WORD OF THE DAY

Puritans (reformed Protestants of the 16th and 17th century) were a group who sought both individual and corporate conformity to the teaching of the Bible, with moral purity pursued down to the smallest detail. Their righteous dedication saw Christmas banned in Boston for just over two decades and encouraged moral panic.

But it also made for some exceptional baby names.

This list offers some top notch examples.

The obvious standouts are the ostentatious hyphenates: the kicky Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith; the optimistic Job-raked-out-of-the-ashes; the always adorable If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned.

My personal favourites fall among the more demure selections, like Donation, Supply, and Wrestling (which it now occurs to me is actually a very pretty word).

Starting to feel like your own name is lacking panache?
Buzzfeed (of course) has created a Puritan name generator. Seems totally legit.