I love statistics, they are always of interest, often amusing, so how about mixing business with pleasure? French genealogist Sophie Boudarel has invited us to join her in the ChallengeAZ 2016 and I must say that the very first thing that came to my mind when choosing a theme was given names.

So what’s in a name? Barely more than seven or eight characters—provided that one was born to parents whose motto was less is more—it’s also the story of a lifelong partnership. If some are proud about it and introduce themselves confidently, others are doing same with most embarrassment or have to spell theirs day after day. No matter if it’s hot or weird, each of us will repeat, write or hear it most than any other word.

As a result, how can I afford to miss such a stimulating opportunity to discover how given names changed over the course of centuries—at least since the earliest days of the European Settlement?

From A to Z, it will be interesting to find out which one was the most popular in each century and which one has stood or not the test of time. Was the child named after his father or mother? Or maybe after his godfather or godmother? Did the Tourvilles from the States have chosen typical American first names?

Here is how I will proceed.

For an obvious purpose—and sentimental one, I must confess—only the Hubous’ and Tourvilles’ given names will be taken into account, for a total of about 1,000 first names.

Maybe you know by now that in Québec almost every child, boys and girls—and even me!—was baptized with the given name of Joseph and Marie. Fortunately, for self-explanatory reasons, same was followed by one, two or three other given names, one of them becoming the customary name. That being said, to avoid any misinterpretation of the statistics, the Josephs and the Maries will thus be recorded under letters J and M but solely if this was the actual customary name of the people concerned.

But I do not intend to limit myself to statistical data alone; those will be completed with a brief biography of a person whose given name begins with the letter of the day.

And why not conducting a survey and ask people to vote for the funniest given name? Ideas keep popping up but it’s all but a closed deal.

But let’s walk the talk, I now have to get down to work.

And looking forward to reading all of my fellow geneabloggers in June, I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy the ride!

—Marie-Laurette-Diane

The 2016 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French-community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres