Children's Names As Memorials Of The War

16thVA

First Sergeant
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This is a subject I don't see historians generally discussing, but I think it was one of the earliest and most widespread of all the memorial practices for the war. My great grandfather was named for Stonewall Jackson and my own name is from the war, though I don't think my dad was aware of it since it was his name too. The only thing I could find on the internet was an old blog post on African-Americans named after Confederate leaders, though I think those namings are just popular choices of the time and not for war memory. My premise is that these names were used in the few dacades after the war and made as a statement. Here's that blog post on African-American names from 2009

http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2009/07/jeff-davis-general-lee-and-stonewall-j.html

I used the 1880 census to look at my home state and I found dozens of young men named for Stonewall beginning in 1862, there were also dozens more named for Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.
 
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It is my impression that naming kids after famous characters was kinda common throughout the Victorian era. Here's my favorite, Napoleon Jackson Tecumsa(sic?) Dana. He commanded a brigade in the 2nd. Corps at Antietam if I'm not mistaken. My grandmother's uncle who served in the 111th. New York, was named Daniel Webster Lamson, and I have run across a few more Daniel Websters. It's seems like a cool tradition, to me anyway.

John
 
I think if it was just naming after famous people then Confederate names should show up in Union states with the same regularity as southern states. It would take a lengthy study of the census report to get an answer. I just did a sampling for "Stonewall" for Ohio from the 1880 census, a much larger state than WV, and I only got 3 results. Parents for 2 of the boys were from Kentucky and Virginia.
 
I used the 1880 census to look at my home state and I found dozens of young men named for Stonewall beginning in 1862, there were also dozens more named for Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.

I have seen a fair number of Thomas Jackson Smith, but I'm not sure if I've seen any Stonewall Jackson Smiths.

I've seen a few Wade Hamptons, even outside SC.

I posted a year or so ago about finding someone in Ohio who named their kid after Vallandingham.

Lincoln and Grant seen to be the only two Union names that gained widespread popularity, and the latter more with freedmen than whites.

Often it seems to be a family tradition. If you named one son after a historic figure there was a good chance you named several, and occassionally all, your sons after historical figures. Washington, Andrew Jackson, Jefferson, and Franklin were probably the most popular in the prewar era.

Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott were also popular choices circa 1850, with Scott apparently having some fame for his War of 1812 service (Winfield Scott Hancock was born in 1824).

James Polk doesn't seen to have gotten the popularity as a namesake that I would expect.

The one that fascinates me the most is Francis Marion who must have been a Southern legend in the 19th century far beyond his status today. There were a lot of Southerners who named their kids after him.

And of course lets not forget Captain America's sidekick, the improbably named James Buchanan Barnes.
 
Lots of famous names in my family tree:

Stonewall Jackson <surname>, is the one that stands out the most. My uncle who passed recently was, Wade Hampton<surname>III.

I had a great uncle named, Grover Cleveland <surname>. There's an Andrew Jackson <surname>, in my tree, & a couple Virginians with, "Jefferson" for a middle name.

My Father is, Robert E. <surname>. As well as my brother (jr).
 
This is a subject I don't see historians generally discussing, but I think it was one of the earliest and most widespread of all the memorial practices for the war. My great grandfather was named for Stonewall Jackson and my own name is from the war, though I don't think my dad was aware of it since it was his name too. The only thing I could find on the internet was an old blog post on African-Americans named after Confederate leaders, though I think those namings are just popular choices of the time and not for war memory. My premise is that these names were used in the few dacades after the war and made as a statement. Here's that blog post on African-American names from 2009

http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2009/07/jeff-davis-general-lee-and-stonewall-j.html

I used the 1880 census to look at my home state and I found dozens of young men named for Stonewall beginning in 1862, there were also dozens more named for Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.
I encounter that a lot scouring cemetery records.
 
But I think this is not that different than the many children, especially boys, who were named for presidents and other statesmen. My family has a host named for presidents and I know that's not uncommon.

I suppose that the current version would be naming your kids for athletes. Look at the number of Kobes, Jordans, and Peytons and Elis in recent years. Although the scuttle but in the teachers' lounge is that there'll be a severe drop of incoming Kindergarteners named Brady in New England schools starting in about 5 years (but likely a spike of them in the Tampa school system!)
 
As a young teenager I would get a kick out of our telephone book reading all the unusual names. I don't think they exist anymore.
Lubliner.
When I wrote fiction, I got a name out of the phonebook for a kind of goofy character once - Drumgool. Never met him but a couple years later my daughter was dating his son (rather relieved to say that she did not marry him)!
 
When I wrote fiction, I got a name out of the phonebook for a kind of goofy character once - Drumgool. Never met him but a couple years later my daughter was dating his son (rather relieved to say that she did not marry him)!
Such a small world and such a huge list of names. I have seen dirtier names of embarrassing mention! Makes me wonder if he fit the description :D.
Lubliner.
 
I worked out a map, it was hard to do the color choices to show density but it will have to do. There were very few men born before 1860 and a lot of those were African-American in the deep south so I suppose those were emancipation names. I allowed a liberal spelling of Stonewall as long as it seemed that was the intent.

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In my family, Confederate veteran Lt. George Ward named his first daughter Mary Vance Ward, in honor of North Carolina's wartime Governor Zebulon Vance. He also gave the middle name DeRosset to one of his sons, in honor of his wartime commander in the 3rd North Carolina Infantry Col. William Lord DeRosset.
 
I have seen a fair number of Thomas Jackson Smith, but I'm not sure if I've seen any Stonewall Jackson Smiths.

I've seen a few Wade Hamptons, even outside SC.

I posted a year or so ago about finding someone in Ohio who named their kid after Vallandingham.

Lincoln and Grant seen to be the only two Union names that gained widespread popularity, and the latter more with freedmen than whites.

Often it seems to be a family tradition. If you named one son after a historic figure there was a good chance you named several, and occassionally all, your sons after historical figures. Washington, Andrew Jackson, Jefferson, and Franklin were probably the most popular in the prewar era.

Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott were also popular choices circa 1850, with Scott apparently having some fame for his War of 1812 service (Winfield Scott Hancock was born in 1824).

James Polk doesn't seen to have gotten the popularity as a namesake that I would expect.

The one that fascinates me the most is Francis Marion who must have been a Southern legend in the 19th century far beyond his status today. There were a lot of Southerners who named their kids after him.

And of course lets not forget Captain America's sidekick, the improbably named James Buchanan Barnes.
Marion was indeed a hero, the county I live in here was named after him.

Here in Missouri, Lewis and Clark pop up frequently in genealogy, as well as Sterling, Price, Archie, Clement and Quantrill.

Not surprising it often continued as tradition, as say Stonewall number one was named after Jackson......succeeding generations of Stonewall could be named after their father, grandfather, or in-law Stonewall.
 
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