Baby name stories: Rielle & Riel

Métis leader Louis Riel (1844-1885)
Louis Riel

In October of 2008, a baby girl born in Ontario to parents Kimberly and Stephen MacDougall was named Rielle after female fighter pilot Riel Erickson, who’d been featured in the TV documentary Jetstream that year.

“It was just the way it rolled off her tongue, and having seen this woman and what she was doing and how she was competing against top pilots — the name came across in such a positive manner that it instilled a really good vibe.

“So when my wife threw it out there, we really didn’t even have to think about it.”

They thought the name was beautiful, feminine and distinctive, no easy feat, felt Kimberly, who is a teacher and wanted something unique.

The parents, both French-speakers, also appreciated the fact that reversing the syllables in Rielle produced elle rit, French for “she laughs.”

In an interview from around that time, Capt. Riel Erickson — whose call sign is “Guns” — was asked about the story behind her name:

I was named after Louis Riel. My mother learned of his story from the local native community when she was growing up. She believed strongly in his story so decided that she would name her child after him. I grew up knowing his story and love the fact that I’m named after him. I love having such meaning in my name. It’s so much a part of my identity, knowing that story. I guess that’s why I feel so overwhelmed by someone naming their child after me. My namesake has certainly influenced me.

Louis Riel was a Canadian politician of Métis descent.

What do you think of the baby name Riel/Rielle? Which spelling to you prefer?

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Image: Adapted from LouisRiel1878 (public domain)

Baby name story: Mahershalalhashbaz

Actor Mahershala Ali
Mahershala Ali

When actor Mahershala (pronounced mah-HER-shah-lah) Ali was born in California in 1974, his name was even longer: Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore.

Where did that first name come from?

In the Bible, [Mahershalalhashbaz is] the name of the prophet Isaiah’s second son. He was instructed to write the name in capital letters on a rock, and it means “divine restoration” or “speedy to the spoils.” My mom, Willicia, had a dream about it and felt very strongly it should be my name.

He went by the shortened form Hershal until he was a young adult.

In the year 2000 — after he converted to Islam, but before he began acting professionally — he changed his surname from Gilmore to Ali. So, for the first decade of his career, he was credited as “Mahershalalhashbaz Ali.”

Eventually, though, he decided to shorten his first name. Here’s how he explained the choice:

I think if you have any desire to be a leading man or to really carry some of these stories, there’s this relationship that has to be cultivated with an audience. People have to be able to say your name.

I didn’t want a couple of syllables to get in the way of me having the fullest experience as an actor.

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Baby born to Auburn fan, named Aubrie

Recent high school graduate Aubrie Lisenby of Alabama was named “Aubrie” with Aubie the Tiger, the Auburn University mascot, in mind. (Her father is an Auburn alum).

Over the last few years, Aubrie worked to become one of the best high school softball players in the country. This fall, she’ll start college at Auburn University and join the Auburn Tigers softball team — making her Aubrie, the Tiger. :)

I would call this a case of nominative determinism, but I think it’s likely that Aubrie would have opted to play for Auburn regardless of her name.

P.S. According to the SSA’s state-by-state data, the baby name Auburn is particularly popular in Alabama.

Sources: Aubrie Lisenby Is National Champion with a Thunderbolt, Loaded 2021 softball signing class boasts championship experience

How did Kenesaw Mountain Landis get his name?

Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944)
Kenesaw Mountain Landis

If you know Major League Baseball history, no doubt you’re familiar with Kenesaw Mountain “Ken” Landis, who served as professional baseball’s first commissioner from 1921 to 1944.

But…do you know how he got that unusual name?

In 1862 — in the middle of the Civil War — Ken’s father, Dr. Abraham Landis, left his family behind in Ohio to serve as a surgeon in the Union Army. (His family, at that time, consisted of wife Mary and five young children.)

Abraham was severely wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia on June 27, 1864. He spent many weeks in the hospital recovering before he was finally able to return home.

His sixth child, a son, arrived on November 20, 1866 — long after the war was over.

[I]t took Dr. and Mrs. Landis some time to decide on his name. In fact, the delay in providing a name prompted both family and community members to suggest a deluge of different names. Mary Landis did not like the name Abraham, so when Dr. Landis suggested calling their son “Kenesaw,” the name and alternate spelling stuck. Clearly, the site of the doctor’s personal tragedy remained in his thoughts.

The name of the mountain is an Anglicized form of the Cherokee name Gahneesah, which means “burial ground” or “place of the dead.”

(All of Ken’s eventual six siblings had more ordinary names: Katherine, Frances, Walter, Charles, John, and Frederick.)

Ken went on to pass the bar exam and attend law school (in that order) and, by the early 1890s, was practicing law in Chicago. Within a couple of years, he was offered (and accepted) a job in the federal government:

In the Union Army, Abraham Landis was under the command of Lt. Col. Walter Quinton Gresham during Sherman’s advance through Tennessee and Georgia. […] In 1893 Gresham was appointed secretary of state by President Grover Cleveland. He needed a personal secretary and he chose a 26-year-old Chicago attorney with no knowledge of foreign affairs, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

When Gresham unexpectedly died in 1895, Grover Cleveland offered Ken the post of minister to Venezuela. Ken declined this offer to return to private practice in Chicago and to get married to his fiancée, Winifred Reed.

A year later, Kenesaw and Winifred welcomed their first child, a son named Reed Gresham Landis — middle name in honor of Ken’s late boss (and his father’s former commander).

I have more to say about Kenesaw Mountain Landis, but I’ll save the rest for tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here’s a post about Malvern Hill — another unusual baby name inspired by a Civil War battle/location.

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