Ah thank you Judith - a suggestion perhaps. Another kind correspondent in private demonstrated to me that at least a few other Athra's exist in the BMD. Athra backwards is Arhta, but I get the point! I searched on both and found a couple or Arthas in 1871/81, but none mine. I just can't find my Athra in any census prior to 1881, and have tried every variant imaginable. I guess this suggests he may have taken the name in a whimsical way upon marriage or something. Just something about this sturdy sensible farming family makes me wonder why... Paul On Sun, 2 Jul 2006, Judith Kettlewell wrote: > Hi > If you look at ATHRA spelled backwards you get ARTHA. Not the correct > spelling but hey - many of the people couldn't read or write then let alone > spell. > > Perhaps they were just in whimsical mood and decided to make up a new name > like many of todays new parents. > > Doesn't get you any further I know but at least you have had one reply!!! > > Blessings > > Judith K > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "P S Mitchell" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 8:25 PM > Subject: [ BRAD] Unusual forenames: Athra, Firth, Squire > > >> Hope no-one minds if they've seen this mail before - for collectors >> of unusual forenames. I flung this mail at the YORKSGEN list but >> it's so far met with deafening silence. Might be because of sport >> and 4th July... >> >> Last night I stumbled on a seemingly odd cluster of forenames from my >> very straightforward ROBINSON clan around Bradford. A Daniel and Hannah >> Robinson seemingly christened a son ATHRA ROBINSON - transcribed on the >> IGI as Ethra, but very clearly written on multiple censuses as Athra, >> and clearly not a typo for Arthur. Athra's a plain old farmer in Shelf. >> >> After some googling, I can only come up with two possibilities for Athra >> as a name: one Iranian (unlikely!) and one from obscure Anglo-Saxon >> mythology. It also seems it may have been an obscure name/word in Welsh. >> >> Athra has a son called FIRTH ROBINSON. Not so unusual a surname, >> but still odd as a forename. >> >> I'm used now to the concept of a child (often a younger boy) >> being given his wife's maiden name as a forename - my own >> great-great-grandfather was called Shepherd ROBINSON, his mother >> born Alice SHEPHERD. But ATHRA doesn't seem to appear anywhere as a >> surname, and a very likely marriage for his parents (Daniel and Hannah >> Robinson) has his mother's maiden name as Jennings. Similarly with >> Firth Robinson - his mother appears to have been born Agnes Pollard. >> I've of course considered Athra as a variant or misspelling of Arthur, >> but it doesn't seem likely, or to have occurred elsewhere. >> >> The names were given to children in the period 1850-70, and seem >> unusual affectations for lower class rural families, surrounded as they >> are by families with the traditional Williams, Johns and biblically >> derived forenames like Isaacs and Abrahams. Any suggestions on >> derivations of these names particularly Athra welcome! >> >> Finally, Shepherd Robinson's sister Mary seems to have married a plain >> John Bland and lived on the same farm as Firth Robinson eventually >> lived on - and Mary and John christened one of their sons Squire >> (seen as a name from when a child). I can see that this is a more >> common forename seen elsewhere, and maybe specifically in Yorkshire, >> but would be interested in its derivation - a play/attempt by lower >> class families at gentrification via "esquire"? >> >> [My connection with the BLAND family? An odd addition to a ROBINSON >> gravestone from Old Dolphin Chapel, Clayton Heights as sent to me >> by Bradford Central Library from the Blackburn transcriptions - the >> graveyard's now just grass. Squire Bland is buried in the Robinson >> grave, and from census guesses, he's the half-brother of an Isaac >> Robinson, born illegitimately to Mary I think, Shepherd Robinson's >> sister before marriage to John Bland.] >> >> Paul >> >> >> ==== ENG-YKS-BRADFORD Mailing List ==== >> Bradford List covers the whole of the Bradford Postal Code >> area........which is Skipton and beyond, Tong and beyond, Cleckheaton and >> beyond, & Keighley & Beyond >> >> ============================== >> Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the >> last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: >> http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx >> >> > > > > ==== ENG-YKS-BRADFORD Mailing List ==== > E-mail etiquette pays dividends! - please CAPITALISE surnames, other text > CAPITALisation usually means you are shouting! > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx >