Male First Names

I thought that I’d better look at the male given names seeing I’ve looked at female names.  In the Family Tree I’ve done for SNR there are 120 direct males ancestors with 138 names of which 42 are different. This result surprised me. I thought there would be a smaller variety of names compared to women.  The list is as follows:

John - 25

William - 17

Thomas - 12

Robert - 8

George - 8

Joseph - 6

Richard -5

Samuel - 4

James - 4

Henry - 4

Frederick - 4

Edward - 3

Albert - 3

Warner - 2

Nicholas - 2

Hugh - 2

Charles - 2

Augustus - 2

Arthur - 2

Then one occurrence of each of the following: Wilfrid, Walter, Victor, Nathaniel, Michael, Kenneth, Job, Jacob, Isaac, Ian, Herbert, Gary, Francis, Elliot, Elijah, Eli, Edmund, Douglas, David, Christian, Cecil, Alfred, Adrian.

The areas that are difficult to research are not represented and this skews the results!

If you compare these names to the ten most popular Australian names for boys in 2013, the only duplicate is William (number 4 in Australia). However, you could argue there were two additional names: Jack (no. 2) is a derivative of John and Charlie (no. 6) is a derivative of Charles.

What's in a SURNAME?

Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" and this leads to a large number of variations of the original spelling. No surname is 'fixed'!

It is believed there are over 45,000 different English surnames.

Most surnames originated from seven types:

• Occupational: based on a job or position in society [Heard, Pfeffler (pipe player), Spicer].
• Personal characteristic: based on nicknames that described a person. They may have described a person’s size, colouring, or character trait. [Bunn (from the French word ‘bon’), White, Pococke]
• Place name: where a person was born, lived, worked, or owned land. It might be from the name of a house, farm, hamlet, town, or county.  [Freestone, Kimberley (‘leah’ is a wood), Woolley]
• Estate name: name of their holdings, castle, manor, or estate, such as Ernle or Staunton.
• Geographical feature: Some examples are Bridge, Brooks, Bush, Camp. [Hilton]
• Patronymic, matronymic, or ancestral: from a given name (male or female).  Scottish clan names make up one set of ancestral surnames.  [Craig, Dixson (‘son of’), Dyson (from the Greek female name Dionysia), Harry, McCutcheon, Robinson, William/s]
• Signifying patronage: some surnames honored a patron. Hickman was Hick’s man (Hick being a nickname for Richard), Kilpatrick was a follower of Patrick.

Many surnames have more than one possible origin:

• Barry – three possible origins. It could be from the French word ‘bari’ meaning castle; from Norman/Irish origins as the descendant of Fionnbharr; or from the Scottish locational origin from the village of Barry, Angus, meaning rough, grassy hill.
• Bray –a number of possible origins: a locational name in East Berkshire or Devonshire, from the word ‘bre’ meaning hill or from ‘Brae’ in Scotland, or from the old Gaelic ‘O’Breaghdha’ indicating a native of Begia; or a nickname from the Cornish work ‘bregh’ meaning fine or brave; 
• Carne – of Cornish origins from the Cornish word ‘carn” meaning rock. It could be a geographical feature or a place name.
• Crofts – could be a nickname, a geographical feature or a place name.
• Folland – of Norwegian origin, either after location in Norway; or geographical, for a dweller of a beach where it is difficult to land ships.
• Joyce –origin is French, but was an early Irish name.  It could be a patronymic name from ‘Iodoc’ meaning ‘lord’ or it could be a place name from the village of Josse sur Mer, Calvados, Normandy.

Surnames in England also tend to be associated with, or concentrated in, particular areas and our ancestors followed this general trend. For example, the surname Bunn was from the East Anglia area; Hollebone from East Sussex; Dyson, Freestone, Hilton, Kimberley and Woolley from the north east of England (especially Yorkshire); Carne and Heard from Cornwell and Devon.

