My entry for this week’s theme for the 52 Ancestors Challenge, “Popular Name”, will be shorter than usual. I simply cannot come up with something that is interesting enough to me that seems worth writing about. So what I have are two short snappers.
One thing that popped into mind when I saw the theme was how incredibly popular the name “Jennifer” was at one time. My youngest sister – Jennifer – was born during the height of the name’s popularity. At times during elementary school, there were at least four Jennifers in her class. One year there were three Jennifers and three Michaels. She told me, mostly tongue in cheek, that she’s fairly sure that every Jennifer has a brother named Michael. Which she certainly does.
The other thing that came to mind wasn’t so much a popular name, but not too long ago I learned of an ancestor with a name that has amused me to no end.
I recently discovered one of my 7x great grandmothers, who was named Antje Pieters Butter. Her middle name could likely be a patronymic, suggesting that her father’s name was Pieter.
This means that there is a possibility that my 8x great grandfather was Pieter Butter.
If anything, this week’s theme has caused this song to be stuck in my head:
A Deck of Ancestors 