Baby Name: Bland

Here are many dozens of interesting and uncommon names that have caught my eye over the years…

• Adonijah Strong Welch (b. 1821) – U.S. Senator from Florida.
• Aeriwentha Faggs “Mae” Starr (b. 1932) – American athlete.
• Alcaeus Hooper (b. 1859) – mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1895 to 1897.
• Anzia Yezierska (b. 1885) – Polish writer.
• Arphaxed Loomis (b. 1798) – U.S. Representative from New York.
• Arvo Ojala (b. 1920) – marksman and Hollywood advisor on the “quick-draw.”
• Astyanax M. Douglass (b. 1838) – politician/physician from Tennessee.
• Autherine Juanita Lucy (b. 1929) – activist from Alabama.

• Balduína “Bidú” de Oliveira Sayão (b. 1902) – Brazilian opera singer.
• Baskerville Holmes (b. 1964) – American basketball player named for The Hound of the Baskervilles.
• Berbiedell Slate (b. 1930) – from North Carolina.
• Berinthia “Berry” Berenson-Perkins (b. 1948) – U.S. actress and photographer.
• Bertita Harding (b. 1902) – German writer.
• Beveridge Webster (b. 1908) – pianist.
• Bird Segle Mcguire (b. 1865) – U.S. Delegate and representative from Oklahoma.
• Bland Ballard (b. 1761) – soldier and statesman.
• Bluma Appel (b. 1919) – Canadian philanthropist.
• Bodine Koehler (b. 1992) – Dutch-Puerto Rican model.
• Brazilla Carroll Reece (b. 1889) – U.S. Representative from Tennessee.
• Breaux Greer (b. 1976) – U.S. athlete.
• Bredo Morstoel – the inspiration behind Frozen Dead Guy Days in Colorado.
• Bruria Kaufman (b. 1918) – American theoretical physicist.
• Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse (b. circa 1944) – Halliburton whistleblower.

• Calbraith Perry “Cal” Rodgers (b. 1879) – made the first flight across the U.S. (in multiple legs) during 1911.
• Calvary Morris (b. 1798) – U.S. Representative from Ohio.
• Camoralza Hagler Spahr (b. 1826) – politician from Ohio.
• Canvass White (b. 1790) – American civil engineer.
• Carr Van Anda (b. 1864) – managing editor of the New York Times.
• Catulle Mendès (b. 1841) – French writer.
• Cavada Humphrey (b. 1919) – U.S. actress.
• Cedella “Ciddy” Marley Booker (b. 1926) – mother of Bob Marley.
• Chalkley “Chalk” Beeson (b. 1848) – owned the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.
• Chamintney Stovall Thomas (b. 1899) – Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame inductee.
• Cherubusco Newton (b. 1848) – U.S. Representative from Louisiana.
• Chloethiel Woodard Smith (b. 1910) – architect and urban planner.
• Ciallagalena “Lena” Cobb Williams (b. circa 1900) – from Faubourg Tremé (New Orleans).
• Civilla Martin (b. 1866) – Canadian-American hymn writer.
• Clairève Grandjouan (b. 1929) – archaeologist from France.
• Claricia (13th century) – German illuminator:

• D-Cady Herrick (b. 1846) – politician from New York.
• Daeida Wilcox Beveridge (b. 1861) – founded and named Hollywood.
• Dakota Starblanket “Cody” Wolfchild – the first baby to be breastfed on television (specifically, on Sesame Street in 1977).
• Davenie Johanna “Joey” Heatherton (b. 1944) – U.S. actress.
• De La Mancha “Mancha” Bruggemeyer (b. 1865 in England) – Chicago judge.
• Delarivier Manley (d. 1724) – (female) English novelist.
• Delazon Smith (b. 1816) – Senator from Oregon.
• deLesseps Story Morrison (b. 1912) – mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961.
• Delloreese Patricia Early (b. 1931) – American actress (stage name Della Reese).
• De Sacia Mooers (b. 1888) – silent film actress from Michigan.
• Devorguille de Burgh (13th century) – English noblewoman.
• Diocletian “Dio” Lewis (b. 1823) – early exercise advocate, from New York. (He wrote about the importance of physical training for both sexes in The Atlantic in 1862.)
• Dusolina Giannini (b. 1902) – Italian-American soprano.

