Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial

[kathrynsarah]

Last weekend, I took a trip to Gloucester, MA with my family. We visited the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial (not sure that is the actual name of it or not). There are several plaques there with names of the fishermen that died at sea between 1716 and 2001 (the total was over 5,000). On a whim, I decided to take photos of the names (I ended up missing a few columns by accident, but I actually got most of them) and put some on here. Here are the names that I found either unique or interesting. I also added ones that seemed “out there” for the year they appeared, but I’m only comparing that to what seemed common based on the plaques; I know nothing about what names were popular in what year way back then.

I’m sure this will be very long, so I apologize for that! Let me know what you think, and if you’d like to know what year any of the names were from on the plaques (I was originally going to organize them by year, but that would just take up more space). I put a * next to the names I have never seen/heard of before; let me know if you know anything about these names!

Nehemiah (2)
Morris
Ebenezer (5)
Icabod (2)
Jabez (2)*
Zerubabel*
Spencer (2)
Zip
Lemuel*
Rufus (2)
Adoniram*
Solomon (3)
Asa (3)
Job (6)
Moses (4)
Ambrose*
Jabesh*
Ephraim (2)
Tristram*
Zebulon*
Miles
Abel
Adrien
Eliphalet*
Levi
Dudley
Allen
Gorham
Amos (2)
Epes*
Oliver
Reuben (2)
Gustavus
Zaccheus*
Meshach*
Fitz (2)
Simeon
Elisha (2)
Theodore (I just love this so I wanted to add it)
Augustus (2)
Israel
Aaron (this just seemed interesting to pop up in 1850) (4)
Mark (same for this name)
Arnold
Gilman
Dean
Obed
Edmund
Antone
Osborne
Addison (2)
Frank (1853)
Dennis
Sylvester
Spenser (I decided to add this separately from the Spencer(s) above)
Was (probably the most surprising for me!)
Zenas*
Angus
Franklin
Dexter (1859)
Jens
Sewell
Ocius*
Rory
Antoine
Gilbert
Manuel
Benton
Orrich*


I found it interesting which names were popular out of the names that I thought were unique. There were, of course, many many many Henrys, Georges, Samuels Stephens, Josephs, etc., but I was surprised by how many Jobs and Ebenezers there were, and that there was more than one man named Jabez! It just makes it more interesting that this is just a list of men who died at sea leaving from Gloucester, and not birth announcements or anything like that. It makes the really unique names even more unique to me. I also wanted to add that I didn’t see the name Alexander on the list until 1858!

This ended up being way longer than I thought, so the names above were taken from 1716-1860. If people are actually interested in this, I will continue on and create more posts when I get a chance.

[auroradawn]

Wow, thanks for sharing! Of the ones you hadn't seen before, Jabez, Zerubabel, Adoniram, Jabesh, Zebulon, Eliphalet, Zaccheus, Meshach and Zenas are all Biblical names. They're a bit far out there for my taste, except Zebulon, Zaccheus and maybe Adoniram. Adoniram Judson was an early missionary to (I think) China. Tristram is a name from Arthurian legend (Tristram and Isolde.) Tristan is a more familiar variation. Ambrose is Greek, meaning "immortal," and seems to be a bit of a Nameberry favorite. I've never seen Epes, Ocius or Orrich either!
Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Zebulon were four of Jacob's twelve sons in the Bible. Joseph and Benjamin, which I'm sure were on the list, were two more. (The others were Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Issachar--did you see any of them?)
It's nice to see Moses, which has fallen out of favor, and Asa, which is coming back. I like Miles, Abel, Solomon, Levi, Reuben, Edmund, Addison (for a man!!), Spencer/Spenser, Angus, Rory, Gilbert...
Which years were Edmund and Rory? Edmund is one of my favorite names.

[kala_way]

The name Orrich was actually used on Star Trek for some aliens name but I'm not sure how it was spelled.
I was just going to write a post about a lot of those being Old Testament Bible names, but auroradawn beat me to it.
Our pastor actually named their son Judson after Adoniram Judson--guess Adoniram was too out there!

I actually know a guy named Nehemiah
Zip is an interesting one! lol, wonder if that was a nickname
I love the name Rufus. Rufus Wainwright is one of my favorite singers and I really like the uniqueness of the name
I know a little boy named Asa!
Ephraim is actually an interesting choice, some TV show used it once actually--that Colorado doctor one.
Miles is pretty common actually, I've known 2 in my life and have heard of tons!
Eliphalet sound like elephant
Levi!! I love that name. One of my dearest favorites!
Elisha is a great option to Elijah!
Aaron is the name of Moses' brother in the Bible. It's thousands and thousands of years old
Mark is the name of the 2nd gospel in the Bible, also a name that's thousands of years old
I've always liked Edmund, it's a little old fashioned now, but still nice
Was -- weird!
Dexter - cool!

