Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature

“1574, Jan. 29. Baptized Grace, daughter of John Russell.” – St. Columb Major.

“1588, Aug. 1. Married Thomas Wood and Faythe Wilson.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

“1565, – . Baptized Faith, daughter of Thomas and Agnes Blomefield.” – Rushall, Norfolk.

“1567, Aprill 17. Christening of Charity, daughter of Randoll Burchenshaw.” – St. Peter, Cornhill.

“1571, – . Baptized Charity, daughter of Thomas Blomefield.” – Rushall, Norfolk.

“1598, Nov. 19. Baptized Hope, d. of John Mainwaringe.” – Cant. Cath.

“1636, Nov. 25. Buried Hope, d. of Thomas Alford, aged 23.” – Drayton, Leicester.

The registers of the sixteenth and seventeenth century teem with these; sometimes boys received them. The Rev. Hope Sherhard was a minister in Providence Isle in 1632 (“Cal. S. P. Colonial,” 1632).

We may note that the still common custom of christening trine-born children by these names dates from the period of their rise:40

“1639, Sep. 7. Baptized Faith, Hope, and Charity, daughters of George Lamb, and Alice his wife.” – Hillingdon.

“1666, Feb. 22. – Finch, wife of – Finch, being delivered of three children, two of them were baptized, one called Faith, and the other Hope; and the third was intended to be called Charity, but died unbaptized.” – Cranford. Vide Lyson’s “Middlesex,” p. 30.

Mr. Lower says (“Essays on English Surnames,” ii. 159) —

“At Charlton, Kent, three female children produced at one birth received the names of Faith, Hope, and Charity.”

Thomas Adams, in his sermon on the “Three Divine Sisters,” says —

“They shall not want prosperity,That keep faith, hope, and charity.”

Perhaps some of these parents remembered this.

Faith and Charity are both mentioned as distinctly Puritan sobriquets in the “Psalm of Mercie,” a political poem:

“‘A match,’ quoth my sister Joyce,‘Contented,’ quoth Rachel, too:Quoth Abigaile, ‘Yea,’ and Faith, ‘Verily,’And Charity, ‘Let it be so.’”

Love, as the synonym of Charity, was also a favourite. Love Atkinson went out to Virginia with the early refugees (Hotten, “Emigrants,” p. 68).

“1631-2, Jan. 31. Buried Love, daughter of William Ballard.” – Berwick, Sussex.

“1740, April 30. Buried Love Arundell.” – Racton, Sussex.

“1749, May 31. Love Luckett admitted a freeman by birthright.” – “History of Town and Port of Rye,” p. 237.

“1662, May 7. Baptized Love, d. of Mr. Richard Appletree.” – Banbury.

Besides Love and Charity, other variations were Humanity and Clemency:

“1637, March 8. Bond of William Shaw, junior, and Thomas Snelling, citizens and turners, to Humanity Mayo, of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in £100 0 0.” – C. S. P.

“1625, Aug. 27. Buried Clemency Chawncey.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

Clemency was pretty, and deserved to live; but Mercy seems to have monopolized the honours, and, by the aid of John Bunyan’s heroine in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” still has her admirers. Instances are needless, but I furnish one or two for form’s sake. They shall be late ones:

“1702, Sep. 28. Married Matthias Wallraven and Mercy Waymarke.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

“1716, May 25. Married Thomas Day and Mercy Parsons, of Staplehurst.” – Cant. Cath.

But there were plenty of virtues left. Prudence had such a run, that she became Pru in the sixteenth, and Prudentia in the seventeenth century:

“1574, June 30. Buried Prudence, d. of John Mayhew.

“1612, Aug. 2. Married Robert Browne and Prudence Coxe.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

Justice is hard to separate from the legal title; but here is an instance:

“1660, July 16. Richard Bickley and Justice Willington reported guilty of embezzling late king’s goods.” – “Cal. St. P. Dom.”

Truth, Constancy, Honour, and Temperance were frequently personified at the font. Temperance had the shortest life; but, if short, it was merry. There is scarcely a register, from Gretna Green to St. Michael’s, without it:

“1615, Feb. 25. Baptized Temperance, d. of – Osberne.” – Hawnes, Bedford.

