Just call him "Nick"

I posted a long time ago about a couple of my relatives whose names I thought were somewhat unusual -- Experience Sabin and Truthful Wait. They were born at a time -- Experience in the late 17th century and Truthful in the early 18h -- when English Puritans often named their children in one of three ways, if they were not named for a member of the extended family. This latter practice tends to cause confusion as fathers, sons, uncles and cousins -- and sometimes the equivalents among women, though not as common -- would all bear the same first name and occasionally the same full name.

By far the most common was to name their children after people in the Bible. This isn't particularly unusual. The practice was used for a long time in Christian communities and continues to this day. They, and we, have no shortage of Matthews, Marks, Lukes and Johns, names that are also common outside of religious communities. 

According to the New England Historial Society web site, half of all Puritan girls in 17th century Massachusetts were named Sarah, Elizabeth or Mary. Many parents at the time named their daughters Ruth, for her characteristics of being obedient and hard-working. 

No doubt the parents took particular care to teach the children about their namesakes to encourage them to emulate the great saints of the Bible. 

The next most common naming convention involved using what are called "virtue names" or "grace names." As with biblical names, this convention continues to the present. My great to the x grandmothers' names are examples. 

Among the most common are the virtues of faith, hope and charity. Grace was popular. Prudence and Temperance don't sound too out of place in the modern world, though I can't say I've actually known anyone with those names. I do know a couple of TV charaters with those names.

Interestingly, these names weren't considered gender specific. A boy could be as easily called Grace or Charity as a girl. A virtue is a virtue and should be practiced by all, right? And Johnny Cash thought calling a boy Sue was a bad idea. 

Although virtue names by and large could be nongender specific, three names -- Obedience, Silence and Tace, a Latin word for quiet, tended to be reserved for daughters. Sexism was alive and well in those days.

One of the less common naming conventions is called "hortatory names," hortatory meaning encouragement, advisory or warning. Here we encounter some truly bizarre names.

One fellow found himself tagged with the name "Fight the Good Fight of Faith." Did they call him "Fight" for short, I wonder? Fight once served on a jury with peers named Kill Sin (whose unfortunate last name was Pimple),  More Fruit Fowler, Stand Fast on High Stringer and Be Faithful Joiner.

An English Puritan with the last name Barebones, bore the hortatory name Praise-God. He served as a lay preacher and as a member of Parliament. His last name became associated with the last of Oliver Cromwell's Parliaments. I'm not sure why, but I'll get back to you after I found out. 

As you might imagine, some of these names could proves troublesome.  Imagine bearing the Old Testament name Mahershalalhasbaz. Or asking someone their name and being told "Patience." The reply might have been, "Ok, whenever you're ready."

One woman bore the unfortunate name Ffly-from-Fornication (quite a first name to go with the last name Bull). I'm sure her parents thought the name would work quite well as "a thread tyed about the finger, to make us mindful ...," as one Puritan minister deemed such hortatory names. However, she is known to us because she became pregnant after, will you know, with a man in a woodshed owned by Goodman Woodman. No word as to whether he was the one with whom she, well, again you know. 

Oh, and Praise-God Barebone? He named a son "If-Jesus-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned." They couldn't shorten that to Jesus because Puritans thought the Lord's name should belong only to him. Fortunately his actual first name appears to have been Nicholas. Just call him "Nick."

Slate.com has an article titled, "A Boy Named Humiliation: Some Wacky, Cruel, and Bizarre Puritan Names," if you want to see more unique hortatory names.