Unusual personal names collected in Oklahoma by onomastician Thomas Pyles in the 1940s:

• A. Noble Ladd
• Beverage Porter
• Bunker Hill
• Charming Fox
• Erie Lake
• France Paris
• Gunga Dean
• Harness Upp
• Harry Baer
• Ima Goose
• Jack Frost
• Johnny Steele Casebeer
• Liberty Bond
• Pansy Leafe
• Pearl Button
• Rose Bush
• Safety Reuel First
• Winter Frost

Ima Foster and Ura Foster, possibly twin sisters, both received master’s degrees in education at the University of Oklahoma in 1943. “It has been suggested to me that most of the bearers of jocular names come of families in which infant baptism is not practiced, inasmuch as (it is to be hoped) few clergymen would consent to make a travesty of the sacrament of baptism by bestowing such names in christening.”

(Thomas Pyles, “Onomastic Individualism in Oklahoma,” American Speech 22:4 [December 1947], 257-264.)

08/15/2024 UPDATE: It appears Safety First became a cardiologist. “My dad gave me this troublesome title. We already had a junior in the family, so dad named me after the popular motto that had just been created.” (Thanks, Charlotte.)