• Elfyn Llwyd (b. 1951) – Welsh barrister and politician.
• Epiphanny Prince (born in the 1980s) – set the U.S. high school girls’ basketball record by scoring 113 points in a single game on February 1, 2006.
• Erminnie Adele Platt Smith (b. 1836) – American geologist and linguist. (Erminnie is a diminutive of Ermintrude.)
• Espy Van Horne (b. 1795) – U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania.
• Etchika Choureau (b. 1929) – French actress.
• Eudald Carbonell i Roura (b. 1953) – Spanish archaeologist, anthropologist and paleontologist.
• Eulavelle Lee Drake (b. 1913) – from California.

• Falconer Madan (b. 1851) – librarian at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. (His granddaughter was Venetia Burney, below.)
• Felissa Rose Esposito (b. 1969) – actress.
• Feramorz Little (b. 1820) – mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 1876 to 1882.
• Fidelis Morgan (b. 1952) – English stage actress.
• Filippo “Lippo” Lippi (b. 1406) – Italian painter.
• Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (b. 1882) – U.S. Representative from New York. (Later the Mayor of New York.)
• Foxhall A. Parker (b. 1821) – U.S. Navy officer during the American Civil War. (His father was also a Foxhall, and he had a brother named Dangerfield.)

• Ghillean Tolmie Prance (b. 1937) – British botanist and ecologist.
• Ginery Twichell (b. 1811) – U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
• Gjon Mili (b. 1904) – Albanian-American photographer.
• Glendy Burke – mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1865. The Stephen Foster song Glendy Burke is about a steamboat that was probably named for the mayor.
• Godlove Stein Orth (b. 1817) – U.S. Representative from Indiana.
• Gouverneur Morris (b. 1752) – U.S. Senator from New York.
• Goyn A. Sutton (b. 1816) – mayor of Springfield, Illinois from 1860 to 1864.
• Green Berry Raum (b. 1829) – U.S. Representative from Illinois.
• Green Clay (b. 1757) – Kentucky politician.
• Grlenntys Chief Kickingstallionsims (b. 1986) – Alabama State University basketball player.
• Gwethalyn Graham (b. 1913) – Canadian writer and activist.

• Halifax Shackleton (b. circa 1895) – 16-year-old girl born in Halifax, Yorkshire, according to the 1911 England and Wales census.
• Hanelle M. Culpepper – American filmmaker.
• Harmanus Peek (b. 1782) – U.S. Representative from New York.
• Hawthorne Wingo – New York Knicks player during the 1970s. (Discovered this one in a Beastie Boys song, of all places.)
• Heartsill Ragon (b. 1885) – U.S. Representative from Arkansas.
• Hempstead Washburne (b. 1852) – mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1891 to 1893.
• Henderina “Rina” Victoria Scott (b. 1862) – was born in English botanist and cinematographer.
• Hoagland Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael (b. 1899) – American composer, singer, actor, and band leader.
• Holiday Reinhorn (b. 1964) – fiction writer and wife of Rainn Wilson (see below).
• Hubbard Hinde Kavanaugh (b. 1802) – Methodist Episcopal bishop.
• Humphrey Hawksley (b. 1964) – English journalist.
• Hurieosco Austill (b. 1841) – from Alabama.
• Huw Wheldon (b. 1916) – Welsh broadcaster and Royal Television Society president. (Huw is the Welsh version of Hugh.)

