“Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Those are the insightful words of Dale Carnegie in “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
I was reminded of Carnegie’s advice after reading a story this week at TODAY.com about parents who are discovering baby name ideas by visiting cemeteries. A woman interviewed in the story said she is considering the names Galloway and Salem for her unborn daughter after perusing her local graveyards.
Of course, expecting parents could choose from the most popular baby names in Iowa, which were recently released by the Social Security Administration. For boys, tops on the list from 2023 were Oliver, Henry, Theodore, Liam and Noah. For girls, Charlotte, Olivia, Amelia, Harper and Evelyn were the most chosen. Those are certainly great names, but I am intrigued by the ones chosen by parents who stroll through cemeteries for ideas. This made me wonder what unique names I could find locally. So, I visited Union Cemetery in Guthrie Center and West Cemetery in Panora.
Names that begin with vowels were seemingly popular. I found Adah and Adelaide and Aletha and Almedia, as well as Alonzo, Amasa and Arminta. Edith, Edna, Effie, Elda, Eliza, Elmer, Elzina, Ernest, Ethel, Etta, Eunice and Eva were there, too, along with Ida, Irene, Irving and Iva. I came across Ollie, Opal, Orah and even Orange. The U’s were unique, though, as Udo was all I could locate.
Bertha and Birtha were in the cemeteries, along with Bessie, Blanche and Burdette. Don’t forget Cecil and Cecile or Clara and Clyde — and two of my favorites, Cola and Coral.
I am partial to my initials, which made Garfield, Gaynell, Gertrude, Glendel, Golson and Grover stick out. I could not find a Shane, but I did see Samford and Silas.
If you are researching baby names, you might consider Dell or Della or Delores or Doris. And why not? They all found their final resting places in Guthrie County, as did Ferne, Flora, Florence, Ford, Frances and Franklin.
And here are some more that made me smile: Harald, Hattie, Hazel, Hester, Hiram and Hubert. You may also like Lafe, Lans, Larkin, Lena, Leora, Lesta, Lodema, Lottie, Lucelia, Lucinda and Luella.
I could only find Parr, Perssis, Pfenetta, Mamie, Mazie, Nels, Retta and Romie each once, but Mabel, Marguerite, Marietta, Mildred, Milton, Myron and Myrtle were aplenty.
And finally, let’s not forget the classic names that would score high in Scrabble: Verna, Vida, Viola, Viollia, Voshel, Zella, Zenis and Zilma.
If this doesn’t conjure up some good baby name ideas, then I don’t know what will — except your own walk through a local cemetery. I highly recommend it.
Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115