#146 FAMILY FIRST NAMES

                            THE STORIES IN OUR FAMILY'S FIRST NAMES

  I have been working on my genealogy for fifty years, and seriously since retirement in 2009. To date I have entered over 14,000 names (and always adding) into Family Tree Maker, my computer data base. I cast a wide net when attaching people to my tree--direct ancestors, very distant cousins, in-laws, stepfamilies. There are some branches which I have worked on in much greater depth than others. I enjoy researching the unique stories. The research never ends.

While I have loosely traced some family roots back to medieval times, I know I need to firm up these sources and links. I am, however, more confident that I can better document the relatives from 1600 on so these are the stats I used for my analyses.

I fed all my the data into my friend, ChatGPT, then posed many, many questions. (I must admit that I am not going to challenge Chat's numbers and am trusting the accuracy of Chat's counting.)

As well, I have separated the data into our four family branches---my paternal Homuth and maternal Suomela lines and Steve's paternal Whelan and maternal Walsh lines.

    Number of people in my database

Branch	Total	Men	Women
Homuth	7,329	3,860	3,404
Suomela	296	149	145
Whelan	838	433	400
Walsh	886	452	429

Top 10 Male First Names

Rank	Homuth	Suomela	Whelan	Walsh
1	John (250)	Matti (8)	Thomas (37)	John (40)
2	William (190)	Erkki (6)	John (36)	James (32)
3	Thomas (98)	Juho (5)	Michael (27)	Thomas (22)
4	James (86)	Martti (3)	Patrick (21)	Patrick (13)
5	Richard (78)	Vaino (3)	James (21)	William (13)
6	George (74)	Eino (3)	William (15)	Michael (12)
7	Robert (65)	Timo (3)	Daniel (10)	Charles (12)
8	Charles (59)	Jaakko (3)	Martin (8)	Daniel (11)
9	Samuel (58)	Mikko (2)	Peter (8)	Francis (10)
10	Joseph (51)	Antti (2)	Francis (7)	Joseph (8)

Top 10 Female First Names

Rank	Homuth	Suomela	Whelan	Walsh
1	Mary (198)	Maria (8)	Mary (56)	Mary (38)
2	Elizabeth (119)	Anna (8)	Catherine (22)	Margaret (25)
3	Sarah (90)	Olga (5)	Margaret (17)	Ellen (12)
4	Hannah (60)	Liisa (3)	Elizabeth (14)	Catherine (11)
5	Margaret (44)	Leena (3)	Ellen (12)	Elizabeth (10)
6	Anna (40)	Hilja (3)	Sarah (8)	Anna (8)
7	Ann (37)	Aino (3)	Ann (7)	Anne (7)
8	Alice (36)	Lempi (3)	Bridget (7)	Bridget (7)
9	Jane (34)	Irene (3)	Anne (6)	Alice (6)
10	Martha (32)	Elsie (3)	Alice (6)	Sarah (6)

Main pattern: Whelan and Walsh reused traditional names most strongly, while Suomela has the greatest name variety because the branch is smaller and includes many distinctive Finnish names.

  

Signature Names

Branch	Most Popular Male	Most Popular Female	% with those two names
Homuth	John	Mary	9.3%
Suomela	Matti	Maria	6.1%
Whelan	Thomas	Mary	13.9%
Walsh	John	Mary	12.2%

Name Reuse

Branch	Top 5 Names	Top 10 Names	Avg. People per Name
Homuth	17.9%	26.1%	4.4
Suomela	13.3%	19.8%	1.4
Whelan	26.7%	39.9%	2.7
Walsh	24.6%	34.5%	2.8

Naming Traditions Summary

Statistic	Homuth	Suomela	Whelan	Walsh
People counted	4,819	263	667	637
Unique male names	515	90	109	96
Unique female names	609	105	140	127
Total unique first names	1,107	192	249	225
One-time male names	288	73	75	54
One-time female names	359	91	105	80

Name Diversity

Branch	People	Unique First Names	Diversity Index
Homuth	4,819	1,107	23.0%
Suomela	263	192	73.0%
Whelan	667	249	37.3%
Walsh	637	225	35.3%

Most Unusual First Names by Family Branch

Selected uncommon or distinctive names (Born after 1600)

Names You Don't Hear Every Day

Homuth	Suomela	Whelan	Walsh
Archelaus	Väinö	Dermot	Tadhg
Peleg	Toivo	Bartholomew	Redmond
Zebulon	Onni	Ignatius	Aloysius
Eleazer	Aarne	Cornelius	Florence (male)
Elkanah	Tauno	Ambrose	Garret
Jabez	Urho	Laurence	Denis
Hezekiah	Vilho	Jeremiah	Valentine
Barzillai	Heikki	Thaddeus	Eugene
Preserved	Mikko	Donal	Cornelius
Increase	Juho	Martin	Jeremiah
Consider	Antti	Eugene	Eugene
Thankful		Philomena	Concepta
Huldah	Aino	Honora	Scholastica
Mehitable	Hilja	Delia	Marcella
Hopestill	Lempi	Winifred	Carmel
Waitstill	Kyllikki	Norah	Johanna
Deliverance	Saimi	Bridget	Honora
Experience	Helmi	Rosanna	Winifred
Patience	Tyyne	Cecilia	Nora
Mindwell	Tellervo	Ellenora	Catherine Brigid

What really stands out on this chart is how each family branch has a distinct personality.