• Ib Jørgen Melchior (b. 1917) – Danish-American film director and screenwriter.
• Icie Macy Hoobler (b. 1892) – American physiologist and biochemist.
• Idawalley Zorada “Ida” Lewis (b. 1842) – American lighthouse keeper.
• Idola Saint-Jean (b. 1880) – Canadian activist.
• Iley Lawson Hill (b. 1808) – from Ohio. One of the longest-living “Real Daughters” of the American Revolution, she died in 1913 at the age of 104.
• Iorwith Wilbur Abel (b. 1908) – U.S. labor leader.
• Isagani R. Cruz (b. 1945) – Filipino writer.
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel (b. 1806) – English engineer who created the Great Western Railway, along with a number of steamships, bridges and tunnels.
• Islin Auster (b. 1904) – U.S. film producer.
• Ithamar Conkey Sloan (b. 1822) – U.S. Representative from Wisconsin.
• Itimous Thaddeus Valentine (b. 1926) – U.S. Representative from North Carolina.
• Itti Kinney Reno (b. 1862) – writer from Tennessee.

• Jacobena Angliss (b. 1896) – Australian philanthropist.
• Jacquemin (15th century) – brother of Jeanne d’Arc.
• Jacquetta Hawkes (b. 1910) – British archaeologist and writer.
• Ja Hu Stafford (b. 1834 in North Carolina) – early Arizona settler. His name was originally Jehu. He also went by “J. Hugh.”
• Jascha Heifetz (b. 1901) – Lithuanian violinist.
• Jawaharlal Nehru (b. 1889) – first Prime Minister of India. Served for 4 terms, from 1947 until 1964.
• Jeduthun Wilcox (b. 1768) – U.S. Representative from New Hampshire.
• Jeh (pronounced “Jay”) Charles Johnson (b. 1957) – politician from New York. His name “comes from a Liberian chief his grandfather met on a U.N. mission” according to the Washington Post.
• Jettabee Ann Hopkins (b. 1905) – radio scriptwriter from Nebraska.
• Jetur Rose Riggs (b. 1809) – U.S. Representative from New Jersey.
• Jouett Shouse (b. 1879) – lawyer, newspaper publisher, and politician.

• Keriman Halis Ece (b. 1913) – Turkish beauty queen crowned Miss Universe 1932.
• Kindred Jenkins Morris (b. 1819) – mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1869 to 1871.
• Kirkpatrick Macmillan (b. 1813) – Scottish blacksmith who invented the pedal bicycle (circa 1840).
• Kittredge Haskins (b. 1836) – U.S. Representative from Vermont.

• Lascelles Abercrombie (b.1881) – British poet and literary critic.
• Le Gage Pratt (b. 1852) – U.S. Representative from New Jersey.
• LeBreton Dorgenois – mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1812.
• Leonidas Lent Hamline (b. 1797) – U.S. philanthropist.
• Lianella Carell (b. 1927) – Italian film actress.
• Lilialyce Akers (b. 1927) – first female professor at the University of Louisville.
• Loammi Baldwin (b. 1744) – Engineer, politician, and American Revolutionary War soldier.
• Lodowicke Muggleton (b. 1609) – English religious thinker.
• Lodusky Jerusha Taylor (b. 1856) – from Minnesota. (The name Lodusky is based on the name of the 18th-century opera Lodoïska.)
• Loleatta Holloway (b. 1946) – American singer.
• Lystra Gretter (b. 1858) – nurse and public health care innovator.

