in a sentence today. We’ll see how it goes.

Adnil has never been in the U.S. baby name data, but I’ve found a few doing records searches. Adnil Lorraine Bailey, for instance, was born in California circa 1907 to Charles and Linda Bailey. And Mary Adnil Killebrew was born in North Carolina in 1906 to W. H. and Linda B. Killebrew.

I even spotted an Adnileb — Belinda backwards — born in California in 1991.

What do you think of Adnil?

Source: “Curious Christian Names.” Notes and Queries 27 Feb. 1904: 171.

4 thoughts on “Another backwards baby name: Adnil

  1. I agree it is better than Nevaeh which seemed to be very popular several years ago! Adnil sounds too much like the popular pain-killer “Advil”!

  2. The next time I do something crazy in life, I’m going to explain it as a “moment of freakishness.”

    Lol! Thanks for sharing, Nancy!

  3. “Moment of freakishness”

    I will find a way to say this before the end of the day. Fabulous.

    Adnil… not fabulous.

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