Baby born at sea, named Bearing

sailboat

On September 13, 2010, Patricia Carden gave birth four weeks early while she and her partner, Jerry Linville, were sailing from Jacksonville to Key West through bad weather. (Carden believes that the choppy water kicked off her labor.)

The parents were able to pinpoint their son’s birth location (approx. 28 miles offshore) by checking the GPS coordinates. This then inspired them to give him the unique first name Bearing.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Miami-Dade County, FL, USA by Rodolfo L. Hernandez under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Babies named for Manila’s light rail

A handful of Filipino babies have been born — or almost born — on the Light Rail (LRT) in metropolitan Manila, and at least three of these babies have been given LRT-inspired names…

  • In May of 2005, Lea Aquino Ababa gave birth inside the Doroteo Jose LRT station. The baby girl was named Dorotea after the station.
  • In April of 2011, Mary Ann Opedra went into labor aboard an LRT train. She made to a hospital near Libertad Station in time to deliver. The baby girl was named Liberty Anne after the station.
  • In June of 2012, Angel Hotba gave birth aboard a moving LRT train somewhere between Libertad and Gil Puyat stations. The baby girl’s name, Lilibeth, was inspired by Libertad station. (Name suggestions from Twitter users included Larita, LoReTa, Laura Regina Teresa, Trayna, Katraina, and Railey.)

Sources: Woman almost gives birth in LRT coach, Passenger Gives Birth At LRT-1, On crowded train, life can’t be derailed

Babies born in Denver, named Denver

William Denver McGaa (1859-1925)
William Denver McGaa

In the late 1850s, during the Pike’s Peak gold rush, several settlements were established in western Kansas Territory — near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains — at the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek.

One settlement (on the bank of Cherry Creek) was named Auraria after the Georgia mining town of Auraria, whose name was derived from the Latin word aurum, meaning “gold.”

Another settlement (on the opposite bank of Cherry Creek) was named Denver City in honor of Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver (in the hope that Gov. Denver would select the town as the county seat of Kansas Territory’s vast Arapahoe County).

Most sources agree that the first baby to arrive in the Cherry Creek settlements was the son of Scottish immigrant and “hard-drinking mountain man” William McGaa and his half-Oglala wife Jennie Adams. The baby boy was born in Auraria on March 8, 1859. His name? William Denver McGaa.

The second baby, a girl, was also born in Auraria. She was welcomed by settlers Henry and Rosa Humbell in July of 1859. Her name? Auraria Humbell.

John Denver Stout (1859-1926)
John Denver Stout

The fourth baby — and the first to arrive in Denver City — was a baby boy born to settlers David and Mary Stout on August 30. He was named John Denver Stout.

Two months later, on October 25, a baby boy born in Denver City to settlers Samuel and Marinda Dolman was named Richard Denver Dolman.

Three of these families — the McGaas, the Humbells, and the Dolmans — were awarded plots of land for naming their newborns after the nascent settlements. (I’m not sure why the Stouts were left out.)

P.S. Denver City (after absorbing Auraria in late 1859) became part of the newly organized Colorado Territory in 1861. It was named territorial capital in 1867. Colorado joined the Union in 1876, and residents of the young state voted to make Denver the permanent capital in 1881.

Sources:

Images: Adapted from photographs of William Denver McGaa (via Denver Public Library Digital Collections) and John Denver Stout (in History of Denver)

[Latest update: Jan. 2025]

Baby born during WWII “all clear” siren, named Sireen

British air raid siren
British air raid siren

A week ago I posted about a baby who was named for the air raid shelter he was born in. Here’s a somewhat similar story:

A baby girl was born to an Irish mother living in London around the start of The Blitz, which lasted from September 1940 to May 1941.

[The] baby girl was named “Sireen” because, her mother explained, the “all clear” siren was wailing when the child was born.

That “-een” ending reminds me of familiar Irish girl names like Cathleen and Maureen, which are Anglicized forms of Caitlín and Máirín. In these names, the “-ín” is a diminutive suffix. If Sireen’s mother created the name with this suffix in mind, we could interpret it as meaning “little siren.”

Source: Wagnon, Hugh. “Irish Air Raid Babies Return.” Leader-Post [Regina, Saskatchewan] 11 Oct. 1940: 23.