Baby named after Titanic victims

RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic

In April of 1912, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil A. Ferguson of Washington, D.C., welcomed a baby boy.

They named him Archibald Astor after Major Archibald Butt and millionaire John Jacob Astor, both of whom had perished in the sinking of the Titanic on April 15.

The parents said they hoped their baby would “emulate the heroism of these men.”

(Though the newspaper article I saw claimed the baby “was born on the day the Titanic went down,” the Social Security Death Index lists Archibald A. Ferguson’s birth date as April 11.)

Source: “Baby Is Named Archibald Astor.” Detroit Free Press 29 Apr. 1912: 4.
Image: RMS Titanic by F. G. O. Stuart

One thought on “Baby named after Titanic victims

  1. From Russell Ash’s book Morecock, Fartwell, & Hoare: A Collection of Unfortunate but True Names:

    Edwin Titanic Pascoe
    Born np 1912; died Penzance, Cornwall, 1996
    He was born twelve days before the Titanic disaster, but presumably named to commemorate the launch.

    Back then, many parents took their time with names. So there’s really no way to know if Edwin Titanic was named around April 10th to mark the launch, around April 15th to commemorate the sinking, etc.

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