“1610, Aug. 14. Baptized Temperance, d. of John Goodyer.” – Banbury.

“1611, Nov. – . Baptized Temperance, d. of Robert Carpinter.” – Stepney.

“1619, July 22. Married Gyles Rolles to Temperance Blinco.” – St. Peter, Cornhill.

Constance,41 Constancy, and Constant were common, it will be seen, to both sexes:

“1593, Sep. 29. Buried Constancy, servant with Mr. Coussin.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

“1629, Dec. Petition of Captain Constance Ferrar, for losses at Cape Breton.” – “C. S. P. Colonial.”

“1665, May 25. Communication from Constance Pley to the Commissioners in relation to the arrival of a convoy.” – C. S. P.

“1665, May 31. Grant to Edward Halshall of £225 0 0, forfeited by Connistant Cant, of Lynn Regis, for embarking wool to Guernsey not entered in the Custom House.” – Ditto.

“1671, Sep. 2. Buried Constant Sylvester, Esquire.” – Brampton, Hunts.

Patience, too, was male as well as female. Sir Patience Warde was Lord Mayor of London in 1681. Thus the weaker vessels were not allowed to monopolize the graces. How familiar some of these abstract names had become, the Cavalier shall tell us in his parody of the sanctimonious Roundheads’ style:

“‘Ay, marry,’ quoth Agatha,And Temperance, eke, also:Quoth Hannah, ‘It’s just,’ and Mary, ‘It must,’‘And shall be,’ quoth Grace, ‘I trow.’”

Several “Truths” occur in the “Chancery Suits” of Elizabeth, and the Greek Alathea arose with it:

“1595, June 27. Faith and Truth, gemini, – John Johnson, bapt.” – Wath, Ripon.

Alathea lasted till the eighteenth century was well-nigh out:

“1701, Dec. 4. Francis Milles to Alathea Wilton.” – West. Abbey.

“1720, Sep. 18. Buried Alydea, wife of Willm. Gough, aged 42 years.” – Harnhill, Glouc.

“1786, Oct. 6. Died Althea, wife of Thomas Heberden, prebendary.” – Exeter Cath.42

Honour, of course, became Honora, in the eighteenth century, and has retained that form:

“1583, Aug. 24. Baptized Honor, daughter of Thomas Teage.” – St. Columb Major.

“1614, July 4. Baptized Honour, d. of John Baylye, of Radcliffe.” – Stepney.

“1667, Oct. 9. Christened Mary, d. of Sir John and Lady Honour Huxley.” – Hammersmith.

“1722, Oct. 4. Christened Martha, d. of John and Honoria Hart.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

Sir Thomas Carew, Speaker of the Commons in James’s and Charles’s reign, had a wife Temperance, and four daughters, Patience, Temperance, Silence, and Prudence (Lodge’s “Illust.,” iii. 37). Possibly, as Speaker, he had had better opportunity to observe that these were the four cardinal parliamentary virtues, especially Silence. This last was somewhat popular, and seems to have got curtailed to “Sill,” as Prudence to “Pru,” and Constance to “Con.” In the Calendar of “State Papers” (June 21, 1666), a man named Taylor, writing to another named Williamson, wishes “his brother Sill would come and reap the sweets of Harwich.” Writing again, five days later, he asks “after his brother, Silence Taylor.”

This was one of the names that crossed the Atlantic and became a fixture in America (Bowditch). It is not, however, to be confounded with Sill, that is, Sybil, in the old Cavalier chorus:

“‘And God blesse King Charles,’ quoth George,‘And save him,’ says Simon and Sill.”

Silence is one of the few Puritan names that found its way into the north of England:

“1741, Dec. 9. Married Robert Thyer to Silence Leigh.” – St. Ann, Manchester.

