Baby Name: Leonidas

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) – American 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 the Faubourg Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans.
• Civilla Martin (b. 1866) – Canadian-American hymn writer.
• Clairève Grandjouan (b. 1929) – French-born American archaeologist.
• 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.)
• Doyla Brunson – daughter of professional poker player Doyle Brunson (1933-2023)
• 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.
• 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.
• Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (b. 1882) – U.S. Representative from New York. (Later the Mayor of New York.)
• Fountain Rainwater (b. 1854) – minister from Kentucky.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• Mellifica Uyldert (b. 1908) – Dutch New Age writer.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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. (He may have been named after the 1842 Wagner opera Rienzi.)
• 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?)

Images: Adapted from German – Claricia Psalter – Walters W26 – Obverse Detail (public domain), clipping from the cover of Jet magazine (30 Apr. 1953)