Josiah Kimberley (1850 - 1887)

I may have previously mentioned that I like tracing family members with easy names to find. Josiah Kimberley is a good example of this.  He was interesting because he left England bound for Australia, as his older brother had, and he became an Anglican Minister when the rest of his family were labourers.

Josiah Kimberley was born in Kingswinford, Stropshire in 1850. He was the fourth child and fourth son of Tabitha and John Kimberley. The family lived at High Street at the time of the 1851 Census, and the Census Enumerator mixed his bible name and wrote Jonah instead of Josiah. By the time of the 1861 Census the family had moved to Broad Street and remained there for the remainder of Josiah's childhood. Josiah was a studious lad at a time when most of town were manual labourers (including everyone in Josiah's family). In time he became a school teacher in Kingswinford.
In about 1874 his older brother emigrated from England to Australia and this may have made Josiah think about doing the same thing. Josiah came to Australia in the late 1870s.
Once in Australia, Josiah became an Anglican Minister.
He married Margaret Barr on 7 April 1879 in George Street, Redfern and they had four children. The first two were born in Sydney:

• Hugh John (25 April 1880) (named after Margaret's father)
• Harold Roy (1881) (I am not sure if Harold was the name of a family friend as another brother also called one of his sons Harold).

The second two were born in Cowra. In 1882 Josiah was appointed to the newly built Anglican Church in Cowra:

• Zoe (1883) and
• Maude Marie (1886).

Sadly, on 21 February 1887, very shortly after Maude's birth, Josiah died at the age of 37 in Cowra from typhoid fever. He was buried the following day at the Church. The Cowra Free Press reported on his death on 25 February 1887 and the article is transcribed below.

