What Would Your Name Have Been If You Were Born in 1653?
by TeresaM
Shutterstock by Everett Collection
Many of the popular names we use now were also popular in the 17th century. But would you have had a name back then that some would consider unique now? Put yourself in the shoes of someone who lived in 1653, and find out!
1: How do you think you would look in a powdered wig like they used to wear in the 1600s?
John de Critz
2: If you were hanging out with Sir Isaac Newton, what would you be doing?
Godfrey Kneller
3: What kind of livestock might you have raised back then?
Shutterstock by Dmitry Pichugin
4: Would you even begin to know where to start patching ye olde thatched roof?
Shutterstock by Alastair Wallace
5: What 1600s food staple sounds good for dinner?
Shutterstock by Chamille White
6: Which common 17th century activity would you be most interested in attending?
Wiki Commons by Rockelev
7: Why would you been sentenced to a day of 1600s public humiliation?
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8: Can you spin a story like a 17th century bard?
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9: If you were a merchant back then, what would you have sold?
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10: Would you feel uncomfortable using a chamber pot?
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11: Which of these things would you have the village blacksmith make for you?
Shutterstock by Elena Zinenko
12: If Rembrandt was painting your portrait, what would you have in your hand?
Rembrandt
13: Which 1600s name would you give to a new pet hamster?
Shutterstock by Kinga P
14: What kind of Renaissance collar would you like on your shirt?
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15: How do you think they started fires in the hearth back then?
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16: Where do you think you would have lived in 1653?
Wiki Commons by Hassocks5489
17: Would you feel right at home going to a Renaissance faire?
Wiki Commons by KenL at English Wikipedia
18: How many stars would you give Johann Sebastian Bach's music?
Elias Gottlob Haussmann
19: Could you survive a winter by growing your own crops?
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20: Do you think you could get away with wearing a monocle?
Shutterstock by Edward R
Francis Ashworth
Shutterstock by Fotokvadrat
Now that you know you would have been Francis Ashworth back in the 1600s, you might want to think about heading to the courthouse and changing your name. Judging by your answers, you would have been a member of the aristocracy. You would have needed to be very careful about making sure you don't end up in the stocks, though.
Millicent Brampton
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Good day to you, Millicent Brampton. Although you wouldn't have attending many operas back in the 1600s, you would have remained a very cultured member of society. You might have been born on a potato farm, but you would have spent your time attending aristocrats. Back then, you held a highly coveted position.
Hester de Essham
Shutterstock by Anneka
In the 1600s, you came from an enterprising family with the surname of de Essham. Rumor has it that several of your family members were sentenced to a day of public humiliation. One of you was rumored to have practiced witchcraft, and it created a little hysteria. Don't worry, though. You were the good sheep who would have come out unscathed.
Clemence Lumhald
Shutterstock by Everett Collection
Greetings, Clemence Lumhald. While you were trying to learn your name from the 1600s, you gave a lot of things about yourself away. If you were roaming the earth back then, you would have been known as quite the poet. Even though you would have had to compete with Shakespeare, you would have made quite a name for yourself in aristocratic circles.