In 1938, University of North Carolina folklorist Arthur Palmer Hudson published a collection of unusual African-American names, most gathered through personal interviews but others “unimpeachably attested” by state bureaus of vital statistics:
- Comer Mercantile Company
- Castor Oil
- Morphine
- Dr. Root Beer
- Oleomargarine
- Artificial Flowers
- Elevator
- Dill Pickle
- League of Nations
- Toledo Ohio
- Positive Wasserman (after a hospital wrist tag)
- Jesus Hoover Christ (“the family was a beneficiary of the Red Cross when Hoover was director”)
- Jesse James Outlaw
- James All Virtuous
- Sandy Alexander Soap Fish and Tobacco Box
- Susan Anna Banana Green Doosenberry Watson
- Rosa Belle Locust Hill North Carolina Beauty Spot Evans
- Frank Harrison President of the United States Eats His Lasses Candy and Swings on Every Gate Williams
- Pneumonia and Neuralgia (twins)
- Flat Foot Floogie
- State Normal and Industrial College (“Snic”)
- No Parking
- Lake Erie Banks
- Cleopatra Blue
In the 1850s, a Stanly County, N.C., slave was named Sunday May Ninth “to guarantee the bearer’s remembrance of his birthday.” “This name proved useful to the ex-slave in establishing his status with reference to a monetary claim.”
Hudson seems to have been enchanted by unusual names generally — among the UNC alumni he found a white student named Shively Dewilder Accus Baccus Dulcido.
(Arthur Palmer Hudson, “Some Curious Negro Names,” Southern Folklore Quarterly 2:4, December 1938, pp. 179-193.)