The mother of Silence Leigh, who was a widow when she married, was Silence Beswicke (“Memorials of St. Ann, Manchester,” p. 55).43 The name is found again in the register of Youlgreave Church, Derbyshire (Notes and Queries, Feb. 17, 1877). Curiously enough, we find Camden omitting Silence as a female name of his day, but inserting Tace. In his list of feminine baptismal names, compiled in 1614 (“Remaines,” p. 89), he has

“Tace – Be silent – a fit name to admonish that sex of silence.”

Here, then, is another instance of a Latin name translated into English. I have lighted on a case proving the antiquary’s veracity:

“Here lieth the body of Tacey, the wife of George Can, of Brockwear, who departed this life 22 day of Feb., An. Dom. 1715, aged 32 years.” – Hewelsfield, Glouc.

Tace must have lasted a century, therefore. Silence may be set down to some old Puritan stickler for the admonition of Saint Paul: “Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection” (1 Tim. ii. 11).

The Epistle to the Romans was a never-failing well-spring to the earnest Puritan, and one passage was much applied to his present condition:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith unto this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed.” – v. 1-5.

There is scarcely a word in this passage that is not inscribed on our registers between 1575 and 1595. Faith, Grace, and Hope have already been mentioned;44 Camden testified to the existence of Tribulation in 1614; Rejoice was very familiar; Patience, of course, was common:

“1592, July 7. Buried Patience Birche.” – Cant. Cath.

“1596, Oct. 3. Baptized Pacience, daughter of Martin Tome.” – St. Columb Major.

“1599, April 23. Baptized Patience, d. of John Harmer.” – Warbleton.

Even Experience is found – a strange title for an infant.

“The Rev. Experience Mayhew, A.M., born Feb. 5, 1673; died of an apoplexy, Nov. 9, 1758.”

So ran the epitaph of a missionary (vide Pulpit, Dec. 6, 1827) to the Vineyard Island. It had been handed on to him, no doubt, from some grandfather or grandmother of Elizabeth’s closing days.

A late instance of Diligence occurs in St. Peter, Cornhill:

“1724, Nov. 1. Buried Diligence Constant.”

Obedience had a good run, and began very early:

“1573, Sep. 20. Bapt. Obedience, dather of Thomas Garding.

“1586, Aug. 28. Bapt. Obedyence, dather of Richard Ellis.” – Warbleton.

“1697, April 30. Bapt. Robert, son of James and Obedience Clark.” – St. James, Picadilly.

Obedience Robins is the name of a testator in 1709 (Wills: Archdeaconry of London), while the following epitaph speaks for itself:

“Obedience Newitt, wife of Thomas Newitt, died in 1617, aged 32.

“Her name and nature did accord,Obedient was she to her Lord.” – Burwash, Sussex.

“Add to your faith, virtue,” says the Apostle. As a name this grace was late in the field:

“1687, May 25. Married Virtue Radford and Susannah Wright.” – West. Abbey.

“1704, Oct. 20. Buried Virtue, wife of John Higgison.” – Marshfield, Glouc.

“1709, May 6. Buried Vertue Page.” – Finchley.

Confidence and Victory were evidently favourites:

“1587, Jan. 8. Baptized Confydence, d. of Roger Elliard.” – Warbleton.

“1770, Nov. 17, died Confidence, wife of John Thomas, aged 61 years.” – Bulley, Glouc.

“1587, Feb. 8. Buryed Vyctorye Buttres.” – Elham, Kent.

“1618, Dec. 9. Buryed Victorye Lussendine.” – Ditto.

“1696, May 17. Bapt. Victory, d. of Joseph Gibbs.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

Perseverance went out with the emigrants to New England, but I do not find any instance in the home registers. Felicity appeared in one of our law courts last year, so it cannot be said to be extinct; but there is a touch of irony in the first of the following examples: —

“1604-5, March 15. Baptized Felicity, d. of John Barnes, vagarant.” – Stepney.

“1590, July 5. Baptized Felycyte Harris.” – Cranbrook.

Comfort has a pleasant atmosphere about it, and many a parent was tempted to the use of it. It lingered longer than many of its rivals. Comfort Farren’s epitaph may be seen on the floor of Tewkesbury Abbey:

“Comfort, wife of Abraham Farren, gent., of this Corporation, died August 24, 1720.”

