How popular is the baby name Gettysburg in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Gettysburg.

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Popularity of the baby name Gettysburg


Posts that mention the name Gettysburg

Unusual political names in Connecticut

James A. Bill (1817-1900) of Lyme, Connecticut, served in the Connecticut state senate in 1852 and 1853 and in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1849 and 1867. He also happened to be a rare pro-slavery Northerner in the years before and during the Civil War. This fact is reflected in the names of the last three children:

  1. Elizabeth
  2. Phoebe
  3. Mary
  4. Rebecca
  5. Lodowick
  6. James
  7. Kansas Nebraska (born in July, 1855)
  8. Lecompton Constitution (b. October, 1857)
  9. Jefferson Davis (b. February, 1862)

Kansas Nebraska Bill was named after the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, but also allowed the territories to decide for themselves whether or not they would permit slavery (the “popular sovereignty” principle).

Lecompton Constitution Bill was named after the Lecompton Constitution (1857), a proposed pro-slavery constitution for the state of Kansas that was defeated early the next year.

And Jefferson Davis Bill was, of course, named after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy throughout the Civil War.

Their older brother, Lodowick, inherited his interesting first name from James’s father. The name Lodowick — like Louis, Ludwig, and Luigi — can be traced back to the Germanic name Chlodovech, which consists of the elements hlud, meaning “famous, loud” and wig, meaning “war, battle.”

[Other notable Civil War-era baby names include Emancipation Proclamation (“Prockie”), Gettysburg (“Gettie”), Kenesaw Mountain, and Elmer Ellsworth.]

Sources:

Babies named for the Battle of Fort Sumter

Battle of Fort Sumter (1861)
Battle of Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter — the sea fort near Charleston, South Carolina — wasn’t fully built yet in the spring of 1861 when the Battle of Fort Sumter kicked off the Civil War. The Second Battle of Fort Sumter, two years later, reduced the never-finished fort to rubble. (It has since been restored and is now a National Park.)

As with the Battle of Gettysburg, the two Fort Sumter battles had a small influence on baby names. I found about a dozen U.S. babies — all male, all born in the South — named “Fort Sumter”:

  • Fort Sumter Williamson (North Carolina, c1861)
  • Fort Sumter Roebuck (Virginia, c1861)
  • Fort Sumter Richards (South Carolina, 1861)
  • Fort Sumter Earle (Alabama, 1864)
  • Fort Sumter Sparrow (Alabama?, 1867)
  • Fort Sumter Liscomb (Texas, 1869) — but buried as a “John
  • Fort Sumter Brooks (Georgia, 1877)
  • Fort Sumter Sumter (Louisiana, 1881) — yes, Sumter twice
  • Fort Sumter Black (Georgia?, 1881)
  • Fort Sumter Cannon (Georgia, 1884)
  • Fort Sumter Everett (Virginia, 1900)
  • Fort Sumter Falls (North Carolina, 1910)

Notice how only half of them were born in the 1860s. A few — like “Fort Sumter Cannon” and “Fort Sumter Falls” — may have gotten the name simply because of the play on words.

Source: Battle of Fort Sumter – Wikipedia

41 Pun-names for April Fools’ Day (4/1)

painting of a smiling man

I can’t play a prank on you for April Fools’ Day, but I can give you a list of personal names that seem like pranks.

Except, they’re not.

All of the below are legit first & last names that belonged to real people — often multiple people. (In parentheses I’ve added rough estimates of how many instances I’ve come across so far.)

  1. Alma Mater (several)
  2. April Showers (dozens)
  3. Bear Trapp (one)
  4. Candy Cane (several)
  5. Cliff Hanger (several)
  6. Constant Agony (two)
  7. Constant Craps (one)
  8. Crystal Ball (dozens)
    • There’s also Krystal Ball, who ran for office in Virginia a few years back.
  9. Death Knox (one)
  10. Gettysburg Battle (one)
  11. Gold Mine (two)
  12. Green Bean (several)
  13. Hazel Nut/Nutt (dozens)
  14. Ima Hogg (one)
  15. Jed I Knight (one)
  16. London England (dozens)
  17. Mud Brown (three)
  18. Never Fail (two) — father and son
    • The son’s headstone offers context for the name by referencing 1 Corinthians 13: “Love never fails.”
  19. Norman Conquest (two)
  20. North West (hundreds)
  21. Nude Mann (one)
  22. Orbit Moon (one)
  23. Orchestra Harp (one)
  24. Paris France (several)
  25. Preserved Fish (several)
  26. Pullman Carr (several)
  27. Rainy Day (one)
  28. River Bottom (one)
  29. Rocky Mountain (dozens)
  30. Sandy Beach (dozens)
  31. Sea Shore (several)
  32. Seymour Butts (two) — not just a Bart Simpson prank call!
  33. Shanda Lear (one)
  34. Silence Bellows (one)
  35. Soda Popp (one)
  36. Strong Beer (one)
  37. Tell No Lyes (several)
  38. Ten Million (one)
    • He had a daughter named Decillian Million.
  39. Timber Wood (one)
    • He has a sister named Drift Wood.
  40. Truly Wright (several)
  41. Tu Morrow (one)
    • Daughter of actors Rob Morrow and Debbon Ayer (read: debonaire)

Which one do you think is the best? Or should I say, the worst?

Sources:

Image: Falstaff (1921) by Eduard von Grützner

Babies named for the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg (1863)
Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg, which lasted from July 1 to July 3, 1863, was a Civil War battle fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Were any babies named after the battle?

Yes, several.

In fact, the earliest two I know of represent the two sides of the conflict — north & south.

First, there’s Anne Gettysburg Veazey, born on July 7, 1863, in Vermont. She was the daughter of Col. Wheelock G. Veazey, who led the 16th Vermont Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Colonel Veazey’s return to his beloved Julia must have been especially joyous, since their first child, a daughter, had been born just four days after the guns fell silent at Gettysburg. They christened the little girl Anne Gettysburg Veazey.

Second, there’s Gettysburg Lee McCarter, born on July 19, 1863, in South Carolina. She went by the nickname Gettie (similar to the way Emancipation Proclamation went by the nickname Prockie). Gettie’s gravestone is below.

Gettysburg "Gettie" McCarter Cook

I’ve also found records for about 8 other babies named Gettysburg, including a female born into the Battle family of Alabama in 1878 and named “Gettysburg Battle.”

Source: Coffin, Howard. Nine Months to Gettysburg. Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press, 1997.
Image: Gettie McCarter Cook by Chris Smith