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Today's episode has got me caught up on names.

I've wasted an inordinate amount of time reading about naming

conventions looking for a particular fact and failing to find it. I've picked up a

bunch of other interesting factoids along the way, for example, did you know that the age of reason, and the corresponding move away from an overtly religious society corresponds almost exactly with the rise of floral names for women.

An article by Neil Burdus points out that, at least in the Anglosphir, names like Daisy, Hazel, Holly,

Ivy, Lily, Marigold, Poppy, and Rose, all came into prominence at the exact same time in the early 1800s.

This was a move away from biblical names like Mary and Elizabeth,

which, along with Anne, accounted for fully half of all girls' names in 1700.

In that same year, John, William, and Thomas accounted for half of all boys names in England.

And it's one of those that's been nagging at me.

Thomas.

I've been trying to figure out why it was such a popular name in the 1600s.

I mean, I've got nothing against the name Thomas, and I understand that it's a biblical name.

Thomas was one of the Apostles, but that doesn't

account for how often it seems to pop up.

...