Again, in Dymock Church we find:

“Comfort, wife to William Davis, died 14 June, 1775, aged 78 years.

“Comfort, their daughter, died 9 Feb., 1760, aged 24 years.”

Nearly 150 years before this, however, Comfort Starr was a name not unknown to the more heated zealots of the Puritan party. He was a native of Ashford, in Kent, and after various restless shiftings as a minister, Carlisle being his head-quarters for a time, went to New Plymouth in the Mayflower, in 1620. There he became fellow of Harvard College, but returned to England eventually, and died at Lewes in his eighty-seventh year.

Perhaps the most interesting and popular of the grace names was “Repentance.” In a “new interlude” of the Reformation, entitled the “Life and Repentance of Marie Magdalene,” and published in 1567, one of the chief characters was “Repentance.” At the same time Repentance came into font use, and, odd as it may sound, bade fair to become a permanently recognized name in England:

“1583, Dec. 8. Married William Arnolde and Repentance Pownoll.” – Cant. Cath.

“1587, Oct. 22. Baptized Repentance, dather of George Aysherst.” – Warbleton.

“1588, June 30. Baptized Repentance Water.” – Cranbrook.

“1597, Aug. 4. Baptized Repentance, daughter of Robert Benham, of Lymhouse.” – Stepney.

“1612, March 26. Baptized Repentance Wrathe.” – Elham, Kent.

“1688, Dec. 23. Bapt. Repentance, son of Thomas and Mercy Tompson.” – St. James, Piccadilly.

In the “Sussex Archæological Collections” (xvii. 148) is found recorded the case of Repentance Hastings, deputy portreeve of Seaford, who in 1643 was convicted of hiding some wreckage:

“Repentance Hastings, 1 load, 1 cask, 2 pieces of royals.”

Evidently his repentance began too early in life to be lasting; but infant piety could not be expected to resist the hardening influence of such a name as this.45

Humiliation was a big word, and that alone must have been in its favour:

“1629, Jan. 24. Married Humiliation Hinde and Elizabeth Phillips by banes.” – St. Peter, Cornhill.

Humiliation, being proud of his name, determined to retain it in the family – for he had one – but as he had began to worship at St. Dionis Backchurch, the entries of baptism lie there, the spelling of his surname being slightly altered:

“1630, Nov. 18. Baptized Humiliation, son of Humiliation Hyne.”

This son died March 11, 1631-2. Humiliation père, however, did not sorrow without hope, for in a few years he again brings a son to the parson:

“1637-8, Jan. 21. Baptized Humiliation, son of Humiliation Hinde.”

Humility is preferable to Humiliation. Humility Cooper was one of a freight of passengers in the Mayflower, who, in 1620, sought a home in the West. A few years afterwards Humility Hobbs followed him (Hotten, “Emigrants,” p. 426):

“1596, March 13. Baptized Humilitye, sonne of Wylliam Jones.” – Warbleton.

“1688, May 5. Buried Humility, wife of Humphey Paget.” – Peckleton, Leic.

Had it not been for Charles Dickens, Humble would not have appeared objectionable:

“1666-1667, Jan. 29. Petition of Dame Frances, wife of Humble Ward, Lord Ward, Baron, of Birmingham.”46– C. S. P.

All Saints, Leicester, records another saintly grace:

“Here lieth the body of Abstinence Pougher, Esq., who died Sept. 5, 1741, aged 62 years.”

In some cases we find the infant represented, not by a grace-name, but as in a state of grace. Every register contains one or two Godlies:

“1579, July 24. Baptized Godlye, d. of Richard Fauterell.” – Warbleton.

“1611, May 1. Baptized Godly, d. of Henry Gray, and Joane his wife. Joane Standmer and Godly Gotherd, sureties.” – South Bersted, Sussex.

“1619, Nov. Baptized Godly, d. of Thomas Edwardes, of Poplar.” – Stepney.

“1632, Oct. 30. Married John Wafforde to Godly Spicer.” – Cant. Cath.