• Magloire Pélage (b. 1769 in Martinique) – soldier and leader of the resistance movement against the English.
• Mahonri Macintosh Young (b. 1877) – sculptor and artist.
• Majestic Mapp (b. 1980) – basketball player. (Brother of Scientific, see below.)
• Maltbie Davenport Babcock (b. 1858) – U.S. clergyman.
• Mamphela Aletta Ramphele (b. 1947) – South African doctor and activist.
• Manton Marble (b. 1834) – editor of the New York World.
• Marjabelle Young Stewart (b. 1924) – etiquette expert from Iowa.
• Marshevet Hooker (b. 1984) – American sprinter.
• Matokie “Tokie” Slaughter (b. 1919) – (female) U.S. banjo player.
• Mattiwilda Dobbs (b. 1925) – American opera singer.
• McKaskia Stearns Bonnifield (b. 1833) – from West Virginia.
• Mellcene Thurman Smith (b. 1872) – from Missouri.
• Melusina Fay Peirce (b. 1836 in Vermont) – feminist and leader of the “cooperative housekeeping” movement.
• Meridel Le Sueur (b. 1900) – American feminist/socialist writer.
• Merze Tate (b. 1905) – scholar and professor.
• Miel de Botton (b. 1960s) – Swiss art collector.
• Milward Lee Simpson (b. 1897) – Governor of Wyoming.
• Minervina (4th century) – the first wife of Constantine the Great.
• Miquita Oliver (b. 1984) – British TV presenter and actress.
• Moscelyne Larkin (b. 1925) – Native American ballerina.
• Mountstuart Elphinstone (b. 1779) – Scottish statesman and historian.

• Nanaline Holt Inman Duke (b. 1871) – mother of Doris Duke.
• Naphtali Daggett (b. 1727) – pastor, professor, and Yale’s second president.
• Narsworthy Hunter (b. circa 1802) – U.S. Delegate from Mississippi Territory.
• Neith Boyce (b. 1872) – (female) American novelist and journalist.
• Nelleke Noordervliet (b. 1945) – Dutch novelist.
• Ney Elias (b. 1884) – English explorer/diplomat.
• Ninibeth Beatriz Leal Jiménez (b. 1971) – Venezuelan beauty queen crowned Miss World 1991.
• Nomaindia Mfeketo (b. 1952) – the fourth woman and the first black woman to become mayor of Cape Town, South Africa.
• Nunnally Hunter Johnson (b. 1897) – American filmmaker.

• Odalys García (b. 1975) – Cuban actress and singer.
• Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (b. 1774) – English mathematician.
• Ora Orr – U.S. patent holder.
• Orange Noble (b. 1817) – Pennsylvania politician.
• Orator H. LaCraft (b. 1850) – Politician from Wisconsin.
• Orchard Cook (b. 1763) – U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
• Orrice Abram Murdock, Jr. (b. 1893) – U.S. Senator from Utah.
• Ortha Orrie Barr (b. 1879) – Ohio politician.
• Oseola McCarty (b. 1908) – U.S. philanthropist.
• Ossian Ray (b. 1835) – U.S. Representative from New Hampshire.
• Otha Donner Wearin (b. 1903) – representative from Iowa.
• Ottobuono de’ Fieschi (later Pope Adrian V) was born in Italy during the 13th century.
• Ottola Nesmith (b. 1889) – U.S. actress.
• Ottorino Respighi (b. 1879) – Italian composer, musicologist and musician.
• Outerbridge Horsey (b. 1777) – U.S. Senator from Delaware.
• Ovington Eugene Weller (b. 1862) – U.S. Representative from Maryland.
• Owsley Brown Frazier (b. 1935) – businessman and philanthropist.

• Pandro Samuel “Pan” Berman (b. 1905) – U.S. film producer.
• Pantazi Ghica (b. 1831) – Wallachian-born Romanian politician, lawyer and writer.
• Pelatiah Webster (b. 1726) – political economist and writer.
• Percenia Johnson – American nurse. She was on the cover of Jet in 1953:

• Persifor Frazer (b. 1736) – soldier and industrialist from Pennsylvania.
• Phanor Breazeale (b. 1858) – U.S. Representative from Louisiana.
• Philadelph Van Trump (b. 1810) – U.S. Representative from Ohio.
• Philleo Nash (b. 1909) – U.S. politician.
• Phyllida Law (b. 1932) – Scottish actress. Also the mother of actress Emma Thompson.
• Pinckney Pinchback (b. 1837) – Governor of Louisiana.
• Pitcairn Morrison (b. 1795) – American army officer.
• Pomeroy Tucker (b. 1802) – American journalist.
• Potto Brown (b. 1797) – English miller and philanthropist.
• Powhatan Ellis (b. 1790) – Senator from Mississippi.
• Powhaten Woolridge Maxey (b. 1810) – mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1843 to 1844.

