Which Hue Are You?

#52ancestors week 30 July 23-29
 Colorful

Which Hue Are You? 

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley (c) 2018

In the first U.S. census –- taken in 1790 – are found several colorful surnames: Green, Red, Ruby, Pink, Purple, Seagray, Lavender, Blue, Orange, Olive, Carmine and Scarlet, along with Black, White, Gray, Brown and Tan. 

Nicknames calling attention to our ancestors’ complexion and hair color are commonly found among the surnames that have been passed down through the ages. Blondell, Biano, Le Blanc, Lichter, Weiss, Bialas and White all refer to nicknames for ancestors with white or pale-colored skin and/or hair. Dark-complexioned people were nicknamed by words in various languages meaning brown, dark or black. From these evolved surnames of Brown, Brun, Braun, Black, Schwartz, Morin and Cherney. 

Red, under its many variant forms, is a common family name in many countries. You find Reid, Reed, and Read in England, as well as Ruff, Russ, Russell, Roussel, and Ruddy. In France, the name is Rousseau, Rouse or Larouse; in Italy it is Rossi, Rossini, Rossa, Rosso and Purpura; in Germany, Roth; and in Ireland, it is Flynn. Blue, Bluett or Bluitt are English surnames that come from a reference to one with a livid complexion or perhaps one who dressed in blue. In German, it was Blau or Blauer. However, the Scottish surname of Blue is an English version of the Argyllshire surname of MacGhilleghuirm, meaning “son of the blue lad.” 

However, not all of our surnames that appear to be colors actually are. For example, Green is not necessarily derived from the color of ancestor’s skin or hair, but from his place of residence. It means dweller at or near the village green or grassy ground. Many of the Green names probably come from references to ancestors who once lived or worked in a building identified by a pictorial sign, such as Greenbaum (dweller at the sign of the green tree) or Greenfogel (dweller at the sign of the green bird). 

The surname of Pink is derived from ancestors who either had some quality of a chaffinch or were dwellers at the sign of the chaffinch (a common finch of the Old World, often kept as a pet). If you have some Oranges on your family tree (names, not fruit), that surname may be traceable to ancestors who once lived in or near the ancient town of Orange in France which dates back to an earldom probably founded by Charlemagne. 

Do you have Lavender progenitors? They were English ancestors who washed or bleached flax, wool and various kinds of cloth. Those Lilywhite relatives were English dwellers in, or near, a little meadow, or the name might have been acquired from a nickname for one thought to be white as a lily; or ironically, to a chimney sweep.

 Tracing the family tree is not only fun, but can be a colorful adventure, too.