Gracious is as objectionable as Godly. Gracious Owen was President of St. John’s College, Oxford, during the decade 1650-1660.

“Oct. 24, 1661. Examination of Gracious Franklin: Joshua Jones, minister at the Red Lion, Fleet Street, told him that he heard there were 3000 men about the city maintained by Presbyterian ministers.” – C. S. P.

Lively, we may presume, referred to spiritual manifestations. A curious combination of font name and patronymic is obtained in Lively Moody, D.D., of St. John’s College, Cambridge, 1682 (Wood’s “Fasti Oxonienses”). Exactly one hundred years later the name is met with again:

“1782, July 3. Lively Clarke of this town, sadler, aged 60.” – Berkeley, Gloucester.

At Warbleton, where the Puritan Heley ministered, it seems to have been found wearisome to be continually christening children by the names of Repent and Repentance, so a variation was made in the form of “Sorry-for-sin:”

“1589, Jan 25. Baptized Sory-for-sine, the dather of John Coupard.”

The following is curious:

“Thomas Luxford, of Windmill Hill, died Feb. 24, 1739, aged 72 years. He was grandson of Thomas Luxford, of Windmill Hill, by Changed Collins, his wife, daughter of Thomas Collins, of Socknash in this county, Esq., and eldest son of Richard Luxford, of Billinghurst.” – Wartling Church.

Faithful47 may close this list:

“1640, Oct. 18. Baptized Benjamin, son of Faithful Bishop.” – St. Columb Major.

Faithful Rouse settled in New England in 1644 (Bowditch). The following despatch mentions another:

“1666, July 18. Major Beversham and Lieut. Faithful Fortescue are sent from Ireland to raise men.” – C. S. P.

Bunyan evidently liked it, and gave the name to the martyr of Vanity Fair:

“Sing, Faithful, sing, and let thy name survive;For though they killed thee, thou art yet alive.”

Speaking from a nomenclatural point of view, the name did not survive, for the last instance I have met with is that of Faithful Meakin, curate of Mobberley, Cheshire, in 1729 (Earwaker, “East Cheshire,” p. 99, n.). It had had a run of more than a century, however.

The reader will have observed that the majority of these names have become obsolete. The religious apathy of the early eighteenth century was against them. They seem to have made their way slowly westward. Certainly their latest representatives are to be found in the more retired villages of Gloucestershire and Devonshire. A few like Mercy, Faith, Hope, Charity, Grace, and Prudence, still survive, and will probably for ever command a certain amount of patronage; but they are much more popular in our religious story-books than the church registers. The absence of the rest is no great loss, I imagine.

(c.) Exhortatory Names

The zealots of Elizabeth’s later days began to weary of names that merely made household words of the apostolic virtues. Many of these sobriquets had become popular among the unthinking and careless. They began to stamp their offspring with exhortatory sentences, pious ejaculations, brief professions of godly sorrow for sin, or exclamations of praise for mercies received. I am bound to confess, however, that the prevailing tone of these names is rather contradictory of the picture of gloomy sourness drawn by the facile pens of Macaulay and Walter Scott. ’Tis true, Anger and Wrath existed:

“1654. Wroth Rogers to be placed on the Commission of Scandalous Ministers.” – Scobell’s “Acts and Ord. Parl.,” 1658.

“1680, Dec. 22. Buried Anger Bull, packer.” – St. Dionis Backchurch.

I dare say he was familiarly termed Angry Bull, like “Savage Bear,” a gentleman of Kent who was living at the same time, mentioned elsewhere in these pages. Nevertheless, in the exhortatory names there is a general air of cheerful assurance.