• Quirinus Kuhlmann (b. 1651) – German Baroque poet and mystic.

• Race Imboden (b. 1993) – Olympic foil fencer from Florida. He was named after the Jonny Quest character Race Bannon.
• Rainn Wilson (b. 1966) – actor and husband of Holiday Reinhorn (see above).
• Rainbow Sun Francks (b. 1979) – Canadian actor and songwriter. (His sister is Cree, below.)
• Rensis Likert (b. 1903) – American organizational psychologist.
• Rensselaer Westerlo (b. 1776) – Representative from New York.
• Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. (b. 1764) – U.S. Senator from Ohio. (Later, the Governor of Ohio. Later still, Postmaster General.)
• Reverdy Johnson (b. 1796) – statesman and jurist.
• Richenda Carey (b. 1948) – British actress.
• Ricou Ren Browning (b. 1930) – U.S. film director.
• Rienzi Melville Johnston (b. 1849) – U.S. Senator from Texas.
• Rikissa Birgersdotter (13th century) – Queen of Norway.
• Ringgold Lardner (b. 1885) – sports columnist and writer.
• Rivers Cuomo (b. 1970) – musician.
• Roberdeau Buchanan (b. 1839) – American astronomer. was born in Pennsylvania in 1839. (His first name was his mother’s maiden name.)
• Rousseau Owen Crump (b. 1843) – U.S. Representative from Michigan. (Previously the Mayor of West Bay City.)
• Rulon Gardner (b. 1971) – American Greco-Roman wrestler.
  • He may have been named with LDS leader Rulon S. Wells in mind.
• Rychacviana Coffie – Miss Curaçao 2005.

• Sacheverell Sitwell (b. 1897) – English poet and art critic.
• Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester (b. 1155) – Magna Carta signatory.
• Sandahl Bergman – American actress.
• Schelto Patijn (b. 1936) – Dutch politician.
• Scientific Mapp (b. 1980) – basketball player. (Brother of Majestic, see above.)
• Secvara Livsey – American model. She was on the cover of Jet in 1955.
• Sharlto Copley (b. 1973) – South African actor.
• Shirin Ebadi (b. 1947) – Iranian lawyer and human rights activist. First Iranian and first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (in 2003).
• Smedley Darlington (b. 1827) – U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania. (Grandfather of Smedley Darlington Butler, below.)
• Smedley Darlington Butler (b. 1881) – at one time, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. (Grandson of Smedley Darlington, above.)
• Smoloff Palace Love (b. 1826) – soldier, teacher, and lawyer from Kentucky.
• Sobieski Ross (b. 1828) – U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania.
• Spark Masayuki Matsunaga (b. 1916) – senator from Hawaii. (Previously a Representative from Hawaii.)
• Speedy Long (1928-2006) – U.S. Representative from Louisiana.
• Spessard Lindsey Holland (b. 1892) – U.S. Senator from Florida. (Previously the Governor of Florida.)
• Spruille Braden (b. 1894) – diplomat and businessman with an interest in Latin America.
• Spurzheim “Spud” Derby (b. 1856) – Indiana politician.
• Squire Whipple (b. 1804) – civil engineer.
• Stanyarne Wilson (b. 1860) – U.S. Representative from South Carolina.
• Staats Cotsworth (b. 1908) – American radio actor.
• Stevenson Magloire (b. 1963) – Haitian painter named after U.S. politician Adlai Stevenson.
• Stirling Silliphant (b. 1918) – U.S. screenwriter.
• Stith Thompson (b. 1885) – folklorist.
• Sunshine Hillygus (b. circa 1976) – associate professor at Harvard.
• Susybelle Wilkinson Lyons (b. 1923) – U.S. philanthropist.

