Hi all I was quite surprised to read that this name was 25th in the top 50 girls names in 1700 - I had no idea it was that popular and if asked to guess I would have said at that time it came much lower down the list. As an illustration - if you take my current database of some 16,500 people of which probably about half are female I only have 7 Deborahs and of those 5 were born after the mid 20th century (including me !!). The name itself became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s and there were always loads of Deborahs in my class at school, but like many names it seems to have fallen into disuse again and in the 400 plus primary school where I work today we don't have a single one on roll. As a genealogist I am always delighted to come across a more unusual in the course of my research - it makes such a pleasant change from all those Anns, Sarahs and Marys. ! Bye for now Deb Mirfield WRY No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date: 04/04/2008 08:23

My database is 6,000 - & I only have one "Debra" born 1956 .. Deborah is a religious name .. http://www.amit.org.il/learning/English/JW/Deborah.htm Susan, during the 1940s, was a very popular name - there were six of us in my class at school .. When I started doing Genealogy, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Susan was a very old name - whereas I'd always though it was a fairly modern one ... I have Thirty Susans in my database - but not many from East Yorkshire ... Here, the names were more 'solid' names, like Ann(e), Jane, Elizabeth, Margaret, Martha & Mary, etc .. Sue I was quite surprised to read that this name was 25th in the top 50 girls names in 1700 - I had no idea it was that popular and if asked to guess I would have said at that time it came much lower down the list. As an illustration - if you take my current database of some 16,500 people of which probably about half are female I only have 7 Deborahs and of those 5 were born after the mid 20th century (including me !!). The name itself became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s and there were always loads of Deborahs in my class at school, but like many names it seems to have fallen into disuse again and in the 400 plus primary school where I work today we don't have a single one on roll. As a genealogist I am always delighted to come across a more unusual in the course of my research - it makes such a pleasant change from all those Anns, Sarahs and Marys. ! Bye for now Deb Mirfield WRY

Which, Deb, is why I was asking. In my experience, there were so few Deborahs that if anyone's researches included a Deborah between about 1780 and the mid 1800s there is the slim chance that, because of possible family naming traditions, there could be a connection back to my Deborah Weddell (nee Webster) born Hull 1764. (We do clutch at straws sometimes!) Bill. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Deb Walker" <deb.m.walker@ntlworld.com> To: "EastYorks Genealogy Group" <ENG-EAST-YORKS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 11:14 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-EAST-YORKS] DEBORAH | Hi all | | I was quite surprised to read that this name was 25th in the top 50 girls | names in 1700 - I had no idea it was that popular and if asked to guess I | would have said at that time it came much lower down the list. | | As an illustration - if you take my current database of some 16,500 people | of which probably about half are female I only have 7 Deborahs and of those | 5 were born after the mid 20th century (including me !!). The name itself | became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s and there were always loads of | Deborahs in my class at school, but like many names it seems to have fallen | into disuse again and in the 400 plus primary school where I work today we | don't have a single one on roll. | | As a genealogist I am always delighted to come across a more unusual in the | course of my research - it makes such a pleasant change from all those Anns, | Sarahs and Marys. ! | | Bye for now | | Deb | Mirfield WRY | | No virus found in this outgoing message. | Checked by AVG. | Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date: 04/04/2008 | 08:23 | | | ------------------------------- | To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-EAST-YORKS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message |