A baby girl born in 1852 to William and Sarah Whiskerd of Norfolk, England, was given the unusual name Emdiella.
Forty years later, a grandchild of the vicar who performed Emdiella’s baptism wrote a letter to the editor of the the London newspaper The Standard. Here’s what it said:
A child (a girl) was brought for baptism to my grandfather. When asked the name, the parent, to his surprise, replied, “Emdiella.” “There is no such name,” said my grandfather. “Oh, yes, sir, there is; we saw it in a book,” replied the woman. My grandfather at the time did not like to inquire further, but it turned out that she had found in an old grammar the four liquid letters, L.M.N.R., and had confused them into M.D.L.R. The child was, however, christened “Emdiella.”
Her name is spelled “Emdeeler” in both the marriage register (1873) and the death register (1915).
(Here are dozens of other names spelled with the names of letters, if you’re interested.)
Sources:
- ‘Twas Ever Thus… – British Baby Names
- Vaux, J. Edward. Church folklore: A Record of some Post-Reformation Usages in the English Church, now mostly Obsolete. London: Griffith Farran & Co., 1894.
- FamilySearch.org
Image: Baptismal record of Emdiella Whiskerd
