A few months ago, I got an email from a reader who’d spotted an obituary for a man named “King David.” Even more intriguing, King David’s father’s name was “King Solomon.” The reader wondered what other famous kings had inspired similar first/middle name combinations.
Historical records reveal that, long before the name King became trendy in the 2000s, hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of people in America were given the first name “King.”
While most that I saw had middle names that didn’t create a special pairing (e.g., King Clyde, King Terry), a good number did have middle names that — whether intentionally or not — turned the pairing into the name of some historical, biblical, or legendary king.
Here are some of the pairings I spotted, plus links to a few examples:
| King Alfred King Arthur King Asa King Charles King Edward King Frederick King George King Henry | King Hezekiah King James King Josiah King Louis King Olaf King Oscar King Richard King Saul |
Several of these (Kingarthur, Kingcharles, Kingdavid, Kingjames, Kingjosiah, and Kingsolomon) also appear as compound names in the SSA data.
Do like the recent King-as-a-first-name trend? Why or why not?
I’m commenting on this because I saw King Hezekiah in the list. After my parents had Ryan Howard and Robert Herold II, apparently they ran out of R-H combos they liked, so naming my second brother Regan Hezekiah. ..I’ve always kind of envied him. He got the unusual name.
Thanks for the comment, Ryan! I’m curious now how Regan feels about having the unusual name out of the three of you…