The birth announcement shown in our last post has generated several questions. Among them is the significance of the baby's given names--Dorothy and Josephine--and the year of birth.
Nettie and Charlie's mother was named Josephine, so it's possible that is the source of the baby girl's middle name. But what about that first name? We have not found any Dorothy's in the immediate Bullis family tree.
Could the Knapps have been influenced by L. Frank Baum's book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? It was published in 1900, and the movie version premiered in 1939. According to the official website of the Social Security Administration, Dorothy was the second most popular baby girl's name in 1920 and the third most popular in 1930.
So, if the Knapps followed the "naming trend" of their time, was Dorothy Josephine born between 1900 and 1930? Perhaps ... but honestly, we can't say for sure.
And then there's that movie star, Dorothy Lamour, who was popular in the late 1930s through the 1950s. Hmmm - oh well.
It's fun to think about and to do some "what ifs," but when all's said and done, we have to return to our original premise: we do not know. However, this is the kind of thing that keeps us volunteers fascinated with the history of the Bullis family. So we'll keep on with our speculating and let you know when we come up with some answers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment