Fantastic Names From The Past: 1923-1968 Fantastic Names Roundup!

Over the past few months, I've come across many fantastic names in old yearbooks and college course materials, but I didn't have enough for an entire blog post. But when the years are united -- behold the range of fantasticness! From the roaring twenties (R.I.P., y'all) to the swinging sixties (happy retirement, folks!) these people had great names -- and I can only hope they got to live corresponding great lives.

1923

Freeman Fike

Brown Metcalf

Blanche Root

1925

Viola Vontana

Forrest La Violette

Naomi McNish

Manota Marohn

Jolly Pratt

Elvira Steel

Almabelle Verrelmann

Alice Casebeer

1955

(These names came out of a college course directory and are mostly the names of professors and staff)

Erret E. Hummel

Clark P. Spurlock

Howard Impecoven

Judah Bierman

Merl E. Bonney

Charles Brightbill

Karlin M. Capper-Johnson

Carl E. W. L. Dahlstrom

John O. Dart

Will Drum

Hoyt C. Franchere

Linnea Malmborg Garrison

George V. Guy

Emerson E. Hoogstraat

Iredell Jenkins

Leora F. LaRiviere

Herold Lillywhite

Morton S. Malter

Lilla Belle Pitts

Frank B. Queen

Warren W. Wilcox

Bernard Mainwaring

Leif S. Finseth

Elden E. Breedlove

Laird C. Brodie

E. Hugh Hinds

Leora Fuller Lariviere

Loyal D. Nelson

Egbert S. Oliver

Ellison Rulon Taylor

Harvey A. Trout

Herbert A. Bork

Bessie Gwyneth Tressler

Viron Alonzo Moore

1968

Sandy Asher

Ingo Braker

Bobbett Dunn

Zenobia Hammons

Orla Oleson

Winona St. Helen

Selby Shook

Patty Wack

Loadice Walker

Neisa Yaws

Reid Bloom

Mary Blossom

Paulette Cerruti

Cammy Coble

Dian Froseth

Helen Hughart

Jere Greer

Janet Jump

Debby Kappy

Hedda Klimp

John Leaptrott

Vangie Margellos

Firella McGee

Mary Melody

Wanda Zogg

Manon Whitcher

Willie Mae White

Nancy Sandblast

Gary McGrew

Rosemary Bloom

Ina Carr

Meredith McMenemy

For hundreds more fantastic names, click here!

Fantastic Names From The Past: 1924-1926 Edition

A while back, I was perusing a list of recently-published novels when I noticed a strange trend. It seemed that many of the books' main characters had names that were kind of... quirky. From "Cedar McLeod" to  "Eyelet Elsworth" to "Petunia Beanly," colorful names seemed to be all over modern literature. So, naturally, I blogged about the phenomenon. I also came up with a few reasons why writers might bestow such monikers upon their characters.

But unusual names aren't limited to fictional characters. They're all around us. Within the past month, I've actually met people named Dy'Nastie (dynasty), Destaney (destiny), and Phaith (faith). And before you start fretting about "parents nowadays," you should know... I recently came across a whole bunch of strange, awesome, quirky names, in a rather unlikely place...

The 1920s.

Yes, those 1920's. That decade of jazz, prohibition, and what should have been an acute sense of impending doom.

These names were found in three yearbooks, from 1924, 1925, and 1926. If my math's correct, that means these graduates were born in the Edwardian era, so I guess we can blame (praise?) their parents, who would have been Victorians.

To be fair, some Victorian parents kept to traditional names. These yearbooks feature plenty of Johns and Marys, Williams and Margarets... and, to my surprise, a whole lotta Dorothys.

But the rest... the unusual names? Well. Below are actual names of actual high school students who graduated between 1924 and 1926 in Portland, Oregon.

Enjoy.


Actual Names Of Real High School Graduates From 1924-1926

Talmadge Rose

Melba Stebbins

Jack Winklebleck

Carolyn Octolony Jones

Millard Grimm

Oral Read

Irma Lindercrantz

Lela Van Groos

Florence Riffle

Margaret Micklewait

Gus Utter

Artiola Tethrow

Lloyd Goodwill

Priscilla Villa

Myrtle Skooge

Lucille M. Umbdenstock

Leif Sandberg

Retha Brill

Sterling McAlpine

Veola Hoselton

Guertin Carroll

Ethel Sylvester

Hugo Klingbeil

Autumn Sprague

Faun Peret

Jack King

Jewel Hall

Mildred E. Weed

Wayfe Hockett

Zella Halley

Concordia George

Herbert Eisenschmidt

Boatner Chamberlain

Marion Merservey

and introducing the heroine of my next novel:

Adelaide Embody!!!

Rest in peace, fantastically-named folks....