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Archiver > BUCKS > 2004-10 > 1097008703


From: Eve McLaughlin <>
Subject: Re: [BKM] Strange names
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 21:38:23 +0100
In-Reply-To: <002901c4aa60$ecf24820$0300a8c0@workstation2>


In message <002901c4aa60$ecf24820$>, Ruth Webb
<> writes
>No, I can't top that ( I doubt any one can!) but I've often wondered why a
>half brother of my ancestor Jesse Redrup was named Alphonso Sigismund Redrup
>while his siblings all had conventional names. He was born about 1840, does
>anyone know if the names had any special significence at that time?

Jesse was a bit of a history buff and had been reading the papers, since
the monarchies of Spain and Portugal were both in the news (juicy stuff,
with the two young Queens getting Diana-style publicity, vying to see
who had the most lovers). Reports from the area would generally hark
back to the more respectable times when the kings were called Alphonso.
Sigismond sounds like a minor archduke, and they were always in the
news. Local newspapers at this period always had a 'national news'
section, where they reported all the strange goings on in foreign parts.
So Jesse read page two, probably of the Bucks Herald.

--
Eve McLaughlin

Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians
Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society

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