Baby name story: Atlanta

In 1912, a woman named Atlanta White applied for a marriage license to marry one William Brown. But the marriage license clerk wasn’t sure what to fill in for Atlanta’s nationality.

Why? Because Atlanta White was “born on an American ship in the Atlantic ocean 18 summers ago, when her father, Robert White, was migrating to his country from England. So perplexed were the parents of the new-born child that they named their baby girl after the Atlantic ocean.”

Source: “Cupid Doesn’t Care.” Gazette Times [Pittsburgh] 3 Apr. 1912: 1.

P.S. Here’s another baby named for the Atlantic

One thought on “Baby name story: Atlanta

  1. Some people from the Netherlands named after the ocean (from my blog at http://www.vernoeming.nl/oceana-oceanus-geboren-op-zee ):

    Oceana Johanna Wendelina de Veer (1862/1863), born aboard the sailing ship Amelia Augusta

    Oceane Johanna Maria Haarmans, (1866), born aboard the Dutch bark Bom on a voyage from Java to Amsterdam

    Oceanus Gerardus Ponsen (1889), born aboard the Schiedam at 34 49′ N 13 35′ W (near the island of Funchal in the Atlantic Ocean)

    Maria Germana Oceana van Esch (1900), born aboard the SS German

    Elisabeth Augustina Oceana Huizer (1876), born at sea near Padang in the Netherlands East Indies

    Martha Atlantica Océana Winia (1876), born in the city of Sneek. I have no idea how she got her name.

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