How rare is Elgra?

[Sam]

Can anyone help with the origins of the name Elgra? My cousin and her late grandmother are the only ones I have come across. Thanks in anticipation. Sam

[Anne H]

Hi Sam,

You seem to have a tough one there. I've checked various sites I found by Googling, as I'm sure you have also, and a few of them mention the name, but nothing to give any indication as to the origins....Sorry, perhaps someone else will see your post and come up with the answer.

Regards,
Anne H

[Bervonian]

Hi Sam. Just a suggestion - might it be a combination of Elizabeth, Elma, Ella etc. with Grace ?

[killearnan]

Or a somewhat phonetic version of Allegra?

On the other hand, it might just be made up.

BJ

[Maisie]

I can't throw any light on the origins, but I have found a handful of Elgras in the US, mostly in the south and born 1900-1920. But curiously, both men and women!

Maisie

[gjones]

Only a thought

Maybe a Danish/Norse name...as in viking names.

I guess it depends on where your ancestors were dwelling in the Highlands during the viking raids?

It could be a corruption of Elgar

[Currie]

You can do a first name search on FreeBMD, FreeCen and WorldConnect. No Elgras there except for Maisie’s lot on WC. There’s one Elga on 1841 FreeCen. On FreeBMD there are about 13 Elga events 1865-1922, fairly scattered but main concentration around Shires of Warwick, Worcester, Derby, Leicester and thereabouts. Six Elga deaths here in NSW 1788-1976 but no Elgras.

Alan
*Thinks* Things must be quiet, I’m answering old posts, could have been doing the washing up, let's see, how does it go again? --- I'd better google -----

[Thrall]

Hi Sam and others, I´ve put the names "Elgra" and "Elga" in the hands of the Nordic name specialist at the Arnamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen, so we´ll see what comes up.

Guid hunting,

Thrall

[Thrall]

Here is the answer I received from the most helpful and erudite Peder Gammeltoft of the Institute of Name Research, University of Copenhagen, (on the next floor up from my friend in the Arnamagnean):

The name Elga is usually thought to be a pet-form of the Surname Alger (also known under the form Elgar), which is a compound in Old English -gar 'spear'. The first element is probably alb 'elf' (or possibly ald 'old' or adal 'nobleman'). It is also possible that the name is an anglicised form of
Old Norse Alfgeirr.

I have tried to search for the name Elga in various 19th c. censuses. First the British 1881 census: When it occurs as a first name, is it borne always by a woman. The name occurs only 6 times, four of which are found in Wakefield. It is much more common as a surname with more than 200 occurrences in the same census (as Elga, Elge, Elgee, Elgie, Elgy, etc.). Elga is also found as a first name in the 1881 Canadian census as a femalename (three occurrences).

In the 1880 US census, however, approximately half of the 133 first name occurrences are borne by men. The name thus seems to have a different application in the USA than in Britain/Canada.

Elgra also occurs once as a first name in the British 1881 census, as the name of a male (Elgra Crook, born 1831, living in Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire). No occurrences as a surname. I have also found a male Elgra Duchet, born 1879, Arkansas, in the 1880 US census.

When pressed on whether Elga and Elgra have common etymology he replied:

There is the possibility that Elgra is a misspelling of Elgar. Since the name seems to occur so very rarely, this seems a likely possibility in my eyes.
There is also another possibility: Metathesis is, and especially, has been common in English, it is also possible the name is a rare metathesised development of Alger/Elgar.

With both possibilities it seems Elgra is not a pet-form but rather a development/error for Alger/Elgar, whereas Elga is thought to be a pet form of Alger/Elgar.

Ultimately, however, the orgin seems to be the same for Elga (= pet-form development) and Elgra (= metathesised development?), they may just have followed two different lines of development.

Peder concluded with "was this at all clarifying?"

I hope so, Sam and others interested!

Guid hunting,

Thrall

[Currie]

Thanks Thrall,

That was very interesting and explains the situation fully. Sam doesn’t say where his relatives are from but if they’re from Lincolnshire they’re possibly part of that central England concentration with maybe a misspelling thrown in somewhere along the way.

But there’s no shortage of Alger/Elgar on FreeBMD, mainly male, but with some females in each name.

All the best,
Alan