Earlier this year, singer Ed Sheeran welcomed a baby girl named Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran. She wasn’t actually born at sea — “Seaborn” is her mother’s surname — but did you know that many of the babies named “Seaborn” throughout history were in fact born at sea?
And it doesn’t stop at “Seaborn.” These sea-born babies got all sorts of interesting names hinting at the circumstances of their birth. Here’s a round-up of what I’ve spotted in the records…
Sea-inspired names:
- Sea
- Seaborn (The earliest American example I know of is Seaborn Cotton, born in August of 1633 while as his parents were traveling from England to New England. Notably, he was the uncle of Cotton Mather.)
- Seabourn
- Seaborne
- Seabourne
- Seafield
- Seaford
- Seaforth (e.g., Charles Seaforth Stewart)
- Sealine
- Seaman
- Sea-Mercy (This one comes from Sea-Mercy Adams, a man who got married in Philadelphia in 1686.)
Ocean-inspired names:
- Ocean (One was Ocean Pearl Tice, born in 1877.)
- Oceana
- Oceane
- Oceania
- Oceanie
- Oceanica
- Oceanna
- Oceanus (One was the Pilgrim baby Oceanus Hopkins, born in 1620.)
Marine-inspired names:
- Marina
- Marine
- Mariner
- Marino
Atlantic-inspired names:
- Atlanta
- Atlante
- Atlantia
- Atlantic (One was Atlantic Seaborn Ford, born in 1863. Another was Atlantic Missouri Linne, born in 1889.)
- Atlantica
- Atlantika
Pacific-inspired names:
- Pacific
- Pacifica
- Pacifico
And, finally, all of the other sea-birth-inspired baby names I’ve seen:
- Admiral
- Albatross
- Anchor
- Antarktyk
- Atlantis
- Bearing
- Captain
- Karina
- Neptune
- Pelagia
- Shipby
- Shorefall
- Sou’wester
- Stella Maris
- Storm
- Triton
- Voyager
- Waterson
If you had a baby on the open ocean, what would you name that baby?
Image: Salem Harbor (1853) by Fitz Henry Lane