• Tammany Young (b. 1886) – U.S. stage and film actor.
• Tapping Reeve (b. 1744) – law professor, jurist and writer. Opened the first law school in the United States.
• Tazewell Ellett (b. 1856) – U.S. Representative from Virginia.
• Tench Coxe (b. 1755) – U.S. Delegate from Pennsylvania.
• Theophylact Bache (b. 1735) – merchant.
• Thorowgood Smith (b. 1744) – mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1804 to 1808.
• Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (b. 1914) – U.S. actor and singer.
• Tilghman Mayfield Tucker (b. 1802) – U.S. Representative from Mississippi. (Previously the Governor of Mississippi.)
• Torquil Norman (b. 1933) – English philanthropist.
• Trevanion W. Hugo (b. 1849) – mayor of Duluth, Minnesota from 1900 to 1903.
• Trevenen Huxley (b. 1889) – Huxley brother (born after Julian, but before Aldous).
• Twentyman Wood of Connecticut received U.S. patent 19,275 in 1858. (His name reminds me of Twentynine Palms, California.)

• Uncas Aeneas Whitaker (b. 1900) – U.S. philanthropist.
• Urbici Soler (b. 1890) – American sculptor.
• Uz McMurtrie (b. 1884) – politician from Indiana.

• Venetia Phair (née Burney, born in England in 1919) – she suggested the name for the planet Pluto when she was 11 years old. (Her grandfather was Falconer Madan, above.)
• Verplanck Colvin (b. 1847) – lawyer, author and topographical engineer.
• Verrazzani C. Bratton, Sr. (b. 1860) – Arkansas judge.
• Vespasian Warner (b. 1842) – U.S. Representative from Illinois.
• Victory Birdseye (b. 1782) – U.S. Representative from New York.
• Volckert Petrus Douw (b. 1720) – mayor of Albany, New York from 1761 to 1770.
• Voltairine de Cleyre (b. 1866) – anarchist and feminist.
• Vyto J. Kab (b. 1959) – U.S. football player.

• Waddy Thompson (b. 1798) – U.S. Representative from South Carolina.
• Wambly Bald (b. 1902) – U.S. writer/columnist.
• Waveney Bicker Caarten (b. 1902) – (female) English playwright.
• Wellington Webb (b. 1941) – mayor of Denver, Colorado from 1991 to 2003.
• Wentworth Miller (b. 1972) – American actor.
• Whitemarsh B. Seabrook (b. 1793) – South Carolina politician.
• Wigbolt Ripperda (b. circa 1535) – Governor of Haarlem (in the Netherlands) while the city was under siege by the Spanish army during the Eighty Years’ War.
• Wilmot Redd (d. 1692) – one of the (female) victims of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
• Wyke Bayliss (b. 1835) – British painter.
• Wynkyn de Worde (d. 1534) – French printer. (The surname refers to a location in France, not words on the page, unfortunately.)

• Xenophon P. Huddy (b. 1876) – American lawyer. An early specialist in automobile law.
• Xenophon Pierce Wilfley (b. 1871) – U.S. Senator from Missouri.
• Xiuhtezcatl (pronounced shu-tez-caht) Martinez (b. circa 2000) – environmental activist.

• Yellow Light Breen (born in the 1970s) – lawyer and senior VP of Bangor Savings Bank.

• Zackquill Morgan (18th cen.) – founder of Morgantown, West Virginia. Son of Morgan Morgan.
• Zadock Pratt (b. 1790) – U.S. Representative from New York.
• Zealous Tower (b. 1819) – American soldier and civil engineer.
• Zell Bryan Miller (b. 1932) – U.S. Senator from Georgia. (Previously the Governor of Georgia.)
• Zeme Lou North (b. 1938) – Texas-born actress.
• Zwingle Whitefield Ewing (b. 1843) – politician from Ohio.
  • He may have been named with Swiss Reformation leader Huldrych Zwingli in mind.

Have you encountered any unusual or rare names lately? (In the phone book? In the paper? On TV?)