Assonance in the family

I was getting a little family history out of my mother and was struck by the names in her family. She had the following female cousins:

• Eva May (with a long e)
• Ila (long i) Ion (long i and o)
• Una (you-na)

Una seems to be an Irish or Scottish name (she was a little of both) meaning “lamb.” Ila is Sanskrit, so I have no clue how they came up with that one. Ion, according to name searches, is the Basque and Romanian form of John. So maybe she was named after some Basque or Romanian friend of the family. Or maybe it should have been Ione.

Mom’s mother was Eva (with a short e, thus the Italian, rather than English, pronounciation) and her aunt was Ivy. Someone is the family must have been very found of vowels.

So were the parents of the twins my sister went to school with: Echo and Elmer. Poor kids. Mom knew twins named Isel and Flavel. Now those are some good names; not common, but I did find a few people out there lucky enough to have them, although Flavel is usually a last name.

Moms’ father’s name was Emil. Another “E” name, but a pretty normal one. She recalled some other male relative named Enick, but maybe it was really Enoch.

My mother’s parents continued the vowel obsession in their own way. In 1921 they made up a name. Actually they made up a spelling of the name of one of their friends who was named after two aunts. Mom’s name is LaMata. So the a won the battle of the vowels that time.

None of these names is being continued in the family. The middle name Faye is in its fifth generation, however. The four living women with that name all have a red birthmark on the back of their heads, at or above the hairline. I’m a little bit jealous that I’m not a Faye.

The only name that continues on my father’s side is his mother’s maiden name: Albert. I think Dad, my nephew, and perhaps his son all share that middle name.

My middle name? Well it’s another a: Ann. It’s better than Adelia (my father’s sister’s name.)