My grandchildren had a great great great grandmother on their mother's side named Caroline. There was a family tradition that her name Caroline came from an ancestor of hers who was given the name Fortunate Caroline Skorkiona [sic] Jones BUCKBURD. The story goes that Fortunate Caroline was newly born when she and her mother were shipwrecked en route to Malta at the time of Queen Caroline (presumably the popular Caroline of Brunswick, 1768 -1821, wife of George IV).
The tradition said that:
- her first name came from her good fortune in surviving the shipwreck;
- her second from the then Queen;
- her third from the name of the ship that was wrecked;
- and her fourth name from that of the captain of the ship.
Well, that's the tradition. Interestingly, later research showed Caroline's mother to be Sarah Jones BUGBURD, born in Malta about 1814, and her father to be Thomas BUGBURD, "mariner". There is also a Skorpiona in Greece, about 4 km from the coast. So it appears that the tradition was firmly based on the truth, even though, like Chinese Whispers, it had changed somewhat in the course of telling. I've not found any record of the wreck, though...
"I like narrative storytelling as being part of a tradition, a folk tradition."
Bruce Springsteen