The most celebrated name of this class is Praise-God Barebone. I cannot find his baptismal entry. A collection of verses was compiled by one Fear-God Barbon, of Daventry (Harleian M.S. 7332). This cannot have been his father, as we have evidence that the leatherseller was born about 1596, and, allowing his parent to be anything over twenty, the date would be too early for exhortatory names like Fear-God. We may presume, therefore, he was a brother. Two other brothers are said to have been entitled respectively, “Jesus-Christ-came-into-the-world-to-save Barebone,” and “If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barebone.” I say “entitled,” for I doubt whether either received such a long string of words in baptism. Brook, in his “History of the Puritans,” implies they were; Hume says that both were adopted names, and adds, in regard to the latter, that his acquaintance were so wearied with its length, that they styled him by the last word as “Damned Barebone.” The editor of Notes and Queries (March 15, 1862) says that, “as his morals were not of the best,” this abbreviated form “appeared to suit him better than his entire baptismal prefix.” Whether the title was given at the font or adopted, there is no doubt that he was familiarly known as Dr. Damned Barebone. This was more curt than courteous.

Of Praise-God’s history little items have leaked out. He began life as a leatherseller in Fleet Street, and owned a house under the sign of the “Lock and Key,” in the parish of St. Dunstan-in-the-West. He was admitted a freeman of the Leathersellers’ Company, January 20, 1623. He was a Fifth Monarchy man, if a tract printed in 1654, entitled “A Declaration of several of the Churches of Christ, and Godly People, in and about the City of London,” etc., which mentions “the Church which walks with Mr. Barebone,” refers to him. This, however, may be Fear-God Barebone. Praise-God was imprisoned after the Restoration, but after a while released, and died, at the age of eighty or above, in obscurity. His life, which was not without its excitements, was spent in London, and possibly his baptismal entry will be found there.

A word or two about his surname. The elder Disraeli says (“Curiosities of Literature”) —

“There are unfortunate names, which are very injurious to the cause in which they are engaged; for instance, the long Parliament in Cromwell’s time, called by derision the Rump, was headed by one Barebones, a leatherseller.”

Isaac Disraeli has here perpetuated a mistake. Barebone’s Parliament was the Parliament of Barebone, not Barebones. Peck, in his “Desiderata Curiosa,” speaking of a member of the family who died in 1646, styles him Mr. Barborne; while Echard writes the name Barbon, when referring to Dr. Barbon, one of the chief rebuilders of the city of London after the Fire. Between Barebones and Barbon is a wide gap, and Barbon’s Parliament suggests nothing ludicrous whatsoever. Yet (if we set aside the baptismal name) what an amount of ridicule has been cast over this same Parliament on account of a surname which in reality has been made to meet the occasion. No historian has heaped more sarcasm on the “Rump” than Hume, but he never styles the leatherseller as anything but “Barebone.”

But while Praise-God has obtained exceptional notoriety, not so Faint-not, and yet there was a day when Faint-not bade fair to take its place as a regular and recognized name. I should weary the reader did I furnish a full list of instances. Here are a few:

“1585, March 6. Baptized Faynt-not, d. of James Browne.” – Warbleton.

“1590, Jan. 17. Baptized Faynt-not Wood.” – Cranbrook.

“1631, – . Thomas Perse married Faint-not Kennarde.” – Chiddingly.

“1642, Aug. 2. Married John Pierce and Faint-not Polhill, widow.” – Burwash, Sussex.

This Faint-not Polhill was mother of Edward Polhill, a somewhat celebrated writer of his day. She married her first husband December 11, 1616.

“1678, Feb. 12. Buried Faint-not Blatcher, a poor old widdow.” – Warbleton.

The rents of certain houses which provided an exhibition for the boys of Lewes Grammar School were paid in 1692 as usual. One item is set down as follows:

“Faint-not Batchelor’s house, per annum, £6 0 0.” – “Hist. and Ant. Lewes,” i. 311.

Faint-not occurs in Maresfield Church (“Suss. Arch. Coll.,” xiv. 151). We have already referred to Faint-not, the daughter of “Dudley Fenner, minister of the Word of God” at Marden, Kent.

Fear-not was also in use. The Rector of Warbleton baptized one of his own children by the name; some of his parishioners copied him:

“1594, Nov. 10. Baptized Fear-not, sonne of Richard Maye.

“1589, Oct. 19. Baptized Fear-not, sonne of Willm. Browne.”

Decidedly cheerful were such names as Hope-still or Hopeful. Both occur in Banbury Church. Hopeful Wheatley has already been mentioned.