A friend who has just finished reading my novel, ‘Flipside’ commented that “at least there aren’t any strange names in it”, which is true, David,Steve, Denise, Danny, Kiran… and I have to admit for several reasons I do sometimes have unusual names in my stories. However, in my defence, I don’t think any of them are as strange as some of the real names of real people I have come across.
I have recently been in contact with a distant relative and in our correspondence and in my subsequent research into the family tree I have come across some unusual names. The name Stribling Stribling was mentioned… Stribling as a surname is fairly unusual, but double-barrelled Stribling, or Stribling as a Christian name and a surname? Well, yes indeed; I found a Benjamin Stribling Stribling and a Lewis Stribling Stribling (neither the was the person I was looking for) The person Iin search of was a cousin of the Colgate family I am researching, and try as I might I cannot find a Stribling/Colgate connection… it has to be remembered, though, some of the records have been transcribed inaccurately, or maybe recorded inaccurately in the first place. My great-grandmother after whom I was named, was recorded at birth as Lowes,and there are always the errors with names which can be spelt two ways, Sarah/Sara, Linda/Lynda, Vivien/Vivienne for example.
I shall continue my search for a connection… it may be distant but I like to tie up my family tree loose ends!
Lois Elsden 