So, yes, I love finding odd names since my name was so very different as I was growing up in the south. I usually just note that some parent got frisky with a name and move on but here’s one for the books – literally, as an author wrote a book in 2018 that highlighted a real woman with that name from 1600 New England.

Hazelelponah – yup, really. You can read more about the actual person on a blog post here. But in short, her name is actually pulled from the old testament (1 Chronicles 4 – Hazzelelponi). And another source says it means “she who gives shade, like the hazel tree”. The Hazelelphonah of New England was born in 1636 in Exeter, NH, and moved to Boston. Through several marriages Hazelelponah ended up with 25 children and stepchildren and lived to be 79.

I found the name in the Harpswell Congregational Church of Christ baptismal records. Joshua Purinton named a daughter Hazelelponah in 1782. Indications are that this daughter did not survive though. As her brother was also baptized the same day and may not have survived, perhaps we are looking at a set of twins.

It’s just a bit of excitement during record transcriptions. Hey, what can I say? Gotta have some fun!