[Cowra Free Press, 25 February 1887] In our last issue we briefly referred to the dangerous condition of the Rev. J. Kimberley, Incumbent of the parish, from the effects of typhoid fever, but we little thought then that his end was so near. For several days the rev. gentleman hovered between life and death, still it was sanguinely hoped by his many friends that his vigorous, wiry nature would enable him to combat the malignant stages of the disease; but, alas, he gradually sank until death seized him for its own of about 9 o'clock on Monday morning last. Happily, the last hours of the dying pastor were soothed by the presence of his fondly attached wife and family who had been hastily summoned from Sydney, whither they had gone for change of air and scene. Some four months ago, typhoid first made its appearance in the rev gentleman’s household, and since then, we believe we are correct in saying, each of its members has suffered from the prostrating influence of that terrible disease.  At one period the labour of nursing and watching the invalids entirely devolved upon the late Mr Kimberley, who, up to that stage, had apparently escaped contracting the dangerous malady, hence it is needless to add that such exhausting duties combined with natural anxiety could not do otherwise than to enfeeble one endowed with a peculiarly sensitive organisation. About four weeks ago our late reverend friend accompanied his family to the metropolis, returning to Cowra after an absence of a day or so to resume his clerical duties, as he hoped, but in reality to take to his bed with typhoid fever, that disease having developed during his brief absence. The attack at first was of an unusually mild form, so much so that after something over a week’s confinement he was considered sufficiently convalescent to take a little outdoor exercise. About a fortnight ago we saw himk walking above the town, but upon his returning home the same evening alarming symptoms set in, and thenceforward he gradually grew worse until his end came. During the late Mr Kimberley’s sojourn in the district, something over four years, he has identified himself with every public movement having for its object the progress of our town and the intellectual advancement of his fellow citizens. Through his influence the late Literary and Debating Club was brought into existence and flourished, until its more pretentious and less useful rival, the School of Arts, succeeded in supplanting it. He was also instrumental in causing the erection of the building used as a school of Arts, entering, with nine other townsmen, into a bond to the Commercial Bank for the amount of its cost. In cricket, too, he took an intensely lively interest, and besides holding the position of President of the local Club, he enjoyed the reputation of being one of its most active and brilliant members, consequently by his removal no ordinary vacancy has been created amongst our representative cricketers. When Mr Kimberley took charge of the parish here Church affairs were in a very disorganised state and a heavy debt existed on St John’s, but owing to the admirable qualities of such an indefatigable and energetic pastor as an organiser and leader, parochial affairs were immediately placed upon a workable basis and the debt on the church has been reduced to a mere trifle. Although equal to any emergency in collecting funds towards the liquidation of the parochial debt, the late Mr Kimberley was singularly sensitive about making any reference to his stipend, consequently, we are informed, it has been allowed to run into arrears until a considerable sum was owing to him at the time of his demise. This, under the voluntary system now in vogue may not be considered in the light of a debt, but surely a sense of honour will actuate the parishioners of a pastor to whom they are indebted for so much, to present his widow and orphans with the amount of arrears they are morally entitled to. We, in common with the many friends of the bereaved family, mournfully sympathise with them in their sad affliction, but being aware that mere lip sympathy will not suffice to provide the exigencies of life for humanity, we have ventured to suggest that it should take a sound practical form in the direction above indicated. All that was mortal of the Rev. J Kimberley was borne on the shoulders of four sorrowing parishioners from the Parsonage to St John’s Church, followed by a very large concourse of people of various denominations, many of whom came from a considerable distance out of respect to the memory of the deceased rev. gentleman.  A portion of the beautiful ceremonial peculiar to the Anglican persuasion was then performed by the Revs Read (Carcoar), Raymond (Grenfell), and Neild (Blayney), and was followed by a most affecting and forcible address from the Rev Archdeacon Campbell (Bathurst), who, after referring to the personal merits of the lamented pastor, urged his hearers to be prepared to meet their eternal doom, and in conclusion appealed to them to accord the afflicted family that practical sympathy they stood so much in need of. The Dead March in Saul was feelingly rendered on the organ by Mr Booth. The late Mr Kimberley, who was only 35 years of age, leaves a deeply attached wife and five young children to mourn their loss.], but we little thought then that his end was so near. For several days the rev. gentleman hovered between life and death, still it was sanguinely hoped by his many friends that his vigorous, wiry nature would enable him to combat the malignant stages of the disease; but, alas, he gradually sank until death seized him for its own of about 9 o'clock on Monday morning last. Happily, the last hours of the dying pastor were soothed by the presence of his fondly attached wife and family who had been hastily summoned from Sydney, whither they had gone for change of air and scene. Some four months ago, typhoid first made its appearance in the rev gentleman’s household, and since then, we believe we are correct in saying, each of its members has suffered from the prostrating influence of that terrible disease.  At one period the labour of nursing and watching the invalids entirely devolved upon the late Mr Kimberley, who, up to that stage, had apparently escaped contracting the dangerous malady, hence it is needless to add that such exhausting duties combined with natural anxiety could not do otherwise than to enfeeble one endowed with a peculiarly sensitive organisation. About four weeks ago our late reverend friend accompanied his family to the metropolis, returning to Cowra after an absence of a day or so to resume his clerical duties, as he hoped, but in reality to take to his bed with typhoid fever, that disease having developed during his brief absence. The attack at first was of an unusually mild form, so much so that after something over a week’s confinement he was considered sufficiently convalescent to take a little outdoor exercise. About a fortnight ago we saw himk walking above the town, but upon his returning home the same evening alarming symptoms set in, and thenceforward he gradually grew worse until his end came. During the late Mr Kimberley’s sojourn in the district, something over four years, he has identified himself with every public movement having for its object the progress of our town and the intellectual advancement of his fellow citizens. Through his influence the late Literary and Debating Club was brought into existence and flourished, until its more pretentious and less useful rival, the School of Arts, succeeded in supplanting it. He was also instrumental in causing the erection of the building used as a school of Arts, entering, with nine other townsmen, into a bond to the Commercial Bank for the amount of its cost. In cricket, too, he took an intensely lively interest, and besides holding the position of President of the local Club, he enjoyed the reputation of being one of its most active and brilliant members, consequently by his removal no ordinary vacancy has been created amongst our representative cricketers. When Mr Kimberley took charge of the parish here Church affairs were in a very disorganised state and a heavy debt existed on St John’s, but owing to the admirable qualities of such an indefatigable and energetic pastor as an organiser and leader, parochial affairs were immediately placed upon a workable basis and the debt on the church has been reduced to a mere trifle. Although equal to any emergency in collecting funds towards the liquidation of the parochial debt, the late Mr Kimberley was singularly sensitive about making any reference to his stipend, consequently, we are informed, it has been allowed to run into arrears until a considerable sum was owing to him at the time of his demise. This, under the voluntary system now in vogue may not be considered in the light of a debt, but surely a sense of honour will actuate the parishioners of a pastor to whom they are indebted for so much, to present his widow and orphans with the amount of arrears they are morally entitled to. We, in common with the many friends of the bereaved family, mournfully sympathise with them in their sad affliction, but being aware that mere lip sympathy will not suffice to provide the exigencies of life for humanity, we have ventured to suggest that it should take a sound practical form in the direction above indicated. All that was mortal of the Rev. J Kimberley was borne on the shoulders of four sorrowing parishioners from the Parsonage to St John’s Church, followed by a very large concourse of people of various denominations, many of whom came from a considerable distance out of respect to the memory of the deceased rev. gentleman.  A portion of the beautiful ceremonial peculiar to the Anglican persuasion was then performed by the Revs Read (Carcoar), Raymond (Grenfell), and Neild (Blayney), and was followed by a most affecting and forcible address from the Rev Archdeacon Campbell (Bathurst), who, after referring to the personal merits of the lamented pastor, urged his hearers to be prepared to meet their eternal doom, and in conclusion appealed to them to accord the afflicted family that practical sympathy they stood so much in need of. The Dead March in Saul was feelingly rendered on the organ by Mr Booth. The late Mr Kimberley, who was only 35 years of age, leaves a deeply attached wife and five young children to mourn their loss.
Note that there were two minor errors: Josiah was 37 at the time of his death and I believe there were only four children.

Margaret returned to Sydney, but did not remarry. She died on 7 January 1932 at her residence in Manly.

I suspect he was a very likeable fellow: two of his brothers gave their own sons the name of Josiah.

Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great-great uncle

Female first names

So, what's in a name? Everyone has one, most people have a vague idea what their own means (I've always understood that Rebecca 'meant' enchanting!), but we don't really give them much more thought.

I've put together a list of SNR's direct female ancestors to look at the most frequent names. Obviously, I can go much further back on some lines, which means that potentially names from a particular region are easier to get than others, and therefore, my information is slightly skewed to those areas (I'm thinking of the wonderful records kept of Devon Churches compared to the scarce information from Ireland, or the 'difficult to negotiate' records from Germany). I've ended up with 124 names (counting both first and second names) of which there are 40 different names. I suspect that many people descended from mainly 'English' stock would have a similar list...

The list is as follows:

Mary (25)
Elizabeth (16)
Ann/e (12)
Jane (8)
Sarah (6)
Helen (5)
Catherine (4)
Ellen (4)
Alice (3)
Margaret (3)
Agnes (2)
Clara (2)
Hannah (2)
Isabella (2)
Marjorie (2)
Martha (2)
Matilda (2)
Susanna (2)

Then one occurrence of each of the following: Carey, Caroline, Charlotte, Christina, Dorothy, Eileen, Eliza, Elsie, Frances, Frederica, Gwenyth, Harriet, Isobel, Ivy, Latitia, Lily, Lorna, May, Rachel, Rebecca, Ruth, Tabitha.

