What’s your favorite holiday? Would you be inspired enough by your enjoyment of that holiday, or the season it falls in, to name your child after it? Ancestry.com found some strange names in the census, including a woman named Halloween. This isn’t the only person with a name that fits into this holiday!
There are two main things that influence a parent to choose a name for their child. One strong influence is the existence of a “family name”. Parents name their children after the child’s grandparents, or they give their baby a name that has been passed down through the generations of their family
Another strong influence is popular culture. Right now, there are a lot of baby girls named Bella or Isabelle after the main character in the “Twilight Saga” series of books and movies. Previous generations of children were named after books, movies, or songs that were popular around the time that they were born.
Celebrities tend to give their children unusual names that are not influenced by popular culture and that are not family names. These names can sound quite strange, but few are as odd as the name “Halloween”.
Genealogists at Ancestry.com found information in the 1920 and 1930 United States census about a woman who was named Halloween. Her parents were John and Ollie Hildebrand, and they lived in Freeborn Township, Missouri. Their daughter was named Halloween Hildebrand. When she grew up, she married and changed her surname to Waltrip.
Surprisingly, Mrs. Halloween Waltrip was one of 40 people that genealogists found in the 1940 United States Census who were named Halloween. They are not the only people whose names fit nicely into the holiday season.
Actress Danica McKellar has a son named Draco. The name was inspired by the Latin word for dragon, and it is also a constellation. It is also the name of a character in the “Harry Potter” series of books, Draco Malfoy, who some people have dressed up as for Halloween.
Ancestry.com also found a person named Ghoul C. Hall. The name is kind of creepy, but not quite as creepy as the name Ghoul Nipple. Both were found in a United States Census.
In New York, parents Erika and Drew Elliott named their daughter Boo! (with the exclamation point included). They were expecting their daughter to be born on Halloween, but she arrived a day late. The name stuck. It was a nickname they gave their baby while she was still in utero, and before they knew if the baby was a he or a she.
Image by Dave Matos on Flickr