Genealogy Chat

De

This thread is two years old..........not sure where you dug it up from!

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Reg

any descendents from Bennett Opie 1805 who married Mary also born 1805. he had about 13 children, one of them being james, my g great grandfather?
De

Hadn't thought of that Old Crone, worth investigating, may have been mum's mums !!! family, as she was a Williams.right area of Cornwall for the Opies. so far no clue to her mother. Opium??? wonder if they were being funny and trying to call him Poppy!!!!!!!!!!! no wonder he disappeared.

Oh dear, I have googled Opye/ Opie and this is what came up: Opye: Meaning and Definition (n.) Opium. Maybe this is why he didn't crop up again... Liz

Perranmaid Lots of OPIES in Cornwall - probably a 1600s attempt to spell this!(Mother's maiden name, perhaps?) Olde Crone

Heather this is definitely a forename but strangely he is never mentioned again only on his baptism. His father was Rowland. So I wonder if he changed his name and became something else? one of those mysteries that will never be solved perhaps? Thankyou

Ive seen that as a surname.

Does anyone know where the name Oppye comes from please? this from IGI and a baptism in 1624 so not sure if it's a bad transcription or not.

Yes, Ive got lots of old Testament names in my family - nothing to do with being Jewish though. I think there was a period when many of the rural areas became actively non-conformist and chose these type of names. One of the most common is Kezia in my tree of my Norfolk ancestors. Also Rhoda, which today would be thought of a Jewish girls name, I have about a dozen of those too.

Hepzibah, Daniel, Jabez etc are all names from the OLD Testament. They are not therefore Christian names and sometimes this indicates that the family are Jewish (because Jewish people do not use Christian names from the New Testament of course). It can also indiciate other types of religious non-conformity: many Methodists, Baptists etc, did not use names from the New Testament because of their religious beliefs. In contrast, many High Anglican Churches and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, would only allow baptisms using Christian names - from the New Testament, of course. And then you have the family that just liked those particular names! Olde Crone

There are lots of Hepzibahs and even more Hephzibahs in census and bmd records on Ancestry. At one time Biblical names were very popular which nowadays are seldom heard, such as Kezia or Jabez. Lots of popular Biblical names have survived though - Mary, Joseph, Samuel, Rachel, Rebecca, Timothy, Sarah, John, Jacob to name just a few. It doesn't mean that the person had any Jewish connections at all. My Norfolk grandfather (definitely not Jewish) was called Jeuel which is a name occuring only once in the Bible. He is (as far as I am aware) the only Jeuel on the bmd database. By contrast, the Jewish lot in my husband's tree don't have any Hephzibahs. The most popular name for the men is Daniel which is equally popular with gentiles, and for women, Rose, which isn't Jewish at all. nell

It would not necessarily mean a Jewish connection - many devout Christians, particularly from non-conformist denominations would choose names of biblical origin. Liz

THANKS LIZ THATS WHAT MY HUSBAND THOUGHT,HE SAID BOTH SOUND HEBREW,WOULD HAVE TO LOOK INTO IT ABIT SEE IF I CAN FIND A JEWISH CONNECTION,COOL NAMES THOUGH. TRACEY

The girl's name Hepzibah is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is 'my delight is in her.' Biblical name. Name Otho Gender Male Meaning Lion of God. Biblical context Origin - Hebrew. Derived From Othniel Othniel was the first judge of Israel in the Old Testament. Under his rule, Israel had peace for forty years.

hi there i have quite a few unusual forenames in my kent tree,would like to try and find out where they originated from if possibleie(scootish,irish,jewish) a couple of the names are,HEPZIBAH and OTHO.THANKYOU FOR YOUR INPUT. TRACEY