These names were 'given' over a period of more than three hundred years, but I've compared them to the records of most popular names from 2013.  Needless to say, they are quite different!  In fact, the only names on the above list that also appear in the Australian, Canadian, Irish, UK or US top ten female names are Isabella (all bar Ireland), Sarah (Canada and Ireland), Charlotte (Aus) and Elizabeth (US).  These are probably names that would be considered 'old'!

Names

The study of names is called onomastics, a field which looks at linguistics, history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, philology and other obscure things. 

A first name, or given name, identifies a specific person, differentiating them from other members of a group, such as a family or clan, with whom that person shares a common surname. The name is 'given' to a person, generally at or around the time of birth, and usually by the parents.

Surnames are a hereditary name common to all members of a family. As Ancestry states: ‘Your last name gives you a sense of identify and helps you discover who you are and where you come from.’

All names have meaning: all first names and all surnames. In Western Society we don't generally get to choose our surname, and most people wouldn't even consider changing their name because of the meaning. First names are slightly different, and the amount of 'baby names and their meanings' books available would attest to that. I'm not sure that we actually chose the names of our children based on their meaning, but we certainly looked into the meaning of the names we chose.

So I’m not sure that my 'examining' the names of our ancestors is really all that informative, but it is fun!

Frederick Hibberd (1835 - 1908)

Frederick Hibberd was born on 13 July 1836 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England; the son of Mary Pavy and Elijah Hibberd.  He was baptised on 31 July 1836 in the Salisbury Parish Church – he was actually baptised as ‘Frederic’.  He was the couple’s second youngest of eight children.  Elijah Hibberd died in 1840 and Mary in 1841 – so Frederick was an orphan at the age of five.  It appears that the older siblings raised the younger children, including Frederick.  In the 1851 and 1861 Census he was living with his brother, Elijah – firstly in Salisbury and then in Winchester.  Elijah was an umbrella maker and it appears that, for at least some time, Frederick joined his brother in this occupation.  In 1857 Frederick commenced lay preaching and recalled that his first sermon “lies buried in forgetfulness”.  In the 1861 Census his occupations was listed as a shoemaker / lay preacher. He was student number 33 at Spurgeons College (then Pastor's College), London - one of the very first people to have trained with Reverend Charles Spurgeon for the Baptist Ministry.  Frederick attended the College in 1862 and 1863 until Rev. Spurgeon sent him to Australia to help supplement the meagre number of Baptist Ministers in the Colony.  Generally the training was a little longer than two years unless Spurgeon had a particular ‘assignment’ for the student.  Obviously Spurgeon did in Frederick Hibberd’s case.  Spurgeon heavily influenced Frederick’s style.

Frederick Hibberd arrived in Sydney on the brig ‘La Hogue’ on 29 October 1863 – the journey had taken 90 days from Plymouth. The Baptist Church was in its infancy and no doubt Baptists in Sydney would have been thrilled to have a new Minister in the Colony.  Upon his arrival a tea and public meeting was held to welcome him to Sydney.  According to the Sydney Morning Herald’s report of the meeting, about 300 people attended the tea and a much larger number attended the meeting.  Captain Williams, of the La Hogue spoke and talked about Frederick’s exemplary activities while on the La Hogue – Frederick had conducted all services and performed other ministry activities.  Rev Kent also spoke about how important it was to get a gentleman who was endorsed by Rev Spurgeon.  He said Ministers were like warriors in the field of battle who were delighted to receive reinforcements.   Frederick said that he trusted there would be a good bond between himself and his church.  He said that a Minister should have the freedom to work wherever he could do good work and should be hampered by poor conditions.  He said that he needed the support of his Church.  He finished by quoting some lines by Wesley describing the Christian’s future blessedness. 

