Versatile American author Ambrose Bierce was born in 1842, the tenth of thirteen children. His parents, Laura and Marcus Aurelius Bierce, gave all their children A-names, curiously. Here are all the siblings, in order of birth:
- Abigail Bell
- Amelia Josephine
- Ann Maria
- Addison Byron (who “worked as a strong man in a traveling circus”)
- Aurelius
- Augustus, nicknamed “Gus”
- Almeda Sophia
- Andrew, nn “Dime”
- Albert Sherwood, nn “Grizzly”
- Ambrose Gwinnett
- “It is possible that Bierce got the names he did because his father may have read Douglas Jerrold’s Ambrose Gwinnett; or, A Sea-Side Story (1828).”
- Arthur
- twin Adelia (died in infancy)
- twin Aurelia (also died in infancy)
Which of the above names do you like best?
Source: Gale, Robert L. An Ambrose Bierce companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Image: Ambrose Bierce (public domain)
