A Christmas Carrol(l) and Other Festive Names

This is my last post before Christmas, and I thought I better make it seasonal. After writing about my Christmas family name last year, Herod, today I had a quick look for any names with more pleasant connotations. A quick scan of General Register Office (GRO) birth indexes reveal the following selection: 

• Christopher Tingle – mainly modern occurrences. But one dates from Q2 1847 Islington 
• There are a handful of babies named Ivy Holly (surname). They include one from Q2 1891 Eastbourne; 
• Christmas Holly Bell Jeffreys is registered in Q1 1910 Easthampstead. Only the initial “B” appears in the index. The 1911 census confirms this stood for “Bell”; 
• Mistletoe Spencer was registered in Q1 1910 in Doncaster. Mistletoe has gained slightly in popularity in recent years; 
• Holly Berry, Berry being the surname, is again more popular in the modern era. The earliest civil registration occurence is in Q1 1880 Barnstaple; 
• Holly Lavinia S Bush was registered in Q2 1899 Southampton; 
• Christmas Rose appears once, registered in Q1 1873 Maldon; 
• Bethlehem Shepherd features in Q1 1865 Chesterfield. There was also a Harry Bethlehem Shepherd in Q4 1878 Sheffield; 
• An unusual name, but Virgin Mary appears occasionally, including baby Cotton who was registered in Q4 1875 Stow; 
• There are a host of babies named Harold Angel, including one registered in Q1 1903 Burton; 
• There are a couple of Christmas Angels. Robert Christmas Angel’s birth was registered in Q1 1870 Yarmouth whilst William Christmas Angel features in Q1 1890 Flegg; 
• Christmas Carroll is there once, registered in the St Saviour District, Q1 1892; 
• Lillian Ruth Christmas Tree was registered in the Canterbury District in Q1 1903. The letter “C” appears in the index. Her baptism in January 1903 at St Stephen’s, Hackington confirms “C” stood for “Christmas”; 
• There are a few babies named Xmas, including Nellie Xmas Pulleyn whose birth was registered in Q1 1869 in the Croydon District. A Xmas Hollingworth was registered in Q4 1871 Barton upon Irwell; 
• Yule is there too, including Yule Mary Bedford registered in Q1 1909 Worcester; 
• Weather-related ones also crop up. I particularly like Amelia Snow Manning, registered in the Spalding District in Q1 1883; 
• On a weather theme, there are two Winter Frost babies. One in Q1 1859 Kidderminster. The other in Q1 1873 Aston; 
• Finally no Christmas list would be complete without Santa Claus. In this case Santa Claus Losack whose birth was registered in Q1 1891 in the Holborn District of London. And he was actually born on Christmas Day 1890, the son of dressmaker Bella Losack.

Many of our Christmas traditions originate from Victorian times, and this is when it really took off as the festival we recognise today. So it seems clear, with the dates in which the majority of birth registrations occured, that many of these babies were named with the time of year in mind.  

Photo by Jane Roberts

Anyway there’s only one thing I can end with saying to everyone: Mary Christmas, and there are many of them in the birth indexes. 

Sources:

• GRO Indexes of Births
• 1911 England Census 
• Baptisms at Stephen’s, Hackington at Canterbury Cathedral Archives, reference  U3/39/1/5 (FMP) 

For my post about war-related babies names see Shrapnel and Shelletta.