Individual names with fascinating stories or explanations.
In 1999, a pregnant woman in South Africa went into labor while riding a Greyhound bus from Durban to Port Elizabeth.
The bus stopped at a clinic a few miles away from the city of Umtata, and there Ms. Xoleka Mdamane gave birth to a baby boy.
She decided to name her son David Umtata Greyhound Mdamane.
Source: “Bus baby named after company.” Daily Dispatch 23 Jun. 1999.
In 2002, Alexander Roland and Laurence Heuschen of Belgium took a vacation to the city of Ljubljana (pronounced loo-blee-AH-nuh), the capital of Slovenia.
Years later, in October of 2007, the couple welcomed their first child, a baby girl.
Remembering their vacation, and “the legend saying that the Slovenian capital got its name because of its reputation as a romantic city” — the etymology of Ljubljana is unknown, but it may be related to the Slovenian word ljubljeni, meaning “beloved” — they decided to name their daughter Ljubljana.
Two years after that, in August of 2009, the City of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Tourist Association invited the family back for a visit. They even met the mayor, Zoran Jankovic.
Sources: Belgian girl named Ljubljana in Ljubljana (via Archive.org), Ljubljana visiting Ljubljana – City of Ljubljana, STA: Mayor Receives Belgian Girl Named Ljubljana
During the wee hours of March 10, 1970, Delta’s Flight 86 was flying from Miami to Detroit with 35 passengers and 7 crew on board.
Somewhere over Georgia, pregnant passenger Janice Liogghio of Livonia, Michigan, gave birth to a baby boy.
What did she name him?
“I want to wait and talk to my husband about the first name,” the 22-year-old mother said. “The baby probably will have three first names. Delta will be one of them.”
They ended up naming him Natalino Delta.
“Natalino” is related to names like Natalia and Natalie, which derive from the Latin phrase natale domini, meaning “birth of the Lord” (in reference to Christmas Day). Traditionally, these names were bestowed upon Christmas babies. In this baby’s case, though, the pairing of Natalino (“birth”) with Delta was likely meant to commemorate his unusual birthplace.
P.S. Speaking of Livonia…here’s a baby named after the Pullman car Livonia.
Sources:
Image: Adapted from Douglas DC-8-51 N821E DL MIA 07.02.71 edited-5 by RuthAS under CC BY 3.0.
Englishman John Rolfe (1585-1622) was an early North American settler who helped turn tobacco into a profitable export crop for the Colony of Virginia.
He and his first wife, Sarah, arrived in the New World in the summer of 1609 aboard the Sea Venture, which ended up running aground off the coast of Bermuda thanks to a hurricane.
The colonists stayed in Bermuda, which they found “to be a hospitable place with sufficient food,” for 10 months. While there, they built two smaller ships upon which they could continue their journey to Virginia.
Also while there, Sarah gave birth “to a daughter who was christened Bermuda” after her birthplace (just like Virginia Dare was). Sadly, baby Bermuda Rolfe died before the colonists set sail for the mainland.
John Rolfe went on to have two more wives and two more children. With his second wife, Pocahontas, he had a son named Thomas (who “was presumably named after the Governor, Sir Thomas Dale”). With his third wife, Jane, he had a daughter named Elizabeth.
Sources: John Rolfe – Wikipedia, John Rolfe – Historic Jamestowne – NPS, Thomas Rolfe – Historic Jamestowne – NPS
