Sunday, November 25, 2012

SNGF - Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Names

Once again a personal post topic - and once again I'm a bit late for Saturday night. I was out celebrating with family and friends last night - that's my excuse this time.

Over at Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver for his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun asked us to:

1)  Go to the Baby Name Wizard site and see how popular your name was over the 20th century, and how popular a baby name it is today.  Check out your spouse, your children and your grandchildren (if you have some!) also. 

2)  What does your name mean (find out on http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name)?

3)  Tell us about it, and show us your graphs, in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, in a Facbook status or a Google+ Stream post.

Here goes -

According to the wizard, my name's popularity as I spell it, seems to have peaked in the 1950s - after my naming time! (These stats, I believe, are mostly, if not all, from the United States.)  I never really liked my name but others must have, or at least their parents did.

Since there are name variations, I did do as Randy did and searched for Dian* names. (I did take a look at Deanne, Deana, Deanna too but maybe that was cheating, since I wouldn't pronounce those the same way. They sound better than plain Diane though, and I did attempt to change my name's spelling once to something like Deanne, but people just wouldn't co-operate.)

Then, I thought it might be fun to check out the popularity of another name my mom considered for me - Lynn.

Mmmmm...neither is very popular now. Perhaps one day both will sound unique as well as antique?

On the same site, I was able to look at the meaning of my name - which I've always been quite happy about.

Both the names Diana and Diane were "derived from the Latin Diviana, which is from divus (divine). The name is borne in Roman mythology by the virgin goddess of the moon and of hunting." - from A World of Baby Names by Teresa Norman. Information accessed at www.babynamewizard.com 25 November 2012.

In classical Greece, however, the goddess Diana was Artemis (I'd have liked that name) and her arts were associated as well with childbirth and women's health. See for instance, the entry for "Artemis" by Ron Leadbetter in the Encyclopedia Mythica.

Now the graphs above don't necessarily reflect the popularity of these names in Canada where I live, so I just had to have a look to see what information there is about names in British Columbia, Canada, my home province.

Here is a chart from the British Columbia, Canada Vital Statistics Agency showing the popularity of variations of Diane in BC from 1912 on. I also included Dinah, which I've seen as a variation.  In BC poor Dinah seems to have been favoured only for a short time - I wonder if that was for the actress, Dinah Shore?


And I compared 'the basic' Diane and Lynn names' popularity in BC as well. Diane seems the winner there, although not very popular now, but if you compare the two names Diane and Diana, in more recent decades Diana as a name has overtaken Diane in popularity in BC, likely due to the influence of the late Princess. 

 One name I'd have liked to have doesn't even appear in the BC list (perhaps there are no examples after 1912), but there is a very modern equivalent shown. I was 'pleased' to see though that the popularity of my other name - the one I don't use and don't want mentioned - has since 1912 declined pretty steadily, then faded to nothing in the 60s!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Seven Things About Me.......

Recently, Andrea Lister over at Absolutely Literate tagged me for a 'Seven Things about Me' meme.  Since Canada's Kid's CBC has named this next week 'Grandparents' Week', I thought it might be fun to think of seven things the Dear Grandson doesn't know about me (or at least might wonder once in a while....).

Along the way, I though of a few more things than this, so those are already in my memoir writing prompts for a later look.

Here are seven things the DGS (and others) may not know about me:

1. I was a beautiful baby. No. really! (Have a look below.) According to my mother, your great grandma, this photographer's photo of me won a contest and was featured in his window for a while. I believe the photography studio name was Du Barry 1, but I haven't (yet) traced the photographer or the contest.  (A Grandma Genealogist's work is never done.)

2. As a child, I attended the Vancouver Sun newspaper's free swimming classes for children near Lumberman's Arch in Stanley Park. Now that wouldn't be a surprise to any who grew up in Vancouver - thousands of kids took those lessons. But I must be one of the very few who was happy to go and do the on-land lessons, but refused to go in the water. And yes, learning to swim has often been on my New Year's resolutions list, but I still don't know 'how to'. As you, my dear grandson, said once, I can learn once I'm grown up. (He explained later that he meant once I'm taller. That will be a fine thing!)

3. I am not at all fond of chocolate. (Licorice, Jelly Bellies, candied ginger, and a little nougat once in a while do it for me. In case you are looking for a present sometime, I just noticed there are 'Hello Kitty' Jelly Bellies. I wonder if those come in a sardine flavour?)

4. The first occupation I seriously thought about was being a probation officer. I was a young teen, and my dad, your great grandpa, (bless him) took this seriously and found a woman officer who talked to me about her training and her work (and a bit about being a woman in that job). And no, I don't think he was trying to discourage me.

5. I am a high school dropout from the 60s. But don't get any ideas of your own, DGS.  I left to go to university early and do have a degree and more. (I've been back to university a couple of times since then and I'm pretty sure I'll go back once more at least.)

6. I'm still a weekend hippie at heart. You'll likely have to look up the old time history 'hippie thing' on your phone....but all those peace signs around me are clues.  I never had time to be a full-time hippie though. Always a demo - or a research paper - scheduled...

7. Learning about the stars is on my list of things to do when I get really 'old' and must sit around more - out in the dark.  Just make sure I have a good telescope (start saving up), a warm blankie and good fuzzy socks, please.

Now I have to tag 7 other bloggers - these are my choices, all with personal (and more) genealogy blogs, listed alphabetically. Hope they find it fun too. At any rate, these are some genealogy blogs my readers might like to have a look at.

A Genealogy Hunt

Adventures in the Family Tree

Desperately Seeking Surnames

Ken Spangler's Family Blog 

Niall McMahon

Twigs of Yore

You Are Where You Came From



Grandma D as a baby, (year withheld). Photography possibly by DuBarry Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia. Private collection.

Notes:
1. This is the eighth thing - a bonus - Grandma looks for references. David Mattison in his essential guide Camera Workers: British Columbia, Alaska & Yukon, 1858-1950  gives the Du Barry Studio's dates as from 1942-1948, but I have one photo dated "Du Barry 1951". Studio photographers listed by Mattison include N.H. Schwarze (1943), P.W. Rowe (1946), and G.J. Wells (1948). The 1947 British Columbia and Yukon Directory (Sun Directories Ltd., pp. 648, 1083)  Accessed on-line in the British Columbia City Directories, 1860-1947, Vancouver Public Library: www.vpl.cawww.vpl.ca   G. J. Wells (George J., wife Velma) is listed as the Du Barry proprietor and photographer, and the Studio's address as: 4255 Dunbar in Vancouver, very close to where we lived then. I would be pleased to hear from anyone with more information about Mr. Wells and his work, or about the Du Barry Photo Studio in Vancouver, BC.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Remembrance Day, 2012

Remembering my parents. 
Remembrance Day memorial notice, Burnaby Now, Saturday, 8 November, 2008.

A genealogical aside: someday a descendant may puzzle over the mention of their marriage in Washington, USA. No, it was Washington, DC, USA - an error at the newspaper.