What's in a (Sur) name

I'd guess Kerenheppuch
(I've not checked the spelling, but they were the 3 named daughters of Job)

[And I *think* the modern day Karen is a Scandinavian version of Katherine]

 

You are right -Kerenhappuch (or hyphenated Keren-happuch). At the time I did my initial investigation I recall reading words to the effect"....with the hyphenation becoming common place it is believed to have led to the derivation of the modern day Karen....". But as I'm no authority on derivations will take a rain check (or is it cheque) on that.

Incidentally with his 3 daughters "and in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job (Job 4:15)" he broke all traditions of the time by granting his 3 daughters 'inheritance rights amount their brethren' (on a par with their brothers, an unheard of thing at that time). Quite a few Women Emancipation groups have latched onto that phrase including the American 'Jobs Daughters' organisation (probably now defunct)

 

More likely lying down on the Job!

Yes I guess there were a fair few families who named their daughters after the daughters of Job. I just felt sorry for the one who was named Kerenhappuch.

Job did have more than 3 daughters (names unknown)but he lost them, so God gave him 3 more..... Don't ask!

 

If you think Kerenhappuch leads the field for Biblical (or even unusual) based names, here are a few more contained in my own Tree and the one I research and manage for my wife. Surprisingly considering the Jewish influences in the names, neither of us is Jewish, or for that matter over concerned with religion of any persuasion. The name in capitals are those found in the Trees and all hail from the 19th Century.

ZIPPORAH (daughter of Reuel -aka Jethro) a Midianite Priest or Prince. Gave his daughter in Marriage to Moses (incidentally but not in my Tree Zipporah bore Moses two sons, Gershom & Eliezer)

BEZALEEL (or Bezalel) Son or Uri and grandson of Hur. Major player in Jewish History and concerned with the Ark of the Tabernacle.

RHESA Son of Zorobabel -the name means affection and is found in Luke 3.27

TRYPHENA One of twin sisters - the other was Tryphosa. Mentioned by St Paul (16:12)

Finally a break from Biblical and all of Italian origin and in the same family group:
CELESTINA: CELESTINO; GRAZIA, NEDDA & SERGIO

That will suffice for now, but I will be back in due course to record some unusual surnames and their many Census corruptions. I may even have the record for the most corrupted surname, but no doubt others will challenge on that front. I will be back! (now who said that?)

 

How did you do that? I mean make text appear like that, magic !!!

 

[You'll be kicked out of the magic circle for sure now]

 

Wow! There are some boffins on this forum aren't there!

 

Yup - pretty scary, I reckon.....

 

Here then as promised are examples in my Tree of surname corruptions and the 3 that gave me the most trouble

FENNELOW
A Great x 2 Grandmother early widowed remarried a Fennellow. Here are some of the names I found when seeking him (and his family) prior to marriage, and both as a married couple.

Finnellon:Finnellow:Finellow:Finelow:Fendelow:Fineltone:Fineltore:Findlow:Fennely

I accept Fennellow is a quite unusual surname but what about my next candidate.

CUNNINGTON
A Great Uncle named CUNNINGTON. You would have thought that surname quite reasonable to find, but oh no. Here are some of the variations found:

Cunningham:Connington:Cannington:Cammington:Carrington:Cummington
Followed by two without the ‘ton’
Cumming:Cunning
And my favourite
Cunnioton

All I can say is thank god for wild card searching. Once I locked on to searching as C*ing* most came to light. However Cunnioton gave me quite a run for my money and I passed up on Cumming & Cunning many times before finally taking a peek and finding the family.

TWAMLEY
Twamley was the maiden name of my cousin’s mother. Although there were fewer corruptions, the trouble they caused when searching was every bit as problematic as those above.

Twamlow ( this occurred so many times that a small part of the family actually adopted this variation surname, and their descendants are so named today):
Twamlon:Twembly:Twonby
And to beat all
Suamaton (Don’t ask but the original handwriting truly did look like Suamaton and I only discovered them by accident when researching a relative lodging with them)

I wouldn’t mind but down the line a Twamley married a Twycross and the strange thing was the Twycross name was never corrupted unlike its ‘Tw’ counterpart which was never recorded the same twice.

Well that’s it. I’ve given up claiming any record for name corruptions but simply record them as prime examples of what I call (and have written about elsewhere) ‘Chinese Whispers’. Where people who cannot themselves write pronounce their surnames and a scribe of sorts writes what he thinks he heard. And of course in the transcription of poor handwriting.

 

I think this term (father of daughters) is usually only used if there is an absence of sons (as was not the case with Job - after his trials were over, at any rate)

 

Correct: Job also had 7 sons and whilst counting, 14,000 sheep,6,000 camels,1,000 yoke of oxen and a 1,000 donkeys -and he lived to be 140.