I probably read 4 or 5 record conveyances a day and have for at least the last 10 years.?ÿ Besides chuckling at all the amateur description writing my favorite pastime is noting the names of folks, some crazy and some just unique.?ÿ I've seen John Kennedy.?ÿ I've seen Paul McCartney.?ÿ I remember a family with the surname of McGillicuddy.?ÿ?ÿAbraham Lincoln Jones hardly raised an eyebrow.
But the other day I ran into what is probably so far the weirdest name:?ÿ Odos Scritchfiekl.
Odos has been dead and buried for over 50 years.?ÿ I was looking through the county's records on a piece of property and ran into a somewhat recent quiet title action.?ÿ Attached was the last will & testament of one Odos Scritchfiekl from years ago.?ÿ Odos indeed owned this particular parcel and bequeathed it to his heirs.?ÿ In all the legal fodder was a number of signatures from the current litigation.?ÿ One was a Mary Elizabeth Parker, nee Scritchfield, a descendant no doubt.?ÿ This made me wonder if Odos's last name had been merely a typo.?ÿ I dug back into the probate.?ÿ His will had his signature affixed thereto. His name was indeed Scritchfiekl.?ÿ
I suppose somewhere along the line the family members go tired of answering the question, "how you spell that?"?ÿand swapped the name over to the more palatable Americanized Scritchfield.
I raise my coffee cup to Odos Scritchfiekl.?ÿ Here's to you old timer.?ÿ 😉
Well......at least it is still somewhat culturally identifiable as to his ancestry and where his family originated as it sounds German.
My grandfather and 4 of his 5 siblings changed their surname in an attempt to sound more "American" and while it may sound like a good idea it completely changed the perception of what my cultural identity is. I learned at the time that Italian immigrants were not welcome in some parts of the country so it was an attempt to blend in.
Provenzano is an easily recognized Italian surname however Provenson sounds like some odd Nordic or other Scandinavian name and makes for some equally odd and befuddled looks when the Italian origins are learned.?ÿ
Eugen Gheorghe
You can bet this deaf old fart had a tough time getting that name written down correctly during the initial phone call, especially as it was being spoken with a very heavy Romanian accent.?ÿ Really a nice guy.?ÿ Expert at working with marble to craft counter tops, etc. for custom-designed home usage.?ÿ Had only been on this side of the Atlantic Ocean for a few months.?ÿ What started the confusion was that he identified himself by the surname predominately.?ÿ So, I finally figure out it might be George, or something that rhymed with George but not quite George, but what the heck is his last name.?ÿ You-gun seemed odd for a last name.?ÿ I know I probably sounded like the dumbest person in the world by the time I had his name spelled correctly and in the correct order.
Name changing seems to have been quite common in the 1800's.?ÿ I had an ancestor from Germany named John George Reuter. He married Mary Elizabeth __ and they named all their children with their same first names.?ÿ As the kids became adults, some changed their surname spelling and we wound up with:
John George Reuter Jr
John Adam Reiter
John Phillip Reuter
John Leonard Rider
John Henry Reuter
Mary Elizabeth ___
My grandmother knew all of them, so there was no problem for me to figure out. I guess no one called any of them John.?ÿ?ÿ
I think the daughter commonly went by Lizzie.?ÿ Although I've never encountered it, I read that sometimes they do use Junior (at least in legal documents) if she has the same name as her mother. How about Junioretta?
When we used to get the local newspaper, I often commented that there was hardly a day went by that I didn't see a surname in the obits I couldn't remember seeing before.?ÿ You'd think by the time you get to be a codger you'd have heard most of them.
The wife's family is pure-blooded Polish. I stopped years ago attempting to pronounce anybody's name...first or last. My wife has an Auntie Theodozia. I had to ask how to pronounce it...the reply: that's Auntie Daisy.
should'a known....
You know how you might have called your Sixth Grade teacher something like Mrs. Smith.?ÿ Somehow, some way you might have heard some other adult refer to her as Mary once.?ÿ Then, a few decades later you discover that within her family circle she was known as Salome, which turns out to be the middle name.?ÿ A couple decades after that you stumble onto a deed for her property and it turns out her legal name is Salome Smith?ÿ Turns out she was named for both the mother and the aunt of Jesus (the one in the Bible, not the one from Texas)
My Grandfather left New Jersey during WWI as Bella Karlick and arrived in California as Bennett Karoly. He avoided the draft doing that.
My other Grandfather Winthrop Hamilton Swett and his twin brother Winfield Harold Malcom Swett were arrested in the early 1930s and ordered by a Massachusetts Judge to support their Father.
On a deputy's nameplate on his jacket "Deputy Raper". Somehow that would have played in with the song "Alice's Restaurant" really well.?ÿ
There is a local family by the name of Rape and I sorta substitute a ph sound or say something in the neighborhood of Rap to Ralphy.
I have a client that is a bank manager whose last name is "Fulks", I call him Folks or by his first name when I can remember.
My all-time favorite has been clients on one project, Dustdevil, and Happyjack.
Cemeteries are fantastic sources of the oddest names.?ÿ Both first and last.?ÿ The sort of names that you don't find but once or twice in a lifetime.
One local ancestor to many had the first name of Goodlief.?ÿ Can't say I've ever met someone with that name. Odos made me think of Odie, one fellow I knew, and Ode (short for Odin) who was a neighbor.?ÿ Odie should have hooked up with Olvie, the mother-in-law of one of my classmates or maybe Ostie the head cook in my high school.
My favorite was an old farmer named Leon Nerpal. Had a nice ring to it. I used it often as my pseudonym in college when I was giving away free sperm samples.
I had to ask someone to explain this but it made sense after hearing it. I will see if anyone else knows the meaning.
That's one of those all-men places and you have to be a bit wacky or they wont let you in. One strange thing is that if you are a female named Becky they will let you in.
I will see if anyone else knows the meaning.
I recognized the name because of having done genealogy work.?ÿ I don't know where the nearest active group is, though.?ÿ
Google will find lots of information on the history.