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on sermons to be preached by Frederick in 1864, although there is no record about what the sermons were actually about:

10 January – The Mischievous Penknife

17 January – A Question for the Times

24 January – An Eye to Business

31 January – Spiritual Anatomy

7 February – The Four Portraits

14 February – Which of the Two

21 February  - How are you

28 February – Travail and Triumph

6 March – Black but Beautiful

13 March – World’s Contemplated Condition

20 March – Crossing the Line

5 June – Here is the form, but where is the force?

12 June – What do you preach?

19 June – Good cheer for the famishing

26 June – Do you remember?

3 July – Will you come?

10 July – Too late!  Too late!

On 11 January 1866 Frederick married Isabella Dixson at 198 York Street in Sydney.  It was Isabella’s 21^st Birthday.  Isabella and Frederick had eight children; of which only one was male.  The sixth child died as an infant.

After marriage, Frederick continued to work in Sydney, but increasingly had issues with two deacons of the Church. In 1867 he decided to accept a ministry at Launceston, Tasmania. When Frederick, Isabella and one year old Helen were moving to Launceston, the steamer they were on collided with another ship and sank in Hobson Bay, near Williamstown. Fortunately, due to the proximity of other ships in the Bay, there was no loss of life – except for some of the sheep – and the Hibberd’s possessions happened to be on a different ship. It must have still been quite a shock to Isabella and Frederick!

They didn’t stay in Launceston for a long time.  Frederick resigned in July 1867 in protest of “impurity and corruption in the church”. The young family then went to Sandhurst, Victoria. He resigned from this position to recover from injuries received in a serious carriage accident.  He was riding along the street that the hospital was located on (that was handy) when his horse stumbled and he fell into an area that had been excavated.  He suffered severe concussion.  The family returned to Sydney.

Frederick Hibberd appears to be quite ‘accident prone’!  Besides the sinking in Hobson Bay, he was also lucky to escape the sinking of the Jason in 1875 when he spent a year travelling to England – a trip which was undertaken in part to have a rest after nearly dying in the above carriage accident in Sandhurst! There were at least two other reported carriage accidents that Frederick was in – one with his infant granddaughter.

Upon his return to Australia in 1875, he went to Bourke Street Baptist Church in Woolloomooloo; before moving to Ashfield in 1880.  The family lived in Holden Street – near the newly built Ashfield Baptist Church, and Frederick worked free of charge in the new church. The family were supported by Hugh Dixson, Frederick's brother-in-law.

Frederick Hibberd was highly respected as a minister and preacher.  He was involved in the NSW Baptist Union for over 45 years, specifically: the president four times; editor of The Baptist for nine years; and the secretary of the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society for 23 years.  Besides assisting in the establishment of the Ashfield and Goulburn Baptist Churches, Frederick also started new work at Bourke Street, Sydney and at Parramatta. After finishing his work at Ashfield, Frederick worked extensively for the Baptist Church in NSW, including preaching wherever invited. He was also involved with the establishment of the East Carlingford Presbyterian Church (now Epping). It was unusual that a Baptist Minister would be involved in the Presbyterian Church.

On 27 October 1908 Frederick Hibberd died suddenly at his home “Sarum” in Carlingford in Sydney.  He was 73. It was reported that he woke in the morning and didn’t feel particularly well.  He decided to go back to his bed, he asked his wife Isabella to get him “a glass of brandy” (as reported in The Baptist edition of 2 November 1908) before he fell back on the bed and died.  Presumably the brandy was considered medicinal as Frederick had lectured on the importance of abstaining from alcohol!

The funeral was held on 28 October. Arthur Waldock organised the funeral arrangements and conducted a short service at Frederick Hibberd’s home with relatives.  Rev W.M. Cartwright, president of the Baptist Union, conducted the service at Rookwood and Thomas Porter delivered the eulogy. Arthur Waldock also assisted in the service along with other ministers. The service included the singing of one of Frederick Hibberd’s favourite hymns, “Rock of Ages” (This hymn was also a favourite of Prince Albert, who had it played to him on his deathbed).

When Rev Arthur Waldock was establishing the Canberra Baptist Church he ensured that a stained glass window was included in Frederick Hibberd's honour.  A plaque was also put in the Bathurst Street Baptist Church in recognition of his work.

Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great grandfather