A London firm which traces birth, death and marriage records has revealed a list of the most bizarre names it’s discovered over the years – and they’re stranger than fiction.
From a Victorian baby known only as “One” to a 1980s child saddled with more than ten completely unique forenames, Fraser and Fraser has kept a list of its favourite strange-but-true discoveries since it was established in 1923.
Researchers at Fraser and Fraser, the UK’s leading probate genealogy firm and stars of the BBC’s Heir Hunters, have spent decades wading through official records that make the average English name look positively boring.
And the winner, by a considerable distance, comes from a birth record registered in London in 1985.
His eleven-word registered name appears as something plucked from a dictionary from at random, with names including Buzz, Pineapple and Whoopsie, among several others.
But he is far from alone in the firm’s collection of naming curiosities.
Over more than a century of probate genealogy work, Fraser and Fraser’s researchers have examined thousands of historical birth, marriage and death records while tracing missing heirs and reconnecting families with unclaimed estates.
Among the firm’s favourite discoveries are:
- 1. Buzz Fly Pineapple Pedigree Abbot Whoopsie Bun
- 2. Baby Girl Reshell
- 3. Mineral Girl Nattis
- 4. Zebra Lynes
- 5. One (Mary) Goldstraw
Among the historical records examined over the years is a girl born in Southampton in 1875 whose parents named her Zebra, a 1907 child given the first name Enough, and an 1886 baby girl registered simply as Baby Girl. An 1842 girl named Mineral Girl raises more questions than it answers.
Then there is the Dulwich boy born in 1968, whose parents gave him Achilles, Hamlet, Odin, Gavin and Quince among his names, the 1882 West Derby girl apparently given 26 names running from Anne to Zenophon, and what may be the finest marriage certificate in existence: an 1885 union between Frankenstein Pitt and a woman who was, magnificently, already a Frankenstein herself.
Neil Fraser, Partner at Fraser and Fraser, said: “In this line of work, you quickly learn that British parents have always had a remarkable gift for the unexpected.
“We have seen names that appear to have been chosen on a dare, names that seem to be the result of a lost bet, and names that defy any rational explanation whatsoever.
“One particular birth record from the 1980s has become something of a favourite in the office. The child was given forenames including Whoopsie and Pineapple, and it’s certainly one that sticks in the memory.”
The certificates span Victorian England through to the late twentieth century, which suggests that spectacular naming choices are not limited to any particular era.
Fraser and Fraser’s researchers encounter thousands of historical records every year as they trace missing heirs and reunite families with unclaimed estates. The firm has been working in probate genealogy since 1923, long enough to have seen naming fashions come, go, and occasionally go completely off the rails.
Neil added: “Behind all of these names, strange as they may be, are real people who have had real lives, loves and losses.
“Each one of our cases begins with someone who has passed away. Their life stories – and the people we find along the way – are often stranger than any fiction.
“We go through thousands of records every year, and the names never get boring. Neither do the stories behind them. That is what keeps this work interesting after more than a century.”
Fraser and Fraser is tracing living heirs to unclaimed UK estates. Anyone who believes they may be entitled to an unclaimed inheritance can contact the firm through its website.
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