Individual names with fascinating stories or explanations.
In 1894, the winner of Melbourne Cup — a horse race that’s been held in Australia every year since the early 1860s — was a horse named Patron (ridden by a jockey named Henry Dawes).
The day of the race, a baby girl “was born in one of the dressing rooms at Flemington [Racecourse].”
Her name? Patrona.
Source: “Born at Flemington.” Smith’s Weekly 20 Sept. 1919: 8.
Image: Adapted from Patron, 1894 Melbourne Cup winner postcard (public domain)
Last week, the Los Angeles Times profiled a 12-year-old girl named Evan Kim who ran the Ventura Marathon and placed second among all females with a time of 2 hours and 58 minutes.
How did she come to have the (typically male) name Evan?
Born into a family of athletes in 2012, she was named after Cadel Evans, the cyclist who won the Tour de France the year prior.
Cadel (pronounced kuh-DEL) Evans is the only Australian to have ever won the Tour de France. I don’t know how many other U.S. babies were named “Evan” after Evans, but dozens were named Cadel:
In fact, usage of the name tracks with Cadel Evans’ Tour de France career: He first participated in 2005, he placed second in both 2007 and 2008, and he finally won in 2011.
His first name is a simplified spelling of the Welsh name Cadell, which can be traced back to the Old Welsh word cat, meaning “battle.” (One of Evans’ great-grandfathers immigrated to Australia from Wales.)
What are your thoughts on the name Cadel? (How about on Evan as a girl name?)
P.S. Another young runner we’ve talked about is Nasiya Jobe, and another professional cyclist we’ve talked about is Lance Armstrong.
Sources:
Image: Adapted from CadelEvans by troye owens under CC BY-SA 2.0.
American actress Valora Noland played minor roles in various movies and TV shows during the 1960s.
Her real name wasn’t Valora Noland, though. It was Valor Baum.
She was born to Franz and Abigail “Abby” Baum of Seattle, Washington, on December 8, 1941 — the day the United States formally entered WWII (following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor one day earlier).
Abby — recalling that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had spoken the somber words, “Death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey; hardship our garment; constancy and valor our only shield” — was inspired to name the baby girl Valor.
Valor Baum later added an “a” to the end of her first name. Later still, when she decided to become an actress, she began using the surname Noland.
Interestingly, the baby name Valora saw peak usage in the U.S. in 1963 — the year Valora Noland was profiled in a July issue TV Guide (which was being read by millions of Americans every week at that time).
What are your thoughts on the name Valora?
P.S. Churchill’s words came from a speech he gave to the House of Commons in October of 1940. (He also mentioned the effectiveness of the Anderson shelter in this speech.)
Sources:
Image: Screenshot of The War Wagon
George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born on February 22, 1732.
A few minutes before midnight on February 22, 1931 — almost 200 years later — Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Bushman of Chicago welcomed a baby boy. They named him George Washington Bushman.
But it doesn’t end there.
A few minutes after midnight, the baby’s twin sister was born. Her name? Martha Washington Bushman. (The real Martha Washington was born in June, incidentally.)
The twins’ patriotic names were chosen by their father, who was out of work at the time.
“That’s because I love America,” he said. “I love this country even when times are bad.”
(The twins were born in the middle of the Great Depression.)
Source: “Twins Named After George and Martha.” Portsmouth Times 24 Feb. 1931: 1.
Image: George Washington (1795) by Gilbert Stuart