• Homuth is dominated by Puritan New England names—virtue names such as Hopestill, Deliverance, Experience, and biblical names like Archelaus, Jabez, and Hezekiah. These names immediately reflect the branch's early colonial roots.
• Suomela preserves a strong Finnish naming tradition, with names such as Väinö, Toivo, Onni, Lempi, Kyllikki, and Tellervo that are rarely encountered outside Finland.
• Whelan reflects traditional Irish Catholic naming, including Dermot, Donal, Bartholomew, Ignatius, Philomena, and Honora. Many of these names were popular in Ireland but uncommon in English-speaking North America.
• Walsh also shows a strong Irish Catholic influence, with names like Tadhg, Redmond, Aloysius, Concepta, Scholastica, and Carmel, illustrating both Gaelic heritage and Catholic devotional traditions.

🏆 Whelan–Homuth Family Hall of Fame 🏆 Longest First Name Maximiliana Homuth Longest recorded given name 🏆 Shortest First Name Al / Bo / Cy Various Shortest recorded first name 🏆 Longest Surname Shaughnessy/O'Shaughnessy  Walsh Longest surname in the tree 🏆 Shortest Surname Lee Homuth Three-letter surname 🏆 Most Common Male Name John Homuth Most frequent male name overall 🏆 Most Common Female Name Mary Homuth Most frequent female name overall 🏆 Most Unusual Male Name Archelaus Homuth Rare biblical name 🏆 Most Unusual Female Name Hopestill Homuth Classic Puritan virtue name 🏆 Most Distinctively Irish Name Tadhg Walsh Traditional Gaelic name 🏆 Most Distinctively Finnish Name Tellervo Suomela Classic Finnish name      🏆 Most Distinctively Puritan Name                                                                    Deliverance                                                                                                                     How Common Are Our FamilyNames? Family Member Given Name Occurrences in the Family Tree Carole Anne Whelan Carole 7 Anne 100 Stephen Murray Whelan Stephen 52 Murray 11 Daughter: Beverly Stephanie Beverly 9 Stephanie 4 Daughter: Jessica Carole Jessica 4 Carole 7 Son-in-law: Darren Ross Darren 1 Ross 24 Son-in-law: Christopher Stephen Christopher 18 Stephen 52 Granddaughter: Sophia Abigail Sophia 14 Abigail 51 Granddaughter: Ellie Elizabeth Violet Ellie 2 Elizabeth 463 Violet 15 Grandson: Oliver Michael Oliver 12 Michael 130 Grandson: Myles Joseph Myles 3 Joseph 227 Grandson: Owen Tyler Owen 9 Tyler 5 Grandson: Calvin Henry Calvin 6 Henry 202 Sister: Victoria Marlene Victoria 9 Marlene 6 Brother-in-law: John Frederick John 886 Frederick 56 Niece: Alison Nicole Alison 3 Nicole 10 Niece: Rebecca Michelle Rebecca 47 Michelle 4 Stephen's Sister: Joan Elizabeth Joan 62 Elizabeth 463 Stephen's Brother: Wayne Michael Wayne 18 Michael 130 Family Name Rarity Score 🌟 Unique or Very Rare (1–4 occurrences) ·         Darren — 1 ·         Ellie — 2 ·         Alison — 3 ·         Myles — 3 ·         Jessica — 4 ·         Michelle — 4 ·         Stephanie — 4 🌟 Rare (5–15 occurrences) ·         Tyler — 5 ·         Marlene — 6 ·         Calvin — 6 ·         Carole — 7 ·         Victoria — 9 ·         Beverly — 9 ·         Owen — 9 ·         Nicole — 10 ·         Murray — 11 ·         Oliver — 12 ·         Sophia — 14 ·         Violet — 15 🌟 Moderately Common (16–99 occurrences) ·         Wayne — 18 ·         Christopher — 18 ·         Ross — 24 ·         Rebecca — 47 ·         Abigail — 51 ·         Stephen — 52 ·         Frederick — 56 ·         Joan — 62 ·         Anne — 100 🌟 Family Classics (100+ occurrences) ·         Michael — 130 ·         Henry — 202 ·         Joseph — 227 ·         Elizabeth — 463 ·         John — 886   Our immediate family has a wonderful mix  of traditional family names and distinctive modern names: ·         Most distinctive: Darren, Ellie, Alison, Myles, Jessica, Michelle, and Stephanie. ·         Most traditional: John, Elizabeth, Joseph, Henry, Michael, Anne, and Stephen. One thing  is that my grandchildren's names are largely rare within the family tree. With the exception of middle names such as Elizabeth, Michael, Joseph, and Henry, their first names—Sophia, Ellie, Oliver, Myles, Owen, and Calvin—are much less common than the names used by earlier generations. That neatly reflects the shift from traditional family naming patterns to more individualized naming choices over the last century.