(no subject)

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I just thought I'd share this sentence that I came across in a journal article I was reading, which has some interesting names. It was just about gifted and talented students throughout history...

"The renowned theologian Cotton Mather had graduated from Harvard College at age 15. His distinguished father, Increase Mather, had graduated at 17."

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/---surfacing/]

i read about them in my american history class last semester! i noticed the weirdness too

[krosp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd be so interested to know why someone called Increase decided to name their son Cotton... and also just to know what other names their family had.

[super-bitch06.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe they know something we don't. I know I barely passed high school and I was 18! :-p

[sageharper.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've heard of them too.
It doesn't really phase me; because ultimatly those kind of names were just trendy at the time. I'm sure people in four hundred years will probably wonder WTF people were thinking naming their kids Jaiden (not that they don't already).

Cotton has a nice ring to it; but I always think of the character in 'King of the hill', and he's maybe not the best association.

[soleilshine.livejournal.com]

I personally love the name Cotton. Always have. My husband wouldn't never allow it, though.

[soleilshine.livejournal.com]

There was a character named Cotton on a Scream movie if I remember correctly.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

I just think of the Cotton from the 1996 Scream (etc.), lol. I like it all right, but that really sticks in my head.

[elemmennope.livejournal.com]

Names were pretty interesting back then. I like the weird ones. :)

I see Cotton come up from time to time on naming boards. I don't see the appeal myself (siblings Linen, Wool, and Lycra-Spandex?) but it beats some certain other names imo.

[ms-cucumber.livejournal.com]

There's a Cotton Hawes in Ed McBain's books. According to wikipedia, Cotton Mather was "likely named after his grandfather, John Cotton."

[cathkitten.livejournal.com]

One of my friends is related to Cotton Mather! She just had a baby and named him Cotton.

[p-inkjeans.livejournal.com]

...because they wanted to increase cotton production?

OK that was a horrible attempt at a joke. I apologize.

[p-inkjeans.livejournal.com]

I like the name Cotton, but as a history major I know his story and I hate that guy, so I'd never use it. Actually, I don't think I'd like it enough to use it anyway, though.

[glitterberrys.livejournal.com]

I've heard Cotton a few times before, but never Increase...

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Puritan names. Conventional names (even Biblical ones) weren't pure enough, so some Puritans made up virtue names and slogan names.

My all-time favorite, though, is "If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned" ^^

[turabiannights.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, the Puritans.

I believe Cotton was named after a grandfather with the last name Cotton - that's what I'd always heard, anyway. So in reality, it wouldn't be much weirder than Anderson or Gray or Cooper... except that it's a really commonly-used noun.

At least Mather wasn't a noun. I was doing genealogical research one time and came across a whole pocket of villagers who all named after each other in this way, so Isaac Tree, Gregory Lemon and Eliphaz Friend all ended up having sons named "Lemon Tree" and "Tree Friend." True story.