20 February 2016

TNA Blog: Battle Babies

According to a TNA blog post the following battles appear as the names of children born 1914-1919 in England and Wales:
Argonne; Arras; Cambrai; Cavell; Neuve Chappelle; Dardanelles; Delville & Delville Wood; Flanders; Heligoland; Helles; Isonzo; Jutland; Krithia; Liege; Loos; Marne; Messines; Mons; Paschendaele; Soissons; Somme; Thierry; Verdun; Vimy Ridge; Ypres.

Children were also named for war heroes: Kitchener (166), Cavell (25), Haig (11), and for the end of war, Victory (120), Peace (84),  Poppy (44).

Read the TNA news item here and the blog post here,

I wondered about these names in Canada. The 1921 census shows the following children born during and immediately after the Great War: Verdun (142), Vimy (28), Ypres (2), Arras (1), Kitchener (124). The years 1918 and 1919 saw 21 children given the name Victory and 10 the name Peace.

As for war leaders of Canadian troops Currie had been a name used before the war, there may have been a slight increase. Bing was much used in the Chinese community unrelated to the war.

Can you find others?

1 comment:

  1. I admit while reading those documents I wondered if any of the children named after battles were perhaps children of servicemen killed or severely injured in them. It sounds gruesome, but if their father never met them ... and they could not meet their fathers, well, ...... Cheers, BT

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