[shanade213]

Spencer
Asa
Miles
Abel
Levi
Amos
Oliver
Reuben
Theodore
Augustus
Dean
Angus
Rory

[kathrynsarah]

Glad some people were interested, haha.

@auroradawn: I figured that a lot of them would be biblical, as most of the names on there were ones I actually recognized from the bible. I remember Zaccheus now that I think of it, and of course Meshasch (I was just pronouncing it differently in my head when I first saw it, and I realized after you said it was biblical who he was). I have not read the whole Bible, and I would never have guessed that Reuben was in it! I did see many Daniels but no Dans, and I'm fairly sure there were some Ashers in there as well, but none of the other names, as I definitely would have added them. But I haven't finished looking at them all, so it's possible that they are there. I also did not know that Tristram was the original name of Tristan from Tristan and Isolde. Thanks for the info! Edmund showed up in 1852 and Rory was in 1860.

@kaia_way: I know a five or six-year-old named Nehemiah, and he is the only one I've ever met; his mom calls him Myo (pronounced My-oh). I love Rufus Wainwright too! And yep, I watched the show with Ephraim--it was called Everwood and I loved it. I either didn't know or forgot that Aaron was Moses' brother, and wow, of course I knew Mark was a book in the Bible and I wasn't thinking at all when I wrote that about the name...duh haha.

[kathrynsarah]

Here is Part 2 of my names:
1861-1878

Barnard* (2)
Duncan (2)
Edwin (my grandfather’s name)
Gamaliel* (2) I’m guessing biblical
Otis (2)
Neal
Archibald (3)
Artemas
King
Henly
Simon
Murdock (4)
Fletcher
Eben
Rhoderick
Hans (2) (I just have to add that the first Hans’ last name was Anderson!)
Warren (2)
Ira
Horatio
Neil (7)
Bradford
Gustave
Serno*
Leonard
Waitsell*
Freeman (3)
Sylvanius
Barnabas
Frederic
Randall (2)
Finley (2)
Larry (1870)
Alonzo
Lucius! (1871)
Elbridge
Gethro*
Alden
Laban*
Byron
Laers*
Llewellyn
Albion
Leander
Alphonso
Adalbert*
Nelson
Horace
Brumley*
Leverett
Erastus*
Dougal
Hiram
Harvey
Blanchard
Harrison
Nichols
Pierce
Pius (2) both in 1875
Lauchlin
Duncan
Malcolm
Oscar
Alpheus* (biblical?)
Seth
Felix (1876)
Chester
Herbert
Maurice
Adolph (1877)
Judson
Willis

So the winner for most common names that I considered unique (I know that contradicts itself haha) for this time period is Neil, with Murdock in second.

I’m guessing that some of these were possibly last names passed down through families.

[auroradawn]

Ooo, I like this list even better than the first...yes, Gamaliel is Biblical (New Testament), as are Erastus and Alpheus. Laban is Biblical, too (Old Testament.) He was Jacob's father-in-law. Barnard is just an unusual variation on Bernard, I think, and my guess would be that Gethro (which I hadn't seen before) is a variation of Jethro. It could be a surname, though. I think Adalbert is German...a longer version of Albert, perhaps. I haven't seen Serno, Waitsell, Laers or Brumley. Leverett makes me smile...a leveret is a baby rabbit!
I like Duncan, Simon, Fletcher, Eben, Ira, Horatio, Llewellyn, Leander, Erastus, Dougal, Harrison, Pierce, Lauchlin, Judson and Willis. I really like Lucius and Barnabas! I have a brother named Barnabas So many cool names! Thanks for sharing more, and for finding the dates on Edmund and Rory. Glad to help the first time around.

[kathrynsarah]

No problem! I will do more lists as soon as I get a chance...it's definitely going to take me awhile.

[amylin15]

Wow this is interesting, thanks!

Weird that Sewell is on there, it's my maiden name. Never thought of it as a first name before. My family is from MA tho, so perhaps this is some ancestor of mine whose had it as a maiden name as well? That is a somewhat common tradition.

[frustratedauthor]

There are loads of great names on these lists. My favorites:

Nehemiah
Spencer
Rufus
Solomon
Job
Moses
Levi
Amos
Meshach
Elisha
Augustus
Edmund
Simon
Artemas
Barnabas