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Hortatory Names

Patience, Hope, and Charity are pretty ambitious things to name your children. But what about Hate-evil, Be-courteous, or Search-the-scriptures? Or Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith? Puritan parents sometimes gave their kids so as to encourage those qualities. They’re called hortatory names, from the Latin for “encourage” or “urge.” This is part